First Death- Help please

[ChelseaRanee]

Okay so I just got back from 10 days away on holiday and found that my Ghost Sleeper Goby is dead. I have had him for 3 weeks and he was eating well (Hikari Seaweed sinking pellets). I usually feed him 3 tiny pellets a day but while I was away sister was feeding him 3 every second day (so I could be sure that there wouldn't be any problems with Ammonia). He was fat and happy when I left and was apparently still happy on Tuesday but wasn't seen yesterday (she didn't check on him though).

I found the body stuck to the filter intake and it wasn't mouldy or anything so he really hasn't been dead long. I couldn't see any signs of disease on him but he had definately been picked at by tankmates (I'm pretty sure that this would have only been after he'd died as I only have Bristleworms and a peppermint shrimp in there with him until now).

Anyway, on my way home I stopped at the LFS to pick up a Coral Beauty, did a quick water change and test on the tank then started to acclimatise him. It was then that I noticed the Goby had died. By this point the LFS has shut and I don't know any local marine people so I had no choice but to add the CB in anyway.

I only tested Ammonia and Nitrate levels and these were both good (0.25ppm and 0ppm in that order). I only test these 2 and pH regularly and other parameters as I need them. I have keep some of the water from the water change so I can test for anything else people think would be helpful.

I'm freaking out though, I just spent $100 on the CB and picked the healthiest looking one. He seems happy and is swimming around happily, and picking algae off the rocks. I need to know if he is destined for the same fate as the Goby.



AHHHH what do I do?!?!?!

[Fishy 1]

Was the goby the only fish in there?

[trinidiver]

Hi and welcome to RC. I see you said you had him for 3 weeks, but how long before you got him was the tank cycled and how did you cycle the tank. Did you use live rock and live sand and how big is the tank.

[Crooked Reef]

If you have a nitrite test check that as well. Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish. If I recall correctly you are using API test kits correct? If so they have a tendancy to show
.25ppm ammonia all the time depending on the light in the room. Sometimes mine shows .25ppm and I can walk ten feet away into different light and it is definately 0.00 ppm.

[JMorris271]

Quarantine tank?

[CoralReeForrest]

Originally Posted by Crooked Reef

If you have a nitrite test check that as well. Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish. If I recall correctly you are using API test kits correct? If so they have a tendancy to show
.25ppm ammonia all the time depending on the light in the room. Sometimes mine shows .25ppm and I can walk ten feet away into different light and it is definately 0.00 ppm.

This is correct however also incorrect, it has been studied and shown that nitrites in home aquaria cannot get high enough to be harmful to salt water fish. Just adding this in. Key is ammonia it has to be zero. And chances are with your api kit it is indeed zero.

[ChelseaRanee]

I only had the goby and a peppermint shrimp in there until now. I haven't bothered with a quarantine tank because all of my fish are coming from the same place and the same system and once I have my fish I won't be adding more. The LFS guy agreed there wasn't much point. Tank was cycling for about 6 weeks from memory and had properly cycled acording to test kits (everything was at zero) after adding the goby and the shrimp I never saw any kind of spike.

I used mostly live rock from the lfs (it was in their fiilter but some was still white, some had coraline growing on it) and I just used normal coral sand (Its Illegal to import live rock or sand here so it can make things difficult). I started my cycle using brine shrimp but never got much of an ammonia spike so ended up using a mussel to do it properly.

I will test nitrites soon, I was being lazy because I thought if ammonia and nitrates were fine nitrites should be too haha.

[Stolireef]

The usual cycle is first ammonia, then nitrites and finally nitrates. If you cycled through all three, I doubt an ammonia spike did the damage. The death could have been caused by any number of things from an infection to simple bad luck.

I hate to be the cynical one, but are you sure that your sister (or someone else) didn't accidentally drop something bad into the tank? Alternatively, my son (very young at the time) found one of my fish carpet surfing. He 'did me a favor' by putting him back into the tank dead. It took a few key questions to figure out what had happened.

[DaveWJunior]

ALWAYS quarantine new fish. Your LFS gets his fish from a wholesaler who gets them from an importer or breeder. Most of these fish have been many tanks with many different fish. Unless your LFS quarantines and breeds their own stock (and even if they did) I'd quarantine and treat any new fish before putting them into your tank. I'd wait an extra 4-6 weeks before seeing the fish in my display tank rather than playing the parasite lottery. You'll lose eventually.

[ChelseaRanee]

I cycled all 3 til they were showing 0. My sister has freshwater fish of her own so she should know better. The only thing I can think is she apperntly dropped the bag of pellets and put the ones that fell onto the stand back in the bag. Maybe there was something there that got on the pellets. Luckily she left the ones on the floor where they were. I also lectured her on putting her hands into the tank. And the glass had a nice layer of algae on it so it looks like she has stayed out (hopefilly).

My lfs imports their own stock and quarantines for 3 months. I was hoping that because i was getting my fish relatively close together and because every single one of their display tanks is on the same system that it would be fine. I really can't afford to set up a quarantine tank for a 20 gallon tank. The plan was to upgrade at the end of the year and make this tank my quarantine one.

What would I need to set up a quarantine (bare basics)?

[zeebies]

Originally Posted by ChelseaRanee

AHHHH what do I do?!?!?!

Another vote for a quarantine tank. It will save you money and heartache in the long run.

[Fishy 1]

Its a little strange that the peppermint is alright :what:

[cangrejo]

It's hard to put together a sequence of events when you were not there. Good luck with your tank