My Fish Died!!!????

[pufferfish]

sometime last night one of my nemo fish 1.5 inches died. I just put 4 of them from the store in 2 nights ago. All four of varying sizes. The one that died wasnt even the smallest one.

All i know is that I saw him dead next to the heater. and a minute later my 1.5 inch flower crab came and ate him up. I've seen the flower crab swim up around the fishies.... but i really dono if he was the culprit.
(because if he killed the nemo.. he would have eaten it right away right?)

I also have a Yellow-tail damsel around the same size as the nemo fish, 1.5 inches. WAS it this guy?.... I was told 50 /50 that he would be aggressive.. but also that he wouldnt be. All I observe during the day... is friendly swimming... and the occaisional... threatening look ( he points himself towards a clown and goes forward.. stops.. and goes backwards.. and swims away)

Also have a mandarine dragonite.. who im 99.99 pc sure isnt the culprit.

All the other fish are fine so I didn't think it was the water levels.... im at
81 degree
0 ammonia
.01 nitrite
15 nitrate
8.2 ph
1.021 salt

 

[Oliver]

wierd, always hard to know what happened. It could be the fact that the clowns wanted to find out who was the dominant fish so they could change sex to a female, and in this way had a brawl. It could also be the crab, aswell as the damsel, don't think the dragon net did it. Did he have any scratrch marks on him?? Any nipped fins or something, or was it too hard to see before the crab ate him??

 

[pufferfish]

Oh great... i started with 4 clowns, and another just died. Throughout the day I saw him floating at the top of the water, but right side up, and showed its ability to swim down when I reached for it. But i noticed white scratches on him?... then few hours later, dead.

 

[Max]

To be honest it's just as likely to have been another of the clowns as anythign else in the tank? I really hope that they are all the same sort or you'll likely have some big problems. Clowns and Damnsels are really closely realated and they are all fairly aggresive fish so it's likely that one of it's compatriots caused the problems either by not letting it eat or beating up on it. Was the one that died 2nd largest by any chance? If so you probably had 2 girls and they don't get on well with each other at all.

 

[JosephMCorbett]

Off topic, but pufferfish, your tank is not a 40g. 36X18X18 is a 50g. You may already know, but if not...what a surprise. Nobody wants to hear they have a smaller one, but when it's pointed out to be bigger than you thought...you feel pretty good (lol).

 

[pufferfish]

whhatt.. lol are u serious about my tank?.. how funny.

i had 4 clown fish all of different size 1, 2 , 3, 4 (small to large)
first to go whas 2, and then now 1 died.

Now the big guy, number 1, has a BlOATED, cloudy right eye... I checked all my levels which are still stable at
0 ammonia,
0 nitrite
15 nitrate
high alk

Just that my PH is at 8.6

I thought I had enough ph buffer as my 110 lbs. of sand bed is made of calcium carbonate... so how do i get my levels down to 8.2 again?

I'm hoping the PH is the only thing causing the stress on the fish.... but the other clown fish is fine, and the mandarine is fine as well, same thing with the inverts.... its seems like my guys are getting picked off one by one.

 

[Max]

hmm, sounds like it might have a case of pop eye to me. Sometimes it's collection issues but, usually with clowns it's a bacteria. If you have a hospital tank I'd remove it and treat before the infection ,"if that's what it is and not a war wound." You can tell if it's a war wound by the way from abrasions etc. Other wise treat to prevent spread.
hth
chris

 

[pufferfish]

i dont have a hospital tank =/, i checked him this morning and the swelling tore off and his eye is revealed... almost looks normal again.

What should clown fish look like when they swim?... my clowns like going against the current just like i read, and like many people said... but it looks like they are having a VERY hard time... not swimming straight.. almost diagonally.