QT killing fish?

[lee1]

I am using a QT for new fish and I am not having much success. I can't get them to survive long enough to make it to my DT. I cycled the tank several months ago, but yet the fish don't seem to last long. Here are the #'s for this tank:
Ammonia =0
Nitrites =0
Nitrates =10
PH=8.4
SG =1.025
I put a Royal gramma and a yellow watchman goby in the tank and the RG died in 4 days. The goby died this morning, 10 days later. Yesterday, I added a Coral Beauty and a clown fish (Ocellaris). Both are OK today, but my question is should I moved them directly to my DT and abandon the QT?
It's really frustrating and I fear checking the tank every morning to see is my fish survived the night.
Any help would be appreciated!!

 

[lion_crazz]

It may not be so much an issue of the QT tank, but an issue of healthy fish. Have you gotten all the fish from the same place? Were they all eating before you got them?
I would not rush the quarantine period. This is an important period.
However, how do you have your QT set-up? Could it be that they are getting stressed in there from something? Do you have anything for them to hide in and feel comfortable?

 

[lee1]

Both fish that died were from the same place which is supposed to be a reputable LFS. I had them feed the fish before I bought them and they both did eat when I fed them at home.
I have a piece of PVC in the tank for them to hide, and the gramma used it for a day or so. The goby would hang out next to it or in the corner of the tank.
What's odd is that the goby was fine yesterday and was moving around the tank more so than normal and now this morning he was belly up. I just added the CB and the clown yesterday so could they have caused this? Coulde either have harassed him? (I didn't see either do so, but I am grasping for answers.)

 

[pezenfuego]

Originally Posted by Lee1
http:///forum/post/2996651
Both fish that died were from the same place which is supposed to be a reputable LFS. I had them feed the fish before I bought them and they both did eat when I fed them at home.
I have a piece of PVC in the tank for them to hide, and the gramma used it for a day or so. The goby would hang out next to it or in the corner of the tank.
What's odd is that the goby was fine yesterday and was moving around the tank more so than normal and now this morning he was belly up. I just added the CB and the clown yesterday so could they have caused this? Coulde either have harassed him? (I didn't see either do so, but I am grasping for answers.)
Every fish I've ever lost (mostly made losses in freshwater-young, nieve, no research), anyway every one I've ever lost seemed fine the day before. Dory pretty much sums it up. Just keep swimming. That's what they seem to do.
Doesn't seem like these guys would've harassed, but you never know

Good luck with the new guys, both are hardy and usually don't hide, so you should be seeing them to the DT if all goes according to plan.
Good Luck.

 

[lee1]

I hope your right, because it's very disheartening and being relatively new to saltwater fish, I just assume that I must have done something wrong to cause this.
Maybe if I am fortunate enough for these 2 to survive quarantine, I will try to get another goby and gramma. That is, if my wife doesn't kill me for spending so much money on fish that die within a week!!

 

[dive girl]

How are you acclimating them to the tank?
How big is the QT?
The whole bringing a new fish home and QT'ing it, is a lot of stress on the fish. Have you thought about just doing one fish at a time to minimize the stress?
I'm in no way an expert, just thinking out loud.

 

[pezenfuego]

In a regular tank I try to keep it at a minimum of 7 between the time when I get a fish to the time I add another.

 

[lee1]

Yeah, my wife was saying the same thing, that I should finish QT'ing these fish before adding anything else to the QT. If these 2 survive, then I will add only 1 fish to the QT and try it one fish at a time.
Also - I drip acclimated the fish to the QT and the goby lasted 10 days so I wouldn't think it was improper accilmation that did him in.

 

[teresaq]

What filteration do you have on your qt tank??

 

[lee1]

It's a Whisper power filter on a 15 gallon tank. Is that bad?

 

[eric b 125]

you definately dont want to add another fish to qt while you have fish in it that havent finished their qt. the reason for this is the whole reason we bother with a qt: when you put the new additions in the qt, they could bring in parasites that could affect the other fish that were already in the tank. the only time i see more than one fish in qt at the same time is: when you buy them at the same time from the same LFS that were in the same system as each other (and not more than 2 at a time), when putting the fish through hypo, or if there is some serious aggression in the DT and you need to remove a bully and already have a fish in qt.

 

[lee1]

I guess I learned the hard way. I'll do this one fish at a time after these 2.

 

[lee1]

As a follow up on this thread, I am convinced that there is something wrong with my QT. Now my Coral Beauty that has been on the QT for 12 days is on his last legs. For the past couple of days, he only stays inside the PVC tube and lies down on his side. He is breathing heavy and shows no signs of disease, but I am expecting him to die any day now.
The clown fish is fine, however.
The only thing I can point to us that maybe my PH is a little high. I use API and the color is a light purple which is not on the chart but seems to be between 8.4 and 8.8. Could this cause stress/ death after 12 days??
I have been doing samll water changes every other day to try to reduce the PH but it has not helped.
Does anyone have any other ideas or suggestions?

 

[gypsana]

I recently lost two fish in QT, but I had an ammonia spike and I think it triggered velvet or ich. They did the same thing as your Coral Beauty. Do you have any substrate in your QT and have you brought a sample of the water to a LFS to have the levels double checked? You might want to hypo so the clown even though it is ok right now. After you get all your fish out and you do not plan to hypo I would leave your QT fallow for 6 weeks so that if there is a parasite present it has time to die. As for the PH it is hard to know. You are doing the right thing with the water changes but I hate those darn test sometimes because the color is so different than the card and it is hard to know what your levels actually are. Good luck, I know this is frustrating.

 

[lee1]

If I leave the tank fallow, should I do a massive water change to get the PH back in line and would I also have to ghost feed it just to keep the bacteria from dying?
And yes it's very frustrating. I have only been able to have a couple of clown fish survive the QT and make it to my DT. My DT tank is over 5 months old and other than snails and a pistol shrimp, I only have 1 clown fish in it ( I had an accident that killed 1 clown fish). Nothing lasts long enough to make the transfer!!

 

[gypsana]

Originally Posted by Lee1
http:///forum/post/3007435
If I leave the tank fallow, should I do a massive water change to get the PH back in line and would I also have to ghost feed it just to keep the bacteria from dying?
And yes it's very frustrating. I have only been able to have a couple of clown fish survive the QT and make it to my DT. My DT tank is over 5 months old and other than snails and a pistol shrimp, I only have 1 clown fish in it ( I had an accident that killed 1 clown fish). Nothing lasts long enough to make the transfer!!
PersonallyI would just let it go and do a water with the same schedule you have for your DT, but someone else may have advice that differs.I have been ghost feeding my QT weekly with pellets to keep it cycled. I only do water changes once a month in my DT and it is doing great, I do not have a huge bio load though. I only have three fish in my DT and I was so stoked to finally get more, even though I am broke

, only to have them die. I did not QT my last additions and my DT did get ich. So even though it is frustrating, it is better than your whole system getting wiped out. I wish you luck, I am going to try again here in a few weeks only one fish this time and not an expensive one. Let me know how things go for you. Maybe we can both learn a thing or two about QT issues.

 

[lee1]

I was thinking of doing a 50% water change to see if it at least gets the PH straight and then wait it our like you said to make sure there is no disease.
By the way,the Coral Beauty died this morning - 14 days after I bought it. I checked the body and saw no sign of disease so I don't know what the cause of death was. He hung on for about a week and was fighting it the whole time and I felt bad that there was nothing that I could do except wait for it to die.
What is odd is that the 3 fish that died all came from the same LFS which is supposed to be reputable and certainly is not cheap. However, the clown fish that is in the QT and the clown fish that survived QT all came from *****! (I buy cheap fish and they live, but expensive fish and they die!!)

 

[sueandherzoo]

Just a random thought, but do you have enough flow on the surface of the QT tank to break the surface and help oxygenate the water? I too have lost fish "mysteriously" and I often wondered if the water in my "killer tank" wasn't providing enough oxygen. I added a skimmer to the biocube and so far (knock on wood) things are now living in there. I don't know if it's coincidence or if it's providing oxygen that the tank needed.
Sue

 

[lee1]

I have a small airstone just to stir things up a bit. Plus I use a HOB filter that splashes into the tank to break up the surface. I would think this would be sufficient for a small 15 gallon tank.

 

[gypsana]

The micro bubbles from an airstone can be deadly to a fish. I would get a small pump instead.