Neon Dottyback didn't last 24 hours

[werdna1999]

First post so apologies if this isn't formatted correctly.

I set up my first reef tank about 3 months ago. It has had just a pair of ocellaris clownfish in it for about 1.5 months, they seem to be doing fine. Last night I added a neon dottyback after floating it for 15 minutes then drip acclimating for about 15 minutes. The salinity of the tank he was in at my LFS was 1.025 and mine is 1.025.

I woke up to the dottyback dead on the sand bed. I've heard these guys are pretty hardy so I'm wondering how mine died so quickly (less than 24 hours). The display tank size is just over 70 gallons. I can't see any physical damage to the fish body, but I've included pictures of both sides. My water parameters are as follows:

Salinity 1.025
Temp 77.5
PH 8.2
Nitrate: Undetectible
Ammonia: Undetectible
Phosphate: Undetectible
KH: 8.0
Mg:1200
Ca:400

I'm working on raising nitrate and phosphate levels since my corals are a bit angry for it. Thought adding a larger bio load would help :/
Please help. Feeling a bit down.

 

[mike550]

@werdna1999 Sorry to see this. Your parameters look fine. How was the fish acting after you put it in? Did the other fish at the LFS look okay?

FWIW (and it’s topic of debate) but I don’t drip acclimate. I float the bag to get to temp and then do water changes in the bag (take some old water out put tank water in). For all the online vendors I’ve looked at none of them suggest drip acclimation.

 

[werdna1999]

@werdna1999 Sorry to see this. Your parameters look fine. How was the fish acting after you put it in? Did the other fish at the LFS look okay?

FWIW (and it’s topic of debate) but I don’t drip acclimate. I float the bag to get to temp and then do water changes in the bag (take some old water out put tank water in). For all the online vendors I’ve looked at none of them suggest drip acclimation.

Thank you very much for your reply. The fish acted normal after I initially put it in (though as a new hobbyist, maybe I don't have a great grasp of normal). It explored the tank for awhile, then went into a cave and didn't reappear until I found it this morning. It was the only fish in its tank at the store, but other fish in other tanks appeared healthy. It was hiding a bit at the LFS, but there was a lot of soft coral/rock in that tank and it had an active feeding response when the owner fed it so I didn't think much of it.

FWIW (and it’s topic of debate) but I don’t drip acclimate. I float the bag to get to temp and then do water changes in the bag (take some old water out put tank water in). For all the online vendors I’ve looked at none of them suggest drip acclimation.

This is exactly what I did. I've used this method with success as a freshwater aquarist, I've just always called it drip acclimating since I didn't know there was a difference. I used a baster to swap in tank water and remove bag water after floating the bag to get it to temp.

 

[olonmv]

FWIW, if your salinity is the same or lower that that of the water the fish is in, a temp acclimation is all that is really needed. 10-15 minutes to acclimate then right into the tank if that had been me. Sorry for your loss.

 

[davidcalgary29]

I'd suggest that you set up a remote camera on your tank if you decide to add another fish to it. Bullying is often a cause of sudden fish deaths when disease isn't a factor, and fish will change their behaviour if we're not in the room. It's also possible that you bought a stressed, sick fish and that the sudden change of environment did it in.

 

[jabberwock]

Clownfish can be extremely aggressive, especially when breeding.

 

[Reeflix]

could of been some kind of disease. also could of been just a not heathy fish and just died

 

[Sebastiancrab]

Welcome to R2R!

You might ask your LFS when the fish was delivered to them. How long was it in their tank before you purchased it? I had the same experience as you and put it down to the fish was delivered within a day of me purchasing it. It was already too stressed to deal with another move.

Another possibility is it had velvet or another disease. Keep a very close eye on your remaining fish now and make sure you have a stocked medicine cabinet and QT tank just in case - Copper Power, Prazipro and perhaps Ruby Reef Rally Pro.

I sometimes use a plastic baby cage to acclimate the newcomer to existing fish in order to ward off bullying. It helps to have the QT tank already running in case you need to pull either the bully or newcomer out of the DT.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

Was it captive bred? If no, these fish come a long way from the persian gulf and (If i remember correctly) Northern Africa and Southern Asia. There may have been a problem with shipping or it could have had diseases.

There is also a chance the clowns could have bullied it. They are usually territorial, even more when they are a pair, and even MORE if they are mating.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

@werdna1999 Sorry to see this. Your parameters look fine. How was the fish acting after you put it in? Did the other fish at the LFS look okay?

FWIW (and it’s topic of debate) but I don’t drip acclimate. I float the bag to get to temp and then do water changes in the bag (take some old water out put tank water in). For all the online vendors I’ve looked at none of them suggest drip acclimation.

I like to think of it this way:

You're in a room, and the room has no fresh air, and you can barely breath. You'd want to get fresh air as soon as possible, if the fresh air is the same temperature as the air you're in. You don't want fresh air to be let in in small amount periodically XD

now the fish you and the room is the bag and the air is the water XD