Did they starve?

trippclark

trippclark

Member
I am depressed
and confused :notsure:
I lost two of my three fish this weekend and can't figure out why. Water quality is good. Inverts seem to be fine (shrimp, brittle stars, snails, crabs, corals).
I fed them on Thursday evening. I usually feed daily -- occasionally I will skip a day. I was out of town this weekend though, and they did not get fed Friday or Saturday. When I came home Sunday afternoon my Flame Angel was STUCK TO A POWERHEAD!! I quickly cut it off and he swam off, but he was clearly injured (tail was badly bent). I put him in the QT, but as expected he died the next day.
Also, I have not seen my Royal Gramma since I got home. I know that they like to hide, but he is usually pretty active, so I expect that he is dead. I need to find him and get him out if possible.
My only remaining fish, a Percula Clown, seems fine (but lonely).
I saw no visible signs of disease or parasites on the angel.
I had figured that they would be okay for a couple of days without feeding given critters and algae on the live rock -- not a lot, but I thought they'd be okay.
So, is it possible that they starved that quickly, or do I need to be searching for other culprits?:help:
 
benj2112

benj2112

Member
I don't think they would have starved in two days. Quite a few books I have read say it is better to just let the fish be for a few days then put them in the hand of an inexperienced person doing the feeding while you are gone.
I only feed once every other day and I have read posts of people feeding less than that(once or twice a week). With lots of critters and algae around I would think they would have been fine.
I would start looking in a different direction.
 
trippclark

trippclark

Member
Thanks folks, for the prompt replies. I guess I'll re-check all of the parameters one more time tonight. I am really puzzled. The angel is (was) a new addition, relatively. I QT'd him for two weeks and he had been in the main tank about 10 days. The gramma had been with me since October. They were doing great when I left. I'm so depressed
 
misty927

misty927

Member
Maybe they missed you and committed suicide...? All joking aside...I hope you find the gramma!! Sorry about the angel... :nope:
 
trippclark

trippclark

Member
I re-checked all of the parameters last night. NO2 at 0 and NO3 at the lowest level on my test kit; so at or near 0. CA at somewhere over 300 (I have tried 3 different CA test kits and still can't find one that I can read reliably, but that's another issue), KH at 11. PH at 8.3. SG is 1.024. The only thing that was out of whack was Phosphates, which were around 2.0. I think that high PO would cause hair algae, but not fish deaths. By the way, still no Gramma. I expect that he has become food for crabs and brittle star by now . . .
 
trippclark

trippclark

Member
I don't think so. They've been living together for about half a year. Maybe they had a falling out with each other! I don't know. It is wierd. I just can't imagine why I'd lose two fish in two days with good H2O? I know that the powerhead and the stress of being caught for hours or longer is what killed the Flame Angel, but I don't think that a strong and healthy fish would get drawn into a 160GPH powerhead, so I think that something else weakened him.
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
Please move lr around and look for the gramma. I thought my brittle at my damsel, but we found him in some lr. If the fish decays in your tank it might cause an ammonia spike.
If posible, use a different test kit to test the water. If your test kit is expired, you may get the wrong readings.
 
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