lights after acclimation

[mattmku]

I've always read that leaving the fish in the dark after acclimation reduces stress. Last night I moved my small false perc from a QT to my main tank. I took care to slowly acclimate him. After placing him in the tank i watched him under my blue moon lights and he seemed to be doing great. He was wimming all around showing no signs of stress. I turned the moon lights off and the tank was then completely dark. This morning I woke up and the fish was dead behind some LR in the corner of the tank. Is it possible this is because the lights were turned off and he got disorented and stressed out? I know this is a dumb question but my water is PERFECT from what I can tell, and this is my only explination. :?

 

[electrikat]

I have never heard of death due to no light stress. It's mostly corals that have the stress issues with the lights. What else is in there? Is it possible he was attacked due to being new?

 

[mattmku]

It was the only fish in the tank. Other inhabitants include about a dozen tiny hermits, and 5 or so very small red crabs. There were no signs of injuries on the fish.

 

[cmor1701d]

How long was it in QT?
Was it eating?

Also, why did you turn the moon lights off? I leave mine on 24/7.

 

[mattmku]

the fish was doing great in quarantine. I wish i would have just left him in there. My moonlights are new and i wasn't sure how they would effect the livestock. The tank is also in my room so I like to turn of the lights when i go to bed.

 

[Phyl]

Have you checked parameters between your main and your qt? Are they off significantly? Did you double check the water he was being acclimated in just before you put him in the main to make sure that the PH & Salinity were close? How did you acclimate him?

Sorry to hear about the loss of your fish. :-(

 

[mattmku]

salinity in the tanks were within .001 of each other. pH was also a match. I acclimated by first letting the temperature adjust for 15 minutes and then adding 2-3 oz of new tank water every few minutes. I doubled the water doing that and then dumped half out and repeated. Then I added the fish. It took my about 45-50 minutes to complete this. I thought about drip acclimating but the method i used worked fine when i added the fish to the QT.