SeaFish Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 my gf has a 7.5 gallon reef tank at home that is maintained continously. she provides a 1.5 gallon water change weekly and has only 1 clown fish in there. the clown is only half an inch in length. the tank has been set up on january 3, 2003. it is light by a 24watt power compact lighting system with a 1 inch fan to keep the hood cool. the temperature of the tank is kept at a constant 80.0 degrees. the problem is yesterday she did a 1.5 gallon water change as usual and her fish and corals started to look real bad. corals stopped opening up and the fish start to swim abnormally and also started panting a lot. today she notice the condition got worse and did another 1.5 gallon water change. about an hour after the second water change, her fish died. the corals also looked worse than yesterday. ammonia level =0 nitrite/nitate= i forgot what she had told me but it was within the norm. calcium=420 alk=8.6 she uses instant ocean salt that is premixed a week in advance just so that the water is ph and salt balanced. all levels seem to be normal from what i can tell. my problem is what can be causing the sudden change in the health of her tank? water is ro/di water with the filter media changed regularly and in a timely fashion. AS of right now, life in her tank seem to be dying. what can be the cause? Link to comment
Dave ESPI Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 you need to airate the water BEFORE doing a wterchange. Overtime ..... (and this is why I HATE cheep salts) the buffers and ph drop off and the water gets sour. you need to check top off PH and a would reccomend not using water that is premixxed for more than 3 days sitting unless it was of good grade and PH / Alk/ temp/ O2 Ballanced in advance. HTH. Link to comment
SeaFish Posted April 2, 2003 Author Share Posted April 2, 2003 thanks dave for ur quick reply. but even then would it cause such a sudden death in a tank? i just contacted my gf and she had said her ricordia has just died also. could it be contaminated water ? she tested her tank and her water supply for copper and that came out zero. what do u think? Link to comment
taku Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 does she use the same container every week for the 1.5 gal water change? does the premixed saltwater sit in an open air container? tank stability seems fine but whatever went into the tank with yesterdays water change is probably the culprit since there were almost immediate changes in the coral and fish health. Maybe she washed the water changing container and there was soap residue which went into the tank (prolly not, just a thought), maybe she sprayed something into the air which made it's way into the pre-mixed water container before hand.. maybe she had something on her hands that got into the tank... Stability is the key and it seems she has/had that, so for rapid changes right after the water change something different happened to that water before or while it was being added I'd think... Link to comment
skeletor Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 yeah, something definately got in with that first, and maybe the next wc's, go get some water from a different source and do a large (50% ish) wc IMO. use a new container and don't use anything you already have until everything has been cleaned. good luck, this sucks. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted April 11, 2003 Share Posted April 11, 2003 ...and the fish start to swim abnormally and also started panting a lot. : immediately after wc? check the container and water source imo. first suspect should always be water source imo rather than depletion of anything. more likely an overdose, an extreme parameter, or poisoning of something. even in the ocean and real reefs, the first sign of trouble usually is from water issues (whether from a contaminant or extreme temperature swing or something similar). i don't think it's copper as the fish shouldn't have just bellyed up and died that quick without it registering on your cu test kit. i'm with taku, a detergent or bleach would be my guesses. Link to comment
Raise Posted April 13, 2003 Share Posted April 13, 2003 isnt that alk super high?? Isnt optimal level somewhere between 2.9 -3.9?? Link to comment
Satchmo Posted April 13, 2003 Share Posted April 13, 2003 Raise- you're measuring in meq/l and I would think SeaFish is measuring in dKH. Different measures, same thing. Depends on what test kit you use. Link to comment
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