Dead banggai cardinal

[FriedReef TV]

I moved my clownfish and cardinal fish to this 10 gallon quarantine from a 3.5 gallon last night. Waste was building up in the small tank and ammonia was too high so it had to be done. I woke up this morning and my Cardinal was dead. I have no idea why he died plus my clownfish is fine. I acclimated the fish properly and tested the qt tank water levels before I put them in. The only thing I can think of that killed him might have been me. I was adding seachem prime to the tank after I put them in and the Cardinal swam right up to the big cloud of prime and started breathing it all in. Maybe it messed him up? He started acting kinda strange after but I thought he was just freaked out because of the new tank. Please let me know if you have any idea as to why he died? I want to avoid making mistakes like this in the future.

 

[Big G]

Sorry for your loss. You could be right about the Prime. Next time try mixing the Prime with some saltwater from the tank and then dumping it in. Some of us do this with meds as we add them to the tank too. Especially meds that don't mix very easily like General Cure.

 

[Reefahholic]

Honestly he probably was so far gone from the high ammonia that the prime exposure did him in. Just my guess.

 

[Reefahholic]

Sorry for your loss. You could be right about the Prime. Next time try mixing the Prime with some saltwater from the tank and then dumping it in. Some of us do this with meds as we add them to the tank too. Especially meds that don't mix very easily like General Cure.

When I treat anemones, I use a pill crusher called a "Silent Night" that comes with little heavy duty plastic bags to crush the meds in. After I crush the meds I let some water into the bag and shake it to mix the medication and then release the medicated water into the tank.

For GC, Copper, ABX's, etc....I'll use a small container with a lid and add some tank water. Shake it up and let it dissolve well and then add in high flow area away from the fish. The teal coral frag containers are very similar to what I use. Walmart/ Target stores carry some tiny little containers with lids. They work well for this and fish food.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Friendly reminder: If you are already aware just disregard, I just like to put it out there whenever someone mentions using prime.

Prime and copper are a NO GO, and will kill all of your fish very quickly if mixed. If you’re using copper in QT it’s best to use water changes and/or bottled bacteria for ammonia control.