Hello,
For the third time in a row, I’ve had a banggai Cardinalfish mysteriously die on me. The first time, it made it through quarantine, but did not eat much and then died hours after it was transferred into the display tank. The second one did not make it very far in QT. This third time, I tried to do everything right, but decided to do a faster quarantine period (20 days of copper instead of a month) to ensure that it wouldn’t starve to death. Yesterday I transferred it to the display tank and it acted strange at first, but eventually began to swim around and travel across the tank. Throughout the night it was very active and acting as I’d expect a Cardinalfish to behave. Then I woke this morning to find it dead on the sandbed. Based on its appearance, it couldn’t have been dead for very long before I found it. I don’t understand why it died, however. I am currently restocking my tank after a reset, due to issues with hydrogen sulfide in the sandbed. The only other inhabitant is an orange spotted blenny. The only possible explanations I could think of are iridovirus, which seems unlikely because it was an aquacultured specimen, and I’m not sure what I should look for symptom-wise, or poor acclimation, which I’m not too sure on either, given its excellent behavior prior to its sudden death. At 0 for 3, I’m pretty reluctant in attempting this fish again, unless I can figure out what practices allow for a healthy cardinal fish or what I may have done incorrectly in caring for these fish. I had always assumed they were rather hardy fish, but based on my experience, they do not seem to be the easiest to keep alive.
I have attached pictures of the fish when it was alive as well as ones this morning.
For the third time in a row, I’ve had a banggai Cardinalfish mysteriously die on me. The first time, it made it through quarantine, but did not eat much and then died hours after it was transferred into the display tank. The second one did not make it very far in QT. This third time, I tried to do everything right, but decided to do a faster quarantine period (20 days of copper instead of a month) to ensure that it wouldn’t starve to death. Yesterday I transferred it to the display tank and it acted strange at first, but eventually began to swim around and travel across the tank. Throughout the night it was very active and acting as I’d expect a Cardinalfish to behave. Then I woke this morning to find it dead on the sandbed. Based on its appearance, it couldn’t have been dead for very long before I found it. I don’t understand why it died, however. I am currently restocking my tank after a reset, due to issues with hydrogen sulfide in the sandbed. The only other inhabitant is an orange spotted blenny. The only possible explanations I could think of are iridovirus, which seems unlikely because it was an aquacultured specimen, and I’m not sure what I should look for symptom-wise, or poor acclimation, which I’m not too sure on either, given its excellent behavior prior to its sudden death. At 0 for 3, I’m pretty reluctant in attempting this fish again, unless I can figure out what practices allow for a healthy cardinal fish or what I may have done incorrectly in caring for these fish. I had always assumed they were rather hardy fish, but based on my experience, they do not seem to be the easiest to keep alive.
I have attached pictures of the fish when it was alive as well as ones this morning.