[swinginbeef]

I lost my first fish last night and I'm feeling down about it. I'm not feeling sad like "I just lost a loved pet" sad, more of a disappointment in myself for failing to keep it alive.

Water tests good, no big temp flux, no changes. I don't know what happened. Put both clowns (false percula) in about 3 weeks ago and all was good. They were swimming around playing and eating well. Then over the last couple days, both of them spent all of their time just hanging out in one corner of the tank and not eating like they had before. Then last night, one clow was still hanging out in the corner but the other one was swimming all around and freaking out. It would twitch and swim and then stop moving and start sinking, then twitch again and swim. After a while he was just lying on the sand bed breathing hard and twitch/swimming every once in a while. Then he quit swimming and eventually died completely.

The other one is still swimming around in that corner, but not just sitting there like this other one was for the past few days. It's almost as if this one who is still living was just keeping the dying fish company.

Anyways I guess my question is, can I run out this weekend and replace the fish who died or should I give it a week or two to make sure the other fish is really fine and that I don't have something crazy going on in the tank? The CUC, the polyps and the LTA in the tank all seem fine and normal. And the water tests are fine.

[glampka]

You're better off to wait. I'm guessing you don't have a QT tank.

[swinginbeef]

I don't. I guess I should get one huh?

I've already got an extra powerhead that I use for mixing water. Do I just need a small aquarium and a small HOB filter system? I could pull a piece of rock from my tank and put it in there too if needed.

[glampka]

That'll do. Put a piece of pvc pipe in there for the fish to hide in as well. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just a basic tank.

[swinginbeef]

are you suggesting the QT for the new fish or suggesting that I pull the remaining clown for a while?

[glampka]

New. At this point, since ithe clown is the only 1 in the tank I would leave it there & not add anything to the tank for a few weeks. If anything was introduced into the tank by the 2 fish, it's too late to do anything other than to let it run its' course.

[swinginbeef]

can fish 'sickness' such as this spread to inverts or corals, or is it usually just contained to fish?

I'll give an update on the remaining clown after I get back from lunch.

[Dustin1300]

From what I've learned thus far common fish diseases will just affect the fish and once there are not fish in your tank over a course of a few weeks all the disease will be gone because there are no fish for them to prey upon...

[swinginbeef]

the other clown still seems to be doign fine. He was hanging out in that same corner but was swimming around, like he has been, rather than resting on the bottom like the other fish had been.

I'll feed him tonight and see how it goes.

[jimw369]

Wait.

Its the best thing to do. Get a QT up and running and put your other fish in it if you see something on it and treat accordingly. I dony know what you have in your tank just make sure nothing picks on the other fish. Take this time to scout out another suitable fish for your tank. All fish are not equal at the LFS. Buy your new fish but leave him at the LFS until you are sure everything in your tank is a go. If your fish at the LFS is still looking great and eats well bring him home. Its up to you if you want to QT the new fish. Some people do some dont. Good luck! Keep us posted!

[120gallons]

Remember that until they are dead fish tend to look fine. It's the old survival of the fittest. If they looked bad when sick, they stand out and be eaten quicker. So many fish can look fine one minute and be dead the next. That's one of the many reasons to use quarantine. It allows you to closely watch the fish and ensure it's healthy, since often you can't tell just by looking.

[swinginbeef]

the second clown seems to be a few days behind the one that died the other day. Now he is doing quite a bit of actually resting on the bottom, so I'm almost certain that he'll freak out and then die in the next few days.

I'm going to get a small QT ready to go and start shopping fish. I'm hoping to have the main tank empty of fish for at least 3 weeks. I'll probably buy a couple new fish in another week or so and QT them for a couple weeks.

But if there are no other fish in the main tank for anything to spread to, is a QT really neccesary?? if I wait out whatever killed the first two for several weeks, wouldn't a QT be pointless?

[jimw369]

Did your fish die from something in your tank or did he die from something he already had? Thats one of the questions a QT can help answer for you. I have been lucky so far in my short SW career. Lost a couple critters and have managed to keep any out breaks under control.

It all depends where you want to take this hobby. Answer that question and you will figure out how serious with all the things people say you need to be doing

[swinginbeef]

The second clown is now dead. Either he didn't have the same freak out episode as the first one or I missed it.

I don't know if it was something in my tank that made them sick or if they might have come from the LFS with something. The only way to figure that out would be to throw another fish in there right now from a different store and see if it suffers the same fate, which would point to the tank.

Right now my plan is to wait 2-3 weeks, to let whatever plague run it's course and die out with no fish to prey on. Then I'll add another fish or two and see what happens.

If I'm adding fish to a tank that has no existing fish in it, should I QT anyways or would that be not nessesary since their aren't any fish that could catch something if the new fish is sick?

[Cela Vie]

[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Sorry to hear about your losses. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]I know you said your water parameters were okay. Have you tested the water again? I once had a clown die because my salinity was off. I now use a refractometer, which is a lot more accurate. Let us know.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]BTW, you definitely want to wait and QT now.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[swinginbeef]

I haven't rechecked now since the second has died.
Liveaquaria site says that their suggested SG is 1.020-1.025. That's a pretty broad range. I use the RedSea hydrometer that has the thermometer disc thing built in. When I started the tank, I kept the SG at 1.025 according to that hydrometer. After having the water tested by the fish store, they said my SG was high (1.027). I later discovered that some hydrometers are setup to be accurate at 60° and that the readings were off at higher temps. Since then, I've been keeping the tank at ~1.022-1.023 on my hydrometer, which I believe should be 1.025.

Did I kill the fish with salt inaccuracies?

[Cela Vie]

1.027 is not THAT high. I don't think your salt killed the fish. I'm just trying to help you find the reason. I would test the water with another meter (refrectometer if possible). I assume your salinity adjustment was not overnight?

[swinginbeef]

it was overnight BUT it was also a over a month ago at the end of my cycle period and before I added any life. My SG has been between 1.022 and 1.023 on my hydrometer since a week or so before I added anything.

Again, I ask the QT question. Do I need to QT the new fish even though there are no other fish in the tank to actually quarantine them from? Or could a 'store bought' problem also affect the inverts (long tentacle anemone, CUC) and colony polyps, which all seem to be doing fine?

[Cela Vie]

At this point, I think you should QT your new fish to let everything in your tank's water die-off as well as anything the new fish may be carrying. Like it was stated before, usually, problems affecting fish (such as an infection...ich, for example) do not affect the inverts.

[jimw369]

If you read some of these articles it will make it easier for you to decide either way.

Quarantine