Anemone Got Shredded, no RODI or Distilled Water.

[silent1mezzo]

Hey Guys,

 

Overnight my anemone got shredded (newbie mistake) and now my water is very cloudy. I've already done a 20% water change (2 gallons out of 10) which cleared it up a little. Unfortunately my tank is at work and my RODI system is at home. I also tried getting distilled water but it was sold out.

 

Should I use regular tap water or leave it until Monday?

[seabass]

Do you have an ammonia test and/or some Prime? How about fresh activated carbon?

 

I wouldn't use tap water for a water change. The store should have something better like RO drinking water. Sure they might be adding back some minerals for taste, but it's still better than tap. If there is a Petco nearby? They have natural seawater in a box (which can be handy). Plus, distilled water is sold in many stores, maybe someone else has it.

[silent1mezzo]

Unfortunately no fish stores near by (I bring everything in from home). All of the stores that would sell RO or distilled water are out. They're selling spring water but I don't know if that's any better.

 

Ammonia have definitely spiked (running the test now but I can already see that it's not 0).

Ammonia looks to be 0.2 or 0.3 :S

[seabass]

So do you have Prime to dechlorinate the water? If so, use it to detoxify the ammonia.

 

It's hard to imagine that Toronto doesn't have any water. The Prime and activated carbon might be enough. Make sure that you remove all the anemone flesh.

 

If you feel that you must do a water change, then just use dechlorinated tap. You can change out all the water on Monday.

[silent1mezzo]

Unfortunately I don't have Prime with me (at home) because I didn't think I'd need it. I'm going to be going home early, coming back with prime, 2 gallons of RO water and carbon.

 

Tomorrow I'm going to come back in and do another 30% change, should I use Prime again?

[atrox]

.

[silent1mezzo]

So I found distilled water. What % of water change should I do without stressing out fish/zoanthids?

 

I'm going to do a water change today with distilled, then come in tomorrow and do another one with RODI water and Prime.

[seabass]

I'd do as large of a water change as I could. Again, try to make sure that you remove any dead flesh. You should be able to safely add a second dose.

 

Directions for Prime:

Use 1 capful (5 mL) for each 200 L (50 gallons*) of new water. This removes approximately 1 mg/L ammonia, 4 mg/L chloramine, or 5 mg/L chlorine. For smaller doses, please note each cap thread is approx. 1 mL. May be added to aquarium directly, but better if added to new water first. If adding directly to aquarium, base dose on aquarium volume. Sulfur odor is normal. For exceptionally high chloramine concentrations, a double dose may be used safely. To detoxify nitrite in an emergency, up to 5 times normal dose may be used. If temperature is > 30 °C (86 °F) and chlorine or ammonia levels are low, use a half dose.

[Veng]

If you've had a catastrophe, then I'd look at 100% water change. You just need to be careful to match salinity and temperature. It's far less stressful to the inhabitants to remove the all toxins than to just remove some of the toxins. My regular water change is a 75% change, and I have on several occasions done 100%.

[silent1mezzo]

So update. So far I've swapped out 65% (on two water changes, 2.5g and 4gallon).

 

Parameters are now:

Ammonia: 0.1

Nitrite: 0.05 (not nothing, but very little)

Nitrates: ~30ppm

 

I'm going to do another 3 gallons before I leave today and then do another 60% with Prime on Sunday. Thoughts?

[seabass]

Good luck, let us know how it comes out.