what am I doing wrong?

[deetu]

I keep losing Royal Grammas.

The first one was in a 10 gallon nano that was doing great until a different fish I brought in had a fungus. Yes, I know I should have quarantined it but it was to replace a nasty damsel that was ripping the gramma's tail up and didn't want my son to notice I changed fish. (I knocked down his 37 gallon and put together a nano in my quarantine 10 gallon) Pet store told me to put in Prazi Pro and raise temp of tank. Both gramma and yellowtail died. Fungus fish lived and is with my son in a 2 1/2 gallon nano... doing fine.

Second fish I brought home had a tail nip that the pet store said he would hold for me if I wanted but I thought it looked like a nip so I decided to try. This time I had a quarantee tank all ready to go. (10 gallon, seasoned double sponge filter and HOB for water flow) He told me to put in the Prazi Pro to build it up. Next day it was tail rot and that night he died.

Pet store replaced the fish and it went into quarantine tank. Doing well for two weeks until I notice he was hiding and had a slight fungus looking film and little ick looking spots. We had a sudden heat wave followed by a cold front that affected the temp of the tank so I thought that was the cause. Since he was still eating, I decided to raise the temp and start lowering salinity. Did a 10% water change to get it started. Did not do the Prozi Pro this time. Next day he looked great! Eating better (Ocean Nutrition, Formula One Flakes)... less stuff on his body.
Next morning...dead... :eek2:

So, I can understand the first fish since I put a sick fish in the tank. I can understand the second fish because it already had a problem. But why the third fish that was getting better suddenly die?

Now another thing, I picked up a firefish from a different pet store a couple days before the gramma and he too was in the quarantine tank. They got along great, no fighting so no stress...even hung out together. The firefish is doing fine, not a problem. (I think he is looking for his missing friend) I thought firefish were more delicate then grammas.


So, what am I doing wrong? I don't want to try again if I'm only going to be killing another one. Ironically, the Royal Gramma is the only fish I really want.

10 gallon quarantine
salinity 1.24 dropped to 1.22
ph 8.4
ammonia 0
nitrate 5 before water change
temp raised to 84 over two days from 78

 

[Chris27]

The film and the rapid death is leading me to believe you may have brook - do a little reading on it to see if your fish displayed signs of it before they died.

As for the QT, you'll need to determine what your fish have and treat for it. Copper is good for velvet and crypt, formalin for brook, hypo for crypt, etc...

 

[deetu]

The film and the rapid death is leading me to believe you may have brook - do a little reading on it to see if your fish displayed signs of it before they died.

As for the QT, you'll need to determine what your fish have and treat for it. Copper is good for velvet and crypt, formalin for brook, hypo for crypt, etc...

Thanks Chris. You know, in searching, a lot of people talked about it but it took some digging to find out exactly what it was.

Not sure because it came on suddenly, within a day... no rubbing or rapid breathing... started getting better, again within a day before it died.
Firefish is still looking fine. But afraid if he may be a carrier if it is brook so want to take care of it before going into display.

Reading search, you say formalin is the best. Thing is, I have problems personally with formaldehyde (it makes me sick) so cannot use it.

I am dropping the salinity and keeping the temp up but different people have different feelings on whether this will work. Adding PrazoPro was also suggested.

Even though the fish looked healthy, the pet store is willing to replace it again. I know he would hold it for me because he has already with a different fish but again, this fish was in QT for two weeks and looked great.

I also have a Picasso Clown in my display that I would hate to lose and would rather get another homegrown clown, not replace the gramma and return the firefish but if I start thinking that way, I will never get a big tank with different fish. (Display tank is 20 gallon xhigh with 10 gallon sump)
Decisions, decisions....