First Fish in Quarantine Dead

[CodeBlueMedic]

Well this really sucks....So yesterday, I picked up my first fish, which was a sleeper banded goby. Brought him home, adapted him to the temperature of my tank and then added him to the QT. He ate last night and everything before bed. Today I wake up, he's inverted on the bottom of the tank. Question is, did I screw up or was he sick before hand? He seemed to be fine at the LFS when I picked him up.

Water parameters yesterday:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 20ppm
Temp: 77.3
SG: 1.026

-----

Water parameters today (with a dead fish):

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 80ppm
pH: 8.1
SG: 1.026

Obviously there was a massive spike in my nitrates overnight. I'm thinking either A) I screwed up the test yesterday and it was actually higher or B) Between him being in the tank, the food and then him dying, could that have spiked the nitrates that high over night?

Any other suggestions? I feel terrible and am gonna be pretty gun shy to get another fish now...:-(

 

[CodeBlueMedic]

P.S. Would nitrates at 80ppm be enough to kill a fish in 12 hours? Everything I'm reading says that fish are usually pretty resilient to nitrates.

 

[Waters40]

The nitrate spike could have been from the dead fish which would cause the increase in ammonia to nitrite and eventually nitrates (although I don't know if that all could happen overnight). As long as you acclimated properly it doesn't look like you did anything wrong.

 

[CodeBlueMedic]

Would it be kosher to flush the dead specimen, do a large water change and after ensuring that all parameters are okay, trying again?

 

[Shawn O]

What are the specs on your QT? You gave no mention of a filter, bubble stone or water movement equipment. Is this a cycled QT or fresh SW? Did you drip acclimate or just float the bag?

 

[CodeBlueMedic]

My QT specs are in my signature, but it's a cycled 10 gallon QT with a MarineLand Penguin HOB filter with some added biomax media. It seems like it creates enough movement in the 10 gallon, but maybe not? I floated the bag for roughly 15 minutes...In hind sight, I forgot to double check the salinity in the transport bag.. :-(

 

[m0nkie]

Which is usually a lot lower.. if u didnt properly acclimate, that could be thw reason.

 

[CodeBlueMedic]

What about water movement? Is a power head necessary in a 10 gallon tank?

 

[wooden_reefer]

10 gals is about 40 liters.

60 ppm N-nitrate swing in nitrate in 40 liters is 2400 mg of nitrogen. 2.4 gram N

2.4 gram N is generated by about 15 grams of dry protein, about 75 grams of fresh fish, about three ounces.

You need about 3 ounces of fish to decay to get 60 ppm nitrate swing in 10 gals.

Your test kit is not working.

I think death can be by over-eating, O2 problem (circulation), bacterial infection.

 

[ca1ore]

In hind sight, I forgot to double check the salinity in the transport bag.. :-(

Not a good step to skip! Most LFS I frequent keep their fish at 1.015 - 1.018; if your QT is at 1.026, that is a huge swing. Plus fish don't handle up as well as down. No way to know for sure, but that seems likely to have done it in.

 

[CodeBlueMedic]

Not a good step to skip! Most LFS I frequent keep their fish at 1.015 - 1.018; if your QT is at 1.026, that is a huge swing. Plus fish don't handle up as well as down. No way to know for sure, but that seems likely to have done it in.

Yeah, It was probably that. :-( I'm a little concerned about the water flow...Should I have a power head in here?

 

[TangySushi]

I keep my QT at about 1.020 when bringin in a fish from the LFS. Then drip acclimate them from 1.015 to the QT. Then through tank transfer method and evaporation I slowly bring it up to 1.025 over the month of QTing the fish before it goes into the DT.

Next time maybe try starting with a lower salinity and check the bag for salinity after you float the fish for 15 mins to see how long you have to drip acclimate. My fish stores if it doesn't have coral in the tank they usually keep it at about 1.015, but I go to more than one lfs usually so I just start them at 1.020

 

[edinphilly]

I keep my QT at about 1.020 when bringin in a fish from the LFS. Then drip acclimate them from 1.015 to the QT. Then through tank transfer method and evaporation I slowly bring it up to 1.025 over the month of QTing the fish before it goes into the DT.



Next time maybe try starting with a lower salinity and check the bag for salinity after you float the fish for 15 mins to see how long you have to drip acclimate. My fish stores if it doesn't have coral in the tank they usually keep it at about 1.015, but I go to more than one lfs usually so I just start them at 1.020

+1

Took me a while to get the salinity acclimation right but I don't lose fish like I did in the beginning.

 

[CodeBlueMedic]

Would a drip acclimation be okay with a salinity swing that high? My LFS keeps theirs around 1.023 (so they told me)

 

[m0nkie]

Would a drip acclimation be okay with a salinity swing that high? My LFS keeps theirs around 1.023 (so they told me)

perfectly normal. drip acclimation is not that good if you buy your fish online. The dripping process builds ammonia which kills the fish.

however, since you bought it at the LFS, your fish will be able to handle 30-45 minutes of drip.

the BEST/safest technique is to call the LFS before you buy. Match your QT salinity with your LFS. drop the fish in after temperature match, then slowly raise salinity of the QT by topping off with salt water.

 

[CodeBlueMedic]

I just called the LFS that I'll be buying my next fish from and she told me that they are very strict with keeping their salinity at 1.024 on all tanks.

 

[Zer0.]

Would a drip acclimation be okay with a salinity swing that high? My LFS keeps theirs around 1.023 (so they told me)

When i get a new fish I take my refractometer (that i know is calibrated correctly with 35 ppt solution), up to the LFS and have them put a few drips on it so i can see how they measure up to each other. (the different lighting can make a slight difference but it is negligible and you can always double check when you get home) if the salinity is within .001 or .002 I just float the bag 20 min and let them in, if it is out of range, then i adjust my salinity of the QT first, this way I don't have to drip acclimate.

FWIW, I have a 30 gallon QT and all i use for airration (however you spell it :wildone: ) is my fluval C4 HoB filter. I just keep my water level slightly lower than full so it creates some extra bubbles and movement from the water falling into the tank ( I actually had a koralia 850 at first but found it to be too much for the small tank for small fish)

Good luck, just got to check that salinity. It is by far the most important paramater to get close to matching up when getting a new fish, with temp. distantly behind. Props for QT'ing tho.

If you do have to drip do a quicker drip (almost rolling drip for no more than 30 min. or so, other wise you can run into temp dropping and ammonia probs.)

Hope you all the best and happy reefing,
-Z

 

[Zer0.]

I just called the LFS that I'll be buying my next fish from and she told me that they are very strict with keeping their salinity at 1.024 on all tanks.

Then I would set your QT to that salinity BUT I would still def. double check with your instrument. Either yours or theirs could possibly be off. Even if yours is off it will be able to tell you how close the salinity levels are, being even is more important then the actual level (within reason).

 

[CodeBlueMedic]

When i get a new fish I take my refractometer (that i know is calibrated correctly with 35 ppt solution), up to the LFS and have them put a few drips on it so i can see how they measure up to each other. (the different lighting can make a slight difference but it is negligible and you can always double check when you get home) if the salinity is within .001 or .002 I just float the bag 20 min and let them in, if it is out of range, then i adjust my salinity of the QT first, this way I don't have to drip acclimate.

FWIW, I have a 30 gallon QT and all i use for airration (however you spell it :wildone: ) is my fluval C4 HoB filter. I just keep my water level slightly lower than full so it creates some extra bubbles and movement from the water falling into the tank ( I actually had a koralia 850 at first but found it to be too much for the small tank for small fish)

Good luck, just got to check that salinity. It is by far the most important paramater to get close to matching up when getting a new fish, with temp. distantly behind. Props for QT'ing tho.

If you do have to drip do a quicker drip (almost rolling drip for no more than 30 min. or so, other wise you can run into temp dropping and ammonia probs.)

Hope you all the best and happy reefing,
-Z

That is all very helpful, thank you so much for replying. I went ahead and ordered a 240 gph koralia just to make sure I don't have any dead spots in the water. I'm gonna drop my QT salinity to 1.024, that way when I decide to move to my DT, it'll only be going up .001. Think any of that will cause a problem?

 

[ca1ore]

I keep my QT at about 1.020 when bringin in a fish from the LFS. Then drip acclimate them from 1.015 to the QT. Then through tank transfer method and evaporation I slowly bring it up to 1.025 over the month of QTing the fish before it goes into the DT.

That actually makes no sense to me. If your going to reduce the salinity of your QT, just drop it all the way down to that of the incoming water. OK, drip acclimation is not as problematic with a locally sourced fish as it is with one that has come a long way, but just a quick 15 minute float is always better. Been doing my QT this way for over a decade.