Help!!! Less than 12 hours and my fish keep dying!!!

[Schlagerdogin]

Ok, this was my second attempt at a pair of clown fish. Both times, in less than 12 hours, they are dead and I don’t know why and don’t understand why.

Three days ago I came home from my LFS with two clown fish and saw my emerald crab eating something meaty and I never put anything meaty in the tank. Turns out, it was my watchman goby he was munching on. I checked my parameters to see if anything had spiked.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 3-5
Phosphate .003
Salinity 1.024
pH 8.0

I started to drip acclimate my clown fish and attempted to get the dead goby out. The emerald crab wasn’t letting go. Drip acclimation was about 1 hour and I added the two clown fish. They were acting normal until one of them was kinda just swimming vertical along the back wall but not looking bad. The other one picked a corner to just chill in. The next morning, both stuck to the back of my power head.

Went to my LFS, discussed what it could have been. Long story short, my heater wasn’t sealed any more and I was zapping the hell out of my fish (or so I thought). Got a new heater, no current running through the water. Went back to LFS today to get a new pair of clown fish.

Parameters today:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0-3
Phosphorus .003
Salinity 1.024
pH 8.0

Acclimated the new fish for about 45 minutes to an hour and added them to the tank. One was acting normal, the other was immediately acting like he didn’t know how to swim and just let the flow take him around until he decided to swim to the top for a bit and then just float where ever. Called my LFS, said they might just be acting weird and getting acclimated. At the store, they were completely normal and acted completely different when in my tank.

I don’t know what is happening. I am at a loss and clueless. I have GSP and pulsing Xenia in the tank along with a clean up crew of hermit crabs and snails with one emerald crab. I also have a tiger pistol shrimp that was with the goby and they are ALL doing fine.

Some one PLEASE help me understand what is happening or if I am doing something wrong. Thank you!!

 

[Reef Jedi]

How long has the tank been running? Can I get some pictures under white lights?

 

[Schlagerdogin]

Running since April 15.

 

[BasementBox]

Okay. So looks like you have water flow and movement for o2. How long was the goby in the tank.

Also I see you have salinity at 1.024 but are you using Rodi, tap, toilet water? It sounds stupid but you gotta play along.

How often do you feed the tank. How often do you have to clean your glass.

 

[BasementBox]

Also where did you get the rock. Was it live. Fresh?

 

[Schlagerdogin]

Goby was put in May 8th. I’m using RODI and salt water from my LFS. I haven’t decided to get my own RODI filter due to work. Getting from the LFS is just easier right now. I was feeding once a day, then some bad diatoms hit and I thought I was over feeding because food was just flowing around after I fed. Diatoms started to go away and starting alternating days between pellets and brine +spirulina. Rock was dry rock from LFS and I used Fritz 900 to start my cycle. I could get away with cleaning the glass every two to three days roughly.

I know dry rock is not the best. With I would have gotten at least two pieces of live rock to start with it but it is what it is and I’m here now lol.

 

[Tripod1404]

Do you use a heater and airstone while acclimating?

 

[Schlagerdogin]

Do you use a heater and airstone while acclimating?

I do not.

I put a temperature probe in the small bucket to monitor the temp compared to the tank after I float them to get to tank temperature. No air stone, I keep the drip up high to cause surface agitation. Maybe that’s not the right answer but I think that would work for the acclimation process.

I could be wrong and if I am, please tell me!! I am here to learn. Been out of the hobby for some years and getting back into it. Thanks for the feed back!

 

[Michael Hughes]

I'm still new to this too, but I don't think I would drip acclimate clownfish. I would float to temp acclimate, empty the bag water down to halfway full, and add a cup of water from your tank. Repeat every 5 minutes or so until most of the bag water is from your tank and then net them into the tank.

 

[Tripod1404]

I do not.

I put a temperature probe in the small bucket to monitor the temp compared to the tank after I float them to get to tank temperature. No air stone, I keep the drip up high to cause surface agitation. Maybe that’s not the right answer but I think that would work for the acclimation process.

I could be wrong and if I am, please tell me!! I am here to learn. Been out of the hobby for some years and getting back into it. Thanks for the feed back!

You could try a shorter acclimation process. 1 hour acclimation is rather long. Sudden death of healthy fish after introduction suggest me an acclimation issue.

Also make sure the bucket you use for acclimation is not contaminated with a chemical or something.

 

[code4]

I have switched to just floating fish for 15 minutes. Just to match temperature. And releasing. I do check salinity and try to match it.

And turn off lights for a day.

Sorry for your losses.

 

[13rodo]

How are you checking your salinity? A refractometer? Asking because I killed my first fish because my refractometer was calibrated wrong and what I thought was 1.025 was really 1.018ish. So I basically shocked it. Highly recommend you use it to check the salinity of the water in the bag versus yours. Also recommend something like a hanna that is less prone to calibration mistakes.

Edit: Since 5 fish have died I’d bet money your salinity isn’t what you think and they are getting shocked. GSP and Xenia are hardy, so are the cleanup crew.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

I have never had good luck with drip acclimation. I use the method Michael mentioned. Temp acclimate for 15-20 minutes then add half a cup or so of tank water to the bag every 5-10 minutes until the water volume in the bag is at least double the original amount (usually doesnt take more than 15 minutes) Then pour the fish into a net over a 5 gal bucket and gentle release them into the tank from the net. Total time from float to release is never more than 30 minutes. I have also used the "plop and drop" method on shipped fish when the water looks fouled. (Temp aclimate and then net out and release)

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

Drip is not necessary and you probably killed them when the ammonia crept up over that 1 hour in the bag. Depending on how long it took to get them back from the store, the ammonia at lower ph isn’t as toxic and when you raise the ph by drip, the ammonia becomes substantially more toxic in the bag.

My 2c. No need to drip. If you buy from a reputable place, they should tell you what their salinity is at. As long as you aren’t wildly off, I would temp acclimate and put them in.

 

[13rodo]

OP said they bought the fish at the LFS. Ammonia isn’t the issue. Need to check the salinity in the bag and check yours. I’d bet money they are wildly different.

Edit: Or the LFS has some really sick fish / contaminated water

 

[W31Olds]

Always ask your LFS what salinity they run in their fish systems. For a better understanding of what happened, I would call them and ask. Not likely an Ammonia problem.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Always ask your LFS what salinity they run in their fish systems. For a better understanding of what happened, I would call them and ask. Not likely an Ammonia problem.

One of my old LFS (closed a few years ago) ran hyposalinity as part of their disease prevention/QT protocol. I think you and the others that mentioned it are probably right...likely a salinity issue on one side or the other.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

So many posts on this forum, strange losses that are inexplicable. One common denominator I have noticed is buying LFS water. Who knows how often the LFS changes their filters, who knows what bored teenage employees can do to sabotage..... The water is the most important thing and you should control the quality from beginning to end.

I'm also not reading any quarantine, so the tank might have disease.

Where is the watchman goby in this story? Is it still alive?

I don't see any inverts in your tank, do you have any?

 

[Schlagerdogin]

Right now I’m using the swing arm hydrometer (refractometer is being purchased). Had the LFS also test my salinity and they got the same reading I did, 1.024. LFS runs their salinity at 1.022.

As for the bucket I use, I did use revive coral dip in it once but gave it a good scrub and washing afterwards. Could that be it?

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Schlagerdogin]

You could try a shorter acclimation process. 1 hour acclimation is rather long. Sudden death of healthy fish after introduction suggest me an acclimation issue.

Also make sure the bucket you use for acclimation is not contaminated with a chemical or something.

The bucket I used to drip acclimate I did use to dip my coral with revive coral dip. After the dip I immediately rinsed and washed the bucket like I do every time I use the bucket. I only used the coral dip once in the bucket. Could there possibly be chemicals still in that bucket or now permanently in that bucket?

I will no longer be using that bucket and it is officially my coral dip bucket now just to be safe.

I hope that’s not the reason because I’m gonna hate myself for that. Thanks again for the responses, they all are helping a lot.