A 55G link in the Golden Chain

[hma]

Just stopping by Jeff,

huuuuuh nice shots of the serpent star and Edwina of course !

[althea2you]

great pictures!!! i also have the 100 mm canon lens! LOVE it! just added pics form my nano in the chronicle... those pics were all taken with the 100mm...

[framerguy]

Freak man! I gasped when I saw Patsy, she looks exactly like a cat of ours that disappeard. We thought a coyote had gotten her, her name was Mary...take good care of her.

Stunning shots with the new lense. The clarity is amazing, it must have been expensive! Very nice indeed sir!

[goldenmean]

Thank you everyone for stopping by.
The cats are all appreciative of the attention but now the dog is feeling left out. Dharma wants here pic in this thread too.

Lynn I did not know that about calico cats. I have always known Patsy as a brindle. She has now white at all. Edwina's eyes are very intense.
btw Eddie and Patsy are sisters rescued as kittens from the streets of Chicago and they are named after the main character of the British TV show Absolutely Fabulous.

I am still amazed at the pics the new lens is taking. Yes Greg it was $$$. That is why Santa gave us the camera and the tax return fairy brought the lens.

Sarah I checked your pics out. Sweet lens!!

Opus has been in QT for 4 weeks now. Just 2 more to go and off to his new home in the DT.

[goldenmean]

It is a sad day at the 55g link of the golden chain.
I found Opus dead this afternoon in the QT.

From my First Quarantine Tank Thread:

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.

[Octoman]

Sorry to hear that Jeff! That really stinks and I know it is discouraging, but his memory will live on here at RS!!

[tbittner]

I'm sorry to heat about Opus. Very sad indeed! I've lost a couple fish in the past too and I know it's not a good feeling.

I agree with you, all your tests look great. I don't know if phosphates would affect fish or not, same with bad calcium levels. Might be something else to check. Also, what circulation did you have in the QT tank? Did you have a PH keeping the surface ruffled?

[goldenmean]

Thanks Mark!
There are a number of pics of Opus here and especially in the QT thread.

Terry I have a corner box filter with air stone that keeps the water aerated and the bubbles do the gas exchange at the surface as suggest by leebca in her QT sticky. I have a HOB power filter I think I may use also in the future

some other test result from the QT post mortem

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

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??

[Dentoid]

Jeff, I'm so sorry, Opus was doing so well! Sometimes, it's unexplainable why they parish. Is cyanide collection a possibility?

[goldenmean]

Thanks Scott.
cyanide collection is a possibility. I dont know where my LFS got him let alone how he was collected.

[hma]

I,m so sorry Jeff. My Midas (Max) is one of the jewels in my tank, I feel with you.

[plecosword]

Im so sorry about Opus!

[goldenmean]

Thanks Heinz & Plecosword.

It is discouraging
but I am going to get the QT ready for the next fish.
I have to try again.

[plecosword]

Im glad your not giving up! What do you think killied Opus? maybe you can prevent it from hapening agian.

[goldenmean]

I dont really know.
There is no ammonia.
PH and alk were okay so I dont think it was CO2 toxicity.
Opus had no outward signs of disease or distress that I saw.
He was eating well. breathing normally.
I just dont know what happened.