The short life of a royal gramma (pics)

[wscttwolfe]

10:30am - sweet UPS from LiveAquaria arrived on time!

10:45am - damn. Greenbanded goby is dead on arrival

11am - start drip acclimating royal gramma

(Coffee cup gives it a cave to de stress in)

1pm - introduce to tank. Lights off. Shoot - is that fin rot I see?

4pm - lights on again. Chillin. Damn. Definitely fin rot but I'm happy because I'm 80% sure it isn't ich, and I have great water. I even did a WC yesterday.

10pm - starfish food

At this point I'm incredibly frustrated. Why? This was a replacement order that liveaquaria sent to make up for last weeks' order.

What happened last week? Literally the exact same thing. Goby is DOA and royal gramma dies 2 days later after textbook acclimation and great water quality

Until last week I had *never* lost a fish after introduction. Very frustrated now but perhaps someone will notice a flaw in my procedure?

 

[sirrealism]

I would love to say you did something wrong but I dont see it. Question did the starfish get the last one? You know there are predator starfish and a new stressed out hiding fish is perfect target. I am not sure which brittle starfish is the one that does this but what happens is the become a predator when they get large and that one looks pretty big. Maybe on the next order but your starfish in the sump

 

[DaveK]

That looks like a green brittle star, and yes they are known to catch and eat juat about anything they can catch.

I would remove it from you display tank.

I don't see anything obviously wrong with your system. I don't even see any obvious fin rot, but that can be difficult to tell with out a lot of close up photos.

I would recommend a quarantine tank for new fish. It's a lot easier on the fish, since it doesn't have to compete with established fish.

How long are the fish spending in transit? This could be a big factor. They may have gotten chilled or over heated.

 

[DianaKay]

Sorry to read of your bad luck with getting healthy live shipments
With one fish being dead on arrival, I'd be thinking that temperature might be a factor as DaveK mentioned.
I've only had one fish shipped directly to me & it made me a nervous wreck until I got it acclimated & it looked healthy & happy the next day. That's why I like to buy fish local enough to drive them home myself, I think I get ever bit as stressed as the fish did.
I don't think you are doing anything incorrect. What are your options from liveaquaria now?

 

[wscttwolfe]

I would love to say you did something wrong but I dont see it. Question did the starfish get the last one? You know there are predator starfish and a new stressed out hiding fish is perfect target. I am not sure which brittle starfish is the one that does this but what happens is the become a predator when they get large and that one looks pretty big. Maybe on the next order but your starfish in the sump

It's definitely not a green serpent star, and I haven't lost any other fish, so I don't think its being predatory. Last time I found the first royal gramma in the corner with a bunch of hermits around it :/

The fish left California in the evening, and got to me place in DC around 10:30am, and they were in pretty big bags, within a large styrofoam cooler.

I'd by locally... but our local selection just isn't that great... the best place for frags just moved two hours away

 

[Oxylebius]

It's true, our local selection isn't that great. Over the last 5 years being in DC I've ordered half my fish from liveaquaria and only recently had issues. About a month ago I bought two wrasses, both took to the sand immediately (expected behavior) but only one emerged. They sent a second one to replace it and it also took to the sand and never emerged. I thought that perhaps it was an issue is with the fish (and still could be) but now I am wondering...

 

[wscttwolfe]

It's true, our local selection isn't that great. Over the last 5 years being in DC I've ordered half my fish from liveaquaria and only recently had issues. About a month ago I bought two wrasses, both took to the sand immediately (expected behavior) but only one emerged. They sent a second one to replace it and it also took to the sand and never emerged. I thought that perhaps it was an issue is with the fish (and still could be) but now I am wondering...

Amen.

Do you prefer congressional or tropical lagoon?

Congressional is farther away from me, but I kind of like the sketchy basement scene at tropical

 

[Oxylebius]

Both are okay. Bought from both at first and also at a store out in Annadale, which closed down several years ago. Now everything I buy is online.

 

[StirCrayzy]

Strange thing. I have also lost 2 royal grammas from LFS within days of arrival and they were put directly into QT after drip acclimate.
Both times the fish had been at the store for over a week and eating well there before I brought them home.
And both try were 4 weeks apart. I can't remember the last other fish I've lost in QT, It's been years though.
The second try at royal gramma I also bought and QTd a lawnmower blenny, and he made it through just fine.

Was yours through Divers Den, or just standard LA?
I suspect delayed shipping stress on new arrivals to distribut ors then out to LFS, before us final consumers.

I suspect the only way to eliminate that is having it go through DD, or a very trustworthy LFS that will hold it for a few weeks..

 

[wscttwolfe]

Strange thing. I have also lost 2 royal grammas from LFS within days of arrival and they were put directly into QT after drip acclimate.
Both times the fish had been at the store for over a week and eating well there before I brought them home.
And both try were 4 weeks apart. I can't remember the last other fish I've lost in QT, It's been years though.
The second try at royal gramma I also bought and QTd a lawnmower blenny, and he made it through just fine.

Was yours through Divers Den, or just standard LA?
I suspect delayed shipping stress on new arrivals to distribut ors then out to LFS, before us final consumers.

I suspect the only way to eliminate that is having it go through DD, or a very trustworthy LFS that will hold it for a few weeks..

This is very interesting. They are pretty hardy fish after all. I would not be surprised if there was a common distributor with supply chain problems resulting in unhealthy stressed fish being distributed across the country...

These fish were from the LA california facility. Thinking only DD in the future, but then again, LA is very good about refunding/credits during the 14 day guarantee.

 

[NanaReefer]

I just bought a Royal Gramma from A&M via our LFS. Tiny lil thing but the picture of health

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Sorry for your loss!