HELP! New Fish Dying =(

fretfreak13

Active Member
I am not a newbie really anymore, but I guess I'm just looking for consolation..This happens to everyone at some point I guess. I made an order from SWF a couple days ago, got my shipment today, and after a 30 minute drip acclimation, my Cherub Angel went nuts. I also got a jawfish, but he seems perfectly fine.
In the bag, the angel was swimming in perfect circles, almost like the little guy was looking for food. When I released them into the tank, the jawfish went right where I thought he would, to the little tupperware container of sand I put in there for him. The angel, to my surprise, stayed out in the open swimming around. Looked great.
Five minutes later, I see him swimming at the top again. I didn't try feeding him, cause I was sure that he wouldn't eat. In the next minute, he went nuts and tried to jump the tank quite a few times. I thought, okay, oxygen problem, so I threw in an airline. Five minutes later, he's on his back. When I walked back up the the tank, he saw me and started swimming normally again. Thought that was wierd, so I tested the water (amm, trites, trates) and all came back 0, which I expected and an empty QT tank. I don't normally test PH, but I did this time and it was through the roof at 8.8+. In a panic, I scooped up my little angel and started slowly acclimating him to my DT (could have been a bad move, I know...). He's still on his side gasping...I really hope he pulls through, it's soooo cute.
Oddly enough, my Jawfish is fine. He's still in the QT with the high PH, but I'm mixing water right now to change 30% of that. He even dug a burrow already.
 

blackjacktang

Active Member
Possibly shock from the shipment. I have had a freshwater fish do this for no particular reason and ended up dying within the next week. I cant tell you an exact answer for this but i wish you all the luck with him!
 

brokendeck

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fretfreak13 http:///forum/thread/382804/help-new-fish-dying#post_3343291
I am not a newbie really anymore, but I guess I'm just looking for consolation..This happens to everyone at some point I guess. I made an order from SWF a couple days ago, got my shipment today, and after a 30 minute drip acclimation, my Cherub Angel went nuts. I also got a jawfish, but he seems perfectly fine.
In the bag, the angel was swimming in perfect circles, almost like the little guy was looking for food. When I released them into the tank, the jawfish went right where I thought he would, to the little tupperware container of sand I put in there for him. The angel, to my surprise, stayed out in the open swimming around. Looked great.
Five minutes later, I see him swimming at the top again. I didn't try feeding him, cause I was sure that he wouldn't eat. In the next minute, he went nuts and tried to jump the tank quite a few times. I thought, okay, oxygen problem, so I threw in an airline. Five minutes later, he's on his back. When I walked back up the the tank, he saw me and started swimming normally again. Thought that was wierd, so I tested the water (amm, trites, trates) and all came back 0, which I expected and an empty QT tank. I don't normally test PH, but I did this time and it was through the roof at 8.8+. In a panic, I scooped up my little angel and started slowly acclimating him to my DT (could have been a bad move, I know...). He's still on his side gasping...I really hope he pulls through, it's soooo cute.
Oddly enough, my Jawfish is fine. He's still in the QT with the high PH, but I'm mixing water right now to change 30% of that. He even dug a burrow already.
did your angelfish make it?
 
S

smartorl

Guest
How did you aclimate him? It sounds like you maybe temperature acclimated him in the bag and released him. If so, I would take a look at the link on the main page about acclimation. Because SG varies and fish are sometimes shipped at lower SG than our tanks, it's always wise to slowly acclimate them using the drip method to avoid shocking them. Some fish are more delicate than others.
I used to think it was redundant and temperature acclimated and never had any problems. However, when I get into the hobby more and more, you upgrade into more exotic fish and inverts, that's when the losses started to hit me and I realized why.
Sorry for your loss!
 
S

smartorl

Guest
It won't allow me to edit! Sorry, I misread your post and missed the part where you said you had drip acclimated.
 
S

saxman

Guest
When fish are shipped, two main things happen with the shipping water:
The pH drops due to dissolved CO2 and the NH3 levels go up due to fish waste. Fortunately, at lower pH levels, the excessive NH3 is relatively non-toxic. However, once the bag is open, the dissolved O2 levels rise along with the pH, rendering the NH3 toxic, which burns the fish's gill structures. Based on this, the newer thinking is to simply match temp and get the fish out of the shipping water ASAP before any NH3 poisoning can occur.
I suspect that the angel, being more sensitive to poor water quality than the jawfish took a hit to its gills, and the extreme pH mismatch finished the job.
Here's a link showing NH3 tests of shipping water vs. tankwater:
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/testkitpostive.jpg
We never drip acclimate a fish that has been bagged for more than an hour, and we've had excellent results.
HTH
 
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