Gasping Lion and Tang?

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OrionGirl

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Aug 14, 2001
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Came home to find the blue tang and lion both lying on their sides, breathing hard, and not eating. No physical signs of any problem (on the lion--the tang is buried in the rock, and we can just see his mouth). Nitrates are less than 10, ph is 8.2, temp is 80.1, sg is 1.024. No one else appears in distress, ccorals are out and happy, inverts are scrambling around like normal, trigger is swimming his normal laps.

Setup: 2 65 gallon tanks and one 50, plumbed together with a 20 gallon sump. Lion is in with the trigger, LR, DSB, and caulerpa, tang is in the reef with LR, DSB, a blue damsel, a bicolor angel, engineer goby, and a mandarin dragonnette, mix of crabs, stars, etc. In the process of doing a water change.

Any ideas what could be going on here? I'd hate to lose either...We're about 2 weeks away from upgrading the tanks for these 2 fish.
 

MonoSebaelover

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Apr 20, 2001
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I am assuming knowing you Orion no Nitrite and Ammonia, so possibly pump failure, or electricity in the water by somehow (maybe the trigger biting a cord of some sort), or increase in temp, or....or......or, oh man I am out of ideas. I will try and think some more and repost if I get any other ideas. Anyway, hope this helps and hope they do okay. It is horrible and very frustrating when something goes wrong with a well established fish and no idea why.
 

OrionGirl

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Aug 14, 2001
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That confirms one thing we just tested--there was about 1 volt of electricty present. It's grounded out now....Hoping that helps.

The grounding probes have been on order--which has been delayed in shipping for 3 weeks due to the lights also on the same order.
 

OrionGirl

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Aug 14, 2001
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Nope, Dave, nothing new added to the system in quite some time. And, any additions would be unlikely to affect them both--the water is combined, but goes through the sump and pumps before mixing...Doesn't exclude the possibility of a parasite moving between tanks, but without anything being new....Seems like a long shot.

Sigh. There isn't much that I've been able to find documenting the effects of voltage on fish---other than electroshocking in streams. :shake:
 

mogurnda

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Apr 29, 2003
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Missed the part about 2 separate tanks, doh!

I am just a bit dubious about the stray voltage affecting those two fish so rapidly, but leaving the others unaffected.

Good luck. I hope they're better by morning.
 

OrionGirl

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Aug 14, 2001
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Yeah, I'm not sure about that either. They are the largest fish in the tanks...Not sure if that's relevant? The tang is a regal, and he was stunted when we got him, and is about 6 years old now, while the lion we've had for 3 years, about 9 inches of fish (not the tail and fins), from a little tiny guy no bigger than my thumb.

This sucks.
 

DEmigh

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Dec 5, 2003
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Food poisoning?

Is there anyway that a cat (or the like) can get above the main tanks, or the sump, and knock something in that might be taken as food? My regal tang is the most voracious feeder in the tank and will strike at anything remotely bite-sized in the water. I presume (dangerous, I know) that a lion would do the same.

I'm grasping here... best wishes for your fishes.
 

Triggerman

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Jun 2, 2003
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I had a heater explode on my pred tank in the middle of the night.
My girlfriend instantly smelled it as she is the lightest sleeper I have ever known,what a curse.
Had a six inch eel,two and a half inch para oxy.damsel and a very large lion (6"that I had had for quite a while,dwarf fuzzy.
The eel and damsel layed on the bottom for a couple of days.
I lost the lion that night and watched him die.
I still miss leo he was way cool.
 
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