My First Quarantine Tank

[goldenmean]

Me tooo Scott!
Opus now comes right up to me when I feed. I am starting to see some personality in this fish.

I had to the cat a couple times last night to get here away from the QT.
This morning Mimsy was staring at the tank from about 10 feet away. I just grabbed the squirt gun and pointed it at her and she went on her way. She is a smart ol Lady so I think she is getting the message. Leave Opus alone!

[goldenmean]

Mimsy (cat) still interested but not obsessed and she has been behaving.
Opus has been in QT for 23 days

[lcstorc]

Opus is gorgeous. Does he back into his hidey spot? Mine do. They each have a home on either side of a large piece of LR.

[goldenmean]

Opus backed into his hole in LR at the LFS but he has not done that in the QT tank. He has not gone near the pvc pipes. His safe spot is in the front right corner of the tank.

Here is the other pic I thought I posted above.
Opus was ready for his close up

[BarbMazz]

He looks great! I asked for a picture in your 55 chronicle. Just ignore that.

[goldenmean]

Here is Opus in his safe spot.
To sleep or If the cat is staring at him he lies flat on the bottom of the tank in this corner.

[goldenmean]

I got a new macro lens for my camera so I had to show Opus off with it

[Dentoid]

"I'm ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille!" Beautiful!

[Woodstock]

Beautiful macro shot of Opus!
Gorgeous kitty too!

[goldenmean]

I am Heartbroken.
Sunday about 11:30am I check in on Opus and he is laying flat on the bottom of the tank as he does when he sleeps but he is not in his usual position. He is in the middle of the tank up by some pvc. He seems okay and I think nothing of it and go out for brunch.
I come home less than 3 hours later and Opus is Dead!
Hoping he wasnt gone yet I filled a container with water from the 55 and quickly moved his body to it. He is stiff. It is too late.

My first thought is that ammonia must have spiked which is why i wanted to get him to different SW. I run the seachem tests. The ammonia tests are small round yellow discs that that you place in sample water and they will turn green/blue/purple if ammonia is present.
NH3 - zero. twice. I alway run 2 NH3 test in case one of the disc is not working correctly. They are both zero. I am running the other four test right now. I also perform a salifert test and it does not change colors. I do not usually use the salifert test as it lowest range is just less than .5ppm

NO2 = .1
NO3 = between 2 and 5.
Temp is 77.5

I have never seen my ammonia above .05 and that was just in the first week Opus was in QT. My last trace on NH3 was on Feb 24.
My test result have not been changing much at all
triItes stay at .1
trAtes range from 2 - 10.
The first 2 weeks I was doing twice weekly 25% WC.
The last couple weeks I have been doing larger (~40%) WC every 5 - 6 days. I would Turkey Baster up left over food, if any, every day and I would clean up any detriutus every couple of days.

Opus was eating well.
Last night he had mysis shrimp but I was changing up his food giving him a variety including Spirulina flakes and prime reef flakes. He loved the meaty flakes.

I saw no signs of distress. He was not breathing hard nor do I see any markings on his body at all.

The other 4 seachem test have been in the sample water for a half hour and all are still at zero.

I was expecting that I had an ammonia spike as i had gotten lazy and was not testing every day as I had been the first couple of weeks but my tests do not indicate a problem.

I just dont know.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[BarbMazz]

Oh Jeff I am at a loss for words. I'm so sorry for your loss. I know you are heartbroken. Opus was a beautiful fish.


It is possible that it's nothing you have done. It's possible there was something going on before you even brought him home.

[Woodstock]

I am so sorry for your loss Don't get discouraged. Sometimes we loose fish for no apparent reason. It could have been the manner it was collected - cyanide.

What was the PH of the water? I notice with my QT the alkalinity gets low and so does the PH. Having a controller (RK2) with a PH monitor has been extrememly helpful in keeping the PH of my QT corrected. If mine gets below 8.0, I know to check the alk and add sodium carbonate as needed to keep 8-9 dKh and good water circulation. I have two airstones plus a HOT filter that aggitates the water's surface - these keep the gas exchange high and will blow out the co2 that all my fish create.

Sorry again for your loss

[goldenmean]

Thanks Barb!
Thanks again Doni.
I don't regularly test ph in any of my tanks as my salt does a great job at keeping my ph at 8.3.

I did just test PH of the QT.
elos test = 8.1
seachem test = 8.0.

It has been 6 days since the last QT WC. I was planning one this afternoon.

Alkalinity
elos test = 6 dkh
seachem test = 2.5 meg/L 2.5 meg/L x 2.8 = 6.25 kh

[goldenmean]

I was rereading the Randy Holmes-Farley article on reef chemistry for beginners.
My Ph is okay and dkh is on the low end of acceptable. yes??


Doni what do I need to do to get the QT ready for the next fish?
Couple of large WC.
clean pvc pipes and plastic plants.
I have a small power filter which I have not been using.
Should I set it up to help with CO2 exchange??
right now I am just using the corner box filter with air stone.

[Woodstock]

Originally Posted by goldenmean

I was rereading the Randy Holmes-Farley article on reef chemistry for beginners.
My Ph is okay and dkh is on the low end of acceptable. yes??


Doni what do I need to do to get the QT ready for the next fish?
Couple of large WC.
clean pvc pipes and plastic plants.
I have a small power filter which I have not been using.
Should I set it up to help with CO2 exchange??
right now I am just using the corner box filter with air stone.

Ya know, I've not gotten to that point yet. I am interested to see what Leebca has to say. Maybe dry it out and clean it well since we don't know what killed the blenny?