Swalesi Basslet died

[Dudefish82]

Hi All,

I just bought a swalesi basslet my dream fish and acclimated him. Was dead stuck on powerhead 4 hours later. At the same time I bought a naoko fairy wrasse whos eating and swimming around well from the same store. The tank is a 25 gallon with lots of rockwork. Inhabitatants are only 2 clowns, 1 ruby red dragonet and 1 azure damsel (peaceful for now). No one really cared about either of them when I put them in. Tank has been established for 1.5 years.

Any ideas why this happened thought they were meant to be a hardy fish. Also, something to note in the store the swales basslet i chose first when the store owner bagged him he suddenly had like a seizure and turned upside down inside the bag so, he released him back to the tank and the fish seemed to go back to normal after a few mins. I chose the other one which seeemed fine when bagged and bought home but I guess not. These guys been in the store over a week and were eating

 

[Dudefish82]

Hi All,

I just bought a swalesi basslet my dream fish and acclimated him. Was dead stuck on powerhead 4 hours later. At the same time I bought a naoko fairy wrasse whos eating and swimming around well from the same store. The tank is a 25 gallon with lots of rockwork. Inhabitatants are only 2 clowns, 1 ruby red dragonet and 1 azure damsel (peaceful for now). No one really cared about either of them when I put them in. Tank has been established for 1.5 years.

Any ideas why this happened thought they were meant to be a hardy fish. Also, something to note in the store the swales basslet i chose first when the store owner bagged him he suddenly had like a seizure and turned upside down inside the bag so, he released him back to the tank and the fish seemed to go back to normal after a few mins. I chose the other one which seeemed fine when bagged and bought home but I guess not. These guys been in the store over a week and were eating

Also tank parameters.

salinity 1.025
pH 8.3
Alk 8.3
Nitrate 2 ppm
phosphate 0.05
ammonia 0
caclium 450

All consistent because tanks a sps tank

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi All,

I just bought a swalesi basslet my dream fish and acclimated him. Was dead stuck on powerhead 4 hours later. At the same time I bought a naoko fairy wrasse whos eating and swimming around well from the same store. The tank is a 25 gallon with lots of rockwork. Inhabitatants are only 2 clowns, 1 ruby red dragonet and 1 azure damsel (peaceful for now). No one really cared about either of them when I put them in. Tank has been established for 1.5 years.

Any ideas why this happened thought they were meant to be a hardy fish. Also, something to note in the store the swales basslet i chose first when the store owner bagged him he suddenly had like a seizure and turned upside down inside the bag so, he released him back to the tank and the fish seemed to go back to normal after a few mins. I chose the other one which seeemed fine when bagged and bought home but I guess not. These guys been in the store over a week and were eating

Sorry to hear. that is almost surely something called "capture myopathy" - fatal stress from the capture/transport of the fish.

Sounds like it got hit with the net, stunned for a moment, but then died later on from internal injury. I would contact the dealer. If you followed their acclimation instructions, they should cover your loss.

 

[Dudefish82]

Sorry to hear. that is almost surely something called "capture myopathy" - fatal stress from the capture/transport of the fish.

Sounds like it got hit with the net, stunned for a moment, but then died later on from internal injury. I would contact the dealer. If you followed their acclimation instructions, they should cover your loss.

Thank you for the feedback. Do you think all the other remaining basselts have the same "capture myopathy" they seem to just get super stressed and shocked suddenly

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you for the feedback. Do you think all the other remaining basselts have the same "capture myopathy" they seem to just get super stressed and shocked suddenly

Any fish can die from this if not handled properly. Poorly trained staff are a common cause, but even well trained people can have a fish die from capture - the fish runs into something in the tank while being chased around.

I don't know if this species is more prone to stress than some others, but I suspect so - they live in caves and rarely need to rush away to avoid predators, so they aren't adapted to evading nets without a lot of extra stress.

Now, that said, there are issues with fish where they are already stressed from something else, disease, cyanide capture, tank issues, and then, even minor stress from capture can be fatal.

 

[Dudefish82]

They seem fine in the fish store, should I just wait a bit longer till they get better or just wait for a new batch.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

They seem fine in the fish store, should I just wait a bit longer till they get better or just wait for a new batch.

If the store still has some from the previous batch, and they still all look good, then getting one of those is preferable than getting one from a new batch that could have new/different issues. Just watch the person catching it up and if they chase it around too much, put a stop to it.