# BIG Problem. Need Help



## Justina (May 2, 2010)

I bought my first fish which was a clownfish. 3 hours after I got him into my tank he was dead. About 6 of my blue leg crabs where eating on him. WTH?!?!?!


:BIGweepy:


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## thatg33kgirl (Jun 20, 2010)

was your tank cycled and everything? Did you do tests on the tank? What is the salinity/PH/ammonia/etc? Did you put him in a quarantine tank?

I'm sorry you lost him tho- hopefully the place you got him from does returns... if there is any left. :/ As for the hermit crabs, perhaps they were just scavenging the remains.


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## cpl corndog (Jun 11, 2010)

Yes just as 33kgirl asked....how's your tank setup? Another thing you should always do is ask the fish store how long they have had the fish and ask them to show you it is eating by feeding it. If you want to buy a fish and it does not eat when they feed it, then that is a bad buy. For me if a store has not had the fish in their tanks for at least a week then i will not buy it, just because of the shock factor the fish go through.

sorry for your loss.:BIGweepy:


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

If your Clownfish died within 3 hours there are some serious issues at work. We really need you to provide a very detailed story of this situation. Exactly when did you set the tank up? What equipment and what size tank? Describe the process of selecting the fish, what type of Clownfish, what behavior the Clownfish displayed at the store, how you brought it home, how you acclimated, etc, etc. The more details the better. Be long winded if you want. Also, posting pictures of the tank setup would be very very helpful.

Also, I suggest you give this article a quick read:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...ssful-saltwater-selecting-healthy-fish-35145/


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## Justina (May 2, 2010)

Tank was set up on May the 18th. It is a 29g Bio-cube. I did not buy it new. It came with about 25lbs of live rock, two corals and two snails. All of which are still living and growing. When I bought the tank it had a massive amount of long hair green algae in it. It still has a little as I clean it very often trying to get rid of it. At the LFS the guy told me blue leg crabs would help with this problem. He said about one blue leg per gallon. Well, 29 seemed to be a lot so I bought 10 at first. This was about two weeks ago. When I bought the crab I noticed this little percula clown they had. Very very small clown. So I watched him at the store for about two weeks before buying him. He was great. Feed great, just played and swam around like any other healthy fish. I bought the fish yesterday with another 5 blue leg crabs. So now I have 14 blue legs, 2 snails, 2 corals, and at the time 1 clown. I put the clown in another tank with water from my tank for awhile. Several hours, should have been longer I'm sure, but that is what the guy at the LFS told me to do. He did fine in the other tank. Then I put him in my 29 gallon and watched him for about 30 minutes. He was doing just fine. Seemed kind of nervous about his new surrounding but that is expected. I went out for dinner and when I got home he was on the bottom with about 5-7 crabs picking at him. 

I've been testing the water since day 1. Yesterday's testing was:
Ph - 8.0
Ammonia - 0
Nitite - 0
Nitrate - Between 0 and 10
Alkalinity - 2.5
Salt level - 1.022
Temp - 77.2

The tank has a nice brown algae layer on the bottom now. When I set the tank up, I bought one piece of dry rock to watch it become live rock. I also has soem nice brown algae on it now. The corals that came with the rock are still living, as well as the snails that came with the tank, and the crabs, so I just can't see how my tank could have killed the little guy. I'm thinking I have too many crabs and they are huuuuungry. 

Thanks all for you help, much appreciated.


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## stp (Jun 23, 2010)

Justina said:


> The tank has a nice brown algae layer on the bottom now. When I set the tank up, I bought one piece of dry rock to watch it become live rock. I also has soem nice brown algae on it now. The corals that came with the rock are still living, as well as the snails that came with the tank, and the crabs, so I just can't see how my tank could have killed the little guy. I'm thinking I have too many crabs and they are huuuuungry.
> 
> Thanks all for you help, much appreciated.


Not sure if this input will even help at all, but I figured I'd tell you about an experience I had in the past with freshwater.. When I first started keeping an aquarium, I started with cichlids. Well, I had a feeling it was risky keeping a crayfish with them, but decided to give it a try anyway because I thought it would help keep the tank a little cleaner by cleaning up any excess food, etc. The cichlids had no problem steering clear of the crayfish, however, what I didn't know at the time is that cichlids rest on the substrate at night while they're sleeping, making them extremely easy prey for the crayfish which will most certainly accept live food if the opportunity presents itself


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## Inga (Jun 8, 2010)

I am sorry to hear about your little clownfish.


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

more then likely the fish died from improper acclimation and the crabs and snails ate the dead body. i suggest reading about drip acclimating and using a QT tank.


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

onefish2fish said:


> more then likely the fish died from improper acclimation and the crabs and snails ate the dead body. i suggest reading about drip acclimating and using a QT tank.


+1


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## stp (Jun 23, 2010)

onefish2fish said:


> more then likely the fish died from improper acclimation and the crabs and snails ate the dead body. i suggest reading about drip acclimating and using a QT tank.


Is there an article on here for that?


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

no i dont thin there are however please allow me to explain how i do it with corals, inverts, fish, what ever...

take a section of air line tubing long enough to reach a container located lower than the top of your tank (i use a bucket on the floor with a small tank set on top but thats just me)
cut the line in half and insert an adjustable air valve (the twist kind to restrict flow)
put new creature (still in there bag) in the empty vessel with bag open
place end of tube in main tank
start a siphon through air tube and adjust flow to about 1-2 drops per-second
place place the now dripping end into the bag with your new friend
and wait until water volume doubles
dump out half to three quarters of new volume into the vessel and continue to drip into the bag
repeat the doubling and dumping three times
then (this is where you must be careful) if the creature can tolerate air for a moment transfer to tank if not then place bag below water surface and release creature to place in the tank...

keep in mind this is how i do it after reading a ton on line and it appears to be effective and has been for me in the past... when using a QT i would use the same procedure by dripping off the DT and then adding the fish to the QT which i set up with water from the DT any how...


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## Justina (May 2, 2010)

Thanks for the help guys. I'm sure he died of improper acclimation now. 

Bearwithfish, Thanks for posting that. Very helpful!


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## stp (Jun 23, 2010)

bearwithfish said:


> no i dont thin there are however please allow me to explain how i do it with corals, inverts, fish, what ever...
> 
> take a section of air line tubing long enough to reach a container located lower than the top of your tank (i use a bucket on the floor with a small tank set on top but thats just me)
> cut the line in half and insert an adjustable air valve (the twist kind to restrict flow)
> ...


I'll have to give that a try when I get some fish in a few months. I like that it's an automated process..I'm all about automated processes lol


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

the only hard part i found is remembering its going on LOL i tend to get it set up then get busy so i could for get (well ok i have forgotten once!!) but thats why i use a little 5 gallon job to set up in that way if it over flows its not all over the floor...


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

i dont even use a valve, i tie the tubing into a knot and the tighter the knot the slower the drip. the valve is a better way though as you can finely adjust the flow rate, i also think theyre only a couple dollars anyways. 

some corals should be dipped first to help kill any pests that try to hitch a ride into your display. some may think thats alittle much but IMO/IME it SHOULD be done and not skipped, i find esp with zoanthids. zoa eating nutibranches, zoa spiders and other nasty things that could harm your entire zoanthid colonies in a display. i dont think i would worry to much about soft corals, but i would closely inspect the frag disk/plug they are on. iodine diluted with tank water seems to work well for zoathid dips however different products required different ratios. you give them a dunk and swirl them around.. leave them for about 2-5 minutes then swirl them around, shake them upside down and then into the tank they go. you'd be suprised at what nasties fall off. im pretty sure this isnt effective for zoa nutibranch eggs so close inspection should be observed and if you think its easy to spot a zoa nutibranch think again, they eat the zoas and turn the color of the ones they are eating. hope that helps some of you.


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## onefish2fish (Jul 22, 2008)

also, "floating the bag" for acclimation is prob worse then just releasing your fish into the tank. air exchange doesnt happen in the sealed bag. floating only matches temps, the salinity is prob. different, pH, even alk, cal, mag and so forth. this is why we drip and more fragile species will require a longer drip. i would also be sure not to mix the bag water with your tank water so i prevent this by netting the fish out after dripping it into my bucket. 
selecting a healthy fish to begin with, then QT it ( its not always possible to see if a fish has internal parasites ) it is very important to prevent the livestock in your display from catching diseases. keep in mind most fish are being caught wild in the ocean and only a few species are being bred in captivity. a QT also allows you to observe fishes behavior, health, eating habbits... some fish like the pod eaters wont do well at all in a QT and thats prob. one of the few exceptions. 
take care of your tanks, and they'll take care of you with hours of enjoyment.


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

onefish2fish said:


> i dont even use a valve, i tie the tubing into a knot and the tighter the knot the slower the drip. the valve is a better way though as you can finely adjust the flow rate, i also think theyre only a couple dollars anyways.
> 
> some corals should be dipped first to help kill any pests that try to hitch a ride into your display. some may think thats alittle much but IMO/IME it SHOULD be done and not skipped, i find esp with zoanthids. zoa eating nutibranches, zoa spiders and other nasty things that could harm your entire zoanthid colonies in a display. i dont think i would worry to much about soft corals, but i would closely inspect the frag disk/plug they are on. iodine diluted with tank water seems to work well for zoathid dips however different products required different ratios. you give them a dunk and swirl them around.. leave them for about 2-5 minutes then swirl them around, shake them upside down and then into the tank they go. you'd be suprised at what nasties fall off. im pretty sure this isnt effective for zoa nutibranch eggs so close inspection should be observed and if you think its easy to spot a zoa nutibranch think again, they eat the zoas and turn the color of the ones they are eating. hope that helps some of you.



thank you see i learn something new every day !!!!!!!!


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## stp (Jun 23, 2010)

onefish2fish said:


> also, "floating the bag" for acclimation is prob worse then just releasing your fish into the tank. air exchange doesnt happen in the sealed bag. floating only matches temps, the salinity is prob. different, pH, even alk, cal, mag and so forth. this is why we drip and more fragile species will require a longer drip. i would also be sure not to mix the bag water with your tank water so i prevent this by netting the fish out after dripping it into my bucket.
> selecting a healthy fish to begin with, then QT it ( its not always possible to see if a fish has internal parasites ) it is very important to prevent the livestock in your display from catching diseases. keep in mind most fish are being caught wild in the ocean and only a few species are being bred in captivity. a QT also allows you to observe fishes behavior, health, eating habbits... some fish like the pod eaters wont do well at all in a QT and thats prob. one of the few exceptions.
> take care of your tanks, and they'll take care of you with hours of enjoyment.


Don't different fish also require less or more acclimation time? How do you find out how long to acclimate a specific species?


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

1st i would say research the creature..
then i would say you can not really go wrong with a longer acclimation time
they are getting new water and taking it slow ensures adaptation i drip anything going into my tanks for a minumun of 90 minutes and if i know its a sensitive one (inverts for example) i go to 2-3 hours


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