clown fish dead

[SOOstrong]

Hi, I just had my first casualty about a week ago. My chromis was missing, and when it came to feeding time he didn't come out. I found little piece of my chromis stuck to powerhead. Look like the CUC got to the rest of its body.

This morning, woke up to go to work and checked on the tank, I see my emerald crab and my blood shrimp munching away on my clown fish! Who are killing my fish? Could it be my emerald crab or did he just find the body??

this is my tank setup (including the two dead)
-55 gallon
-2 clown fish
-2 chromis
-1 damsel
-blood shrimp and cleaner shrimp
-emerald crab
-CUC

both fish were active before i found them dead and seem to eat fine. please help me prevent more casualties!

[Rybren]

My first question would be:  What are your parameters?  Temp/PH/Ammonia/Nitrites/Nitrates?

Were there any signs of disease/infection? eg. tiny white spots, rapid breathing, etc?

How old is the tank and how long have you had the fish?

[SOOstrong]

sorry i dont have the exact parameters...... salt level and temp are good. i had the tank for about 1 1/2 months now. got the clown fish about 1-2 weeks ago. the other one seems fine... although there is a questionable white spec. my HOB filter seems to make alot of bubbles.

the fish didnt look like he had trouble eating swimming or breathing.

do fish just drop dead from ich?

[Severum]

Your tank is probably still cycling. It takes longer than a month for that process to be completed.

As well, if you did not quarantine your fish its possible that they were already sick.

[gvv]

CUC is ususally taking care of already dead fish.
As mentioned above, check you water parameters, if fish you got was healthy

[Rybren]

There is a good chance that the combination of a new & cycling tank with stressed and possibly already infected fish worked against you.

5 Fish in a 1 1/2 month-old 55G tank is probably too much, too soon. (Your tank probably can't handle the bio-load yet)

I would get test kits and check for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates right away. (If you can't afford the test kits, I'm sure that your LFS would be willing to test a water sample for you)  Be prepared for a series of water changes.

[SOOstrong]

maybe not enough LR also? i got 30 pounds....

[Hookup]

without testing, it will be difficult to be very specific or positive on what happened.  if salt/temp are good, then it could be amonia, nitrite or nitrate or even pH.

without knowing those, it's impossible to say if your system is cycling... and even if it was, in most cases, those fish can run thru a cycle without issue so I tend not to think that it is a cycle-related issue... just my opinion though.

Therefore, assuming it wasn't cycle-related, the most common cause would be collection methods and shipping/transport related.  The fish were in your system for 1 or 2 weeks only, they could even show signs of agressive eating and poop'n, but their organs could have been so badly damaged they could have died from liver, kidney, etc problems very easily...  this can be caused by a great number of factors, but by far the most common is cyanide... the worst thing to happen to the trade.

IMO, if a fish dies within the first 2 weeks, and you cannot pin-point the cause to anything specific, it's a collection or transport issue more likely than not...

If you made a mistake when you acclimated the fish to your system the effects would have been much quicker... hours to a few days max...

Like everyone else, this is just my WAG without additional info...

Sorry for your loss... in the end i hope it doesn't discourage you or deaden your enthusiasm for salt water...

[SOOstrong]

thanks for your replies.... i guess ill need to invest in some test kits... what the ball park prices for those?

[Hookup]

ouch... they run about $25 each for salifert kits...

[bongo]

sorry to hear that you lost another fish and you have ich in your tank

my 2 cents... if I had to start over from stracht I would not put fish until I have all the coral and invert I want

In other words, let the tank cycled and function under the assumption that you have ich in your tank so let the DT fallow for 8 weeks before putting any fish in

I bought many books but not one of them provide the above advice 

jeez now I'm stuck waiting way more time that it would've took me if I did it the right way the first time