Fish stuck on powerhead and died

[katiestl]

Hello, I’m new to this, but I bought a gem tang Thursday along with a Midas blenny and a mandarin fish. I dripped the gem and mandarin together because they had just come in from shipment to my LFS. I dripped the blenny separate because he was already in the store for a while.

Yesterday, I saw that my gem (small), was stuck to the side of my MP40. I immediately unplugged and pulled him off, quarantined him in a small container clipped to the side of my aquarium. He was laying on his side gasping for air for an hour or so, but then got upright again. Once he was upright I thought I should put him back in the tank so I did. Woke up today and found him dead and also the mandarin fish.

I’m guessing these are unrelated? Or are they related? Blenny is great, could it be illness? I feel terrible. What else could I have done?

water
ammonia: 0 / nitrite: 0 / nitrate: 10
Ph: 8.0
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 77

 

[BigAquaBob]

Hello, I’m new to this, but I bought a gem tang Thursday along with a Midas blenny and a mandarin fish. I dripped the gem and mandarin together because they had just come in from shipment to my LFS. I dripped the blenny separate because he was already in the store for a while.

Yesterday, I saw that my gem (small), was stuck to the side of my MP40. I immediately unplugged and pulled him off, quarantined him in a small container clipped to the side of my aquarium. He was laying on his side gasping for air for an hour or so, but then got upright again. Once he was upright I thought I should put him back in the tank so I did. Woke up today and found him dead and also the mandarin fish.

I’m guessing these are unrelated? Or are they related? Blenny is great, could it be illness? I feel terrible. What else could I have done?

water
ammonia: 0 / nitrite: 0 / nitrate: 10
Ph: 8.0
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 77

Sounds like stress induced. Make sure you qt all fish though before putting them in the dt tank to watch for any signs of sickness. Don't want to end up killing your whole tank off.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Mandarin and tang were sick and weak due to illness it sounds. The MP40 shouldn't pull in any fish that is full health.

 

[Jekyl]

Welcome to R2R! I agree with above posts. The fish had issues before getting stuck

 

[katiestl]

Sounds like stress induced. Make sure you qt all fish though before putting them in the dt tank to watch for any signs of sickness. Don't want to end up killing your whole tank off.

Thank you... what a scary thought. Right now it seems that everyone else is doing ok. Are there things I should watch for?

 

[piranhaman00]

QT all fish, drip acclimate does not work and causes stress.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Question for above posters, how do you quarantine a mandarin goby?

 

[ChiCity]

never take home fresh shipments,
especially on such expensive fish unless you know the source....

since you were buying from your lfs,
it would of been better to let them keep it for a few weeks before you brought it home

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Rapid breathing, white spots and swimming toward powerheads or return pump lines.

 

[ca1ore]

Big powerhead can absolutely take out a fish ..... even if it isn't sick or stressed. I have had it happen a couple of times. Not a bad idea to turn down the pump when introducing a new fish that can easily be spooked straight into the pump; or even better, use a QT tank. I've built cages for my MP60s because I got tired of them taking out my naso tang.

 

[katiestl]

never take home fresh shipments,
especially on such expensive fish unless you know the source....

since you were buying from your lfs,
it would of been better to let them keep it for a few weeks before you brought it home

I will do this for sure now.

 

[Jekyl]

Like the above post said, look for odd behavior and markings on their body. Always make sure that your LFS feeds the fish so you can witness them eat before buying.

 

[ChiCity]

I will do this for sure now.

i’m gonna guess you got the gem from seascape...
they’re good people.

they should have no problems holding a fish for ya in the future

 

[katiestl]

i’m gonna guess you got the gem from seascape...
they’re good people.

they should have no problems holding a fish for ya in the future

No, marine solutions in St. Peters... I will get another one, just not quite ready yet.

 

[MasonK24]

were the mandarin and tang in the same bags from the shipment when you brought them home? if so, when you opened the bag ammonia starts being produced when exposed to oxygen. i would never drip a fish that was shipped.

if thats the case, they probably died of ammonia poisoning.

 

[katiestl]

were the mandarin and tang in the same bags from the shipment when you brought them home? if so, when you opened the bag ammonia starts being produced when exposed to oxygen. i would never drip a fish that was shipped.

if thats the case, they probably died of ammonia poisoning.

They weren’t in the same bags, no. But I did put them together when I dripped them to acclimate. And today now I’ve lost my blue eyed kole tang too. He wasn’t eating since this happened on Sunday. I tried some new food and nothing. He didn’t have any visible disease but I just don’t know. Now I’m worried I will lose everything. I still have in the tank:
Yellow tang
Blue hippo (small)
2 cardinals
2 clowns
Goby
Midas blenny
Cleaner shrimp
Emerald crab

any suggestions welcomed! I’m terrified!

 

[jesspal]

Big powerhead can absolutely take out a fish ..... even if it isn't sick or stressed. I have had it happen a couple of times. Not a bad idea to turn down the pump when introducing a new fish that can easily be spooked straight into the pump; or even better, use a QT tank. I've built cages for my MP60s because I got tired of them taking out my naso tang.

Agree 100%

 

[Futuretotm]

This is how I got Velvet.
Had about 25 fish, last addition was a hippo tang. Saw him get stuck on my Gyres.

A month later - wipe out - Velvet - lesson learned
No visible disease btw, velvet goes for the gills, and the fish die, not enough time to get the dots in my case
Why a month later? 90W UV on 139gallon, nightly dosing of h202
Undergoing hybrid TTM now

Best of luck

 

[katiestl]

This is how I got Velvet.
Had about 25 fish, last addition was a hippo tang. Saw him get stuck on my Gyres.

A month later - wipe out - Velvet - lesson learned
No visible disease btw, velvet goes for the gills, and the fish die, not enough time to get the dots in my case
Why a month later? 90W UV on 139gallon, nightly dosing of h202
Undergoing hybrid TTM now

Best of luck

Can I dose anything right now to prevent more death? I just lost another today- my blue eyed kole tang dead this am.

 

[Rmckoy]

Generally speaking ...
If a fish is stuck to a power head it isn’t healthy and strong enough to get away .

I don’t have a qt and can’t preach the importance of it .

I have always slow drip acclimated after observing the fish at a lfs for weeks before buying it .
I test all parameters of their water before acclimating or adding them .

for example .
if their salinity is 1.020 and my reef is 1.026 that’s a high increase ..
same for temp , alk ,