dead fish

[lawnman]

About a month ago I had a cow fish and it suddenly died. I had it for about a week and it was doing fine. I was feeding it brine shrimp and flakes. When it went to sleep taht was it, the fish was eating fine that day. I just don't know:confused:

[OrionGirl]

Cow fish are delicate fish. They aren't always captured with safe means. It could be a number of things, none of which we can answer without knowing more about your tank--how long has it been setup, what are the results of water tests, what were you feeding the fish, what tankmates are in there?

[lawnman]

At the time the mates were blue tang, algae benny along with the cow fish. I can't remember the levels at the moment, but today I test the levels and they were;
Ammonia 0.2
nitrite 0
ph bewteen 7.8-8.0
nitrate a little over 10

Is my ammonia level on the high side? I did a partial change Sunday. Thanks for the help.

[ChilDawg]

Given that ammonia levels never should be detectable, I would say that, yes, yours is a little on the high side.

[lawnman]

What do you recommend? Partial change or may be ammonia chips? I've been using black worms & frozen foods. Does black worms have a large effect on marine bio systems:confused:

[ChilDawg]

Well, first we should probably know your tank size to see if it is appropriate for the size fish that are in there. I don't think that black worms would have that much of an effect, but the tank probably hasn't fully cycled yet--which could have had an effect on the cowfish (though, as stated earlier, they aren't always collected with the, ahem, nicest of methods).

[lawnman]

believe it or not I have had it up and running for about two years now. the size of my tank is 55g.
Fish Blue Tang, algae benny, cleaner wrasse and a key hole angel

[ChilDawg]

Okay, so it is re-cycling at this moment. I think that I can do no more, since I am not the marine expert really, but I would surmise that if you've had the same fish load or higher for 2 years, then something catastrophic has happened to the nitrifying bacteria load in the last little bit.

Cowfish do release toxic substances when attacked, but I would think that your entire tank would have been wiped out at that point (due to the toxicity) and that obviously didn't happen.

[lawnman]

Originally posted by ChilDawg
Okay, so it is re-cycling at this moment. I think that I can do no more, since I am not the marine expert really, but I would surmise that if you've had the same fish load or higher for 2 years, then something catastrophic has happened to the nitrifying bacteria load in the last little bit.

Cowfish do release toxic substances when attacked, but I would think that your entire tank would have been wiped out at that point (due to the toxicity) and that obviously didn't happen.
You learn something new each day here. I didn't know your tank can re-cycle. Thanks man talk to you later.