Coral Beauty Not Eating

mantisman51

mantisman51

Active Member
I recieved a shipment yesterday. Same as before, got to Fedex at open (9:00), had the fish drip acclimating by 9:30, followed the exact method shown in the SWF tutorial. The Zebra gobie and Beau Gregory were both barely moving and keeping their mouths at the surface. Both were dead by the end of the three hours. Everything else looked great. Their color was gorgeous after about 20 minutes in the fast drip. The Domino Damsel was eating and picking fights with the Blue Damsels and looked great. This morning it is dead.
First:
sg:1.023 Per a new calibrated refractometer.
ph:8.2
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:.05 (barely registering-Aquarium Pharmacueticals Master Kit bought in January)
All in a 55 gallon QT tank. The Coral Beauty is swimming continuously all over the tank, very quickly up and down. While the other 4 fish look fine (2-Blue Damsels, 1-Vagabond Butterfly, 1-Two Tone Wrasse) and are eating the chopped mussel and spirulina flakes. The coral beauty is clearly stressing out badly. I have a 125 gal FOWLR that has alot od rock work. While I would rather keep the CB in the QT tank, would it have a better chance of survival in the 125 gal with the living rock? Would it be worth the risk?
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
Keep the lights turned off, maybe just actinics on and let him calm down. Do you have any hiding places in the QT? He may go without eating a few days and that is just fine. He will start eating when he is comfortable enough.
 
mantisman51

mantisman51

Active Member
Because I wanted as little as possible in the QT tank, all that is in there is 2 Tupperware drinking cups , abot 3" in diameter and 6" long, which he's ignoring.
 
spiderwoman

spiderwoman

Active Member
If you have any extra PVC pipe pieces or corners around, clean those up and place in the QT. The more *options* you have there for hiding, the more likely he'll use one of them.
 
mantisman51

mantisman51

Active Member
The water temp was 68.4F per my Regent digital thermometer. I think that is the big problem again, but I don't know. I am getting very frustrated at the livestock loss, though.
 
mantisman51

mantisman51

Active Member
The shipment reached me at that temp. My tank is set at 78F. The shipment before was 65 F. I lost all 5 in the last shipment and now 3 out of 8 are gone and if anymore die, I may give up entirley getting anymore new fish. I can keep fish just fine. Getting them established is the hard part. The fact I recieved two cold shipments has me just about ready to throw my hands up and call it quits.
 
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