clown sudden death

[kdwal]

Tuesday I purchased a sm. True Perc Clown. I watched him in the tank at the LFS for a long time before I brought him home. He was small but appeared healthy. Slowly acclimated to my tank and he immediately took to the RTA. Both the clown and the RTA seemed happy, RTA opened up fully. Tonight I came home and he was swimming around the tank looking good, the back to the RTA, and out to the open again. I fed sm amt of Formula 1 and he appeared to pick at it a little, the Purple pseudo came out to eat (those were the only 2 fish in the tank). I left the area and came back 10 min. later and my little clown was dead.
I immediately checked all water parameters which were good.
pH 8.4, Ammon. 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate between 5 and 10, SPG 1.023.
There is a little algae on the substrate, but otherwise things look clear. Only other's in the tank are the snails, crabs, shrimp,
Sandsifter.
Any thoughts on this? Was he just too small? He didn't appear stressed or sickly then.......bam, dead? I'm confused.
pseudochromis still looks good.


Kathy

 

[iamjosh]

I had that happen with a Powder blue tang, though i think he was stressed..

Bum deal kathy.

 

[kdwal]

I would be more upset if that happened to a Powder Blue Tang.....so sad.
My little guy was so cute......I was hoping to see him grow up.
My first loss, the RTA is looking a bit sad now too.......

Kathy

 

[kevinpo]

It's possible the Dottyback killed him. They can be very aggressive and torpedo their victims. Sorry to hear about your loss. How long did the LFS have the clownfish?

Regards,
Kevin

 

[kdwal]

The Dottyback has been pretty shy thus far, peeks out of the rocks occasionally but spends most of its time in or behind the rocks so far......I guess it is possible he did the damage when I wasn't looking then darted back to safety, and he is bigger than the clown. Spoke with the LFS today and they hadn't had them for very long, so I am thinking it might have just been too much stress for the little guy. Part of the learning curve I guess,
Thanks for the condolences.....
By the way, Kevin, you have some very impressive tanks and other goodies.......if I lived in your area, I would be hanging around all the time!!!! I'm jealous of your tight knit community with all the others on this sight, you all appear to have great friendships and a lot of fun. I feel like a loner here in Denver, haven't found the area community here.
Thanks for your time,

Kathy

 

[Alice]

Hi Kathy;

I don't know if this club is in your area (I didn't look for details) but here's a link. http://www.rockymountainreefclub.com

Hanging out with fellow reefers is a blast

 

[kevinpo]

Kathy,
If the LFS didn't have him for very long I would lean towards stress too.

I have the best customers for sure. 6 of them showed up Monday morning at 9 AM to carry in my new tank. How cool is that!

Regards,
Kevin

 

[kdwal]

Thanks Alice, I have not had time to look around for a local club since I started this project and I have been very content with this site.....lots of friendly & helpful people. I have learned alot from you all in a short amount of time.........I will check out the site a little further, appears a lot of folks are from TX. If I do find a local, I will still keep visiting here.....
Kevin, If I am ever in the area, I will stop by and say "hey"

Kathy