Sad. Am I doing something wrong?

[aiber]

I have lost a Royal Gramma in day two. Very upset. I think that I did everything right. I will describe below.

10 gall. QT set up with DT water. Parameters good ... 0 Ammonia PH 8.2. Air pump, Heater.

When I brought fish home, drip acclimation used for over an hour. Fish never ate. Neve

Two days later dead.

Before I never used a QT and never had this happen.

Will not buy another fish until I can figure out what is going on.

 

[Smokey Stover]

Could be just bad luck, Or Dip Acclimation can produce higher Ammonia levels than you might think, Also check the salinity of the LFS water, Some keep it rather low. I'm acclimating a RG I just brought home today and the bag water was at 1.018, Going into a QT with 1.026 can be hard on a new fish thats been in a bag of high ammonia water. Just a SWAG, I'm sure some more experienced members will add on or correct me if I'm not right.

 

[wrott]

Did you check the SG of bag water? If this is much different than tank water, it can cause too much osmotic shock and stress the fish to death in 2 days.
Better to not drip(too long in stagnate water--O2 deprivation and NH3--stress) just temp acclimate, match SGs and release fish into QT.
Velvet can kill fast too. Was the fish alone in the 10g, and did you siphon out uneaten food? Did NH3 register at all?

edit: Smokey beat me to it!

 

[aiber]

Sad. Am I doing something wrong?

Did you check the SG of bag water? If this is much different than tank water, it can cause too much osmotic shock and stress the fish to death in 2 days.
Better to not drip(too long in stagnate water--O2 deprivation and NH3--stress) just temp acclimate, match SGs and release fish into QT.
Velvet can kill fast too. Was the fish alone in the 10g, and did you siphon out uneaten food? Did NH3 register at all?

edit: Smokey beat me to it!

Didn't check the SG. Thought that drip acclimation would take care of that. It was a very slow drip. Also, I had an air stone for oxygen......He never ate. I provided some live mysis but never ate. Just hid all of the lights one until he died.

Yes he was alone in the QT. I am trying to add my first fish to my DT. No NH3.


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[wrott]

Sorry for the loss, sometimes they just don't make it. I've lost 2-3 anthias for reasons beyond my control. Maybe see if the next one will eat at the store first, you never know how rough a time the fish might have had before you bought it.

 

[aiber]

Never buying from the LFS again. They only feed mysis shrimp. I requested to feed some pellet and the fish didn't eat it.

 

[dweber618]

Never buying from the LFS again. They only feed mysis shrimp. I requested to feed some pellet and the fish didn't eat it.

That's not really a bad thing. If a fish is eating pellets - that's a bonus IMO. My fish get mysis every day in addition to pellets. I wouldn't hold that against your LFS at all.

If your fish didn't eat because the only thing you offered was one variety of food - that's on you.

 

[aiber]

Thanks for your input. I prefer a LFS that is already feeding pellets. I fed mysis and pellets and he did not eat.... You are correct though, it may be on me.

 

[slief]

Didn't check the SG. Thought that drip acclimation would take care of that. It was a very slow drip. Also, I had an air stone for oxygen......He never ate. I provided some live mysis but never ate. Just hid all of the lights one until he died.

Yes he was alone in the QT. I am trying to add my first fish to my DT. No NH3.


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Always check the Sg of the incoming water. This is incredibly important as many stores and online sellers maintain very low sg levels. I see levels as low as 1.014 from wholesales and 1.18 to 1.020 at many stores. You can't acclimate a fish safely when going from 1.020 or even 1.021 to 1.025 in an hour let alone from lower levels. It's best done over the course of days otherwise you risk osmotic shock and in your case, I suspect that is what happened.

I always test the incoming water and I've gone as long as dripping for 20 hours. I use an airstone when doing it but this is also in cases where the fish have been in the bags for a few hours as opposed to ones that were shipped in and in bags for much longer. In those cases, the chances of an ammonia spike are very high when drip acclimating.

It's always best to match the salinity in the Qt to that of the incoming water and then raise the salinity in the Qt over days or even weeks depending on the Sg of the incoming water.

 

[Lsufan]

Like slief said, that is one of the positives about a qt. U can set your qt salinity to match the bag water. Then while in qt u can slowly let the salinity rise by topping off with salt instead of fresh water

 

[aiber]

Always check the Sg of the incoming water. This is incredibly important as many stores and online sellers maintain very low sg levels. I see levels as low as 1.014 from wholesales and 1.18 to 1.020 at many stores. You can't acclimate a fish safely when going from 1.020 or even 1.021 to 1.025 in an hour let alone from lower levels. It's best done over the course of days otherwise you risk osmotic shock and in your case, I suspect that is what happened.



I always test the incoming water and I've gone as long as dripping for 20 hours. I use an airstone when doing it but this is also in cases where the fish have been in the bags for a few hours as opposed to ones that were shipped in and in bags for much longer. In those cases, the chances of an ammonia spike are very high when drip acclimating.



It's always best to match the salinity in the Qt to that of the incoming water and then raise the salinity in the Qt over days or even weeks depending on the Sg of the incoming water.

Why do LFS keep SG so low?


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[Breadman03]

Why do LFS keep SG so low?


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Less salt=less expense.

 

[aiber]

Less salt=less expense.

Just visited the LFS with my refractometer....1.016!! They offered me another Gramma and I refused. I don't know what the standard is but I will NEVER patronize any LFS that keeps the SG that low.


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[nickp87]

Just visited the LFS with my refractometer....1.016!! They offered me another Gramma and I refused. I don't know what the standard is but I will NEVER patronize any LFS that keeps the SG that low.


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Low SG in the fish systems is pretty much a standard in most LFS (both for cost reasons and so believe it helps prevent disease) , so you may find buying anything at all a bit hard

 

[JWClark]

Divers Den is the only one I know that keeps fish at 1.025. Standard Live Aquaria is 1.018-1.020.

What they keep them at doesn't really matter. What matters is that you match SG and bring it up slowly--no more than 0.002 per day. Much easier for a fish to cope with a drop in salinity rather than a jump. Another reason LFS use lower salinity--much easier to acclimate new stock.

The beauty od matching salinities is that all you have to do is float the bag to temp acclimate, then add fish directly to tank. Strain from water first.

 

[Smokey Stover]

Yea, Shoulda took the RG. Chalk it up to experience. Matching incoming salinity isn't a big deal. Like others have said that gives you a few weeks to slowly increase while treating and fattening up.

 

[aiber]

Lesson learned.

 

[karimwassef]

Lower salinity also reduces visibility of parasites (less ich) = more sales.

At least that's what one LFS told me about his competition when he showed me that he kept his salinity high.

 

[aiber]

Frankly though, I can't believe that everyone takes the time to acclimate fish for "weeks". Therefore a lot of fish in our hobby are dying within days of arriving or it is not true that most lfs are keeping the SG so low.

 

[Smokey Stover]

Acclimation kinda goes along with the Quarentine/Observation/Prophylactic Treatment process. The Hyposalinity many LFS use does reduce the amount of Ich you'll see in the store, But not wipe it out completly. Some also have Anti-biotics in their systems so you won't see a lot of sores/damage from shipping or aggression from tankmates. Think of it as Re-Hab.