What happened?!

[OCDP]

I bought a purple firefish yesterday from the LFS, and some frags, came home.. put the fish in, and it did it's normal firefish thing (went and hid) .. which was fine.. it did that for the entire night .. looking fine. I wake up this morning and it's dead... mouth wide open, body all still intact... but dead... I am so mad, and I have no idea what caused this.

If anyoen could help me out in figuring out what may have done it for him that would be great... I'll start off by saying paramaters are fine.. all other fish are fine... etc... it was housed with 2 true percs (who dont leave their anemone for nothing) and one yellow watchman goby.

I am so mad :bad-word: ...

Scott

[Gools]

Do you know how long it was in the fish store for before you bought it? Only guess I can think of.

[Ruth]

How long did you acclimate (sp) it? LFS quite often keep their SG quite a bit lower than we do in our reef tanks thus requiring a longer period of adjustment.
Fluvals, in my experience, can be nitrate factories - have you done a low range nitrate test?
Again it may just be one of those things. Was it eating and acting normal in the LFS?

[OCDP]

The fish was in the store I'd say for about 2 days... 3 tops. My nitrates have always been very low.. below 5 , closer to 0.

It was acting normal at the LFS, and in my tank when introduced.

Ahh I guess crap happens sometimes , but I didn't even get to see the fish out in the open.. what a bummer

[Jaws]

Could have been cyanide caught. It usually takes a few days for that to kill a fish. Not discrediting your LFS. They can't even tell most of the time.

[Bob I]

It will be one the great mysteries of life :sad: I am certain you did nothing wrong. Firefish can be very tough, or very delicate.

I lost two Royal Grammas the same way. I put them into the tank, and they dashed into the rocks never to be seen again. At the time I used to wonder about Cyanide too. I have never lost a fish that was at the LFS for a week or two.

[StirCrazy]

I lost twi Royal Grammas .

:mrgreen:

Steve

[albert_dao]

It was pretty strange since I've lost none of those purple firefish. even the runtier looking ones.

Anyone have any other ideas?

Scott's tank is very stable.

[Reefhawk1]

You might want to test the LFS water parameters before you add your fish to your tank. Also the shock of the change in temperature from the bag water to your tank could also kill the fish. Another possibility is that it was severly stressed before you bought it, if it was only in the LFS system for a couple of days without quarantine the shock of comming out of a bag after a long shipping period then being introduced to their system at the LFS with unknown acclimation period and then to your tank a couple of days later sent this little guy into a stressful situation.

Sorry to hear for your loss and I hope you find another firefish that thrives in your aquarium.

[OCDP]

I did float the bag and adjust temp. and so on... I guess there is no sure way to know what did it...

Anyways... I picked up a lawnmower blenny last night instead..

He seems to be adjusting well... hiding still, but hopefully after work I'll see him out in the open.