I must be cursed

[Wildreefs]

so about 2k lost in fish this month thru “quarantine “ and bout had it.

Recent visit, fish bought last week. Small purple, small hippo, clown and chromis. Doing fine all this week, had since Friday, running metro, come home today purple dead on ground, hippo bouncing up at surface gasping for air, getting stuck on power head.

Will be shutting down “quarantine “ tank this weekend, from here on out just floating and dropping in tank, from my experience, quarantine doesn’t work either.

Any idea what could cause sudden death and surface behavior ? Just did a water change yesterday, changed 10 of 12 gallons

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

so about 2k lost in fish this month thru “quarantine “ and bout had it.

Recent visit, fish bought last week. Small purple, small hippo, clown and chromis. Doing fine all this week, had since Friday, running metro, come home today purple dead on ground, hippo bouncing up at surface gasping for air, getting stuck on power head.

Will be shutting down “quarantine “ tank this weekend, from here on out just floating and dropping in tank, from my experience, quarantine doesn’t work either.

Any idea what could cause sudden death and surface behavior ? Just did a water change yesterday, changed 10 of 12 gallons

Do you have any pics of the fish? Any spots or sores on them?

 

[HotRocks]

so about 2k lost in fish this month thru “quarantine “ and bout had it.

Recent visit, fish bought last week. Small purple, small hippo, clown and chromis. Doing fine all this week, had since Friday, running metro, come home today purple dead on ground, hippo bouncing up at surface gasping for air, getting stuck on power head.

Will be shutting down “quarantine “ tank this weekend, from here on out just floating and dropping in tank, from my experience, quarantine doesn’t work either.

Any idea what could cause sudden death and surface behavior ? Just did a water change yesterday, changed 10 of 12 gallons

Did parameters match on the WC?

What are you using for oxygenation?

What type of filtration?

Do you have an ammonia badge?

Sorry to hear of your struggles. QT has worked really well for me. I have had my fair share of losses in QT as well. Once they make it to the DT though there isn't much to worry about.

 

[Wildreefs]

so about 2k lost in fish this month thru “quarantine “ and bout had it.

Recent visit, fish bought last week. Small purple, small hippo, clown and chromis. Doing fine all this week, had since Friday, running metro, come home today purple dead on ground, hippo bouncing up at surface gasping for air, getting stuck on power head.

Will be shutting down “quarantine “ tank this weekend, from here on out just floating and dropping in tank, from my experience, quarantine doesn’t work either.

Any idea what could cause sudden death and surface behavior ? Just did a water change yesterday, changed 10 of 12 gallons

These were seemingly fine yesterday. Now hippo is swimming vertically positioned heads is face up, bouncing, stomach appears sucked in, pinched. I’m sure he will be dead by morning , let’s see if 5 dollar chromis and clown makes it

 

[Wildreefs]

Did parameters match on the WC?

What are you using for oxygenation?

What type of filtration?

Do you have an ammonia badge?

Sorry to hear of your struggles. QT has worked really well for me. I have had my fair share of losses in QT as well. Once they make it to the DT though there isn't much to worry about.

Have ammonia badge but it hasn’t changed at all since I got it. Hang on back filter, 75 percent water changes every other day.

Hang on filter, air pump.

 

[Wildreefs]

Do you have any pics of the fish? Any spots or sores on them?

Purple has nothing in him, look like he just died. I threw him in the woods, the hippo who will be dead soon, has a sucker in stomach, ate yesterday. What ever happened took place today

 

[Wildreefs]

Sucked in stomach, like someone punched him in

 

[Redfoxtang]

I had fish do this to me as well. What killed them literally over night was Flukes. I had the fish swimming and eating just fine. Next day dead. Dropped them in freshwater just for the heck of it. Sure enough flukes covered the fish.

 

[Wildreefs]

Yea well I ran general cure four days ago. Sounds like no one really knows what one med does or doesn’t do or what ya resistant and this is just a very big trial and error.


My lfs once said quarantine does not work, I doubted him, and 2k worth of fish since Xmas thru 3 quarantine tanks is all I need to be convinced he was right.

Sold! To the crowd who doesn’t quarantine, hopping back in bandwagon

 

[4FordFamily]

Yea well I ran general cure four days ago. Sounds like no one really knows what one med does or doesn’t do or what ya resistant and this is just a very big trial and error.


My lfs once said quarantine does not work, I doubted him, and 2k worth of fish since Xmas thru 3 quarantine tanks is all I need to be convinced he was right.

Sold! To the crowd who doesn’t quarantine, hopping back in bandwagon

Good luck with that...

 

[homer1475]

Think of it this way.....

If those fish died in your display, what other livestock would it have taken out?

 

[Redfoxtang]

Or you can buy fish from @Humblefish when he’s ready to sell and you don’t have to QT and just drop straight in your tank. Then you don’t have to worry about parasites nuking your whole tank.

 

[SDK]

I’m not sure I see the connection. If you have a properly set up QT tank and are monitoring the parameters, what makes you so sure the QT process is what killed the fish? Short term, these bare tanks should be easier to maintain for fish specific parameters

Mine seem get a better start in a quiet quarantine environment where I can feed them up and let them get over the retail supply chain journey. I would consider doing it even if I knew the fish had no disease.

Are these fish all coming from the same source/shop? If so, I’d be taking a hard look at the idea of buying more fish from them and dropping them into a display tank.

Good luck either way and sorry for the losses you are dealing with.

 

[ngoodermuth]

I’m sorry for your losses... unfortunately I think it’s less the “QT” and more the condition of the fish that make it through the supply-chain. Even when I “watch and wait” I end up having to treat just about every fish for 2-3 ailments that I end up observing personally.

If you are having trouble, I’d maybe suggest having a second, observation-only QT rather than no QT at all. Put a couple pieces of sacrificial live rock, a bowl of sand for any sifters/sand sleepers. Maybe give incoming fish a freshwater dip upon arrival, followed by an antiseptic bath (ruby reef rally or methylene blue) to give immediate relief from any parasites and buy you time to get them comfortable and eating in QT.

Once the inevitable parasites rear their ugly heads, you can move the fish to your bare-bones hospital tank for treatment and hopefully they’ve had enough time to settle in, eat, and get their strength that they are more able to withstand medications without losing condition.

As always, we are here to help.

 

[lapin]

It is not the QT tank. If you have a properly set up QT tank and are monitoring the parameters. There are 2 scenarios here. The fish were all ready sick or you did something like adding meds/chemicals that killed the fish. A tank is just 5 sides and salt water.

 

[ngoodermuth]

I feel your pain, I really want a copperband but I’m currently 0 for 3 in getting one through QT. Just lost my most recent one, he acted like he might eat at first but then turned up with ich symptoms and stopped eating completely with medications.

But, I have 9 healthy fish in my display that did NOT get ich because I QT’d that copperband. To me, it’s not worth risking them... especially my regal angel. He was another one that took several fish to get a good one. Unfortunately it’s just the name of the game sometimes, we try to save as many as we can but saltwater fish are just delicate creatures that don’t handle maladies well at all...

 

[lilchris_357]

I feel your pain but I would reconsider ditching the QT process. Like stated before, if you pop and drop you run the risk of nuking your DT tank. I have a longnose in QT right now. He was in QT for a week (observation) no signs of any parasites. I started TTM (that's my normal protocol), BAM, velvet sprung its ugly head. Within a day, this fish was covered in sugar like spots, he stopped eating. Luckily I was feeding him really heavy the first week. It took him a few days before he started eating. My point is, if I would have put him in the display and the other fish stressed him out, I would have been dealing with a DT full of fish with velvet and a fallow period. My suggestion 1. I would find another LFS. If my LFS tell me that QT doesn't work, well "To me" they are no longer reliable. 2. Do not over think your QT tank and process, K.I.S.S it. 3. when using Meds, take it slow. Give them a day or 5 to settle down and then start meds, unless you notice something sooner. 3. try to keep only or 2 fish in QT at once. There could be some bullying going on adding to the stress levels. Purple Tangs are ******s. This is just my 2 cents. Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.