Clown Dead, please help me find out why =(

Tank stats are:
75g, wet/dry filter w/protein skimmer.
55lb LR
Ammonia, Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5-10ppm
Salinity: 1.025
77 degrees
pH 8.2
4 Months old

Stocked w/3 yellowtail damsels, 1 6-line wrasse and the 2 clowns in question.

So we bought a pair of tank raised clowns 2 weeks ago, one small medium, along with a long tentacle anemone that they never went near. I woke up on Saturday to find the larger clown swimming upside-down, sideways, etc at the top of the tank. While we've only had the tank for 4 months and I've never seen a fish die, I was pretty sure she was a goner at that moment.

We watched her for a little, clueless, and took her out and placed her in a bucket once she settled at the bottom of the tank...and the other fish started nipping at him. She died within a few minutes after sitting at the bottom of the bucket. All the other fish were fine looking.

The only thing I could notice on the dead clown was that she had what looked like red, internal bleeding on her back third of her body. You can sort of see it in the picture. I asked around at the LFS and everyone was clueless, as usual. They seemed to think that a rock fell on her and caused trauma, but none of my rocks have moved, or that the anemone stung her, which didn't make much sense to me.

She hadn't been eating the day before, I was feeding Rod's food along with some hikari pellets.

I have an idea that maybe someone can comment on, I had left the rod's food out on the table on accident a few days prior for about 45 minutes, where it completely thawed. I threw it back in the freezer and didn't think much of it. I continued to feed the fish with it, but it did seem to smell rotten and I couldn't remember if that's what it normally smelled like. Could this have caused an internal infection or something?

On Monday I woke up to my squirt clownfish dead on the powerhead, which was depressing. Nothing had ever gotten stuck on that for 4 months, and I would like to think it was because the little guy died before he got stuck to it, but who knows. I think he committed suicide because his wifey died He had been wandering the tank since her death and looked so lost.

So this is my sad story, if anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it - I looked through all the pages in the disease forum with no luck.

Sorry for the wall of text.

As another side note, the damsels and wrasse are still alive but don't seem to be eating :-/

Edit: forgot to post pic

Left pic shows redness, right pic is other side of fish which seems normal,

 

Sometimes these things just happen mate - sorry for your loss

But just to add - i dont think you tank is mature enough for an anemone. Good luck with that

 

I am also super sad because it was a misbar clown

 

That's what everyone says, but I use RO water and have been keeping the params pretty tight. He's been happy so far.

 

It probably is fine for now. The problem with young tanks is that parameters are not rock stable. Your params are good now, but what if a fish should die in the rockwork? With a tank that is say a year old nothing would probably happen other then the cleaners get a meaty meal.
But if that should happen in a young tank you would amost undoubtedly have a few spikes - which in turn would kill the anemone which would then screw you water right up.

Just my opinon tho - good husbandry and you probably will be ok.

 

I agree with phoenixhieghts in general but I have to say I am one of the lucky ones who got an anemone early and it's still alive and thriving. I got it my seabe when the tank was three months old, at the time I read also that seabe's don't usually do well and many people don't keep them alive past a month or two. It's been almost 9 months for mine! I think maintaining your tank in general and keeping good stable water conditions is the key. I also had a clown die, never found it though, died in the rocks somewhere a few months ago. Anyway it's not a great idea to get one so early, but with care and lucky you might be okay!

 

Hello Glaekenn, After reading your post, let me say this, it seems (if I got the time line down) the Yellow tails were in there for awhile before the clowns. This can always cause a problem when fish such as Damsels are mixed in a tank and when some are put in after others have established themselves. I would venture to say that the Yellow tails bullied the clowns at night because of territorial disputes. If you are planning to keep the BTA, what lighting do you have? You need adequate light for them. If you want a tank mate(s) to replace the clowns, a Royal Gramma will do nicely and/or a Coral Beauty.
For the future, here is a compatibility chart (not exhaustive but a general idea); Marine Compatability Chart

 

Unclejed, you're right that the damsels were in there for much longer than the clowns - but they never did seem to bother the clowns. I never saw them pick on the clowns at night, either, but the clowns did sleep strangely at the lower front of the tank.

Thanks for the fish suggestions, but my wife seems to really want clowns. Do you think putting clowns in there is a bad idea with the damsels? Are they going to be territorial vs any fish I put in there?

Oh, and I have t5 lighting.

 

The only cause I can remotely think of would be the damsels. Clowns are really tough fish...I've met someone who found a few members of her livestock on the floor in front of her tank (for whatever reasons...can't remember why) and everything was dead on the floor except for the clowns, which were sucking air. She was able to get them back and they are still alive today.

Damsels, however, are aggressive fish. I hate it when people suggest cycling a tank with a damsel. Don't cycle a tank with a fish you don't want to keep, and it is common to hear of damsels bullying other fish until they die.

I would wait a few weeks and try the clowns again. Possibly even remove the damsels. IMO I just don't like those fish.

Sorry for the loss!

 

if you are going to keep damsels, it's always for them to be the last addition in the tank.. if the damsels are added first, it's always a hit or miss with them and they can potentially bother fish a lot larger than themselves, all in all, get rid of the damsels! many more nice fish out there than the damsel pests!! ppp MY VERY BIASED OPINION ON DAMSELS BECAUSE OF THE TROUBLE THEY GAVE ME!