Ruby red dragonet died immediately after it was released in tank

[Mightyfish]

I bought a pair of ruby red dragonets yesterday. I did the usual floating bag for temperature acclimatization and then a quick 10 mins of drip acclimatization. When i released one of them into tank it turned upside down immediately and died straight away. The other ruby red dragonet is doing fine. I cant figure out why it woll die immediately is it because of the stress?

 

[snorvich]

What was the SG of the transport water? What is the SG of your tank?

 

[Mightyfish]

What was the SG of the transport water? What is the SG of your tank?

My water is 1.025. I didnt test salinity of the water that it was in. Do you think it is due to too large difference and the shock killed the fish?

 

[Dmorty217]

My water is 1.025. I didnt test salinity of the water that it was in. Do you think it is due to too large difference and the shock killed the fish?

This would be my guess, especially if the fish was shipped in 1.017-1.018 SG

 

[bat21]

Salinity is the reason for acclimation procedures. One of the many reasons to have a quarantine tank is that you can set the salinity to match that of the bag water. Once you have it matched or even a little lower than the bag water (slightly lower is fine, fish can handle a small drop in salinity much better than a rise in salinity) you can just add the fish right after you float the bag to match temperature. This is by far the best way to handle new fish and adds little to no extra stress on top of the obvious stress of being bagged and transferred.

 

[rssjsb]

Salinity is the reason for acclimation procedures. One of the many reasons to have a quarantine tank is that you can set the salinity to match that of the bag water. Once you have it matched or even a little lower than the bag water (slightly lower is fine, fish can handle a small drop in salinity much better than a rise in salinity) you can just add the fish right after you float the bag to match temperature. This is by far the best way to handle new fish and adds little to no extra stress on top of the obvious stress of being bagged and transferred.

I would say salinity and pH, but agree with all of this.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I doubt it's an sg problem if one of the fish died and one lived and is doing fine. Has to be something else.

 

[snorvich]

I doubt it's an sg problem if one of the fish died and one lived and is doing fine. Has to be something else.

Not necessarily so.

 

[snorvich]

Salinity is the reason for acclimation procedures. One of the many reasons to have a quarantine tank is that you can set the salinity to match that of the bag water. Once you have it matched or even a little lower than the bag water (slightly lower is fine, fish can handle a small drop in salinity much better than a rise in salinity) you can just add the fish right after you float the bag to match temperature. This is by far the best way to handle new fish and adds little to no extra stress on top of the obvious stress of being bagged and transferred.

Exactly.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Not necessarily so.

Ok, then explain

 

[snorvich]

Ok, then explain

The degree of osmoshock can vary with near "immediate" death in some cases and in other cases somewhat delayed death. The latter case happens gradually over a period of a couple of days or weeks with the fish sort of "wasting away". Symptoms would be a fish that does not hunt, stays more or less in one place although clearly still alive. Harder to diagnose since to a casual observer, all seems fine.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Ok thanks, that makes perfect sense! Kind of along the lines of chemicals used in collecting having fish either not eat or even if they do to all of a sudden die for no apparent reason?

 

[snorvich]

Ok thanks, that makes perfect sense! Kind of along the lines of chemicals used in collecting having fish either not eat or even if they do to all of a sudden die for no apparent reason?

The behavior is similar. The results of cyanide capture can not be obviated, unfortunately. I have seen a variety of fish captured with cyanide and they look perfectly fine; to an educated eye, however, they appear as if they are in "shock". Probably the fish type I see most often with this problem are dragonets. If you saw their natural habitat, you would understand why collecting them that way is easier. It always makes me so sad.

 

[Sapi]

I added a silver belly wrasse on Thursday to my tank, I'm not sure if the same may have happened as I haven't seen it since I put it in. How long should I wait before I start taking the rock apart to find it?

 

[snorvich]

I added a silver belly wrasse on Thursday to my tank, I'm not sure if the same may have happened as I haven't seen it since I put it in. How long should I wait before I start taking the rock apart to find it?

This animal goes into the sand and may stay there for quite some time. Do NOT go looking for it. If it dies, it would come out of the sand.

 

[Mightyfish]

After talking to my LFS it is definitely caused by sg difference. I bought these two dragonets from two different LFS. My salinity is 1.025. The one died came fron LFS keeping at 1.020 and the other one survive keeps at 1.025. Although 0.005 difference does not sound much but enough to kill it. Lesson learned.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

After talking to my LFS it is definitely caused by sg difference. I bought these two dragonets from two different LFS. My salinity is 1.025. The one died came fron LFS keeping at 1.020 and the other one survive keeps at 1.025. Although 0.005 difference does not sound much but enough to kill it. Lesson learned.

Well that is the missing piece to the puzzle and now it makes PERFECT SENSE!