Yellow Clown Goby dying in QT

[AquaDan]

I picked up some new fish Friday afternoon and drip acclimated them for approximately 2 hours into a 30 gallon QT. They all started eating right away.

Unfortunately, I woke up this morning and found my clown goby lying on its side. I poked him gently and he started moving but is now back on his side and looks like he is not going to make it.

He's in QT with 2 small chalk bass, a flame angel, and a bi-clor angel, both approximately 2 1/2 inches in size. They all looked healthy in the store and started eating right away so not sure what to make of this.

Should I do a water change?

Should I treat the QT with anything? I have Methylene Blue, Prazipro, Paraguard, and Cupramine.

I'm pretty bummed about this. Hate losing a fish.

Here are params
Salinity: 1.025
Nitrate: 0-2PPM
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Temp: 79-80

 

[Sharkbait420]

Maybe put him in a critter keeper with something to hide in. Maybe he is getting picked on,

 

[AquaDan]

Maybe put him in a critter keeper with something to hide in. Maybe he is getting picked on,

Unfortunately he died this afternoon.

 

[albano]

I picked up some new fish Friday afternoon and drip acclimated them for approximately 2 hours into a 30 gallon QT.

Why would you drip them for 2 hours? With a QT tank you can adjust salinity to match shipping water and drip them for less than 30 minutes and be done!
IMO, a 2 hour drip can cause more problems than no drip at all.

 

[AquaDan]

Why would you drip them for 2 hours? With a QT tank you can adjust salinity to match shipping water and drip them for less than 30 minutes and be done!
IMO, a 2 hour drip can cause more problems than no drip at all.

I thought a long drip was beneficial...

Also, I was told that the goby was in a different system with a different salinity so I dripped him separately from the others.

 

[oh207]

What was the salinity of the LFS water? Most stores run a lower salinity for fish tanks. Although you drip for 2 hours it all depends. If you were going from 1.017 to 1.025 then that's a problem in 2 hrs. Also if you are going to drip for 2+ hours you need to account for temperature changes and keep a heater in the specimen container. Like the previous poster mentioned, it's always best to match your QT salinity with the LFS salinity. Remember it's easy on the life stock to drop the salinity, but very dangerous to raise it quickly.
Another thing is how long was your QT cycle for and how high was the ammonia. Adding that many fish to a QT that doesn't have sufficient bacteria to break down ammonia in a timely manner will quickly lead to problems.
I've had a yellow clown goby in QT along with 4 other fish for the past 5 weeks and he is doing quite well.
I think before you treat you should lower the salinity a bit. Especially if your are planning to use prazipro. It depletes the oxygen in the water. So the lower salinity will help fish to breathe without difficulty. You would also need to aerate the water more than normal. Either add a powerhead or an airpump.
I think next steps is to get everyone eating and then decide on your QT plan of action going forward.

 

[AquaDan]

What was the salinity of the LFS water? Most stores run a lower salinity for fish tanks. Although you drip for 2 hours it all depends. If you were going from 1.017 to 1.025 then that's a problem in 2 hrs. Also if you are going to drip for 2+ hours you need to account for temperature changes and keep a heater in the specimen container. Like the previous poster mentioned, it's always best to match your QT salinity with the LFS salinity. Remember it's easy on the life stock to drop the salinity, but very dangerous to raise it quickly.
Another thing is how long was your QT cycle for and how high was the ammonia. Adding that many fish to a QT that doesn't have sufficient bacteria to break down ammonia in a timely manner will quickly lead to problems.
I've had a yellow clown goby in QT along with 4 other fish for the past 5 weeks and he is doing quite well.
I think before you treat you should lower the salinity a bit. Especially if your are planning to use prazipro. It depletes the oxygen in the water. So the lower salinity will help fish to breathe without difficulty. You would also need to aerate the water more than normal. Either add a powerhead or an airpump.
I think next steps is to get everyone eating and then decide on your QT plan of action going forward.

Appreciate the feedback. Definitely a tough lesson learned. It never occurred to me to ask what the LFS salinity is, as I thought a long slow drip would be all that is needed. I guess I'm going to have to reevaluate my acclimation procedures.

My QT was up and running for two weeks before I added the fish and the parameters were fine. I'm using an Aquaclear 70 filter and a small power head. I also have one of those ammonia alert badges in the tank.

Its not the first time I've acclimated fish like this but its the first time I suffered a loss. I actually bought the 30 gallon because I thought it would be better for the fish during QT.

 

[albano]

It never occurred to me to ask what the LFS salinity is, as I thought a long slow drip would be all that is needed.

While it's a good idea to ask the LFS about their salinity, it's a great idea to check it yourself, when you get home...takes 5 seconds to check the water in the shipping bag...then adjust QT to match.
As for the 2 hour slow drip, I would never recommend dripping that long, even with a salinity change.