First two clownfish added to new tank passed

[Sapo]

Added my first two fish on Friday. Also added some hermits and four small peppermint shrimp.

The fish never really behaved normally and had high respiration. They weren't eating but I thought that was probably normal given all of the threads where it seems they could take a few days to a week to start. Crabs and shrimp are still doing well.

However, yesterday the larger of the two passed. I removed the smaller of the two and put it into 10g with fresh saltwater that was at the same same temp and salinity. But it still had the fast respiration and never seemed to recover. Unfortunately it just passed a little while ago.

Video of the behavior below. The larger one that was displaying more problems sooner was always hanging out near vertically near the top of the top. Initially the smaller one was swimming around with no issue other than the fast respiration.

It is a new tank with ~150g total (114g display) water that's been cycled for over a month. I've been feeding small amounts of food to keep the cycle going at a decent level. I had also added some pieces of Tampa bay live rock about two weeks prior.

I have a skimmer running and I'm assuming that should be adding a lot of air to the tank. Also have a cw100 that I'm trying to get started growing algae as well as two MP40s running about 15%. I thought all of those things combined would be adding as much oxygen to the water as I could get.

But it sure seems like the fish appear to be starving for oxygen. Also don't understand taking the smaller out and putting in a tank with fresh seawater and an air stone. That should have removed any issues coming from the other tank unless he was too far gone.

I've also been running activated carbon for a week in the sump. So not really sure what could be causing this. I've got a dissolved oxygen meter on order and an ICP test kit coming so I can send that off for more checking.

Parameters below:
Salinity 1.026
Temp 77.3
pH 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 9.0
Phosphate 0

 

[hexcolor reef]

Tank wasn’t done cycling. 150gal would take a lot longer than a month. You would’ve needed to add beneficial bacteria to the tank weekly

 

[KrisReef]

Behavior sounds/looks like two sick fish with something restricting their gill processes. I'm not a fish doc, but I do know you may want to fallow the tank awhile. Wait til one of the med specialists reply on steps forward. Sometimes, too often LFS fishes are infected before we bring them home and in a new tank they may not really have a fighting chance without quick medical intervention, again the latter is not my area to reply to. Sorry.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Added my first two fish on Friday. Also added some hermits and four small peppermint shrimp.

The fish never really behaved normally and had high respiration. They weren't eating but I thought that was probably normal given all of the threads where it seems they could take a few days to a week to start. Crabs and shrimp are still doing well.

However, yesterday the larger of the two passed. I removed the smaller of the two and put it into 10g with fresh saltwater that was at the same same temp and salinity. But it still had the fast respiration and never seemed to recover. Unfortunately it just passed a little while ago.

Video of the behavior below. The larger one that was displaying more problems sooner was always hanging out near vertically near the top of the top. Initially the smaller one was swimming around with no issue other than the fast respiration.

It is a new tank with ~150g total (114g display) water that's been cycled for over a month. I've been feeding small amounts of food to keep the cycle going at a decent level. I had also added some pieces of Tampa bay live rock about two weeks prior.

I have a skimmer running and I'm assuming that should be adding a lot of air to the tank. Also have a cw100 that I'm trying to get started growing algae as well as two MP40s running about 15%. I thought all of those things combined would be adding as much oxygen to the water as I could get.

But it sure seems like the fish appear to be starving for oxygen. Also don't understand taking the smaller out and putting in a tank with fresh seawater and an air stone. That should have removed any issues coming from the other tank unless he was too far gone.

I've also been running activated carbon for a week in the sump. So not really sure what could be causing this. I've got a dissolved oxygen meter on order and an ICP test kit coming so I can send that off for more checking.

Parameters below:
Salinity 1.026
Temp 77.3
pH 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 9.0
Phosphate 0

For cycle, did you add any ammonia chloride and monitor ammonia and nitrate levels?
Have you tested water periodically during cycle and what readings did you notice?

Both fish appear very thin and either were not fed enough or had other issue contributing to weakness. Tank was likely too knew to get an algae scrubber producing algae.
The readings of zero while not impossible seem unusual

 

[Sapo]

Tank wasn’t done cycling. 150gal would take a lot longer than a month. You would’ve needed to add beneficial bacteria to the tank weekly

Sorry, should have noted that I had cycled with the Brightwell kit and according to testing it was done in early August. I added StartXLM according to the instructions and the QuikCycl Ammonium Chloride as per the instructions.

In addition to the StartXLM, I had been adding six drops of BioS from the kit that came with the aquarium daily.

 

[Sapo]

For cycle, did you add any ammonia chloride and monitor ammonia and nitrate levels?
Have you tested water periodically during cycle and what readings did you notice?

Both fish appear very thin and either were not fed enough or had other issue contributing to weakness. Tank was likely too knew to get an algae scrubber producing algae.
The readings of zero while not impossible seem unusual

Phosphate had gone up to .09, so I ran Phosphate Minus for 24hrs and it had brought it down to .04 when I tested a week ago. I had pulled it before it could get to 0. I was surprised that it tested via Hanna kit at 0 today.

I only mentioned the algae scrubber in the context of adding more turbulence and oxygen to the water. I even opened up the front and back of the house to generate airflow in case CO2 inside is high. I noticed the pH did go up a bit after I did that. But there was no perceptible improvement in either fish.

 

[Sapo]

Behavior sounds/looks like two sick fish with something restricting their gill processes. I'm not a fish doc, but I do know you may want to fallow the tank awhile. Wait til one of the med specialists reply on steps forward. Sometimes, too often LFS fishes are infected before we bring them home and in a new tank they may not really have a fighting chance without quick medical intervention, again the latter is not my area to reply to. Sorry.

This was from someone that has guaranteed QT.

But as it happens, I'm gonna be out of town on vacation for two weeks in another two weeks from now. So it will be naturally fallow for over a month during that time in case they did have anything. I'm not going to add anything between now and then.

 

[KrisReef]

This was from someone that has guaranteed QT.

But as it happens, I'm gonna be out of town on vacation for two weeks in another two weeks from now. So it will be naturally fallow for over a month during that time in case they did have anything. I'm not going to add anything between now and then.

The tank should have had plenty of bacteria with the addition of small amounts of live rock, not to mention the bacteria and time (and graphs) you posted, later.

What is a guaranteed QT?
(Is that anything like a "Certified Pre-owned Used Car?" That term always makes me smile, aka advertising hype.)

 

[Sapo]

What is a guaranteed QT?
(Is that anything like a "Certified Pre-owned Used Car?" That term always makes me smile, aka advertising hype.)

I know, can't really trust anyone else to do it.

But I thought I would have a better chance at getting healthy livestock.

 

[KrisReef]

I know, can't really trust anyone else to do it.

But I thought I would have a better chance at getting healthy livestock.

I really like to get my fish and coral local so I can take a good long look at them before I decide to bring them home. Doesn't always work out, but I prefer it. Even better is from a good friend with a tank who has decided to sell fish they have had for awhile.

Still, I have a tusk that I bought, and when I got it home I realized that it had been hiding a giant sore on the one side that I had not observed, obviously, when I swooped it up. It healed fairly quickly in the DT but I kicked myself awhile for that mistake. Bringing new stuff home always carries unknown risk, but still I do it.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I know, can't really trust anyone else to do it.

But I thought I would have a better chance at getting healthy livestock.

Jumping in on this late - the tank is obviously cycled, and with the invertebrates doing well, I wouldn't spend too much time looking at water quality for this issue...if the tank has good aeration.

Since they didn't eat and were breathing fast form the start, that implies they had some issue prior to arrival, or perhaps an acclimation problem. Do you know the salinity of the water they arrived in compared to your tank? If that did not cause a large jump in salinity, then I am left with some sort of gill disease (and I agree the fish look a bit thin).

Jay

 

[Sapo]

Jumping in on this late - the tank is obviously cycled, and with the invertebrates doing well, I wouldn't spend too much time looking at water quality for this issue...if the tank has good aeration.

Since they didn't eat and were breathing fast form the start, that implies they had some issue prior to arrival, or perhaps an acclimation problem. Do you know the salinity of the water they arrived in compared to your tank? If that did not cause a large jump in salinity, then I am left with some sort of gill disease (and I agree the fish look a bit thin).

Jay

They were at 1.023. I did a 40min drip acclimation with air stone after I did a 15min temp acc in bag.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

They were at 1.023. I did a 40min drip acclimation with air stone after I did a 15min temp acc in bag.

O.K. - I just needed to rule that out.

jay