Q: What’s Worse Than Finding A Dead Fish?

A: Finding half of a dead fish.

Yeah, it’s an old joke but relevant when the head of one of the beloved baby clownfish bobs past, carried aloft by a happy crab.  I knew Gomez wasn’t long for this earth on Saturday morning, as he was wall-seeking and his stomach looked as though it had been cracked like an egg.  I have no idea what could have done it – it wasn’t bacterial, as he was eating and behaving normally the night before and within eight hours was oozing from his broken side.  There has been no evidence of a mantis shrimp in the tank but I’ll be darned if it didn’t look as though his chest wall was impacted from an outside force.  Maybe he got caught in a strong current and knocked against the rocks, as there’s no fish in the tank that is large enough to injure him.

He’s the second fish lost in a week.  One of the members of the Slime-atron collective decided to strike out on his own and forge a future for himself.  On the carpet.  Unwise, little 3-of-6, most unwise.  I installed an acrylic baffle across the back of the tank after the last carpet-diving incident (hush) and he must have jumped, hit the light fixture, and got knocked sideways so he missed the opening in the acrylic on the dismount.

I’ll let the tank adjust another couple of weeks before replacing them.  I just added some nice SPS clippings and I don’t want to screw with the bioload all at once.  And I’m not sure what to do about replacing them… my favorite LFS announced last week they were going out of business on September 30th, and my second-favorite store has opted to not renew their lease.  They just can’t compete with the selection and prices available online.  I’m as guilty of buying online as anyone (although I do have a policy of buying something whenever I visit a LFS, even if it’s just a jar of food) so I can’t complain, although I am pretty bummed out.

~ by KBSpangler on September 28, 2009.