Firefish Dying

[Yasha Hase]

I have a 20 gallon IM peninsula that's 3 months old. it has had coral in it for the last two months all of which has been doing well with a little bit of visible growth. Within the last week and a half I've put two helfrichi firefish in the tank. The first I saw eat in the store before I purchased him drip acclimated for 40 minutes then added to the tank around 5 pm he ate mysis shrimp in my tank before the lights went out. The next morning he was stuck in a rock with hermit crabs picking at his tail fin he was dead. 5 days later I go back to the store tell them what happened and am told it's just bad luck they give me a great deal on another helfrichi firefish and I figure that's the end of it this one will be fine. I found him dead hermit crabs picking at him 2 days after acclimating and adding him to the tank (he ate the first day he was in the tank but not after that). I tested my water for everything I have tests for after removing the dead fish both times the parameters were as follows.

• Salinity 1.025, 1.026
• PH 8.1-8.3, 8.1-8.3
• Ammonia 0, 0
• Nitrite 0, 0
• Nitrate 5-10, 5-10
• Alkalinity 7.9, 8.4

Everything I've read suggests that the firefish are fairly hardy and shouldn't be too difficult to keep so I'm trying to understand what went wrong before I try another fish. I don't think any of the other livestock could possibly be responsible for their deaths as all that is in the tank with them are 3 dwarf blue leg hermits and some snails. I'm wondering if maybe the tank being in my room is stressing the fish as I keep late hours due to work so that even though tank lights go out at 7 PM I sometimes get home from work as late as 11 and turn on the room lights which on both occasions brought the fish out from the burrow it had made in the back of the tank. I also have my ATO on a timer so that it turns on every three hours which is accompanied by beeping and an led that flashes red and blue for 5 seconds which also might stress the fish. The last thing I can think that might be stressing the fish is the generally open nature of the tank there aren't many caves or places that aren't exposed besides the place in the back of the tank they both chose to sleep in. Sorry for the long post just trying to understand what's happening.

 

[Mudder]

Stress could be a factor but I don't think its your schedule they will adapt to it..

Not knowing exact details... I see no mention of any type of QT..Did you notice any type off odd behavior.scratching on rocks erratic swimming( not that they don't swim erratically anyway...eating is a plus ..but their is nothing saying they are healthy from your LFS..

What brand of test kits are you using?

Its possible its been bad luck and you have just lost them from the stress of them being brought home..With firefish I have had alot of bad luck..in a 2 year period I lost 5 of them for no apparent reason..(my daughter really wanted one) now I have 4 of them split between 3 tanks for about the last year or so

 

[Yasha Hase]

I'm using salifert test kits, and neither of them were quarentined. I bought a ten gallon after I lost the second one thinking it could have maybe been parasites so whatever goes in next will get profilactic medication to hopefully eliminate that possibility. They both swam up against the glass a bit but I assumed they were just seeing a reflection.

 

[Mudder]

How were the other fish looking and acting in the tanks at your LFS?

I don't trust anything around here their has been a few times I have left a couple of the LFS here wishing I had been wearing a hazmat suit before entering..afraid I might bring something home and contaminate my tanks..lol

but for them to die in a day or 2 would have to be a fast acting like velvet or so

How was the tank cycled? how long has the crabs and snails been in their for? once cycled have you been ghost feeding the tank?

 

[vetteguy53081]

How are you acclimating them? they are sensitive at introduction and then VERY hardy. Perhaps ideal beginner fish. The only issue with them generally is Jumping. I have had 5 commit suicide walking away from tank under 5 minutes and not realizing they took the leap.
For the future, if you purchased any. . .. ask t see them eat and observe their swimming and breathing behaviors.

 

[Yasha Hase]

The first one I drip acclimated for 35 minutes doubling the volume of water it was in before adding him to the tank. The second one got a full hour with the volume of water doubled. I saw them both eat in the store the first one was in what I thought to be great shape he'd been at the store less than 24 hours and his fins were all in tact. The second one was swimming fine in the store but a little beat up from the Dotty back he was sharing a tank with. The store has a good reputation locally but some of the fish in other systems did have labored breathing. The tank finished cycling in the first week of March crabs and snails went in about a week after that. The tank has gotten a pinch of flake or mysis every day since. I also have an ammo alert badge that's never detected anything since the cycle finished.

 

[vetteguy53081]

When you acclimated, did you get rid of bag water or place in tank?

 

[spsfreak101]

Sorry to hear that. Normally firefish are hardy but they are jumpers so make sure you have a tight lid.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Scratch that, I misread...

 

[Tamberav]

I have one....but have lost two in the past to jumping even with a lid...one got wedged in the netting and one landed on top of an acclimation box and I guess decided to just become an expensive french fry instead of flipping back into the water.

Over all they have been hardy for me. I got them off Live Aquaria or Divers Den and I don't acclimate them...just plop them in but I do that with all my fish and I think sitting in a bag or bucket is just extra stress.

I use a cycled QT for observation and to overfeed before they go into the DT. I have other fish though.

My DT is in my bedroom and I work 2nd shift...it is a IM 25 Lagoon. None of those stressors with lights and noise should be an issue.