New Fish dieing within a week

[Phantom Phish]

I just had one of a pair of Banggai Cardinalfish I recently purchased die. It only survived a total of 5 days in my tank.

I'm a little concerned, because that now makes 3 of 8 new fish that I have tried to add over the last three months, that have not survived a week. Obviously, I'm not happy with that ratio.

I can't find anything wrong with my system. My water tests out quite well. I just checked again, with following results (all Salifert test kits)....
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
phosphate 0
silicate 0.03 ppm
pH 8.17 - 8.24 (Pinpoint controller)
SG 1.024 (refractometer)
temp 79 - 80 F
calcium 430 ppm
alkalinity 11.6 dkH

This is in a 105 gallon display tank with 200lbs liverock and about 3 inch live sand bottom, that is admittedly still a relatively new tank, being set up about 9 months ago. The other two fish that I had die were a pair of yellow coris wrasses. One of those survived about 4 days, the other not quite a week. They were eating, and all of these fish were bought from reputible LFSs that specilaize in marine fish and corals.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is, what other peoples experience with adding new fish has been? What kind of loss rate have you been having in the first week of adding new fish? Am I doing something wrong? Admittedly, I haven't been quarentineing new fish before adding them to the tank, but I am careful about acclimating them properly over about 1.5 - 2 hours. In all cases,they seem to be happy and healthy the first day or two, but then die suddenly between days 4 and 7. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Casey]

Phantom whay are they dieing? is it from ich? any signs????

[Phantom Phish]

No signs of ick on any of them. One of the yellow coris wrasse looked like it might be developing a case of popeye right before it died. But I wasn't able to catch it to put it in a hospital tank before it "disappeared" the next morning. The other yellow coris seemed to be perfectly fine the night before, then the next morning it too was "gone". I never actually saw either of those two die, I assumed they died during the night and were disposed of by the clean up crew in my tank. The Banggai seemed to be fine yesterday, and ate some frozen mysis shrimp. This early morning, I checked on the tank at about 7:00 am, and noticed its coloration looked a little pale, but it otherwise seemed OK. About an hour latter, it was "resting" on its ventral fins on the bottom of the tank. A little latter it was laying on its side, and looked to have labored "breathing". I isolated it in a smaller container in my refugium, so nothing would pick on it, but even then I suspected it wasn't going to make it. Within about 2 hours it was dead. No visible signs of disease that I see. I never saw any signs of aggression from anyother fish in the tank (2 zebra bar gobies, and 2 ocellaris clowns, and now 1 Banggai cardinal). Best of my knowledge, I have no predators in the tank that would take a live fish.

So bottom line is I don't know why they died. I guess I can't rule out some type of internal parasite. Maybe just the stress of transportation? I believe they were all wild caught, so I guess I'd have to consider cyanide a possibiliity, But I watched the Banggais at the LFS for 5 days before I bought them, and it survived 5 days in my tank after that, and I thought cyanide was supposed effect fish within a few days of exposure. So i don't know.

[latazyo]

I thought cyanide was a few weeks and then they just slowly stop eating and fade away

[Casey]

sounds like cyanide to me especially with the color loss. I dont suspect your tank,I would try a different supplier mo

[Rick O]

Have you ever tested the water from the store where you're buying these fish? I know of at least two stores in the Atlanta area that keep their S.G. at 1.014. That would be enough of a difference to cause problems for the fish. Just a suggestion.

[Phantom Phish]

Thanks for the input guys.

I guess I'll have to do some more research on cyanide. The LFS that I bought the 2 yellow coris wrasses makes a point that she only orders fish that are not caught with cyanide, but I have no idea how reliable the wholesale suppliers are. Maybe we were both duped. The Banggai came from a different store, which is the same place I got the 2 zebra bar gobies from (who have done very well). But again, who knows about the wholesaler.

Rick, thats interesting about the SG. I've never tested the LFS water, but you can be sure I will next time.

[Spanky]

Originally posted by Phantom Phish
No signs of ick on any of them. One of the yellow coris wrasse looked like it might be developing a case of popeye right before it died. The other yellow coris seemed to be perfectly fine the night before, then the next morning it too was "gone". I never actually saw either of those two die, I assumed they died during the night and noticed its coloration looked a little pale, but it otherwise seemed OK. About an hour latter, it was "resting" on its ventral fins on the bottom of the tank. A little latter it was laying on its side, and looked to have labored "breathing".

I believe they were all wild caught, so I guess I'd have to consider cyanide a possibiliity, But I watched the Banggais at the LFS for 5 days before I bought them, and it survived 5 days in my tank after that,

Your time line and description fit a parasite. I would guess Brooklynella.

Do some searches for that and see if that sounds right.

[Casey]

With the disease Jerel mentioned you should look for rapid breathing and ragged fins been there done that