Fish Ill directly after small alc dose

[brahma04]

I added two Juvenile Darwin clowns yesterday after a water change (2 hours prior). I forgot to add my normal dose of reef carbonate so I added it right after the lights came on today.(normally I add around 8:00pm) The two Darwin are swimming right in an area the outflow hits and I think they got a direct hit from said dose. Now very soon after, the slightly larger one is bottom surfing but will get back up swim then goes back to sitting on bottom. What's going on??

 

Parameters and info:

IM fusion 10g

pH 8.0

Ammonia 0

Rite 0

Rate 0-5

dKH 7.5

(Didn't measure calcium, should I?)

 

They have been in a higher flow corner for the past 24h for some reason, I'm tired just looking at them, I turned extra flow off but I do have coral to keep in mind.

 

Thanks for the help as always!

[jimmyree]

Clowns will often stress out and die even in a perfect environment, the dosing direct hit may have added a little stress as it ends up being a cloud of super high PH until it dilutes in the tank. I have read articles of people burning corals by letting big doses of Alk hit them directly, so it cant be great for them. That aside, what you are seeing isn't all that uncommon in juvenile clowns. Don't think there is much you can do other than try and make the tank the least amount stressful for them as possible for the first day or two, low flow, lights dimmed or out, and some feeding variety to try and get them to eat.

[jbb]

How much was this "small dose" ?

[brahma04]

The problem lasted a few hours(4-5). The troubled clown is looking MUCH better, they are swimming fin in fin again and looks to have pulled through. I have yet to see a fish so Ill looking come back around. I also added a little barrier to give them a break on the water current which looks like they love as they are always in that area now so they can calmly acclimate to new environment.

"Small dose" = 1-2ml (mixed with RODI to fill syringe) for a 10g tank every other day (same with calcium) in the back chamber to get diluted and pulled into the pump and further dilute. Dkh is at 7.5 so i am trying to raise it slowly to around dkh 10.

 

My LFS changed the SW they carry from having a tank of Coral Pro to just carrying instant ocean so i am getting used to this dosing bit. I try and add it slowly with a non tipped syringe letting it drip out into the water, takes about 3-5 minutes to leak out. I do the same with calcium. any suggestions? Thanks for the replies-

[jimmyree]

The problem lasted a few hours(4-5). The troubled clown is looking MUCH better, they are swimming fin in fin again and looks to have pulled through. I have yet to see a fish so Ill looking come back around. I also added a little barrier to give them a break on the water current which looks like they love as they are always in that area now so they can calmly acclimate to new environment.

 

"Small dose" = 1-2ml (mixed with RODI to fill syringe) for a 10g tank every other day (same with calcium) in the back chamber to get diluted and pulled into the pump and further dilute. Dkh is at 7.5 so i am trying to raise it slowly to around dkh 10.

 

My LFS changed the SW they carry from having a tank of Coral Pro to just carrying instant ocean so i am getting used to this dosing bit. I try and add it slowly with a non tipped syringe letting it drip out into the water, takes about 3-5 minutes to leak out. I do the same with calcium. any suggestions? Thanks for the replies-

That small of an amount input that slowly most likely wouldn't harm them, I just think they were overstressed from transport and acclimation. My two clowns behaved the same when I added them, one never pulled out of it and starved itself to death. If you google search "my clownfish died" you would be amazed at how common this seems to be, the problem seems to be amplified nowadays with unscrupulous breeders trying to crank them out as fast as possible due to high demand. Often times the juveniles are removed from breeding tanks too soon, shipped to your LFS and then into your tank within days which is just way too much stress for juvenile fish. To add to the problem the LFS usually doesn't watch them closely to see if they eat everyday and most often doesn't even know what they were eating before they got it. Glad your are doing better, hope they continue to do well.

[brahma04]

Should I keep going with regular dosing? Wait a few days? Fish almost became a floater moments after the dose, now I'm worried to dose even such a small amount but the tank needs it!

 

The LFS had a bunch of them for 3 weeks, they had about 8 left and i grabbed two, they all seemed to act healthy. they aren't too small either as i have seen some pretty small ones from time to time.

[Cencalfishguy56]

Should I keep going with regular dosing? Wait a few days? Fish almost became a floater moments after the dose, now I'm worried to dose even such a small amount but the tank needs it!

 

The LFS had a bunch of them for 3 weeks, they had about 8 left and i grabbed two, they all seemed to act healthy. they aren't too small either as i have seen some pretty small ones from time to time.

why does your tank "need it"? Your alk looks ok at 7.5

I would let things work themselves out before you dose again, maybe do a water change

[brahma04]

why does your tank "need it"? Your alk looks ok at 7.5

I would let things work themselves out before you dose again, maybe do a water change

So hold off dosing for 1-3 days, keep an eye on ALK/CAL and dose if and when it comes down to "these levels are getting too low"?

my ALK generally doesnt get above 7.5-8dkh, i dont want to push it. ALK was at 7.5dkh after a 15% WC and dosing reef carbonate. Within 1 weeks time i have noticed my calcium and ALK dropping below the levels i have understood to be low. So with Alkalinity/Calcium dosing if i understand correctly i need to keep alk between 7dkh-11dkh so i can dose calcium as my corals are consuming the available levels down to 380ppm(aiming at 420ppm) and dropping if i don't dose within a couple days.. Instant ocean is 400ppm calcium i believe and I'm trying to grow out my LPS or keep them healthy at the least. I have read about alk/cal it but i still trying to be very careful as i don't want to crash $100's of dollars.

 

Thanks for the fast replies everyone. You all are the best~

[jimmyree]

That small amount of Alk and Calcium dosing wont harm anything, its the rapid PH change that often comes with Alk dosing that can. That's why most people dose at the same time every day( usually spread out into several smaller doses), and dose Alk after lights out when PH is naturally on the decline. As your dosing goes up you are gonna wanna spread each individual dose into several smaller doses spread out over time as well.

[brahma04]

That small amount of Alk and Calcium dosing wont harm anything, its the rapid PH change that often comes with Alk dosing that can. That's why most people dose at the same time every day( usually spread out into several smaller doses), and dose Alk after lights out when PH is naturally on the decline. As your dosing goes up you are gonna wanna spread each individual dose into several smaller doses spread out over time as well.

If i dose twice a day is it going to be an issue if i dose early am before the lights come on and right as they are about to go out?

[jimmyree]

If i dose twice a day is it going to be an issue if i dose early am before the lights come on and right as they are about to go out?

It shouldn't but you should check your PH before and after dosing a few times just to make sure you are not causing a big spike. PH is usually at its highest for the day around lights out and maybe a little after. Corals feeding is what causes PH to go up (they use carbon dioxide from the water), at nighttime your corals start releasing carbon dioxide back into the water through respiration which lowers PH. Here's a really good article about PH and how alkalinity affects it: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/