HELP Serpent Sea Star BIG Hole :[

Jisko · Feb 19, 2016

The salinity is 1.30 which is really high I must of messed up doing the water change last night. I removed a gallon of water and added freshwater just now and every 15 minutes or so ill check the salinity till I can get it back down to 1.23 range.

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 19, 2016

Jisko said:
The salinity is 1.30 which is really high I must of messed up doing the water change last night. I removed a gallon of water and added freshwater just now and every 15 minutes or so ill check the salinity till I can get it back down to 1.23 range.

go slow. swings ar rough too. 1.26 is fine. refractometer or swing arm?
Tap water?

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 19, 2016

and dont sweat it. itll be ok. it mite take a lil time.

Davesgt · Feb 19, 2016

I would wait around a hour or so on the salinity dropping, try to do it as gradually as you can. I have actually in the past taken a few gallons of water out of my system and replaced it with fresh by dripping it back in throughout the day and had no ill effects at all. The reason you want to do it slow is it could hurt the starfish even more, because they are very sensitive to water fluctuations.

Jisko · Feb 19, 2016

I have gallons of distilled water in my dorm as I do buy it by the case. I use a swing arm so the reading might be a bit off. Alright I will do the salinity check every house. I decided to not go home today and stay and try to balance the salinity.

Davesgt · Feb 19, 2016

Sounds good. Ill give you a tip on how to keep that swing arm working good until you can get a refractometer. Every once in a while fill a bowl up with warm water and put about a half a cup of white distilled vinegar in there with the swing arm, and let it set for about 3o minutes. This will keep it clean and moving freely.

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 19, 2016

and buy a shrimp

Jisko · Feb 19, 2016

Alright, yeah the meter is always stuck it seems -.- such a pain

I have a peppermint shrimp

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 19, 2016

..... for starfish lunch time.

Davesgt · Feb 19, 2016

lol unless you want to feed the starfish the peppermint id run to the grocery store and get 1 raw shrimp and cut it up and see if the starfish will accept it

Jisko · Feb 19, 2016

Do you think I should go today or do you think it can wait till I can get the frozen food this weekend?

jamie callard · Feb 19, 2016

Jisko said:
The salinity is 1.30 which is really high I must of messed up doing the water change last night. I removed a gallon of water and added freshwater just now and every 15 minutes or so ill check the salinity till I can get it back down to 1.23 range.

I would not change it more then 0.01 to 0.02 on the silinity each day. Starfish are sensitive to changes and a second big change could be bad for it

jamie callard · Feb 19, 2016

Jisko said:
Do you think I should go today or do you think it can wait till I can get the frozen food this weekend?

Go to the grocery store and by some fresh clams or scallops my star fish loves both

Jisko · Feb 19, 2016

Secondly could the salinity be the reason my anemone isn't really opening up?

Jisko · Feb 19, 2016

Alright good thing I don't have class today I just hope this ice storm holds off for a bit so i can get to the store

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 19, 2016

Jisko said:
Secondly could the salinity be the reason my anemone isn't really opening up?

yep. or a combination.
I forgot about your weather. we dont have any.

if you have time post up what you have, tank, filter lights age etc. a FTS full tank shot will help.