3 New Fish Died

[nitr8]

Now to try and help, did you see the initial spikes? Unfortunately, I didn't start recording the test results until 7/25. I see you said they were reading zero, just wondering if you ever saw them not be zero. Yes, I tested daily until they were zero. That seems like a very short cycle, did you add live rock? I agree, very short cycle but I only used about 5 lbs of LR the other 70 or so is marco rock, which is why I used the chromis. No nutrients, no cycle. Are your test kits expired? Nitrate was but was replaced. I had a test kit consistently show zero even though I could visually see some of my corals looking off. I ordered a different brand and found it was off. Couldn't hurt. Do you recommend a brand?

What kind of QT process are you using? It sounds like you are adding directly to the tank. This can work, however it puts your entire tank at risk and doesn't let you quickly treat for disease if you do find something. Something that quick that only impacted the three fish would leave me to believe a swing in ph or salinity. I wouldn't think disease at least initially because you would most likely see some signs.

I have a QT tank waiting to be set-up. I still need a few things.

 

[stpauli914]

I hatch brine shrimp to feed to my fish.....Poor little shrimpies

Sorry for your fish loss. No one has really asked but what did they look like when they died? I don't think you stated and I have read the whole thread I believe....

 

[nitr8]

I hatch brine shrimp to feed to my fish.....Poor little shrimpies

Sorry for your fish loss. No one has really asked but what did they look like when they died? I don't think you stated and I have read the whole thread I believe....

The shrimp and starfish fought over the gramma and dragged it under a rock so I didn't get a look at that one but the two clowns looked fine. Straight body no visible issues. All three died within an hour of each other.

 

[Harriscli]

WOW. Pretty extreme to say the least. So it's not okay to use a chromis to cycle a tank (which costs $5, doesn't get much cheaper than that) but it is okay for the masses to attempt a school of chromis regularly and in most cases knowing they will end up with only one or two at best. I'd be willing to bet that at least one of you who are bashing me have done this, if not all. If you want to get extreme, what about the poor mysis shrimp or krill you sacrifice to conveniently feed your fish on a daily basis. I mean really? How far do you want to take this? What makes this even more ridiculous is this has nothing to do with the issue at hand. If you want to start a "Let's save the world, one fish at a time foundation" than please do so else where.

There are a lot of things a man can take a stand for. You are taking a stand for hurting or killing animals when for less than a dollar you can use an already dead shrimp. Can you please tell me why you feel this method is better? There might be a reason that changes my opinion.

 

[Harriscli]

I usually use API for cycle since its cheap. Taking a complete a complete guess here I would say what happened is:

1. You never fully cycled the tank. The fish didn't put off enough ammonia to cause new bacteria to grow quickly. The live rock you has was enough to sustain the bioload. When you added the three new fish the bacteria wasn't able to handle it. Only problem with this is I would expect other things to be impacted to. I guess an argument could be made that the new fish were already stressed and that's why they couldn't handle it.

2. There was some disease at the lfs and these fish were already goners. I would be a little surprised if this was the case as well. Unless there some side effects I don't Renee reading about.

3. God is punishing you for the way you cycle. Lol- sorry had to

 

[anbosu]

Of all the scenarios, I would guess that your test kit is bad. It seems pretty unlikely that you'd have three fish die and no ammonia, nitrate, or nitrite in the tank.

It's also possible you killed them with your acclimation, although that usually happens a little quicker, I think.

Disease is unlikely in my opinion since your other fish are ok.

 

[nitr8]

Of all the scenarios, I would guess that your test kit is bad. It seems pretty unlikely that you'd have three fish die and no ammonia, nitrate, or nitrite in the tank.

It's also possible you killed them with your acclimation, although that usually happens a little quicker, I think.

Disease is unlikely in my opinion since your other fish are ok.

How would you have acclimated different? More than an hour?

 

[anbosu]

How would you have acclimated different? More than an hour?

I don't drip acclimate. I have a very unscientific process but I've never lost a fish. I see more issues with drip acclimation than any other method. If it's not done properly it's pretty easy to lose fish.

 

[snake1]

sooooooo what`s the secret of the unscientific acclimation? the stores only tell me to drip for 45 mins to 1hr and some tell me to turn the lights off ,all of my fish are fat and happy

 

[ignatz]

I have raised a few clowns and in doing seen many hundreds or thousands die. I'm no clown fish expert but I've learned a thing or two about how to kill clowns and how to keep them alive through this process. Based on that, here's my $0.02.

Nitrate/Nitrite/Ammonia didn't kill the clowns. If this was the cause, it would have killed most of the fish on your list too especially the yasha. Clowns can live in mud puddles. In my experience, it takes multiple quality factors to kill an otherwise healthy fish; for example... low pH and slightly elevated ammonia or low o2 and high temps.

The acclimation probably didn't kill the clowns. I only recommend temp matching for my clowns and I guarantee them for a month. I move fish from 1.020 to 1.026 with only a temp match regularly (this week even). I've seen fish swim around in fresh water dips, no problem. A healthy fish has an organ designed to allow him to osmo-regulate his internal pressure based on changing external salinity and has skin to protect him from the outside world. Not sure how a slight salinity change could hurt a fish... but I'm still learning.

I would guess that the clowns were dead when they went into the bag. I don't know about the other fish, was it tank raised too? I don't know the store so the following is purely fiction:

Some fish store adds tank raised clowns to a system containing wild fish. Young tank raised fish is exposed to disease for the first time, has no immunity, and becomes infected. Infected fish goes home and promptly dies. When a store stocks for a big sale, it becomes harder for them to ID potentially sick fish so the chances for exposure go up. I'm not saying that happened here... just, if a store mixes wild/tank raised fish, let the fish wait in the store 2 weeks before you take it home.