My Black Ice Clownfish Turned Brown and Died

[Everett_Haymond]

My black ice clownfish that I've had for almost a year now just died. I am an experienced reefer and I even worked at a local shop for a good amount of time, but I just don't know what happened. He died in about an hour and a half, and I tried everything to try and get him to hang on but it was no use. My female did pick on him, but nothing that is out of the ordinary for their behavior. Before he died he started to turn a sort of brownish color and his white was completely gone when he died. All my levels are pristine and stable, there was no temperature drop or spike, and no signs of disease. I am just very confused and I want to know if y'all have any idea what could've happened.

 

[beth]

Were the clowns mated? Was this downturn sudden or gradual? Notice any areas where he'd been bitten in to by the other fish? Had the fish been eating and acting normal?

 

[Everett_Haymond]

The clowns were not mated, and this was extremely sudden it happened over the course of an hour. The reason I say an hour is because he started acting strange and hid under my rocks which he never did, and an hour later he died. All my fish are eating and he was eating right before he died. There were no bite marks until after he died because my shrimp picked at him.

 

[beth]

Very likely got beat up by female. Mostly clowns can't be together unless mated unless it is in a very large tank.