My 2 new O.clowns died...

[Oceanicsublimat]

I got 2 o. clowns and some cerith snails the other day and drip acclimated the fish for about 2 hours... they were alright for a couple days, one wasn't as active as the other and I just thought that it was just getting used to it's environment. A couple more days went by and I saw it getting caught in the skimmer. Half alive, I took it out and froze it, I figured it wouldn't make it. I just thought maybe he was just stressed or sick, wasn't too concerned.. Then the other one got caught in the skimmer a couple days after that.. Now my lawnmower blenny is doin just peachy, eatin' up all the algae it can see, and all my shrimp and other critters seem to be doin fine as well.. I checked my water parameters and everything is fine.. Trates were up at about 5ppm.. I'm doin a 25% change in a few because of my cyano problem.. Is it possible that the cyano killed the fish? Does it give off gasses or any type of toxins as a byproduct as such other bacteria do? I'm pretty perplexed as to why they died the stores fish is still alive... Any thoughts?

 

[steve-s]

Recenly aquired fish can often be quite stressed and often week. Could also simpley be they had not yet had time to aquaint themselves with the "hazzards" of the tank and where caught "unaware" so to speak. This is especially true of small fish and powerful euipment. Cyano will not be part of your issue here.

Another reason why QT'ing new arrivals is so important. Not only for the possible pathogen/parasite issues but it allows a new addition to regain it's full health before being placed in with the community.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

gotcha.. I've also thought that maybe a brush against an aiptasia could've done it as well..but who knows...guess I'll just get some more..

 

[Smo]

What is your SG at and what do you check it with?
Sounds much like an acclimation issue to me.

I had aiptasia and my mandarin loved to rub against them while cruising for pods. They never bothered her.

I killed a fish once after an acclimation. My swing arm style hydrometer said my SG was at 1.026. I finally invested in a refractometer and found out my SG was actually at 1.0295. The LFS water around here is usually 1.021. That's a big difference for a fish. I acclimated him for only an hour and a half. He must have been in shock the whole time. Poor little fella.

 

[srgetz]

My swing arm style hydrometer said my SG was at 1.026. I finally invested in a refractometer and found out my SG was actually at 1.0295. The LFS water around here is usually 1.021.

I agree 100%. I found the same problem when I borrowed a refractometer for Hypo - my tank was around 1.03 when the swingarm read 1.025. I now keep the display tank @ 1.020 on the swingarm to compensate. It's a shame, they are really far from accurate.

 

[clowninround]

Thats so true, after I bought my refractometer my hyro was off as well, however not to the extremes above. I will never again check salt with anything but a calibrated refractometer. Good investment.

 

[Phyl]

More important than how long you acclimate for is how well the parms match when you go to place the animals in the tank. The SG & PH should be very close in order to minimize stress on the animals. These are best tested with hydrometer and a PH meter. The best two investments I could have made.

QT is really a great thing for more than just the parasitic reasons. I just put my anthias in my main after being in QT for 2+ months (I was really enjoying them in there, lol). In that time they learned to trust me, learned the feeding regimine, ate out of my hands, got ALL of the food (didn't have to compete for any except for amongst themselves), they were babied, watched carefully, coddled, etc. The move into the main was a breeze for them. They ate within minutes, came right up at feeding time, fed with the rest of the fish, etc. Even my bimaculatus is swimming openly and feeding agressively and they are notoriously shy critters.

Good luck with the next two.