Plse help determine cause of death

[accidental_reefer]

Hello all, got a pair of clowns yesterday, which I brought home 20 mins from LFS. I temperature acclimated for 20 mins. Salinity matched then drip acclimated for 45 mins. Nitrates 5 and everything else standard. One was dead when I went to transfer them. The other one is zooming around the QT. Does it make sense if one died from the ammonia during acclimation but the other one is spunky? Or does there look like there’s something wrong with the clown? Pics attached..

 

[blaxsun]

#fishmedic

 

[Sharkbait19]

Unfortunately it’s hard to tell much from post mortem pics. Was it acting weird at all?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello all, got a pair of clowns yesterday, which I brought home 20 mins from LFS. I temperature acclimated for 20 mins. Salinity matched then drip acclimated for 45 mins. Nitrates 5 and everything else standard. One was dead when I went to transfer them. The other one is zooming around the QT. Does it make sense if one died from the ammonia during acclimation but the other one is spunky? Or does there look like there’s something wrong with the clown? Pics attached..

If the one fish didn’t make it through acclimation, it was either compromised when you bought it, or there was an acclimation issue. The most common acclimation issue is putting a fish through too much of a salinity rise. Do you know the LFS salinity versus your tank’s?

Jay

 

[accidental_reefer]

If the one fish didn’t make it through acclimation, it was either compromised when you bought it, or there was an acclimation issue. The most common acclimation issue is putting a fish through too much of a salinity rise. Do you know the LFS salinity versus your tank’s?

Jay

It was 1.025 as was mine.

 

[accidental_reefer]

Unfortunately it’s hard to tell much from post mortem pics. Was it acting weird at all?

It seemed fine when I was temp acclimating. The one still alive was moving a bunch around the bag so hard to see what was going on. So the relative movement of the other one I didn’t really notice.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It was 1.025 as was mine.

Did you aerate the water diluting the drip? Since the salinity was the same, you could have sped things up and just temperature acclimated them, or likely even skip that.
I just can’t see any other cause of death except something that happened between the store and your tank. Could there be something wrong with your QT?

Here is my article on fish acclimation:

Acclimation Methods

Acclimating Animals to Aquariums Jay F. Hemdal c.2020 Introduction to acclimation techniques Most beginning aquarists hear that they must “acclimate” any new animals they add to their aquarium. Acclimation (sometimes termed...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[jkcoon]

They are supposed to be in water…. JK, it’s hard to tell but sometimes even the best efforts aren’t enough and the stress overcomes them.

 

[accidental_reefer]

Did you aerate the water diluting the drip? Since the salinity was the same, you could have sped things up and just temperature acclimated them, or likely even skip that.
I just can’t see any other cause of death except something that happened between the store and your tank. Could there be something wrong with your QT?

Here is my article on fish acclimation:

Acclimation Methods

Acclimating Animals to Aquariums Jay F. Hemdal c.2020 Introduction to acclimation techniques Most beginning aquarists hear that they must “acclimate” any new animals they add to their aquarium. Acclimation (sometimes termed...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Thanks for the reference. Really informative and an easy read. I didn’t aerate. I tried an air stone but it was generating too movement in the small space, which the clowns did not like. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the QT. I have tailspot blenny and cleaner shrimp which have been in the QT for several weeks and appear to be doing really well, and the other clown has been really active in the tank the last few days and did not display any outward appearance of stress or illness.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks for the reference. Really informative and an easy read. I didn’t aerate. I tried an air stone but it was generating too movement in the small space, which the clowns did not like. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the QT. I have tailspot blenny and cleaner shrimp which have been in the QT for several weeks and appear to be doing really well, and the other clown has been really active in the tank the last few days and did not display any outward appearance of stress or illness.

One trick with aeration is, if you don't have a valve, to put a rubberband around the air line and bend it a bit to slow the air down.

However, I misread your initial post. The second clown is doing well still? I read it as it was stressed out "zooming around"....but if it is still fine, then everything points back to something being wrong with the one clown that died before you bought it.

Jay