An unexpected death + worried about another

[eacosta]

I had a 1" clownfish die on me today after 2.5 weeks. He was in a 10g QT along with a 2" six-line wrasse and a 2" yellow watchman goby. The clownfish was very active and ate well. It happened between last night and this afternoon when I got out of work. There was no signs of disease, heavy breathing, or anything else. The fish get along well too. Really puzzled and bummed out. My water parameters (ammonia=0, nitrites=0, nitrates=0, ph=8.1, salinity=1.025, and temp=78) are all normal. The only thing I did differently was change the light cycle from 3hrs to 5hrs. I plan on having the lights on in my DT for 8hrs, so I was easing the number of hrs on up.

I am also worried about my six-line because he doesn't eat very well. I have tried cyclops, marine cuisine, and spectrum pellets. He picks at the different foods, but doesn't eat much. He spends most of the time looking for pods, which he ate already. Any suggestions on getting him to eat. He really didn't eat anything today because he used to wait for the clownfish to break up the pellets and then eat the tiny pieces.

[blackwidow]

try Live brine shrimp. If he's used to live pods then continue you that in the form of other macroscopic livefoods. Then mix it up say half live brine shrimp half frozen. That's how you get a fish to move onto frozen foods, will take time though.

[Handil]

Sometimes fish do just die. If all the Paramus are normal, then it's hard to say. If the wrasse is having a hard time, put him in the DT to feed off the live rock. Personally I would put both fish in the tank if they aren't showing disease signs and then empty and refill QT before using again. Good luck!

[Cymonous]

Try Blackwidow's advice for feeding.

And don't transfer to DT yet. 2 1/2 weeks is not enough time in a QT to show signs of disease or infection. You don't want to take the risk of spreading Ich or anything else to your DT and other livestock.

[nynick]

Could the Six line have killed him? Also, read the thread named "which fish do you most regret....." or something like that. Every other person has six line as the fish they wish they never put in their tank. They can be very aggressive.

[eacosta]

Thanks. I will try live brine and work towards frozen. I have read that brine shrimp is not very nutritious, but I guess some food is better than none. Should I start with that and then mix in other stuff slowly? Guess he just needs to be trained, which is another reason to keep him in the QT.

I observe them everyday and the six-line has never shown any aggression towards the other fish. I don't believe he caused the death, but I guess you never know.

[Sonyardo]

I've also found that finicky fish will sometimes take the frozen blood worms. It might be worth a shot.

[eacosta]

PLEASE HELP MY FISH IS DYING.

It looks like my fish has some kind of internal parasite. My clown died yesterday, now my six-line is showing serious signs of distress. They were both in the QT. My wrasse is fighting to stay upright and it looks like he has some white poop sticking out of his anus. I am learning to quarantine 1 fish at a time. I am in week 2 of prazipro (a dewormer) and not sure what else to try now. I used the prazipro as a preventative medication.

Out of desperation (go ahead and scream at me!) I took the watchman goby out of the QT and put him in my DT. The DT only has 2 snails in there and is the only place I can put him to get him away from the six-line. I guess I will find out if I was too late for him.

Any suggestions????

[Sonyardo]

Sorry to hear about your sick fish. It's a tough call, If it were mine. I would do a water change and treat the fish with an antibiotic. Many times when the fish are treated for parasites the injuries become infected or the fish can bleed internally and cause problems. Not to mention the likely hood of other parasites, Ammonia poisoning, low o2 levels. The disease forum has a lot of valuable info there to check out. Good luck

[nynick]

Try to figure out what it is over at the disease forum. If you put a possibly sick fish in your dt you might have to go fishless for a while and also maybe get him out of your dt depending on what is killing them.