Unfortunately the Saddleback "Little Bugger" died this morning of an uncertain cause.
He had been in QT 31 days today. My process went as follows:
20 gallon tank
78.5 degrees
1.016 hypo-salinity
Piece of live rock
Heater & small powerhead
Two seeded sponges from the main tank
Air bubbles
Couple PVC pipes
Chemistry good - no ammonia
Dosed PraziPro twice for 5 day durations. Fed the fish two times a day, he was an active eater and preferred fresh scallop, clam and a locally made frozen blend with Hikari mysis, scallop, cyclopeeze (etc.).
Three days ago was the first salinity increasing water change from 1.016-1.017. Yesterday another of these water changes which increased the salinity to 1.018. I fed him at 5 last evening and he was his normal self and this morning he had passed. Tyler had to retrieve the fish from the tank because I wasn't having it and he said the fish had a red stripe from his mouth all the way to his tail, almost like an internal hemmorhage and his body was darkened.
Honestly, I don't have a hypothesis why the fish died, but I do know that although unfortunate sometimes these things happen, especially with more difficult species. Will I try again? Absolutely, maybe with a fish larger than two inches, but not any time soon.
|