Dead hours after arrival

[Steven9194]

Looking for some possible causes of lavender tang dying hours after arrival. First time ordering fish online and I received my first few in today. Lavender Tang, Firefish, Flame Angel, Carpenters Wrasse.

Temperature and drip acclimated them to 1.019, which is what they arrived at and placed them into a new QT tank. I have been using the hybrid tank transfer method on my QT. All appeared healthy at the time, only to find the tang dead after a couple of hours.

Not sure if it was a fish issue or possible an issue with shipping, but just figured I’d see if others have had similar issues in the past and possible how to prevent anything like this from happening in the future.

 

[Bpones]

Sorry to see this. If it was just a few hours after, and all other fish are fine, I’d say this was either a sick fish prior to shipping and the stress was too much, or it was a healthy fish and some aspect of shipping resulted in it’s death. Sorry if that’s not super helpful. But it doesn’t seem like this was your fault. I’d be super careful with QT on all other arrivals with this fish though.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Sorry for your loss.

It's highly possible that it died due to ammonia poisoning.

So, when fish are shipped, they get put into a bag with water. The bag seals, so no Co2 can escape, therefore the pH lowers. When pH is low enough, ammonia does not become toxic anymore. The fish is constantly pooping, therefore raising the ammonia levels in the bag. The second you open the bag, Co2 can escape, raising the pH, and instantly making the ammonia toxic.

The thing with drip acclimation, is that the fish is in it's shipping water for an extended period of time before being diluted to safe levels.

This is just an option, but it's nearly impossible to tell how a fish died from its carcass. There is no visible signs of disease, therefore that's what leads me to believe that it was ammonia poisoning.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Some choice words of mine and Jays' used above with shipped fish, Fish in shipped bags produce carbon dioxide and ammonia. The carbon dioxide lowers the pH of the water in the bag, That in turn makes the ammonia toxic to the fish. This raises the pH of the water in the bag, and that in turn, makes the residual ammonia very toxic to the fish. Sometimes, the fish will die right in the bag. Ammonia poisoning is a maybe and can be temperature change, depending on amount of water in bag, low air or low water as well as shock from netting.

 

[Reef By Steele]

I get a lot of fish online. I have had great luck with www.reefbeauties.com. They offer a 15 day guarantee on most of their fish. However there are some inclusions such as can’t be in a bare bottom tank, ie QT, as they are maybe not cycled. If you are doing TTM, what size tank, and did all the fish go in it? Do you have an ammonia alert badge from seachem (I know people will say don’t trust that, but I use them in TTM and my QT system just as a safeguard and precaution.

Reef beauties ships in 1.019 so I have my tanks at the same for new arrivals. That way I can float to temp acclimate, then I pour the fish into a net over a 5 gallon bucket and transfer straight to the tank. That way they don’t stay in the shipping water after the bag is opened which eliminates that sudden ammonia spike.

 

[Steven9194]

I get a lot of fish online. I have had great luck with www.reefbeauties.com. They offer a 15 day guarantee on most of their fish. However there are some inclusions such as can’t be in a bare bottom tank, ie QT, as they are maybe not cycled. If you are doing TTM, what size tank, and did all the fish go in it? Do you have an ammonia alert badge from seachem (I know people will say don’t trust that, but I use them in TTM and my QT system just as a safeguard and precaution.

Reef beauties ships in 1.019 so I have my tanks at the same for new arrivals. That way I can float to temp acclimate, then I pour the fish into a net over a 5 gallon bucket and transfer straight to the tank. That way they don’t stay in the shipping water after the bag is opened which eliminates that sudden ammonia spike.

Where did you find the stipulations? I can’t find where it shows they can’t be in a bare bottom tank.

 

[Reef By Steele]

Where did you find the stipulations? I can’t find where it shows they can’t be in a bare bottom tank.

Maybe they have changed since I started doing business with them, but I believe it was on their site at a link about their guarantee. Haven’t read it since then, have a great relationship with them, so I just order when I need it can and they take great care of us. So I assume they don for others as well.

 

[Steven9194]

Some choice words of mine and Jays' used above with shipped fish, Fish in shipped bags produce carbon dioxide and ammonia. The carbon dioxide lowers the pH of the water in the bag, That in turn makes the ammonia toxic to the fish. This raises the pH of the water in the bag, and that in turn, makes the residual ammonia very toxic to the fish. Sometimes, the fish will die right in the bag. Ammonia poisoning is a maybe and can be temperature change, depending on amount of water in bag, low air or low water as well as shock from netting.

Good to know. Would you have any recommendations to help prevent this in the future? Maybe temperature acclimate and match salinity prior to opening the bag to be able to remove the fish from the bag immediately upon opening?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Good to know. Would you have any recommendations to help prevent this in the future? Maybe temperature acclimate and match salinity prior to opening the bag to be able to remove the fish from the bag immediately upon opening?

Temperature acclimation for 15-20 minutes then empty contents into a clean container and add a cup of water every 15 minutes until salinity matches that of intended tank- may be up to 2 hours

 

[Readywriter]

However there are some inclusions such as can’t be in a bare bottom tank, ie QT, as they are maybe not cycled.

• We will NOT guarantee items introduced into a bare tank with no saltwater fish already inhabiting the tank. Unfortunately there is no way for us to verify that the tank was properly cycled and ready to receive fish without visible proof that a fish can survive and thrive in there.

This?