Help with chemistry!

[JurisHP]

Over the past 2 weeks, I have lost most of my fish. Gem Tang, Purple Tang, 2 Yellow Tangs, Sohal Tang, Tomato Clown, Wrasse, Powder Blue Tang and a Hippo Tang. When this first started happening, I thought it was Ice, but the fish didn't look like they had been infected with that. Their skin was kind of peeling off, and they looked "cloudy" if that makes sense. I tested my parameters, and was shocked to find that my Nitrates were off the charts high. I started doing major water changes....30 gallons/day for days...that seemed to have stopped (well, slowed) the deaths, but I am still losing fish...I am down to 2 fish left. I tested my Nitrate again today, and it is reading 75...maybe my tester (Hanna's new testing device), doesn't read above 75, so it may be even higher than that! I can't imagine why my Nitrates are so high and won't come down.l I use RO/DI water exclusively, dose NoPox (well, just started that a few days ago)....I had a MarinePure block in my sump which I removed...I just don't get it.

One wild card....I took my Ca Rx offline for 2 weeks, as my Ca/Alk was out of balance. Once I got it in balance, I fired it up again...but the water in the reactor was sitting there not being circulated for that 2 weeks....I didn't refill with new water before firing it back up. Just thought I'd mention this.

Any thoughts? I am of course devastated at the loss of life, but will keep on keeping on...I of course won't add any new fish until I solve this very perplexing issue.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[brandon429]

Not a chemistry issue, 99% chance your issue is fixed by the disease forum


re fallow the tank, never add non qt fish back in the future


same for hard scape and inverts, fallow prep those. reefcleaners hermits and snails non prepped have disease wiped several systems we can see in posts. If you add something wet from a different system that wasn’t prepped before adding to your tank, a vector occurs


reefcleaners cuc kits or frags added can cause these disease wipeouts.

 

[JurisHP]

Well that's interesting...,.I did just introduce a cleanup crew...but I acclimated as always...no water from the merchant (Salty Bottom) entered my tank.

 

[brandon429]

It’s the wet animals, their shells, wet coral frags from other systems and incomplete qt or fallow can all contribute as well. To not fallow wet additions into the tank is dangerous let me find an article from Jay real quick on sec

 

[brandon429]

Biosecurity

A short introduction to aquarium biosecurity

www.reef2reef.com

adding dry things from other tanks can’t bring in disease or break protocol

 

[JurisHP]

It’s the wet animals, their shells, wet coral frags from other systems and incomplete qt or fallow can all contribute as well. To not fallow wet additions into the tank is dangerous let me find an article from Jay real quick on sec

To not fallow wet additions? What do you mean?

 

[brandon429]

Per that article when we add snails they’re wet on the shells, slimy, and that constitutes a few drops of literal water from another tank getting into yours, they’re micro rule breaks, micro leaks for disease that ruin fallow approaches


in addition to items the cuc may have fed on that live in the gut of the snail and are excreted into the new tank, all possibilities that exclude some hitchhikers and provide direct risk of others.

so the only known way that rules out disease issue as best as possible is that once you fallow the tank like after the first ich challenge for example, nothing else is ever added back if it was not quarantined and observed, as in fish


no cuc or corals are added that didn't pass through a fallow system

 

[HuduVudu]

What is your PH?

That anoxic water in your CaRx is laden with nutrients and when you put it back into your aerobic tank the conversion to nitrate sucked a bunch of oxygen out of the water, that combined with the most assuredly saturated water from the CaRx created a over saturated CO2 water situation.

Needless to say your animals are suffering from too much CO2 and not enough O2.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Sorry for your lost @Jay Hemdal should be able to help identify your issue. Meanwhile could you post all your parameters and some pictures of your fish and thank?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Over the past 2 weeks, I have lost most of my fish. Gem Tang, Purple Tang, 2 Yellow Tangs, Sohal Tang, Tomato Clown, Wrasse, Powder Blue Tang and a Hippo Tang. When this first started happening, I thought it was Ice, but the fish didn't look like they had been infected with that. Their skin was kind of peeling off, and they looked "cloudy" if that makes sense. I tested my parameters, and was shocked to find that my Nitrates were off the charts high. I started doing major water changes....30 gallons/day for days...that seemed to have stopped (well, slowed) the deaths, but I am still losing fish...I am down to 2 fish left. I tested my Nitrate again today, and it is reading 75...maybe my tester (Hanna's new testing device), doesn't read above 75, so it may be even higher than that! I can't imagine why my Nitrates are so high and won't come down.l I use RO/DI water exclusively, dose NoPox (well, just started that a few days ago)....I had a MarinePure block in my sump which I removed...I just don't get it.

One wild card....I took my Ca Rx offline for 2 weeks, as my Ca/Alk was out of balance. Once I got it in balance, I fired it up again...but the water in the reactor was sitting there not being circulated for that 2 weeks....I didn't refill with new water before firing it back up. Just thought I'd mention this.

Any thoughts? I am of course devastated at the loss of life, but will keep on keeping on...I of course won't add any new fish until I solve this very perplexing issue.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks!

Sorry to hear.

Those nitrate levels are not going to cause acute harm to the fish.

Are there invertebrates in the tank? If so, are they fine? If they are, that almost always points to a disease issue with the fish.

The stale water from the Ca reactor could be an issue, but the invertebrates would show harm from that. Also, cause and effect being what they are, your fish would have been 100% fine until you turned it back and then then they would have crashed right away.

Jay

 

[HuduVudu]

One other point on this issue is the problem of gas exchange in many people's aquariums.

People are often unaware of this problem and when their stocking levels get high it doesn't take much to push the whole thing over the edge. The result is sad and predictable.

It is important to know what your CO2 levels are around the aquarium, and also that the aquarium is well vented to ensure water surfaces can achieve good gas exchange. CO2 is a real threat to your creature's health and too many are completely unaware of it or it's effects on their creatures.