Pipefish died after only a few days?

[NStuart]

Hi all, I got a dragon faced pipefish on the weekend (five days ago) and came home today to find him dead on the sand. Levels checked on Sunday were all good, he had been eating, both the pods in the tank and I was supplementing with baby brine shrimp. Can anyone suggest what might have happened? I'm worried I starved him to death or something, even though I fed him 2x a day on top of the pods in the tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi all, I got a dragon faced pipefish on the weekend (five days ago) and came home today to find him dead on the sand. Levels checked on Sunday were all good, he had been eating, both the pods in the tank and I was supplementing with baby brine shrimp. Can anyone suggest what might have happened? I'm worried I starved him to death or something, even though I fed him 2x a day on top of the pods in the tank.

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

It's really impossible to say conclusively what might have happened. The five day time frame is short enough that it may have had a pre existing issue from capture and transport. However, the fact that it settled in and was eating tends to lead me to some other cause.

Did you see it actually eating the brine shrimp?
Who were its tankmates?