I'm a fish killer

[Robb in Austin]

I seem to have no luck in keeping fish. I just found my green clown goby serving as the main course for my cleaner shrimp. :(

I bought him and a tail spot blenny from LA.com about a month ago. The tail spot is doing fine at least.

I have killed the following:
2 green chromis
1 purple firefish
1 blue reef chromis
1 green clown goby

I think the main problem with the first 3 was I got them within 1 month of my tank being setup.

The blue chromis looked fine, but didn't eat much. He lasted just over a month.

The goby seemed to be ok, but he never ate that I saw.

My water checks out ok and none of my inverts has croaked.

I think from here on out, when I buy a fish I will make sure it is eating at the store or I won't buy them.

Pray for my blenny to remain strong. He at least eats.

Venting in Austin,
Robb

[Angel*Fish]

Edit: Oh I see your tank was started 1/8

Do you want some help? :)

[Robb in Austin]

At this point I'm open to just about any suggestions.

It's frustrating because my inverts(crabs/snails) and corals(zoas, new rics & trumpet) all do fine. (In my own defense, I think the green chromis were doomed; both of them had a black spot on them in the same area and I noticed it on some at the store when I went back later.)

I feed some flake, (had fed some pellet but it made a nasty hairy/bubbly algae spring up), and frozen mysis, bloodworm, and spirulina brine.

Params are:

SG=1.025-.026
Temp=80
NH3,No2,No3=0
P04=0
Alk=7-8
Ca=460
pH=7.8-8

I even took water the the LFS and it checked out with them too.


TIA,
Robb

[hawkey992]

perhaps your LFS is to blame? I don't know the place, it might be great for all I know but I'm sure if a fish store takes poor care of their stock, they won't do so great when you take them home

[Robb in Austin]

I think the green chromis they got were just a bad batch. I've never had problems from any of their FW fish and have not heard any bad reports either.

The firefish and blue chromis came from 2 other LFS.

Thanks though,
Robb

[coralnub]

Hang in there, sometimes fish can be tough. Your water parameters look fine (pH a little low, but ok) and if corals are thriving it probably doesn't have much to do with general husbandry. It took me a while before I got a group of fish that would co-exist peacefully, even though my corals and inverts were doing great.

On the bright side, the tail spot blenny is the coolest fish on your list (IMHO) and he's doing ok. Are there any other fish in your system?

[Robb in Austin]

Thanks for the encouragement.

I agree, the TSB rocks.

No others at this point. I do have my eyes open for another blue chromis. He was cool too, always out swimming, checking us out, etc.

Robb

[Moonstream]

here is what I usually do (I took on this practice after killing 2 clowns, 2 trimma gobies, and 1 pajama cardinal)
watch all fish in tank for a LONG time
if their are any AT ALL unhealthy looking fish in tank, ignore ALL fish in it
ask to see entire tank eat, make sure fish I am interested in is eating
watch for several more min.
either get or refuse fish

so far it has worked okay, I have a damsel and 2 clowns that are doing well and just got a firefish and a kauderns cardinal.

[Robb in Austin]

I have used a modified version of that technique. I have taken healthy looking fish from tanks with sickly looking fish though. But I have not asked to watch them eat before.

I will next time though.

Thanks,
Robb

[ssavader]

Robb, most LFS have a water system that runs all tanks through the same filtration system in the back of the store and then returns it to all the tanks, thus a fish with ich in one tank is really exposing all the fish on that system to the same disease- this of course applies to any communicable disease like brook, marine velvet, flukes, parasites, etc, etc. So, besides what the members above told you, I never get a fish from any store if: 1) they have a shared central filtration system, and 2) any of the salt water fish are sick. Also, most LFS will hold a fish for you at no charge if you are a regular. Ask for a hold, and come back and see that fish 2 or 3 times, and it should eat for you each time. Its not easy to see your new fish and then walk out, but its better than feeling your beautiful tank is the "killing fields"!

[AwkwardParrot]

fish killing....i know how it's done. i am running a 75g reef/fish mix. i have lost a powdered blue tang to a carpet anemone, a powder brown tang to poor feeding/treatment from a LFS, 2 of 6 green chromis, and a sailfin to the carpet. needless to say the carpet is gone and i saved a powder brown tang (had really bad ICH at the LFS), it is going to be is it's own tank so i can get another Powder Blue. Keep with it and be glad you didn't spend about $200ish in dead fish.

[Chibils]

About the chromis:

There have been a couple polls on here, and at least half of the people had schools of chromis either kill themselves off or die of natural causes.

[Robb in Austin]

Thanks for all the feedback.

ssavader:
I'm 90% sure my main LFS does not use a linked system. I'm planning on going tomorrow and can confirm. I will try the holding trick if need be.

parrot:
Ouch. I thought I had it bad. It sure feels like I did that much damage. The firefish was a $25 slap in the face. He was my first. Fish and casualty.

Chiblis:
I had read that and only got 1 to limit the carnage. I had the first one check out and then the Mrs and daughter bullied me into getting the next one. Wimmin! What are ya gonna do? (Geez, I hope your not of the fairer sex. Otherwise, this other shoe should fit too! :) )


Thanks again everyone. My spirits are rising!
Robb

[AwkwardParrot]

now brings us to the next question:
obsession?
love?
both... :)

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1360514

[Moonstream]

even tho all the tanks are connected, I feel more comfortable getting fish from healthy tanks only, because it make me feel like their is less of a chance of them getting hurt. def. ask to see them eat, I lost the cardinal and gobies because I didnt and lost the clowns to brook.

[Angel*Fish]

Depending on what diseases your dying fish may have had, it may be wise to let your tank run fallow, except for the blenny for several months, so that you don't infect a healthy fish with a nasty parasite waiting around in your tank for a host :( I don't know the exact length of time, but if you posted in the fish disease forum they could tell you down to the number of weeks probably ;)

Tips that come to mind:

Never buy a fish that has just come in to the store that day- as suggested above see if they'll hold it for you.

Watch a lot of fish, eventually you'll learn to recognize a health one

Look a fish store employee in the eye and ask them if they think the fish is healthy. Ask them which fish they recommend - they may not be willing to tell you a fish is sick, but they may be comfortable pointing you to a healthy fish.

If you visit a store often enough and engage the employees in conversation and kind of get to know them, they will be much less likely to steer you wrong.

Question:
How are you acclimating them?

[Chibils]

Chromis viridis do school, but they're also very prone to killing each other.

[Robb in Austin]

Angelfish:
I think the green chromis had something only due to the fact that both of mine had a black sore on them in the same spot. It almost looked like a hickey. It was under the scales, or appeared that way, about .5cm in height, just behind the dorsal fin. The dead ones I saw in the store had the same mark. I think the others died to due not eating, which could be a disease sign but there were no other outward signs. I know how to tell a healthy one from a sick one. At least a real sick one. The LFS knows me well. Probably too well my wife would say. ;)

For acclimation, I float them and add ~60ml of tank water every 15-30 min or so until the SG matches.

But yeah, if the blenny dies, I'll let it set for 2 months before adding any more fish.

Thanks again!
Robb

[natan]

bloodworm! dump any u have and NEVER touch it again! If yuor LFS feeds the stuff to its fish, think twice about bying from them (than just dont). Blood(Y)worm=>intestinal blockages=>fish can't eat =>u end up with dead fish when it eventually starves (in up to a month). Easy to feed fish that refuse to eat sounds like just that.

[Robb in Austin]

Hmmm. Never heard that. I haven't really fed much of it, but I'll take it out of the rotation just in case.

Thanks!
Robb

[smoothdog]

Robb, do you quarantine before adding to your display tank? If not, it doesn't matter how good they look or whether they eat in the store or not, you could be intorducing disease and or parasites to the display tank and would explain loss after loss.

[Robb in Austin]

No, I don't. I realize I should.

No signs of external parasites though.

Robb