Another stocking issue...

[ArcEyedHawk79]

Greetings all...
I am sad to report that my lawnmower blenny died today :( He would not eat anything except the algae in the tank (tried flakes, marine algae flakes, frozen marine algae, blood worms, squid, brine and mysis shrimp, even bought some fresh shrimp from the grocery store and chopped it up...) Everyone else loved the efforts (well the grocery store shrimp went uneaten...)
Then he stopped eating. Talked to people in 3 fish stores (that's how I ended up with all that fish food!) He had no outside marks (no weird spots, fins looked fine etc.) and everyone else looks healthy (although sadly everyone seems to be "looking" for him.)
He was breathing very heavily and was sitting on the bottom of the tank. That was when our power went out for a day (Thanks Isabel). When the lights came back on was when I noticed he was worse for wear. :(
Sigh.
So my question now is if anyone has had any long term luck with lawnmower blennies (I had mine for about 3 months), or should I think about some other kind of fish.
ANy suggestions anyone? I have a peaceful tank so no meanies!
Anyone have any idea what happened to my blenny?

[ArcEyedHawk79]

Well after I tried Nori and both kinds of flakes I got a little desperate to just get the little guy to eat...
I figured anything was possible after I saw my shrimp eat shrimp for dinner...

[DgenR8]

This fish is an herbivore, and I'm not surprised that he was not interested in the meaty foods that you tried.
The usual question to ask when someone looses a fish is How is your water? What test kits do you use? and was there any other fish terrorizing it?

[ArcEyedHawk79]

Everyone in the tank gets along very well. About the only aggression in the tank was the blenny being a little mean towards my hawk who would sit there and yawn at him. All the water parameters were surprisingly good despite the power outage... ph is 8.2, the nitrites were 0, nitrates were really close to 0...temp stayed around 78...salinity is 1.023...

[DgenR8]

First, I should say I'm sorry for your loss, I get really attached to my critters, and I know how it feels to lose one :(

You did leave out one very important test, ammonia. And what kits you use, and how old they are. If you're testing with old kits, you could be believing things are good, when they might not be.

[ArcEyedHawk79]

the ammonia was at 0 ppm (knew I forgot one...) I am using the saltwater master liquid test kit that I bought in June of this year from a fairly busy aquarium store...
Did a double check on everyone... no one else seems to be in any trouble either... just begging for more food...