Snorkeler's Cube

June 25th was a very sad Saturday... I went with my kid to LFS2 to buy a plastic decoration for our QT, something that gave my exiled six-line wrasse better hiding options than the white PVC tubes I had in the QT. My kid chose a cute treasure chest with octopus, with several holes in some vases an in the chest. Would be perfect, good looking and great for hiding in.



But when we got home Mr. Six was dead, lying on the QT floor... ... wow, man, what an impact.... I was sure Mr Six was alive when we left a few hours before to run errands because I fed him... I was sad, my kid was very sad, he even cried a little (4 yrs) and spent the next two weeks occasionally talking about it.

Looking back I'm pretty sure he died because of my bad husbandry... what a tough lesson to learn.

The QT is small and ill equipped... and I guess that is the source of my mistakes. Acting as if Mr.Six was in my DT when in reality he was in a poor hypercritical nano...

In the first week he was in there the QT was experiencing temperature swings of several degrees C throughout the day (it was the first very cold late autumn week here). So I added a heater. I then did a 25% water change with water that wasn't warm enough, very stupid procedure, although I did add water slowly to the heater area, and the heater was always on while I did it. Mr. Six was already "sleeping" inside the brown PVC connector, but he probably felt the temperature swing as the WC was done.

On the third week, the one before he died, I added drops of Phytoplankton and Reef Plus for the corals in there. Probably added too much, possibly causing bacterial blooms consuming Oxygen?

The day before he died he did seem strange, seemed to be opening his mouth more than usual. I didn't think much of it when I saw it, but, I guess that was a sign he was trying to breathe harder...

The QT doesn't have a skimmer, which means there isn't strong Oxygenation in it like a skimmered tank has with all those bubbles. I don't have an ORP test, so I couldn't determine if the water was low in Oxygen...

I tested the water for Ammonia or Nitrates, and they were both low (zero and 5ppm).

I should have taken him back to my LFS1 when I caught him.... he would probably be alive and relocated to another person's tank now.