Sad Day, Lost My Male Mandarin

[bcarleton]

After nearly 2 years my male mandarin has suddenly died. After a quick post mordem I am not sure what took him out. On the outside he appears fine save for a little raggedness to the tail fin. Plenty of muscle tone and great color. Water quality check shows normal parameters. All other fish in tank look good and corals look happy. I am affraid that I may have caused the death. In an effort to lower my livestock overcrowding concerns I went thru the process of removing some fish. This meant removing nearly 100lbs of rock and the putting it back in after I was able to catch the fish being removed. I wonder if either the stress of this got to him or maybe I accidentally crushed him with a chunk of rock causing internel injuries. Ok, here is another part to the story that really sucks. He was paired with a small female that I have had for about 6-7 months now. How hard is it going to be to get her to bond with another male?

[redsea reefer]

...sorry