Had a somewhat spur of the moment purchase on Tuesday of a Swalesi basslet. Kept him floating while I prepared a holding 'tank' for TTM. 5qt bucket with some pvc pieces, air pump and heater, and ammonia badge.
Day 1: transfered to bucket with water matching bag salinity.
Day 2: fed 1/8 cube mysis soaked in Selcon. Appeared to eat it, as I never really saw the fish out of the pipes, but the food was gone an hour or so later. Ammonia rises to .05 on badge. Standard dose of Prime added (0.1mL).
Day 3: Attempted another 1/8 cube soaked in Selcon, may have eaten some, but certainly not all. Ammonia on badge still reads .05. Added another dose of Prime.
Day 4: Ammonia still read .05. Was able to observe a bit of swimming outside the pvc today. Second transfer to new bucket. Same heater was used, but had 20 minutes of bleach solution followed by a 20 minute soak in hydrogen peroxide solution to react off remaining bleach. Heater was thoroughly rinsed and dried. Same for screen netting. Air pump tubing was replaced. Water was from the same batch as the first bucket. Double dose (0.2mL) of Prime was added prior to fish. Fish was transferred. Fish swam around and hid about. I had to go to work at this point, but I get a call 4-5 hours later that the fish is dead.
I had them check for ammonia (API kit) which was undetectable. Chlorine, possibly from leftover bleach, was tested with the LaMotte total and free strips, which came back as undetectable. I figured I would be safe with my procedure and that even if a little bleach survived it would be detoxified by the Prime. Observing the cadaver, stomach does not appear pinched, so I don't think it starved. Does not, and did not, show signs of advanced Ich infection.
I'm frankly at a loss here. What went wrong?
Day 1: transfered to bucket with water matching bag salinity.
Day 2: fed 1/8 cube mysis soaked in Selcon. Appeared to eat it, as I never really saw the fish out of the pipes, but the food was gone an hour or so later. Ammonia rises to .05 on badge. Standard dose of Prime added (0.1mL).
Day 3: Attempted another 1/8 cube soaked in Selcon, may have eaten some, but certainly not all. Ammonia on badge still reads .05. Added another dose of Prime.
Day 4: Ammonia still read .05. Was able to observe a bit of swimming outside the pvc today. Second transfer to new bucket. Same heater was used, but had 20 minutes of bleach solution followed by a 20 minute soak in hydrogen peroxide solution to react off remaining bleach. Heater was thoroughly rinsed and dried. Same for screen netting. Air pump tubing was replaced. Water was from the same batch as the first bucket. Double dose (0.2mL) of Prime was added prior to fish. Fish was transferred. Fish swam around and hid about. I had to go to work at this point, but I get a call 4-5 hours later that the fish is dead.
I had them check for ammonia (API kit) which was undetectable. Chlorine, possibly from leftover bleach, was tested with the LaMotte total and free strips, which came back as undetectable. I figured I would be safe with my procedure and that even if a little bleach survived it would be detoxified by the Prime. Observing the cadaver, stomach does not appear pinched, so I don't think it starved. Does not, and did not, show signs of advanced Ich infection.
I'm frankly at a loss here. What went wrong?
