Fish of death

[red lobster]

In my 120 gallon tank I have a box fish(spotted) a yellow cow fish and a pygmie lionfish. I have heard that when these fish die their toxins will polute the tank if not removed immediately. What's the skinny on this one boys & girls?

 

[liongirl]

OH my that sounds awesome i love all of those fish.
Is the box fish a type of puffer? I thought i heard one of the puffers called a box fish once.
I envy you ... i hope to have those fish one day

 

[red lobster]

this fish is not a puffer. it's skeleton is rigid. they have no scales either and can secrete poison thru their skin if harased by other fish.
I heard a story of someone getting pricked by their lionfish(? species) after they returned from emergency, everything in the tank was dead. What's more , after changing all the water any new adition to the tank died.
fact or fiction?
I'll get you some pix later liongirl

 

[krazykarel]

The spotted boxfish is the "most notorious" for leaking out that lovely substance known as "ostracitoxin" especially when he is not doing too well. If you see him being bothered (stressed) by the other tank inhabitants remove them or him...or if he is dying you need to move him.
(Info taken from Scott W. Michael's, Marine Fishes)

 

[lionfish]

LionFish says......
Yep, Boxfish are rather tricky species to keep alive and well. That toxin is lethal to other fish and well, just about anything else in the tank. I had a guy tell me that his whole $3000 tank with killed by the toxin exuded by his Boxfish.My advice to most people is just not to get them if they are worried about the toxin. You had better keep good wtare quality and make sure those other fish don't harass it or it could be a disaster. Just a fair warning though. Your Cowfish can do it too. So you gota big mess if anything ever happens. However, all the fish you have in there are very docile for the most part and coexist well together so no real worries there. Just keep good tank paramaters and all will work out fine.

 

[pufferlover]

The others have answered you well all I can add is I had the experience of having a small cowfish go bad on me and yes it did kill everything in the tank. If I were to do one again I would put it in with just a fish or two of like manners. They can grow quite large tho (up to 15-16" in the aquarium) that is a big fish, altho I have never seen one that big. My book does say that Cowfish in domestic tanks do not reach the very large size they can in Public Aquarium tanks.

 

[pufferlover]

The others have answered you well all I can add is I had the experience of having a small cowfish go bad on me and yes it did kill everything in the tank. If I were to do one again I would put it in with just a fish or two of like manners. They can grow quite large tho (up to 15-16" in the aquarium) that is a big fish, altho I have never seen one that big. My book does say that Cowfish in domestic tanks do not reach the very large size they can in Public Aquarium tanks.