2 Pearly jawfish dead within a month of each other!?!?!?!?!

OK - first off I have had jawfish for many years as they are pretty easy fish to take care of as long as they have a covered tank and a deep sandbed SO about 5 weeks ago, one of my pearlys right after its first feeding of the day became very lethargic and within 24 hrs was dead. I couldnt figure it out? There was no trace of any disease, was doing great until the feeding and even ate like a pig but like I said within 1/2 hr or so of feeding, was breathing very heavy and would not pop out of his burrow at all just kind of staring off into nowhere. My initial thoughts were maybe it was just old and it was it's time BUT 3 weeks later, my other pearly (which was a pretty new fish - had for apx 3 months total) was doing the exact same thing right after the first feeding a few days ago and was dead within 3 HOURS!!!! Now, what are the chances of the exact same thing happening to the exact same fish within a month of each other!?!?!!? I feed my fish frozen mysis, spirulina brine, and live amphipods when available. the rest of my tank is fine with this combo as well and the first jawfish I kept for a few years so i know it couldn't be a nutritional thing SO does anyone have any clue as to what could have happened? The only way to describe the symptom was it looked like it was having difficulty breathing with it's mouth wide open before death. I hope this is enough info!!

thanks!!

PS - I've been reluctant to getting anymore until I can at least get some kind of clue as to what has gone on

 

that sounds incredibly "fishy" to say the least, anything wrong with them before they died? did you notice any mis-coloration or maybe something just not right with either? im no expert to say the least, but maybe some type of parasite, disease, infection, or some other means of illness that would only infect the species. granted that is a wild guess but maybe you have some type of organism in your tank you do not know about.

do you have anything else in the tank?, and whats the story on the tank, params, how old, things like that.

i hope we can be of some help to you.

 

I have a few green chromis, 1) mandarin, 2) scooter dragonets, 2) barnacle blennies, 1) flasher wrasse, and 1) oscellaris clown with anemone. Params are fine and no signs of any parasites or disease. Now i know i'm reaching but it almost seemed like they were choking and not able to breathe - could it be that they over ate or got a small rock/shell stuck? i know they burrow and are used to placing rocks in their mouth but thats what the symptom seemed like and with both it seemed to happen right after the feeding - hope that helps

 

Just a question, since only your jaw fish have been affected---could there be something wrong with your sandbed?

 

not sure what could be wrong but I guess it's a possibility

 

i dont think it was your feeding, mine is doing the same thing yours did right before they died and I am positive it is not related to feeding. He's still alive right now but I have no idea what to do! Should I remove him and treat him in a q tank? I really want him to make it but he doesn't look too goo.

But like you said, wasn't showing signs of disease, then stopped coming out of burrow for about a day, now he has his head out and breathing heavily.

 

WTF is going on!! this is crazy, what tpes of sandbeds are you guys using? also what types of jawfish are we talking about.

 

YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING!!!! Someone else with the same thing!?!?!?!?! WOW!

This is the fish we are talking bout - Saltwater Aquarium Fish for Marine Aquariums: Jawfish, Yellowhead

I still have not replaced mine with any new ones because I'm still concerned something is up but as of last night all tank parameters are fine, all other fish, coral, etc are doing excellent - so WTF now!?!?! the sand I use is a combo of the 3 listed here.Aquarium Substrates: Nature's Ocean Bio-Active Reef Sand and Reef Substrate I also have a good amount of small snail shells that the jawfish used to help build their burrows.

 

thats pretty much almost exactly what i used. I have the black substrate in the bottom, and basically the same top layer; the reef sand and what not. Not the same brand for the live sand, but maybe its the type of substrate? I mean, i figure the reef substrate is great for them since this is where they live in the wild. But if it is the sand, why is he sick now? I've had him for about 4 months no problem.

 

well, could it be that there were some bad "pockets" in our sand beds? I heard that if you dont stir your sand bed every now and again, these pockets build up ...well i dont know what, bad things? and a burrowing individual can be harmed from finding such a bad spot?

I am completely going out on a limb here, but i think i remember reading that in a setup guide. Not sure, if anyone can prove or disprove this, please do.