I have a new fish. Now what?

[scubamedic]

I got a new Coral Beauty on 10/4/03. The fish has been in an established rubbermaid tank that I have for some extra live rock and live sand. The fish is doing great and is eating pellet food along with the usual angel picking.
I also keep a cycled QT up to do hypo in. All the fish in the main tank have been through hypo and came out ok. The problem is that I have not had much luck with hypo since then. The last fish was a latticed BF that was in the same live rock tank for 2 weeks and then went to the QT for hypo. A week later the BF was dead. All parameters were normal except nitrate was 10. It has pretty much been the same thing for the last couple of fish.
I have been successful with hypo before and as far as I can tell I am doing everything the same. I have read the sticky here several times just to make sure I have not missed anything. I use a refractometer as well.
I really like knowing all the fish in the main have been through hypo but I really, really don't want to kill this fish.
Should I go ahead and try hypo again or just keep the fish alone in the live rock tank for a month or two and then move to the main.
Thanks.

 

[beth]

The biggest problem I find with opaque, unlighted QTs is that you can not observe the fish for disease. I firmly believe that the QT process includes close observation. I personally use a magnifying glass daily to give my fish the once over while they are in QT.
How can you do this effectively in an unlighted rubbermaid?
What are you using to measure salinity?
Also, you really need to improve the diet of the fish. Just pellets is not nutritionally balanced.

 

[scubamedic]

How can you do this effectively in an unlighted rubbermaid?
It's not unlighted. It is lit by (4) 40 watt NO flourescents. The lights are going across the two tanks which are side by side.
I get to visualize the fish very easily. 160 watts of light and the fish will come up and look at me in the face when I turn off the pump. I don't use a magnifying glass though. So far no signs of anything other than a happy fish.
What are you using to measure salinity?
As stated above I use a refractometer.
Also, you really need to improve the diet of the fish. Just pellets is not nutritionally balanced.
I just used the pellets as an example that the fish is eating well.
I think Formula Two pellets are pretty complete but I also feed frozen Mega Marine Angel, frozen Emerald Entree and Seaweed Selects.
jwtrojan44, thanks for the kind and useful comments.