HELP Emergency- Labored breathing, lost blue tang

[Nate Chalk]

I just came home to a mess. Blue tang (super healthy) found dead, Clown fish labored breathing, inverts fine, coral fine, and Tomini Tang fine but swimming into powerhead which is abnormal.

The only thing I changed schedule wise was the addition of Sea Klear phosphate remover dose which was 4 drops (not the first time ive used it) and i fed thawed frozen that I left in the fridge.

The symptoms are exhibiting Ammonia poisoning, but I've had the tank set up for 4 months. My tank is 180 gallons.

Any insight or ideas?

I am heating up a second tank now, I've done a 50% water change and added sea chem prime in case of ammonia ( i dont keep tests for ammonia )

salinity 1.026
temp 80
nitrate 4
phos .13 before i dosed this morning
alk 8.9

 

[Uzidaisies]

Oxygen deprivation by the sounds of it. The fish swim into the powerhead to try to pass more water through their gills.

 

[Tamberav]

While the initial sentence sounds like velvet...BUT

Then you mentioned dosing Lanthanum Chloride. Fish, especially tangs struggling to breath with this is not unheard of.

Do you dose into a fine filter sock or such?

​

 

[DrZoidburg]

I just came home to a mess. Blue tang (super healthy) found dead, Clown fish labored breathing, inverts fine, coral fine, and Tomini Tang fine but swimming into powerhead which is abnormal.

The only thing I changed schedule wise was the addition of Sea Klear phosphate remover dose which was 4 drops (not the first time ive used it) and i fed thawed frozen that I left in the fridge.

The symptoms are exhibiting Ammonia poisoning, but I've had the tank set up for 4 months. My tank is 180 gallons.

Any insight or ideas?

I am heating up a second tank now, I've done a 50% water change and added sea chem prime in case of ammonia ( i dont keep tests for ammonia )

salinity 1.026
temp 80
nitrate 4
phos .13 before i dosed this morning
alk 8.9

Possibility that it was lanthanum poisioning.

 

[Nate Chalk]

i did not dose into a fine filter sock. Hanging my head in shame.

 

[Tamberav]

i did not dose into a fine filter sock. Hanging my head in shame.

Probably worth a read so you can see the potential problems with fish...

How to avoid costly user errors on using Lanthanum Chloride.

This was an extremely painful experience and lesson for me. I don't really want to write about it because it's still so fresh on my mind, but I want people to l

reefs.com

 

[DrZoidburg]

More curious how much phosphate went down from .13. Insoluble lanthanum not very toxic at all. It would be too much soluble salt at once that could do it.

 

[Uzidaisies]

4 drops in 180 gallons though?

 

[Nate Chalk]

4 drops in 180 gallons though?

Thats what i used because i did a test last week using 2 drops to lower it by .05

 

[DrZoidburg]

Its really a matter of how fast its dosed. If that is the reason.

 

[Nate Chalk]

Its really a matter of how fast its dosed. If that is the reason.

I dosed 4 drops into the sump before i left for the day. Felt good about the 2 drop test from last week.

So now I've potentially killed 2 fish to lower phosphate...

Makes me want to give up :/

 

[Uzidaisies]

Thats what i used because i did a test last week using 2 drops to lower it by .05

I’m just saying, it’s hard for me to believe that four drops of anything in 180 gallons would kill anything. I mean, if it’s that toxic, how does anyone ever use it?

 

[Nate Chalk]

That's my thoughts exactly.

.15 phos 10/14
dosed 2 drops

.13 phos 10/16
dosed 4 drops

Dead fish 10/16

 

[DrZoidburg]

I don't know the concentration of this brand so I cant say for sure. 4 drops does seem very little though. Couldn't rule out ammonia it was not tested for. If for example that 4 drops knocked phosphate way below .13 this could indicate it was possible. Are you running any controllers that might have orp readings? That could rule out oxygen issues.

 

[Nate Chalk]

I don't know the concentration of this brand so I cant say for sure. 4 drops does seem very little though. Couldn't rule out ammonia it was not tested for. If for example that 4 drops knocked phosphate way below .13 this could indicate it was possible. Are you running any controllers that might have orp readings? That could rule out oxygen issues.

I am not :/

I am fairly middle of the road tech on the testing side with hannah checkers

 

[DrZoidburg]

Seems like common symptoms with either toxic compound. More so with tangs. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brightwell-phosphate-e-idea.842509/

 

[Nate Chalk]

Seems like common symptoms with either toxic compound. More so with tangs. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brightwell-phosphate-e-idea.842509/

So perhaps because I did not do a water change after the first dose, the ions remained and skewed the data before i dosed this morning.

 

[Tamberav]

I’m just saying, it’s hard for me to believe that four drops of anything in 180 gallons would kill anything. I mean, if it’s that toxic, how does anyone ever use it?

Well you are supposed to filter it out. So people dose into a small micron filter sock (5-10?) or such. The lower the PO4 the more toxic it is... since some of the La may not bind to PO4. A little goes a long way.

Tangs are high oxygen demanding fish guessing that is why they get hit the hardest. My guess is the fine particles get in their gills and suffocate them.

 

[Nate Chalk]

The clown is labored breathing but will swim, resting mostly, i hope the water change helps.

very bummed

 

[Nate Chalk]

Thanks to all. Wondering if there’s anything else i could do for the clown .