3 out of 9 Chromis DOA

Tuffloud1 · Mar 10, 2020

I ordered 9 Chromis from LA, all bagged separately. 3 of 9 dead in bag.

Currently floating other bags in QT.

I have a couple other fish in QT currently doing well.

Do Chromis not ship well? I have never received a DOA fish from LA, only good experiences.

I find it odd that 3 of the same species are dead, wondering if I should not put the others in and risk the other fish already doing well in QT.

Thoughts?

Sosuke · Mar 10, 2020

I ordered a long tentacle plate coral that didn't die but wasn't doing well in the bag, do the chromis seem sick or showing signs of illness?

Tuffloud1 · Mar 10, 2020

Sosuke said:
I ordered a long tentacle plate coral that didn't die but wasn't doing well in the bag, do the chromis seem sick or showing signs of illness?

Not the ones that are alive.

The dead ones all have their mouths wide open.

amps · Mar 10, 2020

Chromis don't seem to do well no matter where they come from. 30-50% mortality seems completely normal for them.

Most seem to have some sort of disease or parasite and I'm sure it weakens them enough to cause issues in shipping.

Sosuke · Mar 10, 2020

I would add them because if they're not showing signs yet it is probably fine for now.

Tuffloud1 · Mar 10, 2020

amps said:
Chromis don't seem to do well no matter where they come from. 30-50% mortality seems completely normal for them.

Most seem to have some sort of disease or parasite and I'm sure it weakens them enough to cause issues in shipping.

Yeah, maybe not worth the risk?

Things are going well for the other fish in my 90 gallon QT.

Sosuke · Mar 10, 2020

What fish do you have? Also how would you go about not adding the chromis (like setting up a new tank or LFS)

Tuffloud1 · Mar 10, 2020

I have a couple Blennies and wrasses in QT currently.

I would likely take to my LFS if I didn’t open them.

Sosuke · Mar 10, 2020

Do you have a tank lying around you can use for them?

AcroNem · Mar 10, 2020

Sosuke said:
I would add them because if they're not showing signs yet it is probably fine for now.

I would bet they have Uronema or a different parasite, a lot of Chromis and Damsels do these days.

They should definitely be quarantined. I've found Chromis to be more difficult to get clean lately, I bring many of them in and higher mortality can be an issue sometimes.

Tuffloud1 · Mar 10, 2020

So sounds like Chromis don’t ship well. Thanks everyone

Marc88 · Mar 10, 2020

I had 10 in QT a few weeks ago. One by one they dropped until only 1 was left. No external signs of trauma on any of them.

Tuffloud1 · Mar 10, 2020

Marc88 said:
I had 10 in QT a few weeks ago. One by one they dropped until only 1 was left. No external signs of trauma on any of them.

Did you have any other species in there with them?

X-37B · Mar 10, 2020

I have 6 in my tank. They have been there for over 6 months with no issues.
They grow fast and my tangs keep them inline lol.

Marc88 · Mar 10, 2020

Tuffloud1 said:
Did you have any other species in there with them?

I did. Had a 40 gallon QT had a powder brown, 4 fire fish, 4 zebra barred dart fish and a royal gramma. By the end of QT all I had was the brown, dartfish and the single chronic. It was not a good QT experience. I made some adjustments to the tank this time around. I don't think that was the problem though.

Tuffloud1 · Mar 10, 2020

Marc88 said:
I did. Had a 40 gallon QT had a powder brown, 4 fire fish, 4 zebra barred dart fish and a royal gramma. By the end of QT all I had was the brown, dartfish and the single chronic. It was not a good QT experience. I made some adjustments to the tank this time around. I don't think that was the problem though.

Did you medicate any of them?

Marc88 · Mar 10, 2020

Tuffloud1 said:
Did you medicate any of them?

Following @Humblefish advice I started the with the QT at 1.0ppm of copper power

Tuffloud1 · Mar 10, 2020

Sosuke said:
Do you have a tank lying around you can use for them?

I just put them in my QT. The 6 look great and are schooling/eating already.

Sosuke · Mar 10, 2020

Tuffloud1 said:
I just put them in my QT. The 6 look great and are schooling/eating already.

Sounds good RIP for the 3 that passed in shipping

zoomonster · Mar 10, 2020

Chromis are cool schooling fish but its been my experience, and of others I know, that in a school they will eventually kill each other off in a tank. I'm wondering if they bagged more than one fish in a bag? Maybe they did each other in. Also like a lot of damsels they seem to be disease prone maybe because they are a low profit fish and they don't get handled/quarantined as well by everyone from collectors to distributors.