Green Chromis dying off

Poonaka

Member
I seem to have terrible luck with Green Chromis. I originally bought 5 and over the weeks they died off until only 1 was left. They all disappeared without a trace. They all seemed healthy and were eating before they disappeared. My water params were fine.

Anyways months passed and I decided to give the remaining Chromis some friends. So I added 5 more. I'm now having die off problems again. They slowly 1 by 1 disappear. However this time I found 1 still alive sitting on the sand. He had some red on the back of his tail. Almost like he was missing some scales and had a bad rash. When I came back later to check up on him, he was gone without a trace.

So I'm wondering what to do with the remaining. Are they being affected by some disease? Anyone else run into this problem?
 

seafansar

Well-Known Member
Chromis tend to kill each other off until there is only one left. I bought a group of 5 and they did this too. They would kill each other at night until I only had one left. They literally tore the gill plate off of one. It was pretty horrible. Do you have other fish? Did the chromis show signs of disease?
 

Poonaka

Member
Chromis tend to kill each other off until there is only one left. I bought a group of 5 and they did this too. They would kill each other at night until I only had one left. They literally tore the gill plate off of one. It was pretty horrible. Do you have other fish? Did the chromis show signs of disease?

They all seemed healthy. They were there looking fine in the evening and gone without a trace in the morning.

I have a couple of Ocellaris clowns, a yellow watchman and a blue tang. I also have a BTA and a LTA. Everyone seems to get a long fine when I'm watching them...
 

DBrinson

Member
I wonder if we are thinking about the same fish. I had a school of chromis viridis and they were very peaceable, non-territorial, social, hardy fish. In fact, I consider this species the pinnacle of reef safe fish considering those four qualities.

I had only one problem with mine .... they like to "jump". And they would most often do so at night, within an hour after the lights went off.

Do you have ... a cat or a dog who might pick one up off of the floor?
 

Poonaka

Member
I wonder if we are thinking about the same fish. I had a school of chromis viridis and they were very peaceable, non-territorial, social, hardy fish. In fact, I consider this species the pinnacle of reef safe fish considering those four qualities.

I had only one problem with mine .... they like to "jump". And they would most often do so at night, within an hour after the lights went off.

Do you have ... a cat or a dog who might pick one up off of the floor?

Yup that's the fish. Chromis viridis - Green Chromis

I have a lid on my display so it would be very difficult for them to jump out. I do have a cat so if they did manage to escape... My watchman managed to ride the overflow into the sump once but I haven't seen any Chromis down there.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
It is also possible you have an unwanted hitch hiker such as a mantis shrimp. They would kill them off little by little. Do you hear any unusual clicks or snaps in the tank especially when the lights are out?
 

Poonaka

Member
It is also possible you have an unwanted hitch hiker such as a mantis shrimp. They would kill them off little by little. Do you hear any unusual clicks or snaps in the tank especially when the lights are out?

I guess that's possible. I haven't heard any clicks or snaps.
 
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