scallops: trick or treat?

[NancyD]

I tried my loaches on scallop bits last night. The clowns, sids & striatas loved it & ate up all I gave. I don't think the pangios & corys even tried it.

This morning I went to take out the leftover zucchini & saw a bit of white I thought was scallop but OH NO it was from one of my clowns, dead, completely covered in a sheet of slime. He seemed to be stuck under a projecting rock angle & the small gravel. It didn't look like he could really be trapped, the space wasn't tight, they can easily shift the gravel & the rock is very secure.

Is the white slime very adhesive & he was "glued" in place? I think if the scallops were bad in any way more fish would be showing signs. Freak accident during a food fight? I don't know.

I changed 50% of the water & added extra Prime. All the fish seem to want to hang out near me & each other but fighting a bit too. I may do another water change later. No ammonia test but he wasn't dead too long. I'm sad.

[andyroo]

Sorry to hear. Sounds like bad dumb luck- the fish either got stuck or something similar. Slime takes a little while to accumulate and tend to be for physical and stress related insults rather then digestive or disease dramas.
Might have been stuck there for a little while and own slime suffocated 'im.
did the slime stink (badly) when you took the poor little dude out?

[NancyD]

Thanks andyroo. A bit of stink but not what I expected from what I've read here. Made me think he hadn't been dead long, well only ~12 hours from scallops to finding him. Going on vacation soon & don't need a tank melt-down to worry about, survivors & I are still nervous.