Royal Gramma TTM HELP

Hi everyone,

I have a Royal Gramma in QT right now, and I'm using the TTM method and I'm on day 10. I noticed yesterday that the fish didn't really eat, and hasn't seemed to have eaten today (5/17) either. However on previous days the fish has eaten well, and the last recorded eating was on day 8 (Friday 5/15).

I had tried to QT a royal gramma a couple years ago and in that case it stopped eating on day 10, and I found it dead on day 14.

My question is since the new fish has stopped eating around the same time should I :

1) risk it and add it to the DT to give it a chance to settle in, eat pods etc.

2) keep going with the TTM, the fish will survive and be fine and I'm just being anxious.

Thank you!!
 
I can see how your previous experience has raised concerns, but sticking with it is my vote. TTM setups tend to be pretty basic. Does it have a place to hide? Try to make whatever vessel you're using more 'homey'. A little sand or gravel, a small macro plant, a small live rock could all be added to make it feel more comfortable. I'm not suggesting you do a complete aquarium setup. Just a few small elements can help.

What food are you offering? Some live pods or brine shrimp might entice it to hunt. Frozen mysids are also very tempting.

One other thought: Have you fully disinfected all wet items of your TTM setup? If not, you could be reinfecting it with whatever got the previous gramma. Every element of your TTM setup must be fully bleach disinfected before re-use.

Hope this helps and good luck!
 
Thank you for your response. I've decided to stick with it for the safety of the DT inhabitants. The setup is pretty minimal; a heater, air stone and a few chunks of PVC for hiding places in a 5g bucket with a plexiglass lid for low lighting.

I could try some rock/sand to make it easier on it if that would help. It's just odd that it seemed fine during earlier transfers and then 3 transfers in it starts to act funny.


I've been feeding frozen mysis, brine and Larry's reef frenzy. The fish seemed more interested today than the day before and may have actually nibbled a bit.

I very much doubt that it was reinfected from my prior gramma attempt, that was about 2 years ago and I've QT another fish in between. The buckets and equipment are bleached between uses and allowed to throughly dry.

I'm sure that if I can get this guy through QT and into the main tank it will be great. The tank is really chill and lots of hiding places with a bunch of coral growth too. Fingers crossed!!
 
Right on. It sounds like you're doing everything right. Grammas are great. I had a harem of 7 in my 180, which had a fake wall I made just for them, with lots of caves for them.

I mentioned the disinfecting thing because I forgot to once, and I think it was the reason for losing a QT batch to Uronema, which does not require a host to survive.
 
It's a great reminder To be sure to disinfect everything for sure. I'm super slow and deliberate when I get fish. This tank, a 40B, has been up for about 5 years and this will only be my 5th fish (one passed, so it will be in a community of 4). I've loved grammas for a long time and had one about 8 years ago in a former tank. I'm really hoping that the remainder of the QT is uneventful and I'm just being paranoid.
 
The Gramma successfully ate some frozen Mysis this morning. This is great because tomorrow is the last transfer day. And soon it will be ready to move to the DT! :bounce2:
 
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