dante411x March 5, 2014 March 5, 2014 Some of you may have seen my "cut off" thread, but I have a problem now. The main reason I got landed in the hot seat for buying too many things was because I got two new fish from QR a couple weeks ago. And now they've both died.. One lasted a week, the other lasted two. First was a CBB that was from another WAMAS member's tank and the other a banggal cardinal. Both were eating at first, stopped eating for a day and then died. All other fish in the tank are doing great. Eating, swimming, happy.. All water parameters check out fine. I haven't started any new additives or anything of that sort. All corals are growing and doing great. I'm at a loss here. I had contacted QR after the CBB died and only got that maybe my acclimation process was too stressful. I do a 2hr drip acclimation, but I triple the water in the container, first 30 min slow drip, second 30 min faster and last hour is a fast drip (also, there was ALOT of water that the fish came in). Any thoughts? I'm kinda pissed that $150 of fish just died for no reason that I know of.
YHSublime March 5, 2014 March 5, 2014 That's a really long drip process, that's my 2 cents. What are you water levels?
zygote2k March 5, 2014 March 5, 2014 My 99% success rate method- 1) Float bag on surface till temp is same. 5 mins. 2) Open bag and add a cup or two of tank water, repeat for 2-10 mins. depending on fish. 3) Remove fish from bag and drop in tank.
howaboutme March 5, 2014 March 5, 2014 Not saying the acclimation is the culprit but I don't acclimate that long anymore either. I drip (usually inverts) until salinity is the same for no more than 30 to 45 mins....If the salinity is not matching fast enough, I adjust my drip rate. Drip acclimating for 2 hrs may affect temp, assuming you're not sticking a small heater in the bucket.
zygote2k March 5, 2014 March 5, 2014 CBB's are known to fare poorly in captivity and honestly shouldn't be removed from the ocean. You bought a risky fish. The Cardinal could have been random fish death or tank mate aggression or fish doesn't feel comfortable.
dante411x March 5, 2014 Author March 5, 2014 Water parameters are all 0 I didn't notice any problems with the cardinal until he didn't eat yesterday. Didn't have any aggression issues either. Possible that he got stung to death by one of the lps at night? CBB was in another wamas member's tank for a year, and another month at QR. I can't think of the name of who it was. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
dante411x March 5, 2014 Author March 5, 2014 The butterfly was acting a bit sluggish for the whole time I had it. But it was eating for the first 4 days. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
sachabballi reef March 5, 2014 March 5, 2014 That's a really long drip process, that's my 2 cents. What are you water levels? wow I agree.
dante411x March 5, 2014 Author March 5, 2014 I mean.. Start with a gallon of water. Fish were in there for 20 min at the time, 10 min drive home, 10 min floating. Then for the first 30 min I add another quarter gallon of water, in the next 30 min half a gallon and in the last hour about 2 gallons. It's not a half cup of water, that's why I took my time. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
sachabballi reef March 5, 2014 March 5, 2014 My 99% success rate method- 1) Float bag on surface till temp is same. 5 mins. 2) Open bag and add a cup or two of tank water, repeat for 2-10 mins. depending on fish. 3) Remove fish from bag and drop in tank. I do this if its a hardy fish...if it is a sensitive one I will do a drip until the PH and salinity match the tank or 30-35 mins as by then its close enough and time for the fish to get into the tank.
dante411x March 5, 2014 Author March 5, 2014 That's a really long drip process, that's my 2 cents. What are you water levels? expanding on "all 0" ammonia - 0 nitrite - 0 nitrate - 0 temp - 78.1-78.3 throughout the day ph - 7.8-8.0 can't seem to bring it up higher than that yet.
surf&turf March 5, 2014 March 5, 2014 I believe the CBB came from Old reefer. It was nice and fat when I saw it. Are the other fish in your system doing ok?
sachabballi reef March 5, 2014 March 5, 2014 I might be missing it but what size tank is this? what other fish do you have? How old is the tank?
dante411x March 5, 2014 Author March 5, 2014 I believe the CBB came from Old reefer. It was nice and fat when I saw it. Are the other fish in your system doing ok? That's the one I might be missing it but what size tank is this? what other fish do you have? How old is the tank? it's a 210 tank. Total water volume is 280g It's not old.. Which is probably not a great thing. I've been exercising that patience thing for a while Other fish are - Yellow tang, blue tang, 2 clowns, dwarf angel, two gobies. All fish are small (1") all are doing fantastic.
YHSublime March 5, 2014 March 5, 2014 The Copperband is no surprise to me. My copperband grazes on pods all day long, and all night. It's the reason I try to feed 3x a day. Their success rate is not fantastic, Rob is correct. To jump from an old established system like Old Reefers into a brand new one (don't get me wrong, so is mine still...) was probably quite a shock. Don't mistake eating with actually taking food into it's mouth, and then spitting it out. On top of all of Jenn's questions, what are you feeding?
surf&turf March 5, 2014 March 5, 2014 Sounds similar to my experience. I lost 2 tank raised clowns like this. They get listless, very little appetite if any, breath really fast, no ich present that can be seen, and die the next day.
dante411x March 5, 2014 Author March 5, 2014 That sounds about exactly like what happened. I didn't notice faster breathing, but I wasn't really looking for it either I feed a mix of things. Some flakes and some pellets, formula 1 and 2 mainly. Frozen spirulina brine shrimp and frozen mysis. Emerald entree sometimes as well. As well as putting one of those circle algae grazing things once in a while. Sometimes I soak in selcon, sometimes in garlic, sometimes in nothing. I get the spitting out part. But when I say it was eating I mean it would go after and eat 20-30 brine or mysis during feeding. I would watch it eat them all and not spit anything out.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
dante411x March 6, 2014 Author March 6, 2014 Just to add to what I feed. I don't feed all that every day lol. Just a mix out of that range of stuff once or twice a day. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
lutz123 March 6, 2014 March 6, 2014 I agree with it probably being the acclimation process. 2 hours is extremely long for a fish. Was it acclimated in a bag? I ask because the ammonia spikes once a bag is opened, and I also remember someone saying that something happens chemically. I have bag acclimated with no problem though. My prefence is 30 minutes to get temp and salinity close - then dump. Were the salinities much different to start with?
dante411x March 6, 2014 Author March 6, 2014 5g bucket. Salinities weren't, but ph was a bit. I've done this with all my fish. Well, to an extent. Went overboard with this one cause I wanted the cbb to be happy and stuff. I've heard of the ammonia spike. But after only 20 min in the bag, can it really be so bad? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
sachabballi reef March 6, 2014 March 6, 2014 what exactly is the definition of your tank age "its not old"
dante411x March 6, 2014 Author March 6, 2014 5 months since it's finished cycle or so. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
surf&turf March 6, 2014 March 6, 2014 The good news is that this doesn't seem to spread. The rest of the fish in my system are fine. The stress from being in a 5 gallon bucket for 2 hours may have contributed, but I don't think so.
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