Need help with new royal gramma

[Fumbles]

I know I should have acclimated better so I probably won’t do it like this again.

I bought a royal gramma from a lfs(not actually local, but brought it home with an insulated cooler, about 5 hours). I did a temperature acclimation only and it’s been sitting at the bottom of the tank breathing fairly regularly with occasional quick movements. It’s been like this for about an hour and I want to know if I should take it out and put it back with some water it came with and do a better job acclimating or just ride it out. It’s been about an hour.

I hope I’m not killing this fish, but I thought I’d wait and see for a bit because I’ve heard they can act weird when introduced to a new tank.

Thanks in advance

 

[dwest]

I know I should have acclimated better so I probably won’t do it like this again.

I bought a royal gramma from a lfs(not actually local, but brought it home with an insulated cooler, about 5 hours). I did a temperature acclimation only and it’s been sitting at the bottom of the tank breathing fairly regularly with occasional quick movements. It’s been like this for about an hour and I want to know if I should take it out and put it back with some water it came with and do a better job acclimating or just ride it out. It’s been about an hour.

I hope I’m not killing this fish, but I thought I’d wait and see for a bit because I’ve heard they can act weird when introduced to a new tank.

Thanks in advance

I would leave him alone. They are very hardy. I bet he will be ok.

 

[Fumbles]

I would leave him alone. They are very hardy. I bet he will be ok.

Thank you for the quick reply. I’ll keep it updated.

 

[Diesel]

Not much you can do, other than turn lights off for the day.

 

[Brian1f1]

Absolutely do not put it back in the bag water! If it’s already in shock or struggling with parameter changes that will almost certainly kill it. Leave it and watch it, hopefully it’ll pull through.

It looks like you put him in a display with other fish with the lights on. That’s contributing to his stress. Cut the lights out now, let him rest!

If he’s alive and still struggling in the morning you could quarantine it using the same water it’s in... Keep us posted and we can try to help.

 

[JRAD]

He is upright so that is a good sign. Better to let him acclimate in dim light or even no light overnight.

 

[Diesel]

No light.

 

[Brian1f1]

No light man. Let it chill.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Do you know what the salinity waa that he came from vs. what your salinity is? In most cases that isn't enough to kill a fish.

He just went through an ordeal. Capture, transport, new tank. As others said, cut the lights and see how he looks tomorrow.

 

[Brian1f1]

So what happened?

 

[norfolkgarden]

Hope it is doing well and getting more comfortable.

 

[Fumbles]

Thank you for the responses everyone. I had a busy day, but am able to update now.

Everything seems to be going just fine now. It disappeared after the lights went off and I found it hiding in a cave on the other side of the tank. It’s been there since but I can see it poking it’s head out. I spot fed the area and it approved so I think all is well.

Turning off the lights was probably what helped the most. I keep my salinity at 1.025 and I was surprised to see that the water from the lfs was 1.021, so I’m sure that didn’t help either.

Lesson learned

 

[JRAD]

Great!

 

[Brian1f1]

LFS and shipped fish usually are in lower salinity than natural seawater. Helps control disease, is cheaper, and (depending on how extreme) is thought to be easier on the fish (of course this is absolutely not true of inverts!).

 

[JRAD]

How is your gramma doing?

 

[Fumbles]

How is your gramma doing?

Still hiding out in the cave, but pokes out every time I walk up. I think it’s going to be just fine. Eager to catch mysis as it floats by. Had a brief run in with the peppermint shrimp, but he got kicked out real quick