NEED HELP!!!

[JMLewis]

I just set up a QT yesterday for my 2 clowns and Yellow Eye Tang. I purchased all the water from a LFS so i could set it up quickly and put my fish in there once the temp was good.

Like an idiot....i didnt check the salinity, i woke up this morning to find the yellow eye dead and the clowns in bad shape, i know for a fact they have ich so i thought it was just setting in. Anyways i checked the salinity to make sure that wasnt the problem and it was at 1.032!!!!!

So i freaked out and took em out and put em back in the DT. Theyve been in there for roughly 12 hours now just sitting in the same spot, breathing heavily, with no interest in food.

Is there anything i can do?!? FW dip? I corrected the salinity in the QT so im thinking about putting em back in there and get the cupramine going ASAP in hopes itll help...I feel like if i leave em in the DT there not gonna last alot longer and feel like doing something is better than nothing but im not sure.

 

[melypr1985]

Hi there! So first off.... stay calm.
What happened is you shocked your fish pretty badly. The fish jumping from their normal 1.025 to 1.032 is pretty harsh on the fish. They dont do too well with rapid increases in salinity. What made it worse was jumping them back down to normal by putting them in the DT yet again. This was two very drastic changes in the water they breathe. Pretty stressful for an already sick fish. That's ok though. Anything you do in this hobby needs to be done slowly. Next time (hopefully there wont be a next time), you would want to check the salinity of store bought saltwater. Lesson learned there right? geeze! these LFS! Anyway, say you didn't, you'd want to bring the salinity down with freshwater letting the poor fish adjust to that as it happens. Of course this last option isn't ideal it's better than switching them back and forth really fast.

I just want to say that fish generally ajust better to quick drops in salinity better than quick rising salinity.

If the salinity and temp now match between both tanks, you can put them back in the QT. Although I'd try to get them eating before starting the copper.

 

[JMLewis]

Yea HUGE lesson learned!

Yea I know better than to change the salinity to quickly, I just wasn't thinking. I think seeing the other one dead freaked me out a bit. Few minutes after putting em back in the DT I realized my second mistake.

But I don't think the salinity issue would keep em this lethargic for this long. So I'm sure the stress definitely gave the ich a good window to go to town. I'm leaning towards FW dip atm.

 

[JMLewis]

And yea at the end of the day checking the salinity is on me but for a LFS to let their salinity get that far out of whack is BS...

 

[melypr1985]

It would leave them very lethargic. They were already weakened by the parasites, then the two big stressful changes weakened them even more. Can you imagine being them during this? I wouldn't move for week! Your biggest thing here is letting them rest, and getting them to eat.... let's call @Humblefish for a second opinion before you do anything. Just to be safe.

Your right. I would have a very long talk with that LFS. That is BS. They should be checking that or at least giving notice that it's out of whack.

 

[JMLewis]

Yea I really do feel bad for them, I'm typically a very responsible fish owner but I really screwed the pooch on this one.

Like I tell my kids if you don't make the first bad decision the domino effect of having to make more decisions to fix it never starts.

My first domino was adding an unquaratined fish...never again!

 

[melypr1985]

Thats right. I like that saying, i msy use that on my kids too. At least you know not to trust that lfs now. Id make them check the salinity right there before i pay and i would look at the refractometer myself just to be sure. Oh, by the way, ive really done that. Twice. And i do trust my lfs lol

 

[JasReef]

If you don't make your own water than it's your responsibility to check it to make sure it matches your own water.

The lfs is not the bad guy here. It would not make good business sense for them to sell you water that isn't good, repeat customers matter. They are human and can make mistakes too. In fact, that lfs lost money by selling you too much salt, all you have to do is add a little ro/di top off water and you have a little extra saltwater. Ultimately it is only you that puts things into your tank, not the lfs.

Sorry to here about the tang and I hope the clowns make it. It's a hard way to learn a lesson. Good luck.

 

[JMLewis]

If you don't make your own water than it's your responsibility to check it to make sure it matches your own water.

The lfs is not the bad guy here. It would not make good business sense for them to sell you water that isn't good, repeat customers matter. They are human and can make mistakes too. In fact, that lfs lost money by selling you too much salt, all you have to do is add a little ro/di top off water and you have a little extra saltwater. Ultimately it is only you that puts things into your tank, not the lfs.

Sorry to here about the tang and I hope the clowns make it. It's a hard way to learn a lesson. Good luck.

I agree, I take responsibility for not checking. Doesn't mean he won't hear from me. In 14 years of reefing I've always made my own water. I doubt I've paid for more than 100 gallons total in that time. And before this purchase I don't think I've bought water for a few years, so not really in the thinking of having to double check the LFS salinity, I assumed most stores were more responsible about what they sell to people.

I own my own business and I know I would never sell my customers products that I didn't know the quality of or something I leave up to them to test.

Human errors happen but for NSW in that large of container to evaporate down to 1.032 he must not have added any ro/di for at least a week or 2 and knows he's selling it that way. My return business will depend on his reaction, if he's apologetic and shows real concern I'll go there in the future, if not...then no biggie, on to the next place.

For the record it's only the second time I've been there, just found out about him, he's been in business 5 months.

 

[Humblefish]

Not much you can do except wait it out and hope they recover from the osmotic shock. One thing you've got going for you is these are clownfish and they are generally pretty tough. But I wouldn't do anything right now until their behavior/feeding habits normalize. No FW dip, don't start raising the copper, etc. Just let them chill and hopefully recover. You can go ahead and move them into the QT though, if SG/temp matches perfectly with the DT.

 

[JMLewis]

Not much you can do except wait it out and hope they recover from the osmotic shock. One thing you've got going for you is these are clownfish and they are generally pretty tough. But I wouldn't do anything right now until their behavior/feeding habits normalize. No FW dip, don't start raising the copper, etc. Just let them chill and hopefully recover. You can go ahead and move them into the QT though, if SG/temp matches perfectly with the DT.

OK sounds good, I'll see how they're doing tomorrow and get em to the QT when possible. Thanks for your help

 

[Dtackett]

my lfs wont sell water over 1.021. their boss caught them selling proper saltwater and now they use a digital meter and have to log the exact salinity for every gallon they sell. used to hate buying water then having to add more salt to it.

anyways as humble said, let them rest. hope they make it. good luck bud.

 

[JMLewis]

I'd go nuts if I had to add more salt, the main reason for me to buy pre-mixed is so it's ready right away. I typically mix the salt i make for 24 hours. So needing some in a pinch, if I don't have any currently made is rough.

But thanks for the kind words, I'm really hoping they make it. I've had the black and white for over 4 years and the regular snowflake for just over a year. I'd be a bummer to lose em.

 

[Dtackett]

yeah I make my own now lol but I don't mix for 24 hours. I mix it and use it within a few hours. well I used to but with my new setup being 1 gallon and doing a 100% water change I think I may have to let it mix long enough to actually stabilize lol. so it looks like im stuck with 12-24 hour mixing times now. luckily I can mix 5 gallons at a time and have it ready for 5 weeks worth of water changes lol

 

[JMLewis]

Just an update: After correcting the salinity on my QT I moved the clowns back into it about 24 hours ago. They look a little bit better but still not eating, I'm getting a bit worried about that. Theyre pretty much staying in the same spot and breathing pretty quickly. I don't want to start the copper treatment until they're eating since I know copper can suppress their appetites. I guess just wait it out and hope they start eating soon?

 

[Dtackett]

you may have already answered but what are you trying to feed them?

 

[JMLewis]

Thawed Brine shrimp and new life spectrum pellets, usually they very eagerly eat both but it floats right past their faces and they look the other way

 

[Dtackett]

do you have any garlic juice?

 

[JMLewis]

Yea that was gonna be my next trick to try and use it to see if I can entice em. I'm not super hopeful it'll work though since normally they're both huge pigs when it comes to food in the water but I'll give anything a shot at this point. Normally anytime my wife or I even come close to the tank they haul butt straight to the top in hopes of food.

 

[Dtackett]

soak the Mysis in garlic juice for about 5 minutes then use a feeder or turkey baster to place it right in front of them. I would turn off all flow for a few minutes while doing this.