Electrified water

Mike N · Sep 13, 2017

So I was doing maintenance yesterday when I noticed the water was slightly electrified. I narrowed it down to the Sicce voyager powerhead and replaced it.

Never experiencing anything like this, I immediately thought my fish were dead. Thankfully, I have seen both hi fin gobies since last night and they appear to be ok.

However, I havent seen their pistol shrimp buddy. Nor have I seen the daily fresh mounds of sand indicative of his presence. I'm getting worried that I might have lost my pistol shrimp.

Are inverts more vulnerable to electrified water than fish?

Brew12 · Sep 13, 2017

Mike N said:
So I was doing maintenance yesterday when I noticed the water was slightly electrified. I narrowed it down to the Sicce voyager powerhead and replaced it.

Never experiencing anything like this, I immediately thought my fish were dead. Thankfully, I have seen both hi fin gobies since last night and they appear to be ok.

However, I havent seen their pistol shrimp buddy. Nor have I seen the daily fresh mounds of sand indicative of his presence. I'm getting worried that I might have lost my pistol shrimp.

Are inverts more vulnerable to electrified water than fish?

The problem likely isn't the electricity itself. The issue is that if you have voltage in the water odds are you are also leaching copper from the wiring into the water. Inverts are definitely more sensitive to copper than fish.

You may want to run carbon or a polyfilter for awhile to pull any contaminants out of your water. I'm also a big fan of using a ground probe and GFCI to prevent something like this from happening.

Mike N · Sep 13, 2017

Brew12 said:
The problem likely isn't the electricity itself. The issue is that if you have voltage in the water odds are you are also leaching copper from the wiring into the water. Inverts are definitely more sensitive to copper than fish.

You may want to run carbon or a polyfilter for awhile to pull any contaminants out of your water. I'm also a big fan of using a ground probe and GFCI to prevent something like this from happening.

Thank you for the clarity.
Absolutely will be using GFCI after this. I will get polyfilter tomorrow.