sleepydoc
Team RC
I bought a diamond goby and a fire fish from my LFS about 2 weeks ago. Brought them home and put them in my 29 gal QT (79 deg F, 1.024, pH 8.3 - same params as the store's.) They appeared to be be doing well were both eating mysis Shrimp and some pellet food.
At about 7 or 8 days, I noticed him hanging out mid-tank, at an angle, 'gasping' - mouth open, gills flared a bit. When I got closer, he went to the bottom of the tank and appeared normal. Over the next few days, he appeared to be flaring his gills at times, but was still eating well.
On day 9, I prophylactically dosed the tank with Cupramine per the bottle instructions. The following morning, he appeared OK, but that night he was dead. When I checked the water, I got NH4 0, NO2 0.2, NO3 25, pH 8.3-8.4, Cu 0.25 ppm with a Salifert kit (per the bottle, therapeutic concentration is (0.5 mg/l)
So did I kill my Goby with the copper? He had no visible ich spots. I tried to dissect his gills after he died to see if I could see anything there and couldn't. The fire fish is still doing just fine.
The only other thing I can think of besides 'new fish mortality' is low O2 - I hadn't had a chance to make the screen top for my QT yet, so I had to keep it covered except for the HOB filter so he wouldn't jump out.
At about 7 or 8 days, I noticed him hanging out mid-tank, at an angle, 'gasping' - mouth open, gills flared a bit. When I got closer, he went to the bottom of the tank and appeared normal. Over the next few days, he appeared to be flaring his gills at times, but was still eating well.
On day 9, I prophylactically dosed the tank with Cupramine per the bottle instructions. The following morning, he appeared OK, but that night he was dead. When I checked the water, I got NH4 0, NO2 0.2, NO3 25, pH 8.3-8.4, Cu 0.25 ppm with a Salifert kit (per the bottle, therapeutic concentration is (0.5 mg/l)
So did I kill my Goby with the copper? He had no visible ich spots. I tried to dissect his gills after he died to see if I could see anything there and couldn't. The fire fish is still doing just fine.
The only other thing I can think of besides 'new fish mortality' is low O2 - I hadn't had a chance to make the screen top for my QT yet, so I had to keep it covered except for the HOB filter so he wouldn't jump out.
