what should happen

I recently had a double death. I lost a green chromis. I also lost a blue leg hermit. The fish died of an injury not a disease. It appeared he got himself caught in a filter. When I saw him in the morning he had what appeared to be a cut on his one side. the cut seemed to match the grates on the inlet to the filter area on my tank. He lived for 2 days but died yesterday. Not sure what happened to the hermit. Found him following the current out of his shell. My thinking is he got his shell stuck in a hole in the rock. crawled out and died. Never found the shell.

Anyway my question is this. Should I have seen any changes in water chemistry? I performed tests yesterday(the day the dead were found) and again today. I did not get any increase in ammonia, nitrate, nitrite. The chemistry stayed constant. My tank is only 5-6 weeks old. I thought for sure something was going to change. Other fish and hermits doing well.

Is this a good sign or a bad sign or just normal? Any input would be appreciated.

Tony G

 

your chromis wouldnt have had time to rot and release ammonia. and the hermot is so small, not a big affect. and also, sure the hermit you seeing isnt just a molt? i really think you dont have anything to woory about T

 

No he was a floater.

 

the chromis or hermit?

 

Not sure how long the fish was dead. It happened while at work. Did not seem to be all falling apart though

 

Both.

 

youre fine. and youre just basically gettin done your cycle. i had a hermit die just after mine finished too

 

Thanks for the input. For future reference, how can I tell if it is just a molt. I took the crab out and put him on a napkin. No movement at all. He was also being "blown" all over by the current.

 

usually with a molt, it looks exactly like the real body, just a lot thinner and hollow. no meat kinda thing.

 

if you find a crab dead and you still seem to have as many crabs alive as you did before you found the dead one

it was a molt

Steve