Help please!

terri_ann · Nov 16, 2014

A friend has a salinity reading of 1.010 in a system of 360-380 TWV. It has been this way for about a week after almost a 100% WC. His carpet nem is folded in 1/2, underside is almost grey in color(only a small part is blue) but appears to be alive. This nem is huge and is very old! His leathers are toast and all BTA's have died. Water is not cloudy and fish appear fine. How quickly does he bring the salinity up??? Should he do SW changes or just do a slurry of salt every so often into the sump? I am thinking of this as a hypo-salinity situation and should not raise the salinity more than .05 per day?

The biggest concern is to save the carpet nem! Any guidance on the nem is more than appreciated!! Thanks everyone!

Mike J. · Nov 16, 2014

That's a real bummer. My understanding is that you should only raise it .002 at a time. In this case I would raise it .002 every 12 hours. Let's see what Randy says, though. Animals can tolerate a reduction in salinity much better than a raise.

terri_ann · Nov 16, 2014

Yes, thanks! I hope Randy Is on...he's my main squeeze! LOL

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 16, 2014

It is a tricky situation. SG of 1.010 is bad, but raising it too fast is also bad. I'm not sure which is worse, however.

I might be reasonably agressive at first, then slow down in raising salinity.

Topping off with full strength salt water is adequately slow, but I might boost it faster up to 1.017 or so. Maybe in 2 days. That would require adding some salt directly to a sump as long as it will fully dissolve before getting to the display.

Otherwise, make some especially concentrated seawater (maybe 2x) and use it almost right away after mixing a few minutes.

peterthegamer · Nov 16, 2014

Well, If I was him, give the nem to someone else that has a stable tank to hold on to it, until he resolves his own issues.

terri_ann · Nov 17, 2014

Thank you Randy! I have passed your comments on to him. Although the situation appears grave to me, I am holding out hope for the Nem! It is/was absolutely gorgeous! The size of a basketball and healthy so there is a chance it will make it! Thanks again Dear!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 17, 2014

You're welcome.

I hope it survives.

FishGuyTy · Nov 17, 2014

I would not change out anymore water and instead, pull some water (5% to no more than 10% total volume) a day and raise that water up to 1.025 than return it to the tank. If almost a 100% WC has been done in the last few days-week, you don't want to run into a bacterial bloom by changing out too much. Next step is figuring out how it got to that point. Refractometer needs calibration? ATO continue to run? How has the salinity not been able to be raised after such large water cchanges?

terri_ann · Nov 18, 2014

Thank you Fishguy for your input:0) He did not calibrate his refractometer before the major water change ;9(

FishGuyTy · Nov 18, 2014

That will do it! At my work, we calibrate the refractometers a every Monday. It's one of those simple steps that is often over looked. I bet your friend checks it more regularly now. Good luck and happy Reefing!

terri_ann · Nov 18, 2014

That's a great way to remember to calibrate them! I calibrate before making new SW so that's weekly. Yes, not regularly calibrating those refracts can cause major problems!! I learned that lesson! lol

FishGuyTy · Nov 18, 2014

I think we all have...and now your friend has too, haha!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 18, 2014

My bigger problem is leaving the RO/DI running.

terri_ann · Nov 19, 2014

I do that all the time but thankfully it's not connected to my sump! Old age makes for a faulty memory! LOL My friend just installed a float thingie on it so no more overflows! Yay!!!

Just a quick update on his methodology for raising the salinity and, his nem. He has been raising the salinity .002 every 12 hours. The first 24 hours he got it to 1.015 which was a smidge higher than he wanted. The nem appeared a little better in color on its underside- blue and white instead of blue and grey. It wasn't in as tight of a 'ball'/closed up as it was. My last report last night was that it was looking worse:9( I'm praying for it!

Cory · Nov 19, 2014

If things are dying I'd add ammo lock diluted in ro water and put on a drip. If things are dying I'd raise it to natural seawater immediately. The death is from the low salinity, so then why not bring it up fast? Probavly a poor analogy but if we took out oxygen in a room with a human being down to 5% from 21% O2, and said " he looks purple", we would say ", let's only raise the O2 2% per day". No? I think we'd put the O2 to a full 21%.

terri_ann · Nov 19, 2014

As far as we know, the nem is not dead. There are also many large, old fish in the tank. With hyposalinity the danger comes from raisng the salinity too fast.:0)

terri_ann · Nov 21, 2014

Very sad news:0( The carpet nem has died:9( All corals have been lost. The bright side is that all fish are alive!! Thanks everyone for your help! I believe my friend will always check that his refractometer is calibrated from now on. Such a sad loss....