Killing fish with freshwater dips.

[Firthy13]

So I have successfully killed a royal Gramma and now a yellow tang by doing freshwater dips. I'm very annoyed at myself as I can't work out what I'm doing wrong. It's devastating spending 6 weeks quarantining fish only to kill them days before they go in to the DT.
The yellow was healthy and fat but developed cloudy eyes over the last few days and it looked like it could possibly be a fluke that may have made it through prazi somehow. Anyways, I thought, better safe then sorry and decided to give him a dip before adding to my tank.
I think I have followed humblefish' instructions. What am I doing wrong??

Filled a small bucket up with RO.
Sat the bucket in the sump to get it up to temp an hour before doing dip also added an air stone during this time.
I matched pH of by adding a small amount of Seachem marine buffer.
As soon as he hit the water he went completely stiff, still breathing though. I know some fish like to sook when you dip them so I wasn't concerned.
After 1-2 minutes I checked on him and could clearly see there were no fluke on his eyes, but he also wasn't breathing. Returned him to his tank and never took another breath.

Any advice would be great as i feel I have followed the directions received from other hobbyists and humblefish' directions...

 

[ichthyogeek]

Straight from humblefish' directions:

The important thing is to watch their gills; they should be breathing heavily at all times. If breathing slows, it’s time to exit the dip! (It’s also important that the fish remains upright & swimming at all times, so chase him a little with your finger if he lays on the bottom.) .

You say after 1-2 minutes. Does this mean you didn't monitor the fish during the dip?

 

[Firthy13]

I did monitor him. As soon as he hit the water he just stopped swimming. Didn't matter what I did. He was upright and breathing heavily though. After the first minute I started searching for flukes.

 

[ichthyogeek]

So in the future, if the fish just stops swimming, you probably need to coddle it. Poke it, prod it, push it (bop it? twist it? lol), and get it swimming. There's also a technique where you grasp the fish and move it back and forth in order to force water through it's gills. I believe it's something that fishermen do in order to keep the fish alive after being pulled outside of the water.

The moment that breathing slows, that's when you take the fish out. Even if the dip isn't complete.

And you may also have to just restart their breathing as well. My flame angelfish is a little drama fish. I had to keep running it through the water after it's dip for a good 5 minutes afterwards before it finally corrected its posture and swam away.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

So I have successfully killed a royal Gramma and now a yellow tang by doing freshwater dips. I'm very annoyed at myself as I can't work out what I'm doing wrong. It's devastating spending 6 weeks quarantining fish only to kill them days before they go in to the DT.
The yellow was healthy and fat but developed cloudy eyes over the last few days and it looked like it could possibly be a fluke that may have made it through prazi somehow. Anyways, I thought, better safe then sorry and decided to give him a dip before adding to my tank.
I think I have followed humblefish' instructions. What am I doing wrong??

Filled a small bucket up with RO.
Sat the bucket in the sump to get it up to temp an hour before doing dip also added an air stone during this time.
I matched pH of by adding a small amount of Seachem marine buffer.
As soon as he hit the water he went completely stiff, still breathing though. I know some fish like to sook when you dip them so I wasn't concerned.
After 1-2 minutes I checked on him and could clearly see there were no fluke on his eyes, but he also wasn't breathing. Returned him to his tank and never took another breath.

Any advice would be great as i feel I have followed the directions received from other hobbyists and humblefish' directions...

Death early on in a dip is rare, but can happen due to shock. I’ve revived some fish by holding them mouth first into a pump current. Too late now, but if you ever see sudden death like this again, look at the fish’s gills- pink or white means anemia.

More often seen is fish death after a dip- if the fluke infection is really high, the flukes act like little corks, and when they all drop off at once, the fish bleeds out and dies soon after the dip....their gills will be pale white.

Jay

 

[lmgoetze]

Death early on in a dip is rare, but can happen due to shock. I’ve revived some fish by holding them mouth first into a pump current. Too late now, but if you ever see sudden death like this again, look at the fish’s gills- pink or white means anemia.

More often seen is fish death after a dip- if the fluke infection is really high, the flukes act like little corks, and when they all drop off at once, the fish bleeds out and dies soon after the dip....their gills will be pale white.

Jay

Ugh, just experienced this… poor scopas did just as you say, flukes corked and dropped, and then I watched it happen. Sick to my stomach, but I appreciate knowing what actually happened thanks for always providing your insight @Humblefish Any way to prevent this from happening or is the babe just doomed?

 

[Dr. Reef]

I wouldnt add nything to the rodi water. likely if the pH from tank should be around 7.8 to 8.2 range and rodi should also be about 7.6-8 range and that is not enough to shock a fish.
I quarantine fish for living and i have never killed a single fish in freshwater dip.
I never add anything. just temp within a degree or 2.
If there are flukes that made it through 2 doses of prazi, run 2 more doses. prazi is reef safe so it can be done in main tank. I have seen a few cases of prazi resistant flukes but multiple treatments eventually rids them.