At a loss

[Chad C.]

Well, I finally got my display tank cleared up of velvet and treated and moved my snowflake eel back in. So I got to the excited moment where I could get my lionfish. I bought a fu manchu lion on Thursday and got him into my quarantine tank.

He didn't eat on Friday and today I woke up and he upside down at the bottom. With it being my qt, I'm trying to figure out what killed him. Any thoughts?

 

[jay0705]

How long was it set up?

 

[lmforbis]

I've heard they are kind of hard to get feeding. If I were to ever get a lion fish Fu Manchu would be the one. If you didn't do any water changes it may have been an ammonia spike. It is also possible the fish wasn't healthy in the first place. Was it eating before you got it.

 

[Chad C.]

The tank has been set up for about 2 months now. I've had the snowflake eel in there and he had no problems, just less appetite. The lion didn't eat at all for me, and they had just got him in earlier the day I bought him. I do water changes 25% every two weeks on the qt.

 

[lmforbis]

It is possible it was doomed from the beginning. It is usually not a good idea to get a fish the day the store gets it in. Better to watch it for a while.

 

[Chad C.]

I agree, the only problem is I order it from them and when it arrives I get excited. It's a bummer cause that's been the fish I've been waiting for and it didn't even make it two days in qt. It had like a slime substance coming off of its fins and on its face when he died if that helps narrow it down

 

[Cyrus Stinson]

Unfortunately minor able to contribute to assistance on the issues you are having regarding the lion fish. But your thread brought me to a question. Does anyone have a LFS that will take a payment on a fish to hold it while you watch it? If it doesn't work out, then that deposit is still good for the next one that comes in?
Does that make sense?

 

[flower]

I agree with Cyrus, my LFS did that for me. The other thing to consider is purchasing from this site that has a 14 day guarantee, at least then you could get another fish without a hitch when something like this happens. Two days... that's such a shame.

 

[jay0705]

Live ghost shrimp are almost a must at the early stages of dwarf lion care. Once eating that you can slowly wean them on to frozen. I agree that buying the same day isn't a good idea. I have done it w kole tang, but I don't reccomend it.

 

[Chad C.]

Yea, I'm really thinking of ordering online but I run into the problem of working till 6pm every day. I want to support the LFS because it took forever to finally get one out here but they tend to give me shady advice too.

 

[lmforbis]

Fish are usually fine in a box for 24 hours to 36 hours as long as they are not left out in the elements they are packed with pure oxygen in the bag. There are several options.
You can have the package held at fedex for pick up by you
you can have the package delivered to your work place
you can have saturday delivery, does cost a bit more though

 

[Chad C.]

Yea, I mean my wife would most likely be home, so would it work if I just had her float the bag untill I get home from work?

 

[Chad C.]

Well might have an update to the reasoning. I did my water tests and ph was 8.0, Ammonia was 0, My nitrites were ridiculously high at 2.0!!!, and my nitrates were at 0. What could have caused such a nitrite spike and how should I prevent that in the future??

 

[lmforbis]

Ammonia. You had an ammonia spike but it was converted to nitrite you the time you tested your water. You didn't have adequate bacteria for your bio load.

 

[Chad C.]

I have housed an eel in there for a month and other than his appetite decreasing he did fine. It's a bare hospital tank, and I added some seed bacteria to it for 7 days to help stabilize the bio filter. Should I add live rock to it?

 

[iidylii]

Yea, I mean my wife would most likely be home, so would it work if I just had her float the bag untill I get home from work?

If I couldn't be home for a delivery I left a note with the company when I checked out online and I also left a note on my door that said he could just leave the package inside on my living room table