Dead fish!

lopeyc

Member
I am so bummed. I got two fish in the past month (from this site) and one died within a week and the other with in three weeks. Not good. Now I'm trying to figure out why. Here's some facts:
-- the fish that died were a fridmani and a royal gramma. the former went missing, the latter expired on the sand soon after I found him gasping, with what might have been a bit of subtle fuzz (bacteria?) around his face.
-- I have tons of inverts (crabs, snails, shrimp) who are doing well, a good skimmer, tons of live rock (100lb in a 55) and so I don't suspect water quality.
-- I do have some pushy fish. I say pushy instead of aggressive, because they don't seem to bite anybody but they are very intimidating at feeding time. They are: a coral beauty (also new), and two fish I have had for maybe 8 months, a yellow tang and a maroon clown.
My fear is that the fridmani and the gramma starved, despite my best efforts to disperse food beyond the Big Three. Is this possible?
Could I just be the victim of bad luck? Or should I not anymore fish to this tank?
Thanks for any advice.
 

dburr

Active Member
The first problem I see is the fish will fight each other. They look similar and my guess is the dottyback attacked the the gramma. Those 2 cannot be housed in the same tank unless it's a big tank.
And before Bob comes around let me say it first "add plant life" maybe it'll bring them back.:hilarious

Sorry for your losses.
 

lopeyc

Member
when the fridmani went missing, i did some research and found that the gramma might have gone after him. but then the gramma died about 10 days later, so it seems unlikely he also died of wounds -- and there were no bites or tears on his body.
thanks for replying.
 

mary

Member
Royal grammas are tough fish. Territorial, they cause abuse on themselves from any other territorial fish, or vice-versa. How new is your tank? I lost my gramma after years to a six-line wrasse who would not let up abusing the gramma. Don't believe what you read about six line wrasses or Mimic tangs. The Tang is now governing the tiny bi-color blenny. Won't let it eat algea. Can not catch it. If yoour tank is new, sounds like way too many fish for a new tank. Rock needs a lot of time to really become live with-good bacteria and the like. Was it cultured rock or rock brought in from the ocean?
 
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