[Sudsy]

I am sorry to hear about all of your bluespots, used to have one myself many years ago. He was happy and healthy, eating like a pig one day and the next he looked terrible, and died. After this i began researching the fish on Reef Central and soon discovered about a hundred or so people who had similar expeirences. These fish are extremely fragile despite what some web sites may say. Even the Monterey Bay Aquarium has had serious difficulty keeping these fish long term, the longest they have kept them in a species specific tank was two years. There has been a lot of ideas why these fish have such a high mortality rate, yet nothing has been proven. In talking to a importing friend of mine a couple of years ago he told me that Mexico had stopped the exportation of the fish because of low numbers and that any fish seen in the hobby had been smuggled out, which could offer some ereason for thier high mortatlity rate. Again this was a couple years ago, so i believe the band has been lifted. Others speculate that maybe there is some sort of creature that lives with the fish in the wild which helps it in some way stay clean of parisites. (Many people reported seeing mysterious white spots on there fish,not ick as well as discoloration of the skin, from the pictures i've seen from various people it all looked the same) My LFS once imported 50 BSJF about 2.5 yrs ago, he told me about 10 died in his tanks, and every other one he sold to a customer later died also. For this he said he would no longer import or sell them. The only real solid info that has been found with the help of hundreds of hobbiest and biologist from the Monterey Bay Aquarium is that these fish come from temperatures much lower that almost all hobbiest keep there tanks. The biologist at Monterey bay said he keeps his at 72 to 75 degrees. This has been most succesful for him any higher and the fish begin to die. Maybe the high temperature speeds up the metabolism too much and the fish begins to digest itself to stay alive. If you would like more info try searching over at Reef central for the thread about BSJF, i thinks its about 30or 40 pages long. It has been coined as Blue spotted jawfish Diease. One thing i would absolutely do is lower you tank temp if it higher than 75. This may help your fish. Also i would like to point out that this is all information that i have obtained through other boards and websites, It is not just my opinion. ANd i am in no way trying to critisize any of you. I suggest to all of you to stop buying them until more information has been obtained about the needs of these fish. Not only are they a precious animal with a very small natural range, but they are also extremely expensive as i am sure most of you know. But buying them when they have such a poor survival rate is unfair to you and the fish. You should all try to find out what happened to all of your fish and maybe you could help add some info to this puzzle. Maybe compare tank specs, temps, other inhabitants, and most importantly behavior when healthy, and behavior and apperance if or when the fish became sick, as well as how long the fish lived for.
Oh and please forgive me if these topics and information have been discussed i really wasn't up to reading through all 25 pages.

Best of Luck, Mike