My first loss...

[lockekeyy]

So within the past 24hrs, I have lost my first fish in this hobby. It was a blue/green chromis. I introduced 2 earlier this week and acclimated for a lil over an hour. The first two days, they were both acting fine and feeding and swimming. Yesterday, one became secluded but I thought nothing of it. This morning, I found one of the carcass of one of the chromis (I would assume the secluded one) being eaten up by one of my large nassarius snails. I tested the parameters of the tank yesterday, and the pH was 8.2, Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia was at 0. SG was at 1.025 and temp was at 80. I've heard of chromis trimming down their numbers... but from a pair to just one? :mad:
It's just a little discouraging... So far, they only things in the tanks (72G bowfront) are some zoos and other coral, mated clown pair, and some different snails and hermits. Any thoughts?

[jdmcivicek9]

be happy that it was only a $5.00 chromis...i mean yeah it still sucks but wait till you lose a $120.00 regal angel :) eveyone has losses i dont know of 1 person on this forum that hasnt lost at least one fish or one coral...and most everyone has lost multiple fish and corals...its just kinda how the hobby goes you win some and you lose some good luck!!!

[Playa-1]

Any thoughts?

Get a QT and use it.

[jdmcivicek9]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13357105#post13357105 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Playa-1
Any thoughts?

Get a QT and use it.

2nd that!!!!thats a very important step that lots of new reefers overlook...

[lockekeyy]

Thanks, I'll look into getting one. What's a normal size for a QT? 10g ok? Also, do you QT inverts?

[tmz]

Chromis verdis(blue green chromis) will more often than not kill each other off untillthere is one left. I know there a lot of folks who think they are a schooling fish but it's not the case in my experience.

The best investment of money and effort you can make is your quarnatine tankl.

[r0bin]

Sorry about your 1st loss. I remember mine, unfortunately there will be more, in this hobby its inevitable. Only its will get more heartbreaking when you have had the fish a long time.

[Attreui]

While a QT is always a good idea, it doesn't sound like this fish died of disease. All captured fish have the chance not to make it. I will say that if you are going to just acclimate an hour is way too long. It's possible the fish died of stress from the acclimation or just because he had been netted too many times. I have a bunch of Chromis and while they do beat on each other from time to time, i have not lost one yet. I have seen them cause abrasions and loss of a scale here and there but Chromis' are tough and they normally recover. This sounds to me like it was either just too stressed for the little guy or just bad luck that this one didn't survive the stress from being captured from their normal habitat, bagged, and flown thousands of miles to be put in an overcrowded tank in a store until you bought him. It happens.. sorry for the loss, as everyone else said it is an unfortunate and heartbreaking part of this hobby.

[Mr. Brooks]

An hour long acclimation is not too long. I drip acclimate in a bucket for at least an hour and I rarely lose new additions. I also add a mini power head and mini heater to the bucket, it's not needed but I feel it helps.

[r0bin]

I feel if the fish came locally an hour is too much. If it was shipped its not. I normally only acclimate local purchases for 15 mintutes and have never suffered a lost due to this. I think its too stressful on the fish to be out of a tank for an hour. This is only my opinion and what works for me personally, not to argue with what others feel works for them.

[danielc316]

sorry for your first loss.

[tmz]

Shipped fish require some special acclimation techniques and time. Locally acquired fish require much less.

In the case of a shipped fish,you face a catch 22 particularly if the shipper uses low sg bag water (eg 1.015 or so) which many do.

Here's the problem. When sg is raised a fish has to drink a lot to stay hydrated and it needs to process urine and adjust internaly to balance it's internal chemistry and maintain homeostasis. This is known as osmoregulation which enables the fish to survive in a variety of sgs where invertebrates can't. Sudden upward shifts in sg are , however, very stressful for the fish. An increase of .001 or .002 per day is often recomended. This is obviously impractical.
Worse is that the bag water is likely full of built up ammonium( non toxic ammonia) and some ammonia in toxic form.
It is also full of built up CO2. When the bag is opened and exposed to air, the CO2 equilibriates with the outside air (blows out of the bag) and the ph of the bag water rises rapidly. When ph rises the ammonium speciates to the more toxic form of ammonia.

So on the one hand you want to acclimate very slowly to minimize osmotic shock and on the other you need to get the fish out of toxic water quickly.

I prefer to acclimate the quarantine tank to the bag water. Most shippers will tell you the shipping sg and you can adjust your qt sg to match it. Then float the unopened bag for about 15 minutes to allow temperature adjustment .
You can also approximate the bag temperature in the q tank. After floating the unopened bag you can release the fish rapidly into the tank water. Ph changes are inevitable so you can't really offset them.Now with the fish jn qt, you can gradually adjust the sg over a period of a week to match the display tank.