Firefish breathing rapidly then died after acclimation

[lhscouchmonster]

What did I do wrong? Was I just unlucky? My new purple firefish died about 48 hours after purchase.

I set up a 20L QT using half tank water and half new saltwater. I matched the lower salinity from my fish store (1.15) and had the temp at 78F. I let it run for 24 hrs, then bought a purple firefish. I added a little QT tank water to his bag while it was "floating" every 5 minutes. Dumped half the water, then added more every 5 minutes. The QT has pvc for hiding, a light (which was off for 24hrs after acclimation), a heater, a net style lid, and a 30 gallon HOB filter for circulation (no media).

The firefish was breathing rapidly before, during, and after acclimation. I checked parameters 30 hrs after adding him and ammonia still looked 0 but I did a 25% water change regardless thinking something had to be off. He was still breathing rapidly after. He ate flakes pretty well right before the water change and i removed any extra flakes (he was only hanging around one half the tank).

He looked good in the store. He had been there for a few weeks. I had been checking him out for a week before I bought it. On top of the breathing, i noticed he was tilted to one side a little bit when I got him home and periodically throughout his short life. No signs of ich or parasites.

I'm going to dry out the QT. Im going to clean out the filter, throw it in the sump of my main system to seed it for a few weeks, then add it to the QT to help it cycle. Maybe I should have started with a cycled QT? I was thinking about using tank water instead of a low salinity mix. Is 1.15 to 1.25 too high for a fish to drip acclimate to? Most stores keep the salinity low so is that what most people do?

I have a 75 gallon with 2 clowns in it now so i wanted to start adding more fish using a QT. That obviously didnt go to well.

 

[lhscouchmonster]

Correction: I meant a 20 gallon long tank, not 20 liters.

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Good start by QT'ing. It's highly reccomended.

The only thing I can see is that there was nothing other than water added to the QT, possibly meaning it was uncycled. Next time try taking a piece of rock from the DT, and adding it to the QT, or keep some rubble in the DT in a bag that will populate with the beneficial bacteria. Then, when you are ready for QT, simply do the water like you did, and add the rubble to from the DT to the QT. The water itself doesn't cycle, the LR benefits from the cycle.

Best of luck, and don't let this incident make you give up on QT. I've lost many fish in QT as well as I've learned...

 

[lhscouchmonster]

Thanks for the response. The qt was completely uncycled but I planned on doing water changes based on the parameters. Ive read many people doing that but it does seem risky. Something had to be wrong with the water since he was breathing rapidly the whole time.

Is a 1.15 to 1.25 salinity adjustment too much for a 45 minute drip acclimation? Im going to cycle the qt and use tank water before attempting another fish. That way I know that the water will be good.

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

I normally raise my salinity slower than that. I probably would've done .05 one day, then another .05 the next...

I have heard that dropping the salinity too fast is more harmful than raising it though...

 

[namxas]

I normally raise my salinity slower than that. I probably would've done .05 one day, then another .05 the next...I have heard that dropping the salinity too fast is more harmful than raising it though...

Fishes can go from high salinity to low salinity instantly. However, going from low to high is really hard on the fish, as what happens is the fish's body tries to equalize its bodily salt content with that of the surrounding water (simply put), so the fish actually dehydrates if you raise the salinity too quickly. We personally don't recommend raising the salinity of a tank more than 0.02 ppm per week if you can help it.

Another thing is depending on how long the fish was bagged, ammonia builds up in the bag water, but the pH also drops, which detoxifies the ammonia to some degree. However, when the bag is opened, the sharp rise in pH toxifies the ammonia and starts burning the fish's gill structures, which presents as labored breathing.

In light of this, I suspect the fish took both of these hits.

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Good to know. I guess I had it backwards in regards to salinity.

In light of this, how do fish cope with FW dips?

 

[lhscouchmonster]

So how do people usually acclimate from the fish store's low salinity to their reef 's high salinity? Do they do it over the course of several weeks? Many people don't even QT. All of their fish should just die then if that's the case, right?

I read all these stories about people just dumping their fish into their tank and the fish surviving. I went through the whole acclimation and QT process and mine died after 2 days. So frustrating!

 

[CedzAquAddictio]

Don't get frustrated. It's all a learning lesson. A couple of years ago, I had a PBT that died in the acclimation bucket, and I followed all of the rules. Now, I can acclimate with my eyes closed.

Hopefully you'll get more responses from experienced people like Greg who posted above. Folks on this board will see that you are following best practices like QT, and respond with advice.

 

[humaguy]

Fishes can go from high salinity to low salinity instantly. However, going from low to high is really hard on the fish, as what happens is the fish's body tries to equalize its bodily salt content with that of the surrounding water (simply put), so the fish actually dehydrates if you raise the salinity too quickly. We personally don't recommend raising the salinity of a tank more than 0.02 ppm per week if you can help it.

Another thing is depending on how long the fish was bagged, ammonia builds up in the bag water, but the pH also drops, which detoxifies the ammonia to some degree. However, when the bag is opened, the sharp rise in pH toxifies the ammonia and starts burning the fish's gill structures, which presents as labored breathing.

In light of this, I suspect the fish took both of these hits.

excellent info, as always...