New tanks - first fish lasted 1 hour

[Overbrook]

New biocube 32. Fishless cycle completed. Ammonia 0/ Nitrite 0/ Nitrate 5-10 (10 on API, 5 on salifert)/ PH 8.0 /dKH 7.6/ Salinity 1.025.
Initially using tropic marin pro but that's become harder to get and my last water change (50%) was done with IO (not reef crystal).
Purchased a (super) small royal gramma online which arrived this am. Pretty quiet in the bag, hiding in the corner and not moving much but would swim a little when I slowly inverted the bag. This is my first online fish so I'm not sure how much action there should be. Followed the acclimatization process on that was recommended (floating bag, 1/2 cup every 4 In). After about an hour let the fish in and it promptly swam to a low flow corner, laid down and was breathing fast. Dead in 1 hour.

I'm kicking myself that I jumped the gun on ordering the fish with a bit of nitrate in the tank. Would a nitrate of 5ish (or the relatively low dKH) really kill a fish that quick? Did I acclimate too fast (I'm sure the dKH was higher in the bag)? I don't want to simply blame the company (the fish was still mostly alive when I opened the box and all). I'd love to hear thoughts on what anyone would do next. My current plan is to completely switch over to Red Sea Coral pro (and ultimately their system) and then try again when everything looks good (absolutely zero nitrate and a less borderline dKH).

Thanks!

 

[radsdad]

7.6 DKH isn't that low. How long did you cycle the tank?

 

[Fishbird]

I couldn’t quite understand your acclimation method from your description but from what I've read when a fish is shipped you should temperature acclimate without opening the bag. Find out from the shipper what salinity the fish has been kept at and ideally you can match your tank to that before the fish arrives.
The longer the fish is in the bag the more ammonia builds up. Once the water in the bag is exposed to oxygen it rapidly becomes much more toxic. You can do a long drip acclimation if you get the fish locally but not if it was shipped to you. If the shipper’s salinity is lower than your tank you can prepare a quarantine tank with fresh saltwater that matches the shipper’s salinity and then temp acclimate and put the fish in that tank. Then you can slowly (over the course of a few hours) adjust the salinity in that tank to match the tank where you’re putting the fish and you won’t burn it from ammonia.

 

[vetteguy53081]

7.6 DKH isn't that low. How long did you cycle the tank?

Low for coral - Not fish

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sounds like going too fast. Acclimation is key but please described how you arrived at CYCLED and how long tank has been cycling. Sounds like you need much more run time with tank Before introductions.

 

[Crashjack]

If keeping a reef, you don't want your nitrate lower than what you have. If acclimating a shipped fish, the rule of thumb is to get it in the water within around 20 minutes of opening the bag.

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Nitrate levels are 5 is not high and would not harm your fish. Zero nitrates is actually bad, and it tends to cause Dino outbreaks. I don’t think that was the problem. Alkalinity at 7.6 also isn’t bad. It’s actually pretty close to that of natural sea water. I also doubt that this was the problem. If I had to guess, I would say that the salinity of the water the fish came in was much lower than that of your tank’s, or the ammonia in the bag hurt the fish during acclimation.

 

[Cole presley]

Fish probably came in sickly and weak. Seems common these days. Where did you order from?

 

[phillygeeks]

Zero ammonia and nitrites and 5-10 nitrates. Sounds like you were plenty cycled to add a single small fish. Most likely had to do with the acclimation method, ammonia or lack of O2 in the bag, opportunistic disease taking hold in a stressed fish or a combination of the above.

Nitrate of 5-10 is not going to harm the fish at all.

 

[Overbrook]

Thanks so much. I cycled with BioSpira and the tank was set up with life rock (30ish pounds) and Carib Sea Fiji pink (20 pounds). Tracked ammonia carefully following the Dr. Tim method.

I must have not acclimated fast enough. Was in the open bag at least 45 minutes and I guess despite his small size (1inch maybe) it got toxic on top of sorta frail fish. I’m honestly hoping that’s it and not some other mystery problem.
Thanks again.

 

[phillygeeks]

Sometimes livestock just don't make the journey

Thanks so much. I cycled with BioSpira and the tank was set up with life rock (30ish pounds) and Carib Sea Fiji pink (20 pounds). Tracked ammonia carefully following the Dr. Tim method.

I must have not acclimated fast enough. Was in the open bag at least 45 minutes and I guess despite his small size (1inch maybe) it got toxic on top of sorta frail fish. I’m honestly hoping that’s it and not some other mystery problem.
Thanks again.

You may have done nothing wrong. 45 min to an hour seems a little long for most fish but from what you describe I am guessing this little fish wasn't going to make it anyway. Sometimes livestock just does not survive the journey and it may just be bad luck. Maybe choose another vendor if they don't have the best reputation...but again, it may just be bad luck

 

[MTBake]

Sounds like the tank was ready. Could be an unhealthy specimen or the acclimation method. Shipped fish do not fare well with a prolonged approach. Best to match salinity and temp with new water in an observation tank. Then acclimimate to your tank over the course of days if the salinity is different. Keeping the fish in the observation tank for several weeks would give you time to make sure it is eating well and healthy before adding to your main tank as well.

 

[radsdad]

Low for coral - Not fish

Oh. I thought we talking about fish.

 

[Ryan Avery]

When the fish is in the sealed bag the high co2 content lowers the ph in the bag making the ammonia less toxic. When the bag is opened it becomes toxic. If you really want to drip acclimate (which isn’t needed IMO) then I would suggest to add a bit of sea chem prime to the water in bag to bind the ammonia. Hope this helps with your future fish endeavors!

 

[Erick Armanii]

Check the salinity of the bag water too! A lot of people miss this step

 

[Albertan22]

So much bad information in this thread but a couple people nailed it. You acclimated too slow. When fish come from your LFS you can slowly acclimate, but when they come shipped you never open the bag until you are ready to dump the fish out. Temp acclimate by floating then get the fish out ASAP. Once you open the bag and oxygen gets in it reacts and all the ammonia in the water becomes toxic and burns the fish’s gills, they then suffocate to death which is why you saw the heavy breathing. This is an issue with shipped fish as they have been in the bag polluting the water for a day or more.

 

[rsehnert]

Check the salinity of the bag water too! A lot of people miss this step

Totally agree with everyone that you need a quicker acclimation of shipped fish due to the ammonia (put some Prime is as soon as you open the BAG!) -- Unless the fish was not shipped at the same salinity of your tank. Sometimes retailers have them in lower salinity, in which case you would need to slowly bring them up in a quarentine tank or the like. That would also result in very high stress on the fish.

As for me - I take a needle and use it to draw out some water from the bag, test salinity, float to match temp, and if salinity matches tank I open and net them in immediately.

 

[Erick Armanii]

@mrsaltwatertank had a YouTube video of acclimating fish to a reef tank. He interviewed an Australian woman that has an aqua culture facility and she explained the best processes of adding new fish..

I would recommend watching that

 

[artieg1]

Many fish don't survive shipping. It's hell on them, if you think about it. For a death that quickly, I am not sure there is anything you could have done.

 

[Paul B]

You did nothing wrong. That fish would most likely have died in anyone's tank. They don't always make it.