Sudden QT Death Longnose Hawkfish

[sailfish1095]

Woke up this morning to a dead Longnose Hawkfish in quarantine. Not sure what went wrong and curious if others had some input.

Tank Details:
- It had been in QT for about 10 days, the last 6 of which have been in copperpower @ around 2.25ppm
- The tank was already cycled and had run a Tomini tang through without issue (100% WC after the tang/before adding the hawkfish). Ammonia is undetectable according to the ammonia alert badge
- It was eating voraciously, frozen mysis and some pellet food, I recently started feeding aquaforest liquid artemia as well and wondering if that contributed
- Hawkfish was the only fish
- Tank setup was bare bottom, in tank filter, airstone running, and PVC elbows for cover

No odd behaviors observed, although a little on the skinny side leading me to think parasites. After removal the fish appeared to be much skinnier than I was able to observe when alive (picture attached). Thoughts on cause of death? I'm thinking I should have treated for internal parasites first.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Woke up this morning to a dead Longnose Hawkfish in quarantine. Not sure what went wrong and curious if others had some input.

Tank Details:
- It had been in QT for about 10 days, the last 6 of which have been in copperpower @ around 2.25ppm
- The tank was already cycled and had run a Tomini tang through without issue (100% WC after the tang/before adding the hawkfish). Ammonia is undetectable according to the ammonia alert badge
- It was eating voraciously, frozen mysis and some pellet food, I recently started feeding aquaforest liquid artemia as well and wondering if that contributed
- Hawkfish was the only fish
- Tank setup was bare bottom, in tank filter, airstone running, and PVC elbows for cover

No odd behaviors observed, although a little on the skinny side leading me to think parasites. After removal the fish appeared to be much skinnier than I was able to observe when alive (picture attached). Thoughts on cause of death? I'm thinking I should have treated for internal parasites first.

Fish is awefully thin and known to eat eagerly may have had an internal issue such as edema in which it feeds off its liver until death

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Woke up this morning to a dead Longnose Hawkfish in quarantine. Not sure what went wrong and curious if others had some input.

Tank Details:
- It had been in QT for about 10 days, the last 6 of which have been in copperpower @ around 2.25ppm
- The tank was already cycled and had run a Tomini tang through without issue (100% WC after the tang/before adding the hawkfish). Ammonia is undetectable according to the ammonia alert badge
- It was eating voraciously, frozen mysis and some pellet food, I recently started feeding aquaforest liquid artemia as well and wondering if that contributed
- Hawkfish was the only fish
- Tank setup was bare bottom, in tank filter, airstone running, and PVC elbows for cover

No odd behaviors observed, although a little on the skinny side leading me to think parasites. After removal the fish appeared to be much skinnier than I was able to observe when alive (picture attached). Thoughts on cause of death? I'm thinking I should have treated for internal parasites first.

Longnose hawkfish are a bit of an enigma - those from Tahiti and points east do REALLY well. Those from SE Asia are hit and miss. I suspect collection with cyanide in SE Asia is the cause of that. In turn, one of the hallmark symptoms in cyanide collected fish is eating well, but continuing to lose weight until they die.

I discount the internal parasite issue because those tend to live with their host and not kill them. They don't reproduce much in captivity, (they usually have a secondary host in their life cycle) so their numbers tend to stay the same as in the wild - the fish just needs to eat a bit more to compensate for the food energy the parasite is using.

External parasites are different - they have a direct life cycle and our smaller aquariums concentrate their numbers to a fatal outcome if not treated.

 

[anthony911us]

Woke up this morning to a dead Longnose Hawkfish in quarantine. Not sure what went wrong and curious if others had some input.

Tank Details:
- It had been in QT for about 10 days, the last 6 of which have been in copperpower @ around 2.25ppm
- The tank was already cycled and had run a Tomini tang through without issue (100% WC after the tang/before adding the hawkfish). Ammonia is undetectable according to the ammonia alert badge
- It was eating voraciously, frozen mysis and some pellet food, I recently started feeding aquaforest liquid artemia as well and wondering if that contributed
- Hawkfish was the only fish
- Tank setup was bare bottom, in tank filter, airstone running, and PVC elbows for cover

No odd behaviors observed, although a little on the skinny side leading me to think parasites. After removal the fish appeared to be much skinnier than I was able to observe when alive (picture attached). Thoughts on cause of death? I'm thinking I should have treated for internal parasites first.

Possible stress