My new fish are in trouble! Help!

B

bigbert96

I purchased a percula clown and a green chromis on sunday to help my tank finish cycling. I drip acclimated them for about 35 minutes. When I released them into the tank, they immediately flipped out! All through the night, i thought that they both had ruptered their swim bladders as they were swimming erradically. Today, around 12:00 noon, i checked them again and they were swimming a little better, but hiding in the corner. Has anyone witnessed a fish "heal" from a busted swim bladder?
 
If you have a 10 gallon tank of so lying around, set it up as a Quarantine Tank and place the fish in there until you tank finishes cycling. Would be much better for them that way.
 
I hate to ask, but is there any ammonia in your tank at all? If so, and if you don't have another tank to move them into, I'd highly recommend you get some AmQuel or another ammonia "detoxifyier" to put in there to give them a fighting chance.
 
No, unfortunately i dont have a quarantine tank. There was traceable ammonia in my tests Monday. The 2 fish on Monday were having problems balancing, which is why i thought they had ruptured swim bladders. :cry: Today at lunch, they were still in the corner but seemed to be swimming much better than last night. There was still a little imbalance, but definately better than yesterday. I think I'll do a 25% water change tonight.
 
Where are you in North Dallas?

I have a 10 gallon here in Richardson that you can borrow if you want. Has light, HOB filter & heater. I'm in Richardson. PM if you are interested.

You may have trace amounts of ammonia now but you still may have the nitrite and nitrate to go through)

Cheers
Mike
 
Have you done any water tests at all? And did the people that sold you the fish know your tank had not cycled yet? I am surprised they did not die. And you do need to do some water changes. Where are you getting the saltwater?
 
I am using ro/di water. And yes, the lfs knew it was cycling. Thats why I told him i wanted a clown. (hardy fish) I have been doing water tests and the parameters are normal for a cycling tank. The ammonia is probably spiking as I speak right now. I will be home at 9pm and will finish the water change and retest water.
 
A quarantine tank will not help if you don't have cycled water to put the fish in. Your safest bet would be to take the fish back to the store and have them to hold them for you.
 
I feel like you are putting the cart before the horse here. The tank is very new (how long?), and already fish are being added that are not handling the transition into the tank instantly. Bad sign.

When you introduce a new fish in your tank, it should swim into the water without hesitation or issue.

During the acclimation procedure, water in the bag should match the tank in temp, salinity and pH. This is accomplished by adding tank water to the bag every 6 minutes, until the water volume in the bag is doubled.

Something isn't right here, and I'd like to encourage you to slow down. Your tank should have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10 or less nitrate before you add any fish.

You can cycle a new tank with some raw shrimp tossed in the tank to rot for a few days, then remove it and wait until the readings are safe for livestock.

You stated you wanted to get the clownfish because it was hardy and "to help the cycle." How were they going to help the tank cycle?
 
The fish are supposed to help cycling by producing wastes. So ive been told anyway. I drip acclimated the 2 fish before releasing into tank and the water parameters matched in temp, sal, ph. There was however ammonia present in my tank. As of this afternoon, both fish were swimming normally and eating too. :D I realize this doesn't mean thier "safe" yet, but its a good sign. On Friday I will be picking up a 10gallon quarantine tank from another member to hold my 2 guys until main tank stabilizes. There is 80lbs of cured rock in my tank and 75lbs of uncured rock. Hopefully this will help the tank cycle faster so I may get my 2 fishies back to thier new home.

Tank as of today:
PH 8.3
Sal. 1.022
Temp: 78
(Still some traces of ammonia, but lower than yesterday.)
 
@bigbert96 wrote:
The fish are supposed to help cycling by producing wastes. So ive been told anyway. said:
You have been told wrong.... :? Your tank will cycle on it's own without any livestock.
Click to expand...
 
Id rather not say which store to be honest with you. They are really good people and honest. There was a younger associate that helped me out in the store. Maybe he didn't realize what he was doing. This store has gone out of its way to help me out with my tank and generally guided in the right direction.
 
The amount of uncured liverock you had in the tank was more than enough to cylce the tank on its own. And it cycling in a small tank was more than enough to cause high ammonia and nitrites to easily kill off the fish. Sorry but not to get on you personally, but I would not deal with anybody that told you to put those fish in there under these circumstances. If they knew what you are telling us, the size tank, the amount of uncured rock, the young age of the system, they had to have known that the fish would be in major distress.
:evil:
 
You can listen to what some people at local fish stores say, some are very good people. But you have to learn to weigh what they say versus what you learn on your own. Learning as much as you can on your own you will quickly learn to know which people to listen to and which ones are just trying to sell another fish.
You will find most people in this hobby are very proud of the fact they have learned how to keep very beautifull and fragile livestock alive and thriving in a box of saltwater. And anytime most of us hear the frequent stories of some poor animal suffering needlessly, we cringe.
Our aim is not to make anyone truley interested in learning more about the hobby feel bad for making mistakes. We just wish for the benefit of the animals that we had some way of teaching more to people about the care of these animals before they walk into a local store.
 
One other thing.. If I were you, I'd go back to the LFS and educate them, in a nice way. They may mean well, and are only repeating what they've been told by those that they trust. There may not be a profit motive behind the advice you were given, just ignorance.

Now, if they tell the NEXT person the same thing, after you've straightened them out, then I would have a problem with them, no matter how nice they are :)
 
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