Lionfish died...

[agoailam]

i lost my Lion this weekend...
it had been happy & healthy for about 6 months (eating brine, silversides and even flakes) & then, went under a rock & died. :cry:

Chemical tests showed all levels were fine, and there was nothing to suggest my Tomato Clown was harrasing him. They ignored each other mostly. The clown is as good as ever.

--> 2yr old 30g FOWLR tank... i've had the clown the whole time, but can't seem to keep other fish alive for too long.

[matrixnyc]

What about the water temperature? I have had some problems in the past with water temp fluctuations affecting my fish and killing some?

Just an idea :)

[agoailam]

I have one heater set at about 78*F which translates to about 76*F overall tank temp. (it's near a rather drafty window).

[Pineapple House]

Sorry about your loss!

Any signs of disease on the fish at the time you saw it dead? Diseases can easily kill a fish, esspecielly when it's un treated. Internal diseases can also occure. Usually most of these are caused by some stress in the tank. How big was the lion fish? A 30 gallon seems quite small, if you are talking about the larger lions, such as the Tail Barb. Dwarf Lions should do fine in a 30 gallon, but as they reach there maximum leangh, they would do much better in something such as a 40 or 50 gallon tank. Lions can be hard to spot diseases on, same with frogfish. I would say it got a type of disease. Clownfish are related to the damsel familiy, and resistant to some diseases.

PH =)

[agoailam]

It was, in fact, a Dwarf Lion...only about 3-4" long.

I didn't see any outward signs of disease. And, like I posted earlier, my water tests didn't show anything weird. As far as disease goes, maybe it was... but the fish was eating & acting fine until less than 2 days before he died. :shrug: So how else can you tell if a fish is sick when they don't show stress, etc.?

That's why I don't buy expensive fish. :?

[phistio]

it's only an assumption, but if there were no outward signs of disease, i can only suggest that your lionfish starved...or rather was mal-nourished

i'm aware that you say it was eating, but the question is was it eating healthy? lionfish require foods that are high in amino acids, as well, they require meaty foods. personally i belive the best diet for lionfish are live feeder fish. even rosies soaked in amino vitamins would be healthy.

it's only my opinion that the lionfish was not getting enough nourishment from the silversides, brine shrimp, and flakes...but to be honest, anything could have been the culprit...there could have been one of thousands of factors to lead to the lions death...

also...if it was indeed a dwarf lionfish, who knows...maybe it had reached it's life expectancy...the fish may have been some 5 years old before you even got him...and he just died of old age...

sorry to hear of your loss :cry:

i just lost a blennie :cry:

[agoailam]

You may be right... I dunno.

I'm just wondering why I can't seem to keep anything alive other than my lil Amphiprion.

How much feeding is enough? LFS sez no more than once a day... flakes bottle sez 3 times a day... silversides had no directions....

What do you guys/gals do?

[Pineapple House]

I would try to be feeding it sparingly throughout the day. Live foods, such as feeder fish, silver sides soaked in amino vitamins or garlic, etc. would be good feeding. It's best to feed very small amounts throughout the day or food, rather than one giant feeding. Try to alter the foods a bit (not alot, but a bit!), so one specific food doesn't overrun the others,and the lion would be a varried diet. The flake would be best fed small amounts twice a day, along with the other foods.

PH =)