O boy. I've lost 2 fish (french angel and a royal gramma) i've been keeping in QT and basically i'm curious as to why.
Here are some of the facts :
I'm keeping them in a large red bucket (around 15-20 gallon).
Both fish HAS been eating up to 8 hours before perishing.
Temp has been fine,
pH was 8 (on salifert) and 8.3ish on aquarium pharmaceutical ph test. I've been having to add a LOT of pH buffer (the kent 8.3) daily (at least 1/2 a scoop morning and evening) <-- is this normal? The pH over the week in the tub drops to 7.7ish nightly!
Salinty i was lowering from 1.02 to 1.014 over 2 days..and was about to lower it again to 1.010 the morning after discovery of death.
Ammonia/Nitrite/ undetectable (tetra test) Nitrate was "orange" so was about ~25ppm
I've also been dousing the tub with one of those chlorine/ammonia removing chemicals when i did the small water changes.
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The french angelfish showed some sign of Ick with a few spots and cloudy fins(hence the low salinty) 5 days before death.
I FW dipped him for 5 minutes and when i placed him back into the tank.. he "nearly" died.
That night he lost his balance and let the current blow him against the rocks while upside down. The only thing i found wrong was the pH.. was so i added some buffer. Miracously the next day he was OK and would eat the following day out of my hand (mostly formula 1/2) U can bet i was really happy.
The morning before death he showed a more severe ick infection... but oddly they were GONE in the afternoon. The gramma was hiding so i let him be. (??? what happened i didnt treat him at all that day)
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so that is the "history of the fish" ... but i managed to catch them in their deaths late at night.
2 hours before death the french would skulk near my powerhead/quick filter aparatus (instead of hiding in the PVC tubing). First problem i thought was pH but the readings were fine. I added 1/2 a teaspoon of buffer regardless (as i didnt trust API's accuracy)
What was bad news was that my royal gramma came out of hiding to the powerhead/quick filter as well.
As they died .. the french angel was breathing hard 80+breath per min(i could not tell if my royal gramma's pace was extra-high). I have both an aerator and a 402 hagen pump in a 15-20 gallon bucket so i thought there shoudl be decent circulation + oxygen.
The royal gramma VERY oddly had one last "spaz-out" before he died. Swimming to the top very quickly and changing it's direction randomly for a few seconds. After that, he was a goner. When i examined the bodies... there was NO sign of velvet/ick.. and that one of the royal gramma's gill flap was open 45 degrees so that i could see his fleshy gill (red but looked normal to me)
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So after reading that long post... can ANYONE tell me what caused them to die.. and how to prevent death in the future.
Thank you very much in advance for any advice or explanations (to the large pH usage, weird Ick that went away in only a few hours, royal gramma's spaz out). I've lost 6 fish in that red hospital/QT bucket over the last 2 weeks and have been weary.
Here are some of the facts :
I'm keeping them in a large red bucket (around 15-20 gallon).
Both fish HAS been eating up to 8 hours before perishing.
Temp has been fine,
pH was 8 (on salifert) and 8.3ish on aquarium pharmaceutical ph test. I've been having to add a LOT of pH buffer (the kent 8.3) daily (at least 1/2 a scoop morning and evening) <-- is this normal? The pH over the week in the tub drops to 7.7ish nightly!
Salinty i was lowering from 1.02 to 1.014 over 2 days..and was about to lower it again to 1.010 the morning after discovery of death.
Ammonia/Nitrite/ undetectable (tetra test) Nitrate was "orange" so was about ~25ppm
I've also been dousing the tub with one of those chlorine/ammonia removing chemicals when i did the small water changes.
---
The french angelfish showed some sign of Ick with a few spots and cloudy fins(hence the low salinty) 5 days before death.
I FW dipped him for 5 minutes and when i placed him back into the tank.. he "nearly" died.
That night he lost his balance and let the current blow him against the rocks while upside down. The only thing i found wrong was the pH.. was so i added some buffer. Miracously the next day he was OK and would eat the following day out of my hand (mostly formula 1/2) U can bet i was really happy.
The morning before death he showed a more severe ick infection... but oddly they were GONE in the afternoon. The gramma was hiding so i let him be. (??? what happened i didnt treat him at all that day)
------
so that is the "history of the fish" ... but i managed to catch them in their deaths late at night.
2 hours before death the french would skulk near my powerhead/quick filter aparatus (instead of hiding in the PVC tubing). First problem i thought was pH but the readings were fine. I added 1/2 a teaspoon of buffer regardless (as i didnt trust API's accuracy)
What was bad news was that my royal gramma came out of hiding to the powerhead/quick filter as well.
As they died .. the french angel was breathing hard 80+breath per min(i could not tell if my royal gramma's pace was extra-high). I have both an aerator and a 402 hagen pump in a 15-20 gallon bucket so i thought there shoudl be decent circulation + oxygen.
The royal gramma VERY oddly had one last "spaz-out" before he died. Swimming to the top very quickly and changing it's direction randomly for a few seconds. After that, he was a goner. When i examined the bodies... there was NO sign of velvet/ick.. and that one of the royal gramma's gill flap was open 45 degrees so that i could see his fleshy gill (red but looked normal to me)
---
So after reading that long post... can ANYONE tell me what caused them to die.. and how to prevent death in the future.
Thank you very much in advance for any advice or explanations (to the large pH usage, weird Ick that went away in only a few hours, royal gramma's spaz out). I've lost 6 fish in that red hospital/QT bucket over the last 2 weeks and have been weary.
