dead fish

lawnman

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Mar 2, 2003
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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:
 
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?
 
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.
 
Given that ammonia levels never should be detectable, I would say that, yes, yours is a little on the high side.
 
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).
 
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.
 
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.
 
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