Peredhils fish are dying

could be bacterial or viral or internal parasites
no outward signs of any infection which makes the deaths mysterious to you

recent tank changes, disruption may have added stress to infected fish and this pushed them over the edge

If the mandarin is eating blood worms and I assume getting the most, it would have been more likely in my mind had that fish passed away 1st

Steve

 

i dont think it is the food either....it is probably your clowns bullying them and become dominant. damsels can become territorial suddenly and begin pushing other fish out.

 

I think that's something pretty noticeable...don't you think? About the clowns bullying? I would have to say there was something bad about the bloodworms, but since your mandarin was the one who ate the most...don't you think he would go first like steve said?

Zach brings up a good point about the carbon. Two weeks could be plenty of time for some little toxins to build up enough to kill some fish. But then again...you did do a water change recently.

Man peredhil...what a conundrum!! Sorry about the fish.

Just a though, is there any nutritional value to the bloodworms?

 

Hey Peredhil...You have a perplexing issue. I know you dont really believe in water changes, and that is not the point of this post. But...I would do a couple of large ones, like 50% for 2 weekends in a row. Just to rid or dilute whatever the hell might be in there. Sorry for your heartache, but don't give in. I have gotton alot of good advice from you.

 

I use those same blood worms and never have had a problem. Also, I know your feeling pretty bad and frustrated about this, but venting at Dr. Frag isn't the answer, he has loads of personal hands on experience and has helped me with things I would never have thought of.

As to your problem, have you had the fish a long time? Recent additions can take up to a month or even more to fully adjust to your tank. I also agree with Steve in that it could be a parasite of some sort.

 

well... I am thinking and I do put in effort. the insinuation otherwise is rather annoying. leaving it at that.

mandarins are a bit different from other fish in a lot of ways... so I don't necessarily think a particular food making one set of fish sick but not it is really that unrealistic. I don't think it's a given, mind you, but I'm just thinking this fish might be different... and that it's possible. don't really know though.

I've had the wrasse for about a year. The blenny I got after I built my "fish wall" so that had to be in the July/August time frame...


Both fish appeared perfectly fine but the mandarin actually has a nipped tail (noticed 2 weeks ago) that has been growing back. I did lose a Royal Gramma some time back due to clown bullying... that RG was pretty messed up though. It was pretty obvious it was a fight.

It has me leaning away from aggression, but those clowns are evil so I can't rule that out either...

but two within days of each other... I don't know, that's what really gets me.


My understanding on the toxins has been you'll notice their precense by your coral health first... I haven't read any stories about them impacting the fish first... is my understanding wrong there? I don't even remember how i came to that conclusion.


Corals are all fat and happy. Everything is fully open and doing well. I'm actually impressed with the health of my corals.

A few days before this I started thinking about giving the mandarin away (I can't seem to get it back out of skinny stage).

With the wrasse gone, it might have a better chance (I liked the wrasse more than the mandarin) so I'll keep it. But maybe I'll still get rid of those dang clowns and just have a mandarin (and a replacement blenny). Coral are easy, fish are a pain.