what killed my fish??

[nitefall101]

I’ve had this diamond goby for about 2 months in my 90-gallon reef, and he was doing great—eating well, constantly sifting sand, and had several burrows under the rocks.

About a week ago he made a new burrow under a large rock. He started spending almost all of his time there, only coming out to eat, which I had heard was normal. Then, a couple of days ago, he stopped coming out for food entirely. I didn’t want to disturb him, so I gave him a couple of days, but tonight I got worried and gently moved some sand around the entrance. Unfortunately, I found his body already decomposed into sludge.

My water parameters are good, and all of my other fish, corals, and inverts are doing perfectly fine.

Has anyone experienced something similar or have any idea what could have caused this?

 

[whalewhalewhale]

I’ve had jawfish, pistol shrimp, gobies, etc. die in their burrows over the years.

I think it’s either age or a wilder theory is that they suffocate in there. It’s a low flow high co2 region in those burrows, and although they’re more capable of surviving in those environments, they’re not invincible.