Blah.. depressing

[catmel]

Well, I'm very depressed. Sorry for posting this in two places, I realized this is probably the better spot for it..

I went out and bought two small tank raised clowns yesterday. One had died this morning The other, as of right now is fine, out swimming around ok, so far so good for it I think. I'm so upset.. I made sure water parameters were OK before I added them, I acclimated as suggested.. I tested the water again after I noticed the fish had been missing for a few hours and discovered it had died..under the rock. I do want to note yesterday after a few hours the one fish ate, the other wasn't interested.

PH is 8.2-8.3 ammonia at 0, maybe just slightly above - so hard to tell, certainly not at 0.25ppm color though, nitrite at 0, and nitrate between 10-20ppm. specific grav between 1.022 and 1.023. Temp had risen to 80 with the light on 10am-10pm ( was about 78 this morning) whats worse.. I had got my two fish from Pet supplies plus, great people and very helpful, but apparently they have a live fish guarantee on freshwater fish only. blah. $20 gone and a poor dead clown..sigh..this is depressing... is it possible this guy died of natural causes? my water seems to be good.. I want to make sure it was nothing I did, I was so careful before putting these guys in..

it seems silly getting attached to a fish after just a day.. oh well

[pat8you]

Hard to say. Seems like you did everything right from what you posted. Some times the stress of transferring to a new tank is just to much and they don't make it. How long did you acclimate them?

[neilanh]

He could've been in bad shape before you ever got him, and the stress of moving just put him over the edge.

Sorry for your loss

[happygirl65]

It's not silly to get attached to a fish. You had hopes and expectations that were not fulfilled. Of course you would be dissapointed. Sorry for your loss.

I would call the store and explain what happened. If you escalate things you might be able to get them to do something for you.

I am not really exerienced with SW fish but have purchased some expensive discus etc and I can tell you that generally speaking a fish death so quickly was likely not a healthy specimen to begin with.

[catmel]

He seemed to be pretty good color, didnt look sickly or anything really when I brought him home. I did notice he was hanging out at the surface a lot, but figured he was checking out the tank. Although I must say the guy at the LFS did chase them around a good bit trying to catch them.

I acclimated them for 30 minutes. I floated the bag unopened for 15 mins, then opened the bag and put small amounts of tank water in for 15 mins then released.

the other fish right now is still alive.. he seems a bit frantic swimming around, but he did eat a few pellets around 8pm.

Sounds like the one poor little guy must have died from stress. I did notice he seemed to be hiding a lot as opposed to this one thats still alive.

Im going to call the LFS tomorrow and see if they can do anything for me. I know they have no guarantee, which really puts me away from buying any expensive fish ever there, ( wont anytime soon anyhow), but I guess its worth calling them.. I'm still so surprized this guy died so soon. I've kept lots of freshwater fish in the past and none had died so quickly other than when I was 4 and had a beta in a little bowl.. hhmthh.. oh well just hope this little guy will be ok. Makes me feel a little better knowing I did what I could at least..

[pat8you]

I have to agree with happygirl. Usually the fish has to be in the tank a big longer for you water conditions or something of that nature to kill the fish. He must not have been doing real good before he was in your tank.

You may want to try and acclimate them for a little longer next time. Clowns are generally hardy fish and that acclimation probably wouldn't kill him but it does help reduce the stress of the move to acclimate them over a longer period of time. especially some of the more sensitive fish. also it seems to help if you keep the lights out for a while if you haven't tried that before. Sorry to hear about your fish. I had something similar happen to me and i was pretty bummed about it as well

[neilanh]

I recommend switching to the drip acclimation method. I let the bag float for about 20 minutes, then place the fish in a pitcher or bucket or something. Use airline tubing and a valve (or just knot the tubing), create a siphon from your tank, and let it drip into the bag. I run 3-4 drips per second for an hour.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Agree that giving the drip method a try next time might be good. Did you measure the LFS water's salinity when you opened the bag? I always do, just so I know how much of a difference I've got between my quarantine tank and the LFS water. Then you can vary the drip speed/time depending on the difference.

Even with that said, it sounds like you just have some bad luck. I've got 6 fish in my tank right now and am done stocking. It took me a year to fully stock it. But I bought 11 fish over that year. Every fish you buy isn't going to make it... that's just the way it works. It sucks... but it's life. Somewhere (think it was Fenner's book) I read that the mortality rate between coming out of the ocean and getting to your LFS is around 90%. I try to ignore that fact when I go into a LFS.

Sorry for your loss... it stinks even if you've only had it a day.

[ryshark]

I like the idea about measuring the parameters of the water from the LFS. The last time I bought a fish was also the very first time I ever did check the salinity of the water in the bag. The water in the bag measured 1.018 and I have my tank set at 1.025. A rise of .007 is a lot in one day and very hard on the fish. Luckily I caught this and just dropped the salinity in my QT down to 1.020 and then started the acclimation process. So I like that bit of advice of checking the LFS water.

I too think you had an unhealthy specimen. Keep us posted on the other guy and watch that ammonia level. It really should be a true 0.

[Kurt_Nelson]

That's another good point ryshark... having a QT not only allows you quarantine the fish so you don't spread disease to the main tank, but it allows you to better match your water parameters to the LFS water and minimize the acclimation. It's been a while since I've added fish, and I'd forgotten about that.