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[Instigate]

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[Instigate]

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[Instigate]

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[Instigate]

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[Katrina71]

Sorry

 

[Gweeds1980]

I floated the bag and drip acclimated for an hour then released them. I didn't notice any rapid breathing but I might have just not noticed because they were hiding in the PVC elbow and I'm inexperienced. Anyways, the first night I tried to feed them some frozen mysis and they came out of the elbow but didn't eat any and quickly went back to hiding. This morning I tried again but they just stayed in the elbow and I noticed rapid breathing. So I read about it and it seemed like that sometimes happens on the first day or so. So I just hoped they would become less stressed to the new environment. Later I came back from the store and one of the chromis was dead. I fished him out and he had a slight red patch on one side. I should have stopped and taken a picture but I didn't. So seeing the red mark on a chromis I assumed it was uronema. I didn't have metroplex or general cure on hand so I dosed the tank with prazipro. Then a few hours later the other one died. He was swimming around a little bit but seemed dazed. Then he was barely swimming and being tossed around in the powerhead's current. So I turned the powerhead off. It's a 10 gallon tank with an aquaclear 70 on it so I wasn't too worried about o2 with the amount of surface agitation it provides. Then with the powerhead off he was just laying on the bottom and very slowly moving toward the PVC then wedged himself under it on the outside. He was like that for 20 min or so and I thought he stopped breathing and died so I moved the PVC and started to net him and he came to a bit. So I backed off. Then for a while he was swimming around quickly in short bursts then went back to being at the bottom. Flipping upside down and correcting himself till he got wedged under the PVC again and finally died. When I took him out he had no signs of uronema as far as I can tell. I took pictures of that one not that it's much use I think. My parameters were always fine so I'm thinking it was a disease or parasite.

I would like to hear any opinions on what I should have done differently that might have made a difference. I think one mistake was to drip acclimate to the 1.025sg of the QT. I should have adjusted the QT to the 1.020 that the fish came in. Other than that, I guess I should have had metroplex on had but should I have started them on that day 1? I have read that it's best to let them adjust for the first few days and get them feeding before giving any meds.

Parameters when I added the fish:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 2
Ph - 8.2
Dkh - 11
SG - 1.025
Temp - 79 F

Parameters 3-4 hours before first death:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5
Ph - 8.2
Dkh - 11
SG - 1.025
Temp - 78.8 F

Feeling very disappointed and disheartened I failed to test after the deaths. I tore down the tank for sterilization. Planning on sterilizing it tomorrow and setting it up again with a sponge I have had in the cycled DT for a month or so.

Hmmm... on top of seeding the sponge, I'd get a bottle of bacteria and dose that for the first few days... could have been ammonia that did for them.

The salinity thing is a good point... almost all LFS have 1.020 set... get your QT to the same. I just allow some evaporation to raise the salinity up to 1.026, the same as my DT, then top up with 1.026 water and then RO as required... this way the salinity change is gradual.

Of course it could be that the chromis were already suffering from something in the LFS and the stress of moving them killed them off... might be worth seeing if the LFS would hold fish for a week (normally on a deposit) and that way you can be a bit more sure that they're not about to die.

Either way, gutted for you, never good to have fish die

 

[Instigate]

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[Katrina71]

Try smaller pipe. Ours likes cozy spots.

 

[Katrina71]

Get some barnacles for your DT. You are going to love him.

 

[Instigate]

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[Katrina71]

I had trouble getting ours to eat at first. Adding the little clown with him did the trick. Ours prefers meaty foods over greens by far, but I do feed both.

 

[Instigate]

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[Katrina71]

Mine was the same until we gave him a friend. Maybe zip tie small tubes together to simulate a cluster of barnacles?

 

[Instigate]

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[Katrina71]

I was about to say a tiny clown would be great! Ours sleep together.

 

[hockeyhead019]

I commend your research and ability/know-how to build a good setup. The DT rock work looks fantastic! Sorry to hear about the first two fish though. I'm sure things will start looking up though.

 

[Instigate]

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[Katrina71]

OC clown.