Aiptasia Eating Filefish - Help!

[JustTheGirlfriend]

Well folks, she didn't make it.

I was hopeful last night when I saw her picking at the sand a little around "her spot" in the open area at the back of the tank, though was only for about 5 seconds and not long enough to tell if she was poking around "normally" or off-balanced. Still no other fish were bothering her or picking on her.
...But woke up this morning to the boyfriend with bad news. Found her stuck on just a circulation vent on the back wall of the tank not breathing. My boyfriend tried a quick freshwater bath as a last ditch effort, but still no breathing and no parasites came off of her. He measured her though since we got her with the tank and had no clue on her age... She's about 3.25". So pretty much fully grown... Hoping it was peaceful and old age. RIP Frack, the prettiest and most vibrant personality of an aiptasia eating filefish I've seen. <3

Included a pic where she can been seen from a distance swimming around from the bottom left of the tank to photo-bomb our pup-tank photo.

 

[jerrod]

Sorry to hear that. A Filefish of that type being that large there is a chance that it was full grown and possibly passed due to age.

 

[fishguy242]

sorry to hear agree natural cause,happy reefingsea ya around the reef ,smile doggy spam

 

[Llyod276]

Yup looks like mine (Mortimer) is doing the same thing. He's never like this. All the other fish are fine. No spots. Maybe a little gasping. As if movement tires him out. But then again he goes into movement bursts and then 10secs he's laying down again. His coloration near as I can tell is his resting coloration. 50/50 green/white. In the videos, he's up and about but slow in the second he's propped on a frag just chilling. He's been in the tank ~a year. Got some new test kits coming tomorrow, my old ones ran out. Maybe the clowns got him. Seeing some damage to the front fins, maybe ...