I have a question that may seem out of the ordinary and I would like to hear your responses based on your theories or experiences....
It seems, for no good reason sometimes a fish will be, in what appears to be excellent health and in a matter of 24 hours, that very same fish....dies.
Since I began this hobby 3 years ago, if I have learned anything, it is how to keep my water "perfect". I can not think of the last time I tested any of the 7 or 8 qualities that we as reefers feel the need to concern ourselves with and found a less-than-perfect reading.
I have spent TONS of cash making sure that I do not take shortcuts and try to provide the best 155 gallons of marine environment, possible.
This post is being spurred-on by the death of my Foxface I have owned for about a year. "Foxy", as I call her, was full of life and the star of my tank. Always the first to greet me each morning and a real piggy at dinner time. She had not an enemy in the tank and seemed to really enjoy her surroundings.
As I type this, Foxy is not doing well. She is propping herself against the glass, breathing slowly and rapidly changing from her normal bright yellow, to a faded grey. I have lost enough fish in this hobby to know when the end is near. Soon I am certain, she will perish.
It seems as if death comes for no good reason. I made certain not to purchase from any LFS that gathers fish from places that still cyanide fish. I even went so far as to inspect their paperwork which explains just how they were caught. I have bought every fish in my tank from the same LFS for 4 years. The deaths seem random in occurrence. Some have been in my tank for 3 years, others live 6 months, others live 3 weeks.
In your opinion, what is causing the death of these fish if you can discount water quality and general aquarium husbandry? I have never had a fish with ich or any parasite that I know of. I quarantine for at least 60 days each time I purchase a newbie. Each time a fish dies, all the others (including coral) seem fine.
There just has to be something I am missing. Luck of the draw? Stress upon transport?
Or is it that fish are just suppose to live in the ocean, and not in our living rooms in a glass box? Or is it no matter how hard we try, we will never be able to replicate the qualities of the ocean. Some fish adapt to their new "artificial" homes, some don't.
Insight please....
It seems, for no good reason sometimes a fish will be, in what appears to be excellent health and in a matter of 24 hours, that very same fish....dies.
Since I began this hobby 3 years ago, if I have learned anything, it is how to keep my water "perfect". I can not think of the last time I tested any of the 7 or 8 qualities that we as reefers feel the need to concern ourselves with and found a less-than-perfect reading.
I have spent TONS of cash making sure that I do not take shortcuts and try to provide the best 155 gallons of marine environment, possible.
This post is being spurred-on by the death of my Foxface I have owned for about a year. "Foxy", as I call her, was full of life and the star of my tank. Always the first to greet me each morning and a real piggy at dinner time. She had not an enemy in the tank and seemed to really enjoy her surroundings.
As I type this, Foxy is not doing well. She is propping herself against the glass, breathing slowly and rapidly changing from her normal bright yellow, to a faded grey. I have lost enough fish in this hobby to know when the end is near. Soon I am certain, she will perish.
It seems as if death comes for no good reason. I made certain not to purchase from any LFS that gathers fish from places that still cyanide fish. I even went so far as to inspect their paperwork which explains just how they were caught. I have bought every fish in my tank from the same LFS for 4 years. The deaths seem random in occurrence. Some have been in my tank for 3 years, others live 6 months, others live 3 weeks.
In your opinion, what is causing the death of these fish if you can discount water quality and general aquarium husbandry? I have never had a fish with ich or any parasite that I know of. I quarantine for at least 60 days each time I purchase a newbie. Each time a fish dies, all the others (including coral) seem fine.
There just has to be something I am missing. Luck of the draw? Stress upon transport?
Or is it that fish are just suppose to live in the ocean, and not in our living rooms in a glass box? Or is it no matter how hard we try, we will never be able to replicate the qualities of the ocean. Some fish adapt to their new "artificial" homes, some don't.
Insight please....
