My first death....

richieexd

Member
Okay to start things off I will list my water parameters
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrates: 10
Salinity/Gravity: 30/1.024
Calcium: 350
Phosphates: 0.2
With that said, yesterday I bought 2 false Percula Clownfish to add to my QT tank (20g). (It has cycled for about 6 weeks). I drip acclimated them for 3hours and then added them to the tank with the lights out. I then observed them for about a hour before heading off to bed. They appeared to fine.. both "wiggling" together near a crevice in my rock. This morning I woke up to find the larger (not by much) of the two hovering 1cm or two above the CC breathing fairly hard. The smaller one was swimming at the top. No sign of mouth breathing..very active fish. I began to worry... All day through school my thoughts were on the larger one.. (named him Butter and the smaller one Peanut). After school I found Butter on my suckedpowerhead I do not understand what happened... I believe I acclimated them correctly.. during the purchase I asked them to feed the fish and I chose them accordingly to the most active ones. ( I chose the smaller one first then the larger..could have possibly lost my eye on the anticipated active one) Any thoughts on what could have happened? Could the larger one not have handled their skirmishes to determine the ---? (They were having small run ins after being placed into the QT tank) Or could I have just gotten unlucky and picked the fish that wasn't healthy? During my pick I noticed one fish that wasn't eating but I may have lost track when I told the guy I wanted Peanut and Butter could have been that one... I'm really upset... I did everything I possibly could of to prevent a death.. and so far so good..
Side Note: I have 1 Sally Light Foot Crab that is well fed (I spot feed him)
I also have 1 Baby Domino Damsel (3/4") and one 4 Stripped Damsel (3/4"). When I first started this hobby my LFS told me to cycle with damsels. I will never forgive them but I hope you guys can forgive me. After what I put them through the worst thing I could of done was give them away and put them in a crummy tank so I sought to provide them the best fitted tank they can live in which is why I didn't get rid of them. I know they become very aggressive when they mature but I kept a close eye on them and the 4 Stripe was actually swimming with the new Clownfish..was rather cute to watch. The domino damsel didn't even seem to notice them after a few peeks.
I'm currently in the process of speaking to the general manager of ***** (Not the same store that told me to cycle with Damsels) to try to get a refund or exchange on the fish. *wish me luck
 

vkuroczka

Member
I would advise you not to buy from *****...... they really don't know what they're doing.... and all they're fish have ich...... you need to find a LFS that is reputable.
 

jeffreyyy

Member
I think you may have answered your own question as to what happend. If you do a search on here on "*****" you'll find that no one has good luck with pet stores like them. If you can find a FISH store that you can buy from instead of the GIANT pet stores. If you don't have one you may have to drive to a larger city to find a store but in the end it'll be worth it to you and your tank. My store is about an hours drive one way even though I do have a store locally but like they say...support the good ones and stay away from the bad ones!!!
It sounds like you did everything correctly but sometime things like this happen even when you do everything right. Lets hope that your other one is okay. I too just bought a pair of the same fish and I'm lucky to say that everything is going fine so far.
Good luck with getting your money back,
Jeff
 

richieexd

Member
I know the reputation of ***** but the one which I go to I have not noticed any sick fish from my 3 month of venturing there. Every time I go there I speak to the guys there for quite a while..enough to convince me they know their stuff. I am aware of the bad reputation ***** gives off. I've been to several Petcos in NYC and I was horrified from every single one of their stores.. (5 Tangs in a 20g???????) The one which I go to is actually really nice. But yea.. I'm looking into smaller more reputable LFS since I also recently found out their LS go through some sort of a large ***** warehouse?? That can't be good for the fish...2 Shipments..
 

spnohio

Member
My two cents-- I have had very good luck with ***** in Morgantown , WV,,, and no luck with one of the LFS there. So, to say that all Petcos are bad would be a mistatment. The ***** in Motown also has some corals too. Could the LFS water parameters be so very different from mine? I have boughten like 4 or 5 fish from the LFS and in three days of keeping them they die. He also told me I could have a Flame angel in a 14 gallon, lol.
 

rtspeed

Member
i am going to say it probally was temp shock as you acclimated them quite long and the water was probally not the same temp as the qt's
 
K

kikithemermaid

Guest
Sorry for your loss....buying from ***** is a bad idea....I have visited over 20 of them across the country (I went on a road trip and brought my puppy) and saw dead fish galore, not to mention dead rats and gerbils and rabbits....they treat their animals horribly! I never buy from them.
 

richieexd

Member
Originally Posted by rtspeed
http:///forum/post/2586848
i am going to say it probally was temp shock as you acclimated them quite long and the water was probally not the same temp as the qt's
That is a really good thought... Should of realized that
. But wouldn't temp shock kill the fish relatively fast? Or would it happen over a 16 hour period.
 

nano reefer

Active Member
Originally Posted by rtspeed
http:///forum/post/2586848
i am going to say it probally was temp shock as you acclimated them quite long and the water was probally not the same temp as the qt's
wrong! think about it. The water is being dripped into the tank at, lets say 80 degrees F. So, unless it is 20 degrees in your house, then you shouldn't be worried. the temp would be the same. And if you live in Brooklyn like your profile says, it has been in the 60's the last couple days.
 

angler man

Member
Originally Posted by rtspeed
http:///forum/post/2586848
i am going to say it probally was temp shock as you acclimated them quite long and the water was probally not the same temp as the qt's
I concur with this post as I have also made the same mistake. I don't think three hours is too long, the key is keeping the water very close in temp. I have used a heating pad underneath the styrofoam to keep temps close over a long period of time. This is the way I acclimate sensitive inverts and so far I have a 100% success rate. We learn from mistakes so don't beat yourself up.
 

richieexd

Member
Originally Posted by Angler man
http:///forum/post/2587859
I concur with this post as I have also made the same mistake. I don't think three hours is too long, the key is keeping the water very close in temp. I have used a heating pad underneath the styrofoam to keep temps close over a long period of time. This is the way I acclimate sensitive inverts and so far I have a 100% success rate. We learn from mistakes so don't beat yourself up.

I will try not too :( But the first lost is always the hardest...
 

richieexd

Member
Originally Posted by Nano Reefer
http:///forum/post/2587857
wrong! think about it. The water is being dripped into the tank at, lets say 80 degrees F. So, unless it is 20 degrees in your house, then you shouldn't be worried. the temp would be the same. And if you live in Brooklyn like your profile says, it has been in the 60's the last couple days.
I think it was low 50s during night time. I did the acclimation around 7 Pm and was done around 10 Pm.
 
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