Fish Dying

[potxoli]

You only added 5 ounces to the bag water? You need to slowly double the water, then drain half, double again, drain half, and double again. Once more for good measure if you are at all concerned about the fish surviving. First doubling should take about 20 min when added bit by bit. After the first, you can speed it up. The 3rd doubling makes it 87.5% tank water, a 4th makes it 93.75% tank water.

If one did acclimation incorrectly, what are the visible symptoms on the fish? And how long until they die? Also out of curiosity, what exactly gets messed up with the fish with poor acclimation?

Thanks!

 

[PAXpress]

Wow, thanks for the feedback!

Let me back track a bit.

The tank has been up and running for about six weeks without fish.

I thought I completed the cycle before adding any fish. I waited for the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to do their thing and when they all came down to zero, that is when I introduced fish.

I just tested for ammonia and it looks like 0.25 or less

For ammonia, if its detectable at all I would say its too much. The test kits we get as hobbyists are somewhat hard to read or tell which color they are closest too. Sometimes I'll test my RO/DI water just so I can see what water with no ammonia tests like and then test my tank to see how different it is from that. If theres any difference on the ammonia/nitrite test kits for RO/DI vs your tank then you should do water changes if you have fish or if there are no fish wait longer for the cycle to complete.
I'd really recommend watching a youtube video on drip acclimation. I never used it until I got into the Saltwater side of the hobby because freshwater fish are so easy to acclimate and just easier to maintain overall. Drip at about 1-2 drops per second and increase it every 10-15 minutes until its almost a stream going into the bucket.
I feel your pain, I'm trying to stock my 75 gallon tank and have the first two firefish in. My wife keeps asking when we'll be adding more fish and my response is always when we set up our QT tank!

 

[gone fishin]

If one did acclimation incorrectly, what are the visible symptoms on the fish? And how long until they die? Also out of curiosity, what exactly gets messed up with the fish with poor acclimation?

Thanks!

The problem with a long acclimation of fish is that while they are bagged up, sealed environment, there is a build up of ammonium. Once the bag is opened through the magic of chemistry the ammonium is converted to ammonia. This really magnified on fish that are shipped, longer time spent in the bag higher build up. If one is going to drip acclimate I would recommend no longer than a half hour.

Symptoms will depend on the exposure level and length of exposure. They could be lethargy, heavy breathing or coming to the surface to breathe. Hope this helps.

 

[CStrickland]

Also, besides ammonia toxicity, rapid salinity changes from poor acclimation are bad.

A fish is like a little sack of not-so-salty-water floating around in an enviro of saltier water. Their kidneys do a lot of work to keep the saltiness inside the fish at the right level by balancing the water and salt of the pee. So like all the time they are drinking and peeing to keep their body the right amount less-salty then the water they are in.
If they get put all of a sudden into water that is more salty, their kidneys get screwed up.

It's kind of the opposite of how your fingers get wrinkly in a bath, but if you lived in the bath 24/7.

 

[squid row]

To revisit.... Visited my lfs and just talked about my tank. After about ten mins of brain mashing he asked about temperature. Tank is 78 degrees but overnight it drops to 72

Lfs advised that is too big of a swing so I adjusted the heater and its much more stable now only dropping a degree or two overnight

Added a chromis today and will see how it goes

 

[Marchillo]

That is a big drop in temp, good that you fixed it, but Id venture to guess too many fish at once was still the problem. See how the chromis does and go from there. Strongly consider investing in a qt procedure. Even if you go slow and do everything else right, wo qt you could introduce something in your DT that wipes everything out.

 

[a.bakashwain]

the same thing happen with me. for your tank i think three is perfect due to the size. wait a month or two before adding any fish. when adding them turn of the light to reduce stress. and keep temperature as constant as you could.