Qt and me don't mix!!!!!

[Saltgator]

After successful attempts (3) of hyposalinity, qt'ing my future purchases was a not a question anymore. Trying to get my last 2 fish, I've lost 3!! My qt, equipment and schedule: 55 qt, PVC pipes, heater, algae clip, 2 power heads, 1 hob filter, air stone. Water changes once a week, water started from my reef water.
Fish are brought in from lfs (observed for 15+ minutes and seen eating), floated for 15 minutes, dripped into 5g bucket for 3 hours.
Fish are gently caught with a container and eased in. 24 hours later, my fish have passed!!
What is my rookie mistake??? I can't think for all the frustrated feelings!!!

 

[Squishie89]

I would try a different source for your fish. Or get the fish before they are entered into the LFS system. What is in the HOB filter? What are you using as biological filtration?

 

[EW_Fish]

When Are they dieing?

 

[LPSGUY]

Skip the quarantine. Add to your tank. QT the fish stresses it out more. If you're doing hypo salin you're most likely just killing them. If they are eating well at LFS they should eat well for you in your main tank. And an eating fish is a healthy fish and generally wont get ich. Now, if you don't see them eat at the LFS don't buy...I think this is where so many people mess up. They cant wait to get that nice powder blue home and never pay attention to it at the lfs.

 

[Aquaph8]

Just make sure your sponge is well seeded, ammonia is the number one killer of fish in QT. Also no need to drip for so long, just match your salinity to the bag water and float for temp.

 

[Saltgator]

I would try a different source for your fish. Or get the fish before they are entered into the LFS system. What is in the HOB filter? What are you using as biological filtration?

My current reef's water, sponges I keep in my sump. My hang on back filter. Its massive, 2 sided (dual filters).

 

[Saltgator]

When Are they dieing?

Trying to find out. Going thru a massive check off list.

 

[Aquaph8]

Are they showing any symptoms? What fish are talking about?

 

[Saltgator]

Are they showing any symptoms? What fish are talking about?

Emperor juvenile and mimic tang (chocolate) . Once in qt, heavy breathing and gone. No other symptoms (ich, brook, etc). No ammonia, no nitrite. No currently (electricity), PO4 @ 0.10, Ph @ 8.1, salinity @ 1.026, temp @ 78.

 

[Squishie89]

Have you had any successful QTs in that tank?

 

[Saltgator]

Have you had any successful QTs in that tank?

1 magnificent foxface. 10 weeks of hypo.

 

[Lazys Coral House]

Add live rock to your hypo-salinity QT. You will have some die off, wait for ammonia to drop to zero, will take about 3-4 days. Now you have a QT that can sustain fish through the quarantine process. You can keep it running even when fish are not in QT. Don't need light or heater. Just a circulation pump, add a molly (brackish fish) to keep the bacteria levels up so if you do purchase a fish it will be ready.

 

[Saltgator]

Just cause, I took a aiptasia rock out of the DT and placed it in the qt. Wanting to see if my readings are correct. Xenia will be next.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Skip the quarantine. Add to your tank. QT the fish stresses it out more. If you're doing hypo salin you're most likely just killing them. If they are eating well at LFS they should eat well for you in your main tank. And an eating fish is a healthy fish and generally wont get ich. Now, if you don't see them eat at the LFS don't buy...I think this is where so many people mess up. They cant wait to get that nice powder blue home and never pay attention to it at the lfs.

Hopefully just kidding ^^^here^^^..... IMHO, IME All fish should be QT'd with treatment especially Tangs, Butterflys and Angels. Prazi-Pro followed by Hypo-salinity or Cupramine if any apparent signs of Ich are noted. I keep a bag of the ceramic in my sump and when planned out in advance also a handfull of weighted plastic aquarium plants and misc. PVC fittings to be ready for QT use. Kirk (NC2WA) still has a bunch of my QT decos and can maybe post a pic of QT's currently setup if he sees this thread. Anyhow, hope you can figure out root cause for the deaths and get this under control.

Cheers, Todd

 

[RacinRevo0818]

Hyposalinty seems like a lot of stress for a fish that might not even be sick. From my reading hypo is used to cure ich? Well if the fish doesn't have ich your basically just stressing the fish in a very dangerous process.

Monitoring parameters during hypo seem to be of most importance (ph and salinity and not which a swing hydrometer). I'm no expert just my thoughts.

I would look at prazipro and chloroquine phosphate. It's no fun loosing fish so hopefully you'll get it figured out.

The recommendation for no qt would be a big mistake as you could wipe out your whole tank!!

Sounds like all your equipment is up to par so shouldn't be a problem. Just make sure your sponge is large enough to support 55 gallons. I've always used the seachem matrix that is left in my sump and has tons of bacteria. Wouldn't hurt to check ammonia, any reading higher then 0 is bad.

 

[KoleTang]

Why the hyposalinity? Have you tried using cupramine (don't use traditional copper) instead? I do a bath in paragaurd or a freshwater dip, then a few weeks of cupramine for my QT.

Also, make sure you don't have an ammonia issue. Ammonia Alert helps with this. You can detoxify ammonia in a pinch with a reef dechlorinator like prime.

Skip the quarantine. Add to your tank. QT the fish stresses it out more. If you're doing hypo salin you're most likely just killing them. If they are eating well at LFS they should eat well for you in your main tank. And an eating fish is a healthy fish and generally wont get ich. Now, if you don't see them eat at the LFS don't buy...I think this is where so many people mess up. They cant wait to get that nice powder blue home and never pay attention to it at the lfs.

QT does not stress fish out. These fish have been captured, held in tanks, shipped across the world, sorted, held in more tanks, shipped again, sorted again, held in more tanks, until it finally reaches you. An empty tank with some PVC pipe is nothing new to them.

Ich is a parasite, not a disease. You could be healthy as a horse and still get hair lice.

Observing them is not always the answer. Ich has a dormant stage where it lives in the gills of the fish.

 

[Saltgator]

My bad y'all, I didn't clarify too well. In the past, I went thru ich and decided hyposalinity was my preferred method. The fish I've lost were NOT in hyposalinity, rather standard salinity (my preferred 1.026). To any disagreement with qt, my favorite fish are tangs and angels. Both species are know to have a bold attitude towards other fish within a system. Having a red sea regal angel that teams up with a black long nose tang creates stress to anybody new in the DT. Qt is a must just to get ANY fish up to full health and stress free. Case in point, I added a magnificent foxface (venomous to us and to any fish that dare battle one) and he was still nervous once he seen the team. Basically putting a kid into a new school (they're gonna feel out if place at first). I like to fat'in up all my fish (less'in the stress, fat fish USUALLY are happy fish with a milder aggressive side). Qting my new guys does this as well in case a new guy isn't ready to join the school right away.

 

[Jimbo662]

During the 3 hr drip could the temp have fluctuated much? Maybe gotten too cold?

 

[Saltgator]

During the 3 hr drip could the temp have fluctuated much? Maybe gotten too cold?

I run a 30 watt heater in the bucket in case.



I'm thinking either stress from shipper to lfs to me or possibly the treatment my lfs uses (copper) then to reef parameters. Highly doubting these but not ruling anything out.

 

[Tradewinds]

Do you always use the same 5 gal bucket to drip acclimate the fish? Perhaps it is contaminated.