Everything looked good until this morning

[S.Pepper]

After spending 4 months preparing and setting up my first SW tank, I got my first livestock yesterday: blue spot puffer, yellow watchman goby, 4 hermit crabs, and a branch hammer coral.

After going through the acclimation process, all were put in the DT. Everything looked good except the hammer coral, but after an hour it fully opened up and is still looking beautiful this morning.

I went to bed last night around 1am and all livestock still looked fine. I wake up this morning at 8am and everything looks great except my puffer, he's dead. All my water parameters were checked before adding livestock and were right on. I don't know what to think. Did I just get unlucky? Any thoughts? thx

 

[sixty_reefer]

It could be that you just got unlucky mate, sorry to hear about your puffer, how did you do your cycle? Did you noticed any spike in amônia today? Does the water looks a bit cloudy?

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

Have you checked parameters since?. How are the other fish and coral you got ?

 

[Firedawg1983]

It happens sadly. I just got a pair of round tail long fin clowns from SA not even two weeks ago, and lost my female this morning.

 

[vetteguy53081]

How did you acclimate puffer ? These guys although gorgeous are a little bit more picky with water conditions.
Simple floating in bag not the best method. I would have a dedicated clean bucket and open bag in bucket and add a cup of tank water every 15 minutes 5-6 intervals. then catch in cup and release into tank.
As a new intro, hard to say if internal or external with it perished but do observe other new fish (eating habits,swimming behavior, eating/interest in food and any unusual behavior such as darting, scratching, etc)
Add garlic and vitamin supplement to their foods and test water as an assurance of no bio change since introduction

 

[Mical]

Lots of variables here: Stress from shipping, salinity from LFS/shipper to your tank. How big is your tank? And as vette says how long & how did you acclimate your puffer?

 

[S.Pepper]

It could be that you just got unlucky mate, sorry to hear about your puffer, how did you do your cycle? Did you noticed any spike in amônia today? Does the water looks a bit cloudy?

I did dr. tim's. Water is crystal clear and all remaining life look perky. I haven't checked the ammonia today, but all water parameters were checked before adding livestock yesterday.

 

[S.Pepper]

How did you acclimate puffer ? These guys although gorgeous are a little bit more picky with water conditions.
Simple floating in bag not the best method. I would have a dedicated clean bucket and open bag in bucket and add a cup of tank water every 15 minutes 5-6 intervals. then catch in cup and release into tank.
As a new intro, hard to say if internal or external with it perished but do observe other new fish (eating habits,swimming behavior, eating/interest in food and any unusual behavior such as darting, scratching, etc)
Add garlic and vitamin supplement to their foods and test water as an assurance of no bio change since introduction

Yes, i was meticulous about the acclimation process. I floated the bag with the puffer for 40 minutes and then put him in a bucket (alone) and added water from the tank every 5 minutes for almost an hour. He looked great and was very inquisitive after placing in tank.

I did put some LRS reef frenzy in this morning, but the goby didn't seem to have much interest. I do have garlic and vitamin supplement for food. The goby is sitting on bottom and moving around tank occasionally. Color looks good and is breathing normally. He looks comfortable.
thx.

 

[S.Pepper]

Lots of variables here: Stress from shipping, salinity from LFS/shipper to your tank. How big is your tank? And as vette says how long & how did you acclimate your puffer?

I was worried about the stress from shipping because package was delivered 3 hours late. It was supposed to arrive by 10:30am and didn't get here until 1:30pm. However, upon opening the package the livestock looked good and really came around after floating in the tank for a few minutes.

 

[Justin Cook]

It's possible that they stress of everything was just too much for the little guy. We can do everything "right" and there's still a chance it doesn't end well. Sorry to hear and I'm glad to see you did do everything you could. Sometimes there's something obvious when a fish doesn't make it and sometimes there's no explanation to be had.

 

[S.Pepper]

It's possible that they stress of everything was just too much for the little guy. We can do everything "right" and there's still a chance it doesn't end well. Sorry to hear and I'm glad to see you did do everything you could. Sometimes there's something obvious when a fish doesn't make it and sometimes there's no explanation to be had.

thx, Justin. I'm waiting on the result from ammonia test. I figured with a dead fish in the tank (yes,it's removed now), it may have spiked my ammonia.

edit:
ammonia: 0
Salinity: 1.025

Now the goby is swimming around/darting towards the top of the water. Don't know if that means anything. However, my hammer coral looks better than it did yesterday. It's fully extended and gently waving around.

 

[S.Pepper]

Hammer coral pic.

 

[S.Pepper]

If it was something in the water that killed the puffer, wouldn't there be some sign with my coral? It's fully extended and looking healthy.

 

[TheOne]

Most likely shipping stress and the rise in ammonia in the shipping bag. Luckily the drop in ph helps with the increase in ammonia but everyone has their own acclimation method and none are 100% reliable.

I hate to be brutally honest but I would put the success rate at 70% or less that actually make it after the first two weeks. That is meaning from your lfs and also ordering online. These fish go thru alot to make it to us. If you haven't seen it yet check out this youtube video on collecting marine fish.

 

[S.Pepper]

Aqua locker is going to cover the fish with their warranty. They made it easy with no hassles.

So, i'm going to give it one more try. If there's a problem, I'm going to hold off on anymore fish for a few months and concentrate on corals; which is my main objective, but I really want one of these fish.

 

[TheOne]

At least you picked a good starter coral. I don't think I've ever seen a hammer coral that didn't do well. I would have passed on a puffer though. Good luck.

 

[S.Pepper]

Welp, my yellow watchman goby is gone. He was looking good ever since I got him last Friday. Yesterday he ate in the morning and was looking perky. Last night at about 11:30 he started swimming up to the overflow and getting sucked into it. After I would remove him... several minutes later he go right back. After doing this numerous times, I could tell he was really stressed and figured I would find him dead this morning. He's nowhere to be found this morning. I wonder if the hermit crabs were able to consume him through the night?

My hermit crabs look great, if that's any consolation. My hammer corral looks great. I did a quick ammonia check this morning and it's 0.

It's a bz time of year, and i'm done adding anything to the tank until after the New Year; but will need to figure out what i'm doing wrong before I add anymore life to the tank.

Merry Christmas.

 

[Mical]

Sorry you lost another fish.

 

[S.Pepper]

Sorry you lost another fish.

Well, I spoke too soon. I did find him at the bottom of the tank buried head first into a hole in a rock with only the back of his tail showing. It appeared he was alive, but i'm sure not doing well. I've decided to do a water change; it's mixed up, but cold. Got the heater in the water and headed off to the gym. Water is now warmed up, but there isn't any sight of him. hmmm

 

[Jesterrace]

Gobies can disappear when getting adjusted to a new environment although burying his head into a hole in the rock does seem bizarre for one. I may ruffle some feathers here, but one of the reasons I don't order online is because I don't have the chance to observe the fish I am going to buy before purchase. I generally don't buy a fish unless it's spent a couple of weeks at my LFS and I have a chance to observe it's level of activity, feeding habits, visible signs of disease, etc. The result of adopting this method has been a massive decrease in loss of fish and fish that are living years and not weeks or months.