# Clown and goby died



## JJason (Aug 5, 2011)

My 29G tanks was running well (another member set it up 11 month ago and came to my place 2 month ago). 
All water parameters are good. All corals are doing well. 

No algae problem. 

I had several gobies and a pair of clown, and a clean shrimp, anemone crabs, plus several snails and hermits.

Then two weeks ago, one hector gobie died, then the pair of clowns died last week, then a lemon gobie this week. I notice that 
the lemon gobie's fins looked like being eroded, but not the other fishes. 

All other live stocks are fine. A Priolepis Gobie and a tiny micro gobie are both doing well now. 

Just don't known what happened to those four dead fishes, particularly considering that the clowns should be hardy. 

Any comments ? Again, all water parameters are good (PH is lower than 8, but never lower than 7). All corals thrive.


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

Oh jeez, this makes me nervous to add livestock to mine now. Would also like to hear from any sw gurus.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Are the clowns tank-bred or wild caught? Anything new added or changed to the tank?


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## deepRED (May 22, 2010)

With salt tanks, once it's stabilized and doing well, it's best not to change anything. Changes in temperature, salinity, light cycles, even little things like adding a powerhead or changing the flow pattern can sometimes upset the balance. That means stressed fish, which makes them more prone to diseases. 
Adding new livestock can introduce new parasites which the other fish are not immune to. It could be a variety of things. 
Need more info to really find out what's going on.


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## JJason (Aug 5, 2011)

Gobies are there for a long time. The clowns were added a month ago. Some live rocks, corals, snails, hermits were added in the past two months (because the original tank was 18G, and the new one is 29G; needs to fill some space up).
Maybe the fishes were stressed given the changes. Anyway, all corals still thrive.

Do you mean that if fishes/corals need to be added, better added all at one time ?



deepRED said:


> With salt tanks, once it's stabilized and doing well, it's best not to change anything. Changes in temperature, salinity, light cycles, even little things like adding a powerhead or changing the flow pattern can sometimes upset the balance. That means stressed fish, which makes them more prone to diseases.
> Adding new livestock can introduce new parasites which the other fish are not immune to. It could be a variety of things.
> Need more info to really find out what's going on.


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## JJason (Aug 5, 2011)

Should be tank bred. They were added one month ago, and they were mature breeding pair in the previous owner's tank.



SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Are the clowns tank-bred or wild caught? Anything new added or changed to the tank?


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

As noted by DeepRed. For SW every time you add something, something may happen. Even if the livestock is happy at a member that may not mean much.

A 29g is a small system go slow. Even with my 200g system, I get nervous and watch carefully everytime add anything in.

Let you system stabilize again and add slowly.


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## deepRED (May 22, 2010)

No, I don't mean you need to add everything at once. What I'm saying is that once the tank reaches balance, it takes very little to upset that balance. 
Add things slowly, but be careful and quarantine your fish if at all possible. 
When setting up a tank, plan what you are going to stock it with, and then stick to it. Add in order of hardiness and aggressiveness, and fight the urge to overstock. 
The biggest temptation is always to add just one more thing to the tank. Sometimes you can get away with it as long as your system can support it, but a lot of the time it will cause issues.

Most soft corals are very hardy and won't be phased unless the water perimeters change quickly and drastically. They are also not affected by the same diseases that directly affect your fish. 
Fish are different in that most will get Ich or something else, so you'll see it pretty much right away when they are not happy. They also will die much quicker.

There is no one right way to do things, but this is what I've followed and been successful with. I've learned most of this the hard way, as most people who have been in the hobby a long time will tell you.

As for your fish, it's tough to say what the cause was. There are so many factors involved and no two systems are exactly alike. 
Who knows, your system may be completely fine, but the source of the fish could be suspect. Not going to get into the cyanide fish issue, but fish caught with those types of methods will look completely fine one day, and just die for "seemingly" no reason the next.



JJason said:


> Gobies are there for a long time. The clowns were added a month ago. Some live rocks, corals, snails, hermits were added in the past two months (because the original tank was 18G, and the new one is 29G; needs to fill some space up).
> Maybe the fishes were stressed given the changes. Anyway, all corals still thrive.
> 
> Do you mean that if fishes/corals need to be added, better added all at one time ?


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## deepRED (May 22, 2010)

JJason said:


> Should be tank bred. They were added one month ago, and they were mature breeding pair in the previous owner's tank.


Sorry, didn't see this before I posted my reply. Getting them from another tank where the fish have been thriving definitely improves your odds in acquiring livestock that will do well in your tank. 
However, adding other critters can introduce things that the well established fish might not have a built up immunity to.


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