Unexplained fish death

[mr_convitbau]

I just purchased a new discus this afternoon. After letting the bag float on the tank water for 30 mins with the bag closed, I opened it, dumped the bag water, and let the fish out into the tank.

The fish immediately reacted in a very weird manner. He swam in the very strange way and wanted to jump out of the tank. He then became weaker and weaker. After about 10 mins, he stopped breathing and died.

I have no idea what happened to him since he was completely normal before interacting with the tank water.

This problem has never happened to my other discus when I introduced them to the tank.

Is there any idea on this matter so that I will be able to avoid it in the future?

[Eddie]

Not too sure but the method of acclimation should have been a long and slow process, such as a drip method. Floating the bag and dropping the fish in is generally done with fish that have spent a long time in the bag in transit/shipping.

Eddie

[Chad Hughes]

I'm going to assume that this fish wasn't shipped. That being said, did you talk to the dealer about the water parameters of his tanks compared to yours? The on ly thing that will kill a discus as fast as yours is severe osmotic shock or poison.

What is the TDS of your tank compared to the dealer? Are there other fish in your tank? If there are other fish and they are fine, you can rule out the poisoning issue. I'd bet that your TDS is much lower than that of the dealer.

Let us know what the situation is!

Best wishes!

[ifixoldhouses]

Looks like all you did was aclimate your fish to the water temp in your tank, I usually float the bag about 15 minutes, then add 1 cup of tank water to the bag every 5 to10 minutes,after 30 minutes I dump the bag and fish and all into a bucket and net the fish out of the bucket and place in the tank. He probally died of ph shock or somthing to that effect.

[mmorris]

Did you put him in a tank on his own? If so, did you check the temperature in the tank when you put him in? Did you add something to get out the chlorine? Sorry to hear. It must have been disturbing.

[mr_convitbau]

There are other fish in the tank, so the possibility of osmotic shock of poison can be ruled out.

The tank is, of course, treated with Amquel+ and Nova+ for every WC to remove any chlorine and chloramine.

In terms of acclimation process, I remember I read somewhere in the forum saying that the dripping method or adding cups of water to the floating bag should be avoided since the opening of the bag can cause a sudden rise in pH. I can be misunderstanding something, so please correct me if I am wrong.

One question is when we should use (assuming initially, there is always about 30 mins of floating for temp adjustment):
1) dripping method
2) adding cups of water to the floating bag
3) net and flop the fish without adding any tank water

[Chad Hughes]

There are other fish in the tank, so the possibility of osmotic shock of poison can be ruled out.

The tank is, of course, treated with Amquel+ and Nova+ for every WC to remove any chlorine and chloramine.

In terms of acclimation process, I remember I read somewhere in the forum saying that the dripping method or adding cups of water to the floating bag should be avoided since the opening of the bag can cause a sudden rise in pH. I can be misunderstanding something, so please correct me if I am wrong.

One question is when we should use (assuming initially, there is always about 30 mins of floating for temp adjustment):
1) dripping method
2) adding cups of water to the floating bag
3) net and flop the fish without adding any tank water


Poison can be ruled out. Your other fish are fine. Osmotic shock cannot be ruled out. Osmotic shock occurs when you introduce a new fish in to an environment that is significantly different in water parameters that what is is currently in.

I asked about the TDS between your water and the breeder. Do you know what the two readings are and if so, what are they?

Another question that really hasn't been answered is if the fish were shipped to you or did you pick them up locally. Local pickups can be acclimated over several hours using drip methods. Shipped fish should generally be dropped in to the tank, assuming that YOUR water parameters are close to that of the breeder/shipper.

Can you give us a clearer picture? Thanks!

Best wishes!

[Eddie]

In terms of acclimation process, I remember I read somewhere in the forum saying that the dripping method or adding cups of water to the floating bag should be avoided since the opening of the bag can cause a sudden rise in pH. I can be misunderstanding something, so please correct me if I am wrong.

One question is when we should use (assuming initially, there is always about 30 mins of floating for temp adjustment):
1) dripping method
2) adding cups of water to the floating bag
3) net and flop the fish without adding any tank water

Short trips like from a local breeder or fish store, float and drip or slow acclimate

Long trip, fish in bags for extended amount of time such as being shipped, float to get temp close and drop the fish in tank.

Eddie

[mr_convitbau]

The fish was purchased at a LFS.

1) I know what TDS stands for but do not know how to measure it. Can you show me how?

2) Why is drip or slow acclamation method used for short trip? And drop fish for long trip?

3) Is dropping fish from long trip not causing them to encounter osmotic shock?

4) When does opening the bag cause a sudden rise in pH?

[Eddie]

Take a look at this thread, there are alot of explanations. ;)

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=70959&highlight=acclimation

Eddie