Lost my first fish...any ideas?

[Jib]

I recently set up a new desktop aquarium. It's an IM 14 Peninsula. Added 10 lbs Caribsea Fiji Pink live sand and 10lbs Life Rock. My LFS noted that using these, along with a bottle of BIOspire, I could add a fish right away, and the tank would be have sufficient bacteria for a baby clownfish. Clown was was tank raised, about 1/2 inch long. Was thinking it would be perfect and would have a light bioload. Clown was fine for the first 6 hours when he was home and was eating fish pellets (New Life Spectrum for Marine Fish, although they did seem a little big for him. Do they make anything smaller? These are 1-1.5mm).

When I woke up this morning I was saddened to see my fish was dead. He head was wedged into the return jet nozzle. With the way the filtration is with cotton balls on top, he couldn't have went though the overflow and the whole way through the filtration and return pump, but it was odd how he was wedge in there...

I turned the flow down to the lowest setting to try and help acclimate him to the tank.

Tested my water parameters this morning and were as follows:

PH 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5ppm
Temp 78
Salinity 1.025 (Using LFS sea water and RODI to top off)

Wondering if I should get another fish today, or if something is wrong...

 

[proxy001]

What can kill fish: no oxygen, ammonia. The instant cycle thing is... questionable.
Don't add a fish. Wait a bit, ghost feed. check again every day until you see nitrate rise.

 

[biocubeboy]

I recently set up a new desktop aquarium. It's an IM 14 Peninsula. Added 10 lbs Caribsea Fiji Pink live sand and 10lbs Life Rock. My LFS noted that using these, along with a bottle of BIOspire, I could add a fish right away, and the tank would be have sufficient bacteria for a baby clownfish. Clown was was tank raised, about 1/2 inch long. Was thinking it would be perfect and would have a light bioload. Clown was fine for the first 6 hours when he was home and was eating fish pellets (New Life Spectrum for Marine Fish, although they did seem a little big for him. Do they make anything smaller? These are 1-1.5mm).

When I woke up this morning I was saddened to see my fish was dead. He head was wedged into the return jet nozzle. With the way the filtration is with cotton balls on top, he couldn't have went though the overflow and the whole way through the filtration and return pump, but it was odd how he was wedge in there...

I turned the flow down to the lowest setting to try and help acclimate him to the tank.

Tested my water parameters this morning and were as follows:

PH 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5ppm
Temp 78
Salinity 1.025 (Using LFS sea water and RODI to top off)

Wondering if I should get another fish today, or if something is wrong...

Yeah you should have let the tank cycle. Sadly that bio spera myth about instantly adding fish isn’t true. You still need 3-5 weeks to cycle. Sorry about your loss :/ .

 

[Flippers4pups]

Assuming the tank had enough bacteria to handle the ammonia from the clown, the health of the clown is in question.

How did you acclimate the clown?

 

[dwest]

Sorry. I would have predicted success with biospira. I use for quarantine very successfully.

 

[Jib]

I floated him in his bag for 20 minutes, then drained his water into a bucket though a net. Then put him in the tank. I asked the LFS about drip acclimation, which they thought wasn't necessary due to me using their water, and the hardiness of clownfish...

 

[MnFish1]

I recently set up a new desktop aquarium. It's an IM 14 Peninsula. Added 10 lbs Caribsea Fiji Pink live sand and 10lbs Life Rock. My LFS noted that using these, along with a bottle of BIOspire, I could add a fish right away, and the tank would be have sufficient bacteria for a baby clownfish. Clown was was tank raised, about 1/2 inch long. Was thinking it would be perfect and would have a light bioload. Clown was fine for the first 6 hours when he was home and was eating fish pellets (New Life Spectrum for Marine Fish, although they did seem a little big for him. Do they make anything smaller? These are 1-1.5mm).

When I woke up this morning I was saddened to see my fish was dead. He head was wedged into the return jet nozzle. With the way the filtration is with cotton balls on top, he couldn't have went though the overflow and the whole way through the filtration and return pump, but it was odd how he was wedge in there...

I turned the flow down to the lowest setting to try and help acclimate him to the tank.

Tested my water parameters this morning and were as follows:

PH 7.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5ppm
Temp 78
Salinity 1.025 (Using LFS sea water and RODI to top off)

Wondering if I should get another fish today, or if something is wrong...

If the tests are accurate - this shouldn't have anything to do with cycling, IMHO. It could be stress from transfer, a disease the fish had, low oxygen levels (i.e. you turned your flow down). For example - you added the live sand and biospira - Plus food and a fish - its POSSIBLE - that the bacteria in the sand or bottle utilized the oxygen quickly - especially with the low flow. I'm not familiar with this aquarium per se if there was a cover - and if there was;t good gas exchange this could have been your problem.

Lastly - 'baby' clowns (and fish) - tend to be more difficult than larger ones. Additionally - how did you get the fish - shipped, brought home from the LFS, etc. Good luck with your next fish and your tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I'm surprised that you found a clown only 1/2" long - they are usually grown to 1 to 1 1/2" before retail sale. At 1/2" it would still benefit from live baby brine to some degree, and I feed mine Otohime at that stage.

Don't get another fish yet. Are you sure that the fish was at the same salinity water as your tank is at?

With how fast the fish died, the live sand, bio-spira and lack of ammonia, I don't think this was directly related to "new tank syndrome", but what proxy said would work.

Jay Hemdal

 

[Flippers4pups]

It's possible that you had a bad bottle of bacteria. You followed the instructions to the letter correct?

Your numbers look good parameters wise, but going forward I'd wait a week or two before adding another fish. During this time add some flake food ( a small pinch daily) to the tank and let it rot. Test your water daily to see what it does. If in a week there's no ammonia registering and your still seeing nitrate, you should be okay to try again.

 

[Flippers4pups]

As Jay stated, test the LFS water for salinity and your tank. If they don't match, acclimate in a bucket either by drip method or "dixie cup" method. I wouldn't acclimate more than a half hour tops. Don't add Prime or amquel to the acclimation bucket for ammonia. If the fish was kept in a system with therapeutic levels of copper at the lfs, adding a water conditioner to the bucket will cause the copper to become toxic and kill the fish.

 

[najer]

I floated him in his bag for 20 minutes, then drained his water into a bucket though a net. Then put him in the tank. I asked the LFS about drip acclimation, which they thought wasn't necessary due to me using their water, and the hardiness of clownfish...

If this is advice from your lfs you need a new lfs, unless they ran a load of tests on your water and theirs there is no way this is good advice imo.

 

[Jib]

I'm surprised that you found a clown only 1/2" long - they are usually grown to 1 to 1 1/2" before retail sale. At 1/2" it would still benefit from live baby brine to some degree, and I feed mine Otohime at that stage.

Don't get another fish yet. Are you sure that the fish was at the same salinity water as your tank is at?

With how fast the fish died, the live sand, bio-spira and lack of ammonia, I don't think this was directly related to "new tank syndrome", but what proxy said would work.

Jay Hemdal

It's possible that you had a bad bottle of bacteria. You followed the instructions to the letter correct?

Your numbers look good parameters wise, but going forward I'd wait a week or two before adding another fish. During this time add some flake food ( a small pinch daily) to the tank and let it rot. Test your water daily to see what it does. If in a week there's no ammonia registering and your still seeing nitrate, you should be okay to try again.

Jay - I'm not 100% sure the salinity matched the LFS tank that clown was in. Since I was using there water it they thought it would be fine.

Flipper - The instructions more or less said dump in the bottle before the fish and it will treat 30 gallons. So when I got home I dumped it in, and then added the fish about 25 minutes later.

I'll add food daily and test for the next few weeks before getting another fish.

 

[Arabyps]

IMO you should always drip acclimate fish. Also, the nay-sayers regrading bacteria-in-a-bottle have their opinion which is just that. A substantial number of professional reefers use the products (particularly Fritz TurboStart 900, Microbacter XLM and Microbacter 7, etc.) They are proven very effective. I doubt the bio-spira was the issue but possible. Try a different product (within reason you can't overdose bacteria) to populate the tank before adding another fish. Purchase a fish that has been through quarantine (if you do't plan on doing it yourself) and mature enough for sale (don't purchase a baby fish). Sources such as Divers Den and TSMAquatics are established options. Following is a video that may help.

 

[MnFish1]

IMO you should always drip acclimate fish. Also, the nay-sayers regrading bacteria-in-a-bottle have their opinion which is just that. A substantial number of professional reefers use the products (particularly Fritz TurboStart 900, Microbacter XLM and Microbacter 7, etc.) They are proven very effective. I doubt the bio-spira was the issue but possible. Try a different product (within reason you can't overdose bacteria) to populate the tank before adding another fish. Purchase a fish that has been through quarantine (if you do't plan on doing it yourself) and mature enough for sale (don't purchase a baby fish). Sources such as Divers Den and TSMAquatics are established options. Best to you.

I dont agree with 'drip acclimation' IF you have just taken a fish a short way from an LFS - The parameters tom the LFS should match though - as much as possible - I agree with you about the bacteria - though - with an ammonia of 0 - there is no way it was a problem with cycling or bacteria in several hours - unless oxygen was the culprit IMHO

 

[Spieg]

Sounds like you got some bad advice... I'd use a different LFS.

 

[Jib]

unless oxygen was the culprit

Could this be why he swam into the return nozzel? I did turn the pump down just so he would get blown around while he was getting used to the tank...maybe this was the issue?

 

[MnFish1]

Could this be why he swam into the return nozzel? I did turn the pump down just so he would get blown around while he was getting used to the tank...maybe this was the issue?

So - 'the return nozzle' to me - is the part that the water flowing from the filter goes back into the tank (forgive me if I'm misinterpreting) - I would THINK that this would be an area of high oxygen depending on your set u p - if you turned down the flow - it goes its possible the fish swam into it - to get more oxygen - OR to escape something else in the tank. FWIW - I am a total fan of bacterial cycling - BUT - I would not add fish within minutes of adding it - I usually wait 24 hours (even though - many bottles suggest you can do it immediately).

 

[vetteguy53081]

I think fish was too small (just hatched from its' mother)and introduced to tank too quick (not enough acclimation)
Floating was good, but you shoud have emptied bag into a CLEAN pail or bucket and then added a cup of tank water to the pail every 15 minutes SIX TIMES and tested salinity in pail. Finally taking the cup to scoop fish out and placing it into the fish tank
At the store, ask to see fish eat, observe how it swims, its' breathing and look for any issues with its' skin such as sores, dots, etc.

 

[92Miata]

Yeah you should have let the tank cycle. Sadly that bio spera myth about instantly adding fish isn’t true. You still need 3-5 weeks to cycle. Sorry about your loss :/ .

It has worked for thousands of us.

A 1/2" clown isn't going to produce enough ammonia to kill itself in 6 hours, even in a sterile tank.



OP, how long was the salt water mixed before the fish went in?

 

[Jib]

OP, how long was the salt water mixed before the fish went in?

I don't know. I bought the water pre-mixed from my LFS.