Not Having Luck with fish

[awwinterfall]

Hi,

I would like to know what I am doing wrong.

I've tried many types of fish from many vendors and have less than 20% survival.

In the past I tried to premedicate but it decreased survival so I resorted to observation first.

They either get uronema or breath fast and don't eat and die in quarantine.
Fish I've tried so far: Bannerfish, butterflyfish, fusiliers, birdnose wrasse, hamlets. hawkfish, powder blue.

In contrast I've ordered multiple gem tangs from TMC corals in NJ and all have survived.


In fact saltwaterfish.com closed my account because they said I have too many loses.

I am not out to scam anyone. I just want healthy fish.

 

[Radman73]

What's your acclimation process?

Oh, and welcome to reef2reef!

 

[Fastpitch]

What's your acclimation process?

Oh, and welcome to reef2reef!

Ditto. Sorry for the losses. Probably the first step in figuring out that loss rate is to assess your intake procedures.

Then the Einstiens here on the forum can help out. They're the best.

 

[MTBake]

Welcome to R2R

Are you putting these into a qt? Or right into the display tank? Is the tank they're going into free of ammonia? Does it have good water movement?

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

You mentioned Uronema, what was your process of dealing with that after you lost the fish?

 

[LiveWire]

Welcome to R2R! Are you using RO/DI water and what are the water parameters in the system that you are placing the fish into when they arrive? Like everyone above asked is there a QT tank, what acclimation are the fish going through, and what medication are you using?

 

[VSVP bet]

What size is your system, what size is your QT? How long would they last in QT? What medicine were you using?

 

[awwinterfall]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the support.
I was a lurker on the forum and I decided to join today.
I will try to answer questions.


The tank is 40 gallons. Whenever, I get uronema, I bleach the tank and dry it.
Bacteria is supported from used filter media from established tank.

Medicines used in the past are copper, furan, prazipro and formalin dips.
Stopped formalin because its carcinogenic and it didn't help with uronema.

I acclimate by floating the bag to equalize the temperature, then I scoop the fish out and put in tank.
I was told not to drip acclimate because of ammonia.

Sometimes, the fish arrive near dead or already with sores.

I am NOT new to fish keeping.

Currently I have a Moorish idol, a powder tang, a fusilier and a hamlet from Jordan at Among the reef.
They are doing Ok for now.

 

[rkpetersen]

I acclimate by floating the bag to equalize the temperature, then I scoop the fish out and put in tank.
I was told not to drip acclimate because of ammonia.

Do you match specific gravity (salinity) between the incoming bag and the tank?

 

[Wolf89]

I acclimate by floating the bag to equalize the temperature, then I scoop the fish out and put in tank

While its floating you should periodically add a cup of water to the bag to acclimate the fish to salinity

 

[NoobReeefer]

While its floating you should periodically add a cup of water to the bag to acclimate the fish to salinity

this is okay if you just got the fish locally and its only in the bag for a few hours but when you buy online the ammonia builds up in the bag and its basically all released once you open the bag so its best to match qt to the salinity in the bag, float it for 20-30 minutes then add the fish directly to the qt. if your dead set on the drip or cup method at least add some prime to the bag once you open it

 

[MSB123]

@Humblefish

 

[rkpetersen]

While its floating you should periodically add a cup of water to the bag to acclimate the fish to salinity

That's one way, but it's not a lot different than drip acclimating.

What I'm talking about is sometimes called plop and drop. When you get the shipped bag, open it, start warming it and immediately check its SG. Then quickly adjust the SG of your QT to match that of the incoming water. As soon as both the temp and SG are a match, you can remove the fish from the bag and drop it in the tank safely. The idea here is to leave the fish in the bag for the minimal possible time after you open it. Especially with shipped fish. In the closed bag, ammonia builds up, but so does CO2, which lowers the pH and makes the ammonia less toxic. As soon as you open the bag, CO2 starts to offgas, raising the pH, turning the ammonia back to the toxic form. So get the fish out of there quickly into a tank with matching SG.

 

[ScooterV]

So, you have a 40 gallon QT I take it? If able to tear down and sterilize I'd think it's QT. Other than a list of meds used in the past, what is your usual process though?

Also, as @rkpetersen mentioned the salinity should be close to begin with if only floating for temp and then releasing. Getting the QT set to match what you have coming makes it easy.

 

[ckalupa]

From your fish list I did not see Gem Tangs- what happened to those?

 

[awwinterfall]

gem tangs still alive

 

[awwinterfall]

out of all the fish in this qt group, only indigo hamlet is still alive.
no one else ate anything.

 

[NoobReeefer]

out of all the fish in this qt group, only indigo hamlet is still alive.
no one else ate anything.

getting fish to eat seems like the hardest thing i encounter but in the end ive had really good success the only fish that went on a unger strike for me was a copper band about a month ago....live brine shrimp and live black worms seems to work the best for finicky eaters...i currently have a naso in qt who went on a 3-4 day hunger strike so i went to get some live food but the LFS didn't have any so i just got some frozen blood worms and he's gobbling them up like no tomorrow

 

[awwinterfall]

Just bought 2 butterflyfish and 1 creole wrasse from bluezoo. Trying to see if source of fish is the issue.

Seems like liveaquaria, saltwaterfish and among the reef have similar fish in stock, so I'm assuming the same supplier is used.

 

[NoobReeefer]

Just bought 2 butterflyfish and 1 creole wrasse from bluezoo. Trying to see if source of fish is the issue.

Seems like liveaquaria, saltwaterfish and among the reef have similar fish in stock, so I'm assuming the same supplier is used.

e
for the past couple years ive got 99% of my fish from live aquaria. They always arrive fairly healthy. about a month ago i got a copper band, royal gamma, court jester gobie and a yellow candy hog fish. the royal gamma had white stringy poo the copper band had flukes and i think the hog fish did too....2 weeks ago i got a bristle tooth and naso tang, both have no signs of anything yet. i qt everything regardless ymmv