Did I buy a bad fish

Brieninsac

Brieninsac

Member
Yesterday I put a new clownfish and firefish into quarantine. I also wanted to get a Royal gramma but they didn't have any in stock, but would today. I went back after work today and they only had one and he was lying next to a rock hiding from another fish that was chasing him. This was also probably a few hours after the store transferred him into their tank. So I talked to the clerk and he felt it was the stress of the other fish and he should be fine at home. So I reluctantly bought him.

I did a 2 hour transfer to the QT and he swam around for a couple minutes and sank to the bottom. He hasn't move much since. His breathing appears hard at 100 respirations a minute. When I fed the other fish I put the brine shrimp over him so it would sink to him. He ate one little piece.

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Do you think he'll be ok or should I have walked away?
 
Eating anything is always a good sign. Keep lighting low and make sure each fish as an uncontested hiding place. He will probably stay in hiding for a while which is fine.

Did you do an exact or very close salinity match from store to QT? That puts you way ahead on the odds. Good luck, I bet the fish will be fine.
 
Probably just stress from being acclimated to 2 different tanks so quickly. If he survives them I wouldn't worry about it. Its always a gamble adding new fish. One you can reduce the risk of but still a gamble.
 
There's a sticky up top entitled SETTING UP. It also contains info on various procedures you need to know.

EG, when buying a fish, have your qt tank pre-set to the salinity of the store. Ask them. That way you don't have a salinity difference to worry about. Salinity in the water is as critical to a fish as oxygen.
 
Sk8r said:
Failing to check the salinity could kill him via kidney damage.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Many suppliers and LFS keep their salinity low (e.g 1.016/7) whereas most hobbyists keep theirs closer to NSW at 1.025/6) Going up too quickly in SG can kill a fish.
 
I will definitely ask about the salinity when I purchase my next fish. FWIW, my salinity was 1.024 when I checked it this morning.
 
Sorry about the fish.

Just curious you mentioned that you did a 2 hour transfer to the QT. If you did not check the salinity then what did you do for the transfer?
 
gone fishin said:
Sorry about the fish.

Just curious you mentioned that you did a 2 hour transfer to the QT. If you did not check the salinity then what did you do for the transfer?
Click to expand...

I let the bag float in the QT for 30 minutes and then slowly added water to the bag. After about 2 hours total I removed him from the bag and put him in the tank. It never occurred to me to check the salinity of the store water and compare it to mine.
 
Also, if you question the looks of a fish in the store, dont take him home. Certainly in this situation, if they had just put them in their tank, hes already stressed. Then you uproot him to put hi. In your tank, even more stress.
 
You can generally expect IME that stores OFTEN keep fish at 1.019 and corals and inverts at 1.024, but the hazard of a mismatch especially on fish is really high. In general, acclimation is ALL about salinity, temperature being a distant second. Here's a good procedure. Never open any single bag until you are ready to process that bag all the way to the quarantine tank. Hopefully you have pre-set the qt to match the store's (or shipper's) salinity: never hesitate to ask them what it is.

Float the unopened bag for 15 minutes to equalize temperature.

Now, open the bag, test the bag water's salinity with your refractometer, quickly double-check your own tank (mistakes happen)---and if they match within .001, put the fish right on in with no dripping, nada.

Process the next bag.

Now, if the salinity does NOT match within .001, look at the clock, Mark thirty minutes off as the time within which you MUST complete this procedure and put the fish in. Pour off half the fish's water if the bag is pretty full. Add water from the qt to the bag. Wait five minutes, retest the bag salinity. It should be higher. Add more water from the qt to the bag. Wait five minutes, repeat, repeat, repeat, etc. You MUST have that water matching within 30 minutes. If you don't---add a drop of Prime (removes ammonia) to the bag. And go on until you get a match.

It's mandatory to have a refractometer: little bags and a lot of measuring make a swing-arm a pita times three.
It's a whole lot easier to pre-set the salinity to match the store, and bring up the salinity simply by letting water evaporate over the observational period. test it daily.

Hope that helps.
 
Sk8r is spot on as usual. I will disagree with her on one count. Fish I buy locally (20 minutes from there to acclimation starting) don't get the 30 minute limit on acclimation. IMO they don't have time to accumulate the ammonia a fish shipped overnight does. I'm comfortable with a longer acclimation especially if there is a big salinity difference that I can't correct before hand.

For instance today I had a locally acquired fish that was in 1.022 at the store and I had a fish from DD that came in at 1.026. My QT was set to 1.026 so the DD fish that had been sitting in a bag for 18-24 hours got a temp acclimation and went in the QT. The local fish got about a 1 1/2 hour acclimation. Both look great so far.
 
I just try not to complicate the message for folk just trying to grasp the initial concept, but yes, the shipped fish are in the most danger, the locally acquired not so much. Having Prime on hand, though, is just a very good idea, for all sorts of emergencies---and just for household use so you don't have to smell like Clorox going out to dinner, when you've just handled bleach.
 
Brieninsac said:
I will definitely ask about the salinity when I purchase my next fish. FWIW, my salinity was 1.024 when I checked it this morning.
Click to expand...

No. Test their salinity with the same instrument you use to check your own. Never trust the numbers from someone else.
 
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