new chromis died

[Puffer555555]

ok, so I cycled my tank for about a month and added a Blue green chromis three days ago.

Everything seemed to be fine until yesterday morning when I found him stuck in a crevice of the live rock with only his tailfin visible. He was motionless and I thought he was dead. I was curious so i gently brushed his fin with a toothbrush and he woke up and squirmed around(but i could only see his tailfin).

I didn't try to get him out of there and i had to go to school but when i came back he was out of the rock and was breathing very heavily sideways on the sand and could not really swim. I checked all of my parameters and they were
0 amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 7.8 Ph

the only thing i could think of would be the ph...but i don't think that would kill him .

He had a scrape on his head and when he finally died(three hours later) the scrape on his head appeared to be black/red like a bruise.


I guess what i am asking is .... do you think the ph killed him or do you think the live rock hurt him when he finally got out?

[sporto0]

7.8 ph is not a terrible number & it certainly did not kill the fish. Did your tank ever cycle? How did you start the cycle? Did you ever get ammonia & nitrite readings while cycling?

[Puffer555555]

I cycled it with shrimp...

I actually had the tank up and running and put this bio active stuff in there that didn't do anything(rip off from LFS)

so then I got life rock a week after it was up

then after it was in there for a week I put shrimp in for about two days and all of the levels went through the roof and came back down within a week and a a half.... my tank is covered with diatoms right now... very brown and ugly lol.

[sporto0]

Well, I'm sorry your fish died but I would buy another Chromis, the best looking one you can find & try again, sometimes fish will die for no apparent reason to us. Good luck.

[bnumair]

how big is ur tank? did u acclimate the fish?

[rpjaws74]

Well, I'm sorry your fish died but I would buy another Chromis, the best looking one you can find & try again, sometimes fish will die for no apparent reason to us. Good luck.

Sorry man but I disagree. It is true that sometimes fish may just die just like anything else but they die of something. Im thinking that tank wasnt fully cycled and didnt have a bio-load. I personnaly would wait atleast 2 to 3 months before I will add fish. Just my opinion

[bnumair]

Sorry man but I disagree. It is true that sometimes fish may just die just like anything else but they die of something. Im thinking that tank wasnt fully cycled and didnt have a bio-load. I personnaly would wait atleast 2 to 3 months before I will add fish. Just my opinion

i kinda agree with u there. thats why i asked him what size his tank was. 2 weeks is a little too fast for a cycle. i am also in same opinion that cycle is not done properly.

[sporto0]

Sorry man but I disagree. It is true that sometimes fish may just die just like anything else but they die of something. Im thinking that tank wasnt fully cycled and didnt have a bio-load. I personnaly would wait atleast 2 to 3 months before I will add fish. Just my opinion

Well I did say no apparent reason to US, obviously it died for a reason & if you read my post, I went through the cycle scenario, so short of calling him a liar, I just proposed it may have been lost cause to begin with, don't tell me you have never had a fish die & didn't know why, that's pretty rare if you have been in the hobby for a while. No big deal but I was just trying to make him feel better about his first fish death & he did say it cylced for a month.

[uncleof6]

ok, so I cycled my tank for about a month and added a Blue green chromis three days ago.

Everything seemed to be fine until yesterday morning when I found him stuck in a crevice of the live rock with only his tailfin visible. He was motionless and I thought he was dead. I was curious so i gently brushed his fin with a toothbrush and he woke up and squirmed around(but i could only see his tailfin).

I didn't try to get him out of there and i had to go to school but when i came back he was out of the rock and was breathing very heavily sideways on the sand and could not really swim. I checked all of my parameters and they were
0 amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 7.8 Ph

the only thing i could think of would be the ph...but i don't think that would kill him .

He had a scrape on his head and when he finally died(three hours later) the scrape on his head appeared to be black/red like a bruise.


I guess what i am asking is .... do you think the ph killed him or do you think the live rock hurt him when he finally got out?

Without a picture there is no way to know with any sort of certainty. These blue-green chromis are very susceptible to a protozoan infection called Uronema. The visible symptom is a reddish line or lesion (easily mistaken for an injury.) They usually die within a short period of time.


<a href="http://s655.photobucket.com/albums/uu274/uncleof6/?action=view&amp;current=chromis.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu274/uncleof6/chromis.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


<a href="http://s655.photobucket.com/albums/uu274/uncleof6/?action=view&amp;current=uronema.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu274/uncleof6/uronema.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[rpjaws74]

Well I did say no apparent reason to US, obviously it died for a reason & if you read my post, I went through the cycle scenario, so short of calling him a liar, I just proposed it may have been lost cause to begin with, don't tell me you have never had a fish die & didn't know why, that's pretty rare if you have been in the hobby for a while. No big deal but I was just trying to make him feel better about his first fish death & he did say it cylced for a month.

dont take it personnal brother like I said just my opinion. ofcourse ive had fish die this is why i can offer my opinion and probable cause thats all.

[thor109]

I bought my tank from some one else and moved it to my house. It came with two fish, a green chromis and a neon dottyback. I added 4 more chomis and they all died within a few days. A couple weeks passed and I bought a few more, none lived more than 3 days. I've added 7 other fish and all have lived. I still have the original chromis. Maybe try something else

[sporto0]

dont take it personnal brother like I said just my opinion. ofcourse ive had fish die this is why i can offer my opinion and probable cause thats all.

No problem, I didn't think it was personal but I also didn't want you to think I was an idiot, saying it died for no reason LOL. Carry on fellow reefer.

[rpjaws74]

Hehe no worries!!

[Puffer555555]

The tank is 60 gallons.... I posted a previous thread regarding my cycle and its completion. I am fairly sure that it has been completed but i am new at this so i could be wrong.

I have just decided to wait a week or so before trying to add any other fish. The diatoms keep coming so I am guessing that there is good bacteria are in the tank?????

[Sk8r]

There are some minor points that could be a problem---one of which is that the fish may have come in with a disease and you didn't quarantine. Your decision to wait is basically good, bit get a qt tank set up, get a fish now, and run qt with your next fish. There are parameters beyond nitrate-ammonia-ph, and one of those is of course salinity, temperature, plus (more important than ph) alkalinity. Just as a refresher and a crosscheck on your procedures, go up and read (from the top) the sticky You Asked FOr It---and the one with New SPecimen in the title...which tells you the safe way to get a new fish into your tank. THere's a learning curve for sure, and it's just a good idea to go through that material and doublecheck your procedures. The tank really should have live rock from the start, and the bacteria-in-a-bottle products aren't as good as plain old 60 lbs of live rock.

[Puffer555555]

I will be sure to read the stickies.... as far as my temp, it is at 77 right now. Is that ok? Salinity(which i get from my lfs is around 1.025-26)... What is alkalinity?