Possible stray voltage issue? Fish Stressed in AM

mrcoffee · Jun 7, 2012

I moved my second tank to my new home from my old house and placed this tank in the sump room. This is an old tank and the components are all older. I noticed in the AM that the fish all seemed rather stunned when I turned the lights on the first day. My fox face was extremely stressed and appeared very close to death barely swimming and bumping into things. The first thing I did in the AM was turn off the return to the sump and drain the return tube. I was concerned about stray voltage. After a few min he recovered and by the afternoon was back to his usual self. Then the next morning things looked pretty much the same. Day 2 no sump so no protine skimmer. The 3rd day I left a little LED on in the same room because it is completely BLACK in the sump room except the lights for the switches on the power strip. I clearly need to get the sump back up and running I was wondering if this could be a PH or Oxygen swing or stray voltage or possibly evaporation changed salinity significantly. I ran over the volt meter the same day that I moved this tank of course so I will check for that. I have a heater so this is not the issue. could it be a no light at all issue at night?

So here is my list in order of what I am going to check

Voltage issue
ATO = salinity issue
Issues with FUGE being way too old and did not get cleaned up enough but jostled around.
Could no light at all be an issue at night?
Clearly I need to counter light my sump to provide a balance in PH and Ox saturation.

What else should I check? Anyone?

Steven R · Jun 7, 2012

Your probably having a mini cycle. So Ammonia,Nitrites, I would check both them pronto. How long was the move? Did you keep the old sand? How deep is the sand? If you disturbed it in the move enough you have changed all the bacterial zones. I would test those two and if they are in the system make water and while you are waiting for your water to mix overnight add some prime to the tank to detoxify the ammonia, nitrites. Also if there is Ammonia in the system your PH will directly affect how toxic the Ammonia is the higher the PH the more toxic the Ammonia. Dont know if this will help but it might good luck. and tagging along

wysiwyg · Jun 7, 2012

first thing is get a meter and test for voltage asap. find a refractometer and check your salinity. no light for a few days wont hurt but over the long run its not a good idea. do you have any substrate in your fuge? if you do you might have released some ammonia into your dt get a test kit and test your water

Reef Breeders · Jun 7, 2012

Like said above, check for stray voltage, go over all of your params, and if nothing is out of the ordinary, see what the fish do.

mrcoffee · Jun 7, 2012

Sorry for being unclear. who has a tank that gets totally dark at night. Like NO light at all. that is kind of a side but it is in a totally closed in room in a basement so lights off = TOTAL darkness.

This was a bare bottom tank before the move(as the result of a move 9 months ago). I am thinking evaporation might have pushed the salinity up to 1.026 with my refractomters but no higher. While this makes for difficult breathing it is not so high that they should act in the manner that they were acting. They now are going from complete darkness to lots of light I was wondering if this was adding into this equation. The lenght of the move (short 2miles) the age and quanity of the LR (LOTS of rock that has been in the same tank for 8+ years covered in sponges coraline and other stuff etc. ) would not lead me to have an issue with Nitrates that would impact the fish to this level but primarialy in the AM right when the lights come on.
I am going to test the tank tonight as well as really clean out the fuge really well as this was LONG overdue. This am when I went in the fish did not seem quite as stressed I have lowered the salinity to 1.024 and will turn the sump back on and re-hook up the ATO. with moves and keeping two tanks and building out a third tank this has been tough to give this the energy that it needs and I don't want to change too many variables at once. I have 30G of new water mixed and ready for the sump job and partial change.

I have never had a tank in an area that go no indirect sunlight. I now have 2 tanks in two rooms that have no windows at all so the light stunning the fish etc is some thing I have not thought of before, but I am thinking of now. I will keep people posted. Thanks