I think I murdered my invertebrates.

garra671 · May 11, 2016

I think I may have killed every single invertebrate in my tank... Including my beautiful horseshoe crab... I've been dosing my tank lately. And I hadn't tested my tank parameters for the past 2 weeks; I looked in my cabinet stand this afternoon and noticed the alkalinity was near empty and the calcium was near full... I haven't had a chance to test my alkalinity as of yet but will high alkalinity kill corals and inverts? My fish are ok as of right now.

JPSika08 · May 11, 2016

I would recommend,

1. Test Alkalinity and Calcium levels
2. Do a 20 - 25% water change depending on the test's result.
3. Re test if Alk and Ca levels are on the norm.

Cory · May 11, 2016

Yes high alk can kill corals and fish. Probably above 20dkh.

garra671 · May 12, 2016

Cory said:
Yes high alk can kill corals and fish. Probably above 20dkh.

are my corals just kind of in hibernation/distress mode or are they for sure already dead?

tankstudy · May 12, 2016

garra671 said:
are my corals just kind of in hibernation/distress mode or are they for sure already dead?

It will depend on what type of corals you have.

Cory · May 12, 2016

garra671 said:
are my corals just kind of in hibernation/distress mode or are they for sure already dead?

If there is tissue loss, that doesnt mean they are dead. It means that spot is receeding for any reason unknown. Lack of, or too much.

Cory · May 12, 2016

In other words lack of food, calcium, magnesium, ph, light, alkalinity, maganese, iron, etcetera.

Or too much alkalinity, copper, calcium, magnesium, toxins, water flow, etcetera.

Your job is to find out what it is.

Id recommend a triton test.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 13, 2016

I don't see any reason to assume there is a critical problem, except likely boosting calcium.

garra671 · May 14, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I don't see any reason to assume there is a critical problem, except likely boosting calcium.

well all of my inverts died... so i think that classifies as a pretty big issue. but the other thing that has changed is the alkalinity i just wanted to confirm with everyone that high alkalinity could do this? and also could this also kill off ich? if you removed all inverts and fish and did a huge alk spike in your tank you could effectively kill off ich if this is so? without condeming your liverock and sand.

dwebb1031 · May 14, 2016

garra671 said:
well all of my inverts died... so i think that classifies as a pretty big issue. but the other thing that has changed is the alkalinity i just wanted to confirm with everyone that high alkalinity could do this? and also could this also kill off ich? if you removed all inverts and fish and did a huge alk spike in your tank you could effectively kill off ich if this is so? without condeming your liverock and sand.

If you remove all live stock from your tank the icy dies period. Ich cycle stops with out a host. But your fish will take the ich to whatever tank you put them in.

garra671 · May 14, 2016

dwebb1031 said:
If you remove all live stock from your tank the icy dies period. Ich cycle stops with out a host. But your fish will take the ich to whatever tank you put them in.

but i could nuke my entire tank with a alk spike (killing ich after i remove inverts and such) and treat the fish themselves with copper in a seperate tank no? that could be 5 months faster than a full on fallow tank; that takes 6 months.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 14, 2016

garra671 said:
well all of my inverts died... so i think that classifies as a pretty big issue. but the other thing that has changed is the alkalinity i just wanted to confirm with everyone that high alkalinity could do this? and also could this also kill off ich? if you removed all inverts and fish and did a huge alk spike in your tank you could effectively kill off ich if this is so? without condeming your liverock and sand.

How high are you talking about? Which inverts exactly? I'm still not convinced alk did this unless it is VERY high. And usually one sees precipitation before any problem is encountered.

Adding alk too fast may have spiked pH,and that may have been an issue.

garra671 · May 14, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
How high are you talking about? Which inverts exactly? I'm still not convinced alk did this unless it is VERY high. And usually one sees precipitation before any problem is encountered.

Adding alk too fast may have spiked pH,and that may have been an issue.

Horseshoe crab, snails, hermits, starfish,conch. All dead as far as I can tell. Nearly every coral has completely closed up since this happened. I know it's the alk my calc wasn't adding along side the alk and I dosed alk for nearly 2 weeks without my calc along side of it.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 14, 2016

garra671 said:
Horseshoe crab, snails, hermits, starfish,conch. All dead as far as I can tell. Nearly every coral has completely closed up since this happened. I know it's the alk my calc wasn't adding along side the alk and I dosed alk for nearly 2 weeks without my calc along side of it.

If you can get a measurement, that would help understand if it is alk or not. Lots and lots of people overdose alkalinity without having such loses.