New Fish

[mcdonaldjosh7]

So I decided to try with Liveaquaria again. I tried once before and the fish all arrived dead (I am assuming the box was shook too much; I remember there being evidence of internal bleeding) and this left me hesitant. But regardless, I decided to order a male anthias and a foxface rabbitfish. I acclimated the fish in a bucket and added them to the tank. The foxface was losing the dark stress marks and the eyes were clearing up, and the anthias was sitting on a rock. I returned two hours later to checkup on the fish, and the anthias is nowhere to be found and the foxface looks awful. It is covered in dark markings, and the eyes are cloudy as hell.

Not quite sure what to do here...fish I add have always done fine in the past so I don't see it being something wrong with the acclimating process and I was there to greet the fish as they arrived...

thanks ahead of time.

 

[lsufiregal]

People are going to want to know how and for how long you acclimated them. In a bucket isn't really telling us anything. Fish that have already been through the stress of shipping need to be acclimated slowly. Since you say you used a bucket temp might be the issue, did you put a heater in the bucket? You should bring the shipping water up to tank temp slowly.

 

[kpiotrowski]

sorry to hear about your problem. I have good luck with Live Aquaria and I understand the owner, kevin, goes to some great extremes in QT and proccessing so I wouldn't give up on them. There is some good arguments about fish aclimation and that contrary to popular belief a quicker 15 to 30 minutes aclimation may be benifitial in cases where the fish is stressed from cold or high ammonia levels.

makes sure your lights are off, feed your fish if they are bothering the new ones (assuming you put them in with other as you stated you " added them to the tank), and give it some time.

good luck!

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

I acclimated them over the course of a period and a half

I don't have an extra heater, but the tank water from the bucket (see I floated the bags in the bucket of pure tank water) was being replenished over the period of time the acclimation was happening once or twice to make sure the temperature was not dropping too much.

Both fish are looking better, however. I will keep everyone updated.

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

Even when the foxface was looking awful, he started eating hair algae off a rock...I think him and I will get along just fine ;D

 

[kpiotrowski]

Glad to hear all is well. so, did you put those new arrivials in your DT tank, or a QT tank?