- Joined
- Feb 25, 2020
- Messages
- 30
- Reaction score
- 11
Hi everyone,
I'm floored.
I wanted a Melanurus Wrasse for a few months, and it showed up at my trusted LFS and so I bought him and brought him home, acclimated, and dropped him in the tank. I know quarantine is suggested, but I have no way of doing that before I renovate the house and I've been buying livestock from this LFS without issues.
Anyways, he dived straight to the sand, and burried right next to a rock with euphylias. So far, so good, as I expected him to hide as soon as he entered the display tank.
Next morning I saw him all active and swimming around, picking at rocks, and responded very well when I fed the tank mysis. When lights started to fade he went back to the sand.
Following morning I didn't see him and thought "well, that's odd, maybe he's not used to the tank light cycle yet, or just not rested enough", so I waited for a couple of hours and fed the tank mysis again to see if I could get him to pop out of hiding and nothing happened.
A few hours later I find my bristle worms eating away his gills as he was dead at the back of the tank.
The rest of the fish seem fine, active and eating well.
0 Ammonia, 0 Nitritate, Nitrates fluctuate between 5 and 10, phosphate is 0.12, alk is 8 dkH, salinity is 1.025 and temp is 78.8 F (26 ºC).
For sand dwelling creatures, I only have a sand shifting sea star. I have other CUC such as a scarlet hermit, turbo snails and a lot of pods and bristle worms.
The only tank creature that I think could harm him is a very big BTA, but I don't think I would be seeing the full fish body if that was the case.
I'm very sad with this loss as I've anticipated this fish for a while, and I don't know what happened. I've been hit with velvet before and it is heart shattering, but at least you know what is happening and can try to save your fish.
Any idea on what might have killed an apparently healthy fish.
Photo attached of the dead fish. Whitish dots are grains of sand, and redness on gills are where the bristle worms were eating away at it.
I'm floored.
I wanted a Melanurus Wrasse for a few months, and it showed up at my trusted LFS and so I bought him and brought him home, acclimated, and dropped him in the tank. I know quarantine is suggested, but I have no way of doing that before I renovate the house and I've been buying livestock from this LFS without issues.
Anyways, he dived straight to the sand, and burried right next to a rock with euphylias. So far, so good, as I expected him to hide as soon as he entered the display tank.
Next morning I saw him all active and swimming around, picking at rocks, and responded very well when I fed the tank mysis. When lights started to fade he went back to the sand.
Following morning I didn't see him and thought "well, that's odd, maybe he's not used to the tank light cycle yet, or just not rested enough", so I waited for a couple of hours and fed the tank mysis again to see if I could get him to pop out of hiding and nothing happened.
A few hours later I find my bristle worms eating away his gills as he was dead at the back of the tank.
The rest of the fish seem fine, active and eating well.
0 Ammonia, 0 Nitritate, Nitrates fluctuate between 5 and 10, phosphate is 0.12, alk is 8 dkH, salinity is 1.025 and temp is 78.8 F (26 ºC).
For sand dwelling creatures, I only have a sand shifting sea star. I have other CUC such as a scarlet hermit, turbo snails and a lot of pods and bristle worms.
The only tank creature that I think could harm him is a very big BTA, but I don't think I would be seeing the full fish body if that was the case.
I'm very sad with this loss as I've anticipated this fish for a while, and I don't know what happened. I've been hit with velvet before and it is heart shattering, but at least you know what is happening and can try to save your fish.
Any idea on what might have killed an apparently healthy fish.
Photo attached of the dead fish. Whitish dots are grains of sand, and redness on gills are where the bristle worms were eating away at it.