What happened to my Green Chromis?

[Jim Barry]

I have heard that Green Chromis have a tendency to die in the tank for no apparant reason and that over time a school will slowly dwindle away to none.

I have had a school of 5 fish for about 4 or 5 months now...

I came home tonight, and for no apparant reason, I found one Chromis dead in my overflow, one dead at the bottom being eaten by crabs, one hiding in the rocks, one I can't find...... and only one healthy one.

It was like a suicide pact..... I don't get it.

All the other fish are fine, water parameters are okay

Any ideas?


Jim

[Jim Barry]

I found the missing one, swimming near the bottom. It looks like the blue and yellow Damsal is trying to kill it.


?????

[AJ_77]

Suicide pact, hmmm... you may be onto something, Jim.

My own theory involves the lack of a constantly available food source that closely mimics what they would naturally get. (Whatever THAT is...) Maybe they just don't adapt well to such a different feeding regimen than the constant nibbling they do in the wild, and eventually it takes its toll.

Mind you, if anyone has a chance to be feeding tiny amounts almost continually it would be yourself, wouldn't it?

[Jim Barry]

[Jim Barry]

I just lost another chromis ...... that is 3 in 3 hours

and my sailfin tang is hiding up beside my powerhead.

water parameters are

ph....8.35
sg.... 1.025
alk 13
calcium 450
temp 80
ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 0

I am running carbon and did a major water change last week.
I have a grounding probe and am running .026v in the water


I am running out of ideas

[G1GY]

Could something else have died in there? You know how box fish and puffers are?(I know you don't keep these, but maybe something else?) Do you have a dead body of something nuking the place maybe?

Just a thought.

[Jim Barry]

everything is accounted for..... my peppermint shrimp and cleaner shrimps and crabs are fine. I thought the shrimps would be the first to go if something was wrong in the water. My ammonia is 0.

[G1GY]

Originally Posted by Jim Barry

everything is accounted for..... my peppermint shrimp and cleaner shrimps and crabs are fine. I thought the shrimps would be the first to go if something was wrong in the water. My ammonia is 0.

I was more thinking along the lines of something that might release a toxin when it's dead(or threatened). (Amonia would show up later.)

Just a guess.

[Jim Barry]

I have been watching and for some reason tonight, one of my damsals is really aggressive !! Maybe that's the problem. I don't understand why it would start suddenly tonight. It also doesn't explain why my Sailfin is hiding deep in the rocks and not moving very much.

[Jim Barry]

After a year and and half..... my Sailfin just died as well. In a matter of a hour, she started jerking and twitching and swimming upside down. she died within minutes.

I have now lost 4 fish in 5 hours. I did notice her gills were quite red before she died.