HELP! Dead/dying inverts....strange happenings.

[OClownsandNanos]

It may not be the water at all. I just mentioned the thing about chloramines because if your city does use them if the chloramines get to your r/o membrane without being first reduced to ammonia, etc. it will seriously wear it down fast and those things are not cheap to replace. You should normally be able to count on using a r/o membrane for a few years. Given you've only been using the device for a week and your other tank is unaffected it's probably not the ro/di water. But it may save you some money down the road if you do have chloramines if you make sure you have two carbon prefilters or whatever airwaterice uses to treat them.

[jfarabaugh]

thanks for the link, i'll check airwaterice.com and see if I can get something here in a hurry.

 

What about this?

Digital TDS meter

 

 

That would work but I like to know what the TDS is going in and coming out. That is just me.

[ihatesears18]

That would work but I like to know what the TDS is going in and coming out. That is just me.

 

I hear ya. airwaterice.com (located in FL so shipping would be much faster) has the same unit you linked for the same price. I'm gonna pull the trigger in a minute. Even if the unit isn't the problem it will still be nice to know what in the heck is coming out of my faucet and what is coming out of the unit (especially when it comes time to replace the filters).

[jfarabaugh]

Try to think back.....have you done anything differet over the past few weeks? Maybe started dosing something new like vitamins?

[ihatesears18]

Try to think back.....have you done anything differet over the past few weeks? Maybe started dosing something new like vitamins?

 

I dose absolutely nothing. I do weekly water changes (3 gallons) and match temp and S/G perfectly. I use a hydrometer to test SG ( I know this isn't the most accurate way of testing salt water ) in the display and match the new water's density perfectly. I feed the fish mysis and pellets enriched with garlic every other day. I make sure my hands have not been washed with any anti-microbial soap within a few hours before I put my hands in the tank (which I rarely do). A few days ago I attached a frogspawn and duncan frag using aqua-mend and super glue gel (new bottle, but the same brand I've used without problems for a year). Yesterday I attached a zoa frag that had come loose to a rock using monofiliment fishing line that was in my garage. Nothing ever gets sprayed (chemical wise) in the garage so the line was clean.

 

By the way, I haven't said this yet but thank you so much for all of your responses and help everyone. I hope I get this thing figured out. I am dreading waking up tomorrow and checking to see if everything's ok. I swear, making new water with a 50gpd unit on the fly is a pain in the arse. I'm going to mix up 4 gallons, which will also take a while to dissolve the salt and come up to temp. This hobby really is a labor of love.

[jfarabaugh]

I dose absolutely nothing. I do weekly water changes (3 gallons) and match temp and S/G perfectly. I use a hydrometer to test SG ( I know this isn't the most accurate way of testing salt water ) in the display and match the new water's density perfectly. I feed the fish mysis and pellets enriched with garlic every other day. I make sure my hands have not been washed with any anti-microbial soap within a few hours before I put my hands in the tank (which I rarely do). A few days ago I attached a frogspawn and duncan frag using aqua-mend and super glue gel (new bottle, but the same brand I've used without problems for a year). Yesterday I attached a zoa frag that had come loose to a rock using monofiliment fishing line that was in my garage. Nothing ever gets sprayed (chemical wise) in the garage so the line was clean.

 

Could be somthing bacteria or a virus that came in on the frags. Your tank is sounding more and more like what happen to me. I added some new frags right before I started showing issues. This is all just a wild guess though as we have no way to test for these things.

[ihatesears18]

Could be somthing bacteria or a virus that came in on the frags. Your tank is sounding more and more like what happen to me. I added some new frags right before I started showing issues. This is all just a wild guess though as we have no way to test for these things.

 

The last frag that I put in the tank was the frogspawn, and I bought it from the same place as the cleaner and at the same time. The frag has been in my tank for two weeks with the cleaner. I just hope it was a freak coincidence and that everything else will be fine. I will be needing some new nass snails soon though, those things seriously munch on anything that the clowns miss. I'm still wondering if the shrimp died because of a molt, and because I didn't discover it for up to 12 hours let off some ammonia which stunned/injured the nass snails (they should have been all over the corpse if they were healthy). I've had the snails for quite a while now.

[Obi Juan kenobi]

What is your Mag at? I know that high mag will cause snails to be sluggish and not act right.

[ihatesears18]

I ordered the dual TDS meter, it should be here by the end of the week. I'm almost done making the water so now I get to spend the next few hours waiting for it to properly mix and come up to the right temp.

 

What is your Mag at? I know that high mag will cause snails to be sluggish and not act right.

 

I don't currently test for Magnesium, however I will add it to the ever growing list

[ihatesears18]

Dammit, now my xenia is looking funny after lights out. I just went up stairs to start mixing the new water and shined a flashlight into the tank. The xenia's flesh is sort of "pinched" near the head. I have never seen the xenia do this before, I'll try to snap a pic.

 

Edit: Xenia is fine, must be a lights out thing that I haven't noticed. I'm about to do a 4 gallon WC and go to bed. This is all so strange still, all other snails are completely fine and active after lights out....to be continued.

[ihatesears18]

Afternoon bump

 

I tested for Copper a few minutes ago and there is none in the system. I also picked up a half unit of Chemi-pure and dropped it in my AC70. Everything looks fine this morning and the nass snails have moved during the night so they must not be dead. My LFS was out of Mag test kits so I'll have to wait till thursday to pick one up.

[littlelacho]

Glad that the snails aren't dead and everything is looking fine My new tank only has some nass snails and hermits at the moment because I have just gotten through my cycle but I remember that anxiety with my old tank when something wasn't right and you had just lost something...glad it seems that everything is fine!

[ihatesears18]

I got my TDS meter in today, here are the results:

 

In-111

Out-0

 

Everything in the tank seems to be fine after a large water change and some Chemi Pure, hopefully it was just a fluke.

[ajmckay]

Hey, I'm surprised nobody asked what your S.G. is... Hydrometers (the needle type in particular need to be seasoned (in most cases) and calibrated against an accurate hydrometer. What is your S.G.?

 

Having it be too high or low can cause some stress.

 

Hopefully it is just a fluke.

 

Keep an eye on things though just in case. Xenia & Kenya tree soft corals are good early indicators that something might be off.