I feel defeated

[tnewell]

I recently had a BJD problem and pulled al my corals out to dip them as a precaution. I had my buddy bring me salt water( at least we thought it was) and I went from there. I didn’t check the water he gave me cause I thought, he knows if it’s salt. Well he didn’t and it cost me big time. I added almost a whole bucket of fresh water to my tank and my salinity plummited. I had to keep my corals in a bin for a long time with no heater or water movement until I could go buy salt. Now all euphyllia are bleached but hanging on to life, brain corals bleached all the way through, palys won’t open nor will zoa, Xenia pretty much disintegrated when I picked it up, almost all of my corals had a negative effect and my shrimp died as well. My params got wacky after adding such an amount of heavily salted water at once. I’m reaching out asking if I should pull all my corals and fish out and let my rock and water cycle for a month or so, or keep them in there and hope for the best with my wacky params. I don’t have a qt tank sadly.
ph-around 8.0may be lower
Salinity-now 32.4 ppt when it was 25.9 ppt but originally it was 30.2
Ammonia 0.25-0.50
Nitrate - 5.0
Nitrite - 0
I just feel defeated and all these corals had babies ready to frag soon and now there all dead. Anyone else have this dumb of a problem with their tank? If so what was your solution?

 

[SMSREEF]

I’m reaching out asking if I should pull all my corals and fish out and let my rock and water cycle for a month or so, or keep them in there and hope for the best with my wacky params. I don’t have a qt tank sadly.

So so sorry you are dealing with this. We all make mistakes and learn from them.

How quickly did you raise the salinity up? When did it get to 32.4?

If they are all already in the tank still, I would leave them there. One more major change to a new quarantine may be the final straw.

Bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrate should still be ok, but that test is concerning. Are you using Salifert by chance? If so, do you have a LFS that could test your water for you? Are any of your fish showing signs of distress?

I assume you were able to get the dead shrimp out right?

 

[DC Reefer]

Sorry to hear about that. I had a similar problem, but not as extreme, started a water change and forgot to turnoff the ATO. I brought mine back up with using saltwater to top off until my salinity was where I wanted it. I would try and get the corals and fish into a stable environment as soon as possible. Some LFS will hold your livestock for you in their tank (may charge $). I would try that until I got my tank stabilized again. Good luck

 

[ScottR]

Don’t give up! You’ll probably have some losses but just aim to get things back to the way they were before. Since you said your buddy brought over water, can you not make your own? It’s always good to have spare water on hand in cases like this. I aim to keep RODI 10% of my total water volume in a spare bucket for emergencies. Good Luck!!!

 

[tnewell]

So so sorry you are dealing with this. We all make mistakes and learn from them.

How quickly did you raise the salinity up? When did it get to 32.4?

If they are all already in the tank still, I would leave them there. One more major change to a new quarantine may be the final straw.

Bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrate should still be ok, but that test is concerning. Are you using Salifert by chance? If so, do you have a LFS that could test your water for you? Are any of your fish showing signs of distress?

I assume you were able to get the dead shrimp out right?

Yeah, i got the shrimp and I found my Xenia dead this morning. My one one head of neon splatter hammer actually has grown pink skin over the bleached parts already. The branching hammer is semi reaction to feeding, as I see it’s mouth in the middle of the hammer for about 20 minutes after feeding, but it’s still white. It does have some streaks of yellow/brown which could be new skin but I’m not sure. I actually got my water tested by my lfs, my api test kit was majorly off. My fish are fine, so are the rest of my corals besides my seduction zoas and Duncan’s not opening. It was dumb on my part to think a shrimp could take such a fluctuation in salinity. Raised it from 1.019 to 1.023 in one bucket full. All fish and corals are still in tank, I’ll send pictures.

 

[tnewell]

Don’t give up! You’ll probably have some losses but just aim to get things back to the way they were before. Since you said your buddy brought over water, can you not make your own? It’s always good to have spare water on hand in cases like this. I aim to keep RODI 10% of my total water volume in a spare bucket for emergencies. Good Luck!!!

I usually have buckets full, but I used them in a panic and didn’t have lfs opened around me until the morning.

 

[tnewell]

Sorry to hear about that. I had a similar problem, but not as extreme, started a water change and forgot to turnoff the ATO. I brought mine back up with using saltwater to top off until my salinity was where I wanted it. I would try and get the corals and fish into a stable environment as soon as possible. Some LFS will hold your livestock for you in their tank (may charge $). I would try that until I got my tank stabilized again. Good luck

I thought that too, but seems like overnight most have acclimated decently, I’m afraid if I move them again, it will kill them.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I'm so sorry that you're going through this, but you will bounce back! You got this!

 

[Flippers4pups]

We are pulling for you! Hang in there!

I wouldn't move anything. Just get it stable and give it time.

 

[SMSREEF]

Yeah, i got the shrimp and I found my Xenia dead this morning. My one one head of neon splatter hammer actually has grown pink skin over the bleached parts already. The branching hammer is semi reaction to feeding, as I see it’s mouth in the middle of the hammer for about 20 minutes after feeding, but it’s still white. It does have some streaks of yellow/brown which could be new skin but I’m not sure. I actually got my water tested by my lfs, my api test kit was majorly off. My fish are fine, so are the rest of my corals besides my seduction zoas and Duncan’s not opening. It was dumb on my part to think a shrimp could take such a fluctuation in salinity. Raised it from 1.019 to 1.023 in one bucket full. All fish and corals are still in tank, I’ll send pictures.

If LFS got 0 ammonia, I would leave everything where it is and do nothing.

Any more changes will likely only cause more problems.