Probably Just Dodged a Bullet

[Bentonb]

Hey guys, so I just took a water sample into my lfs and everything came out perfect, then I asked them to test the salinity because I had yet to purchase a hydrometer. It came out to 1.034 via refractometer... Needless to say, I bought a hydrometer and immediately went home and added some fresh water until my sg was within the norm... The weird thing is, is that both of my fish and cuc were doing great, they showed no signs of distress. This brings up a question, what is the "lethal dose" of salt? how high can your sg be without killing everything off?

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

It is not just how high it is, but how quickley it changes. Eventually it will kill your fish. I read an older saltwater book about a scientist who attempted to acclimate saltwater fish to freshwater, I have no idea what the results were.

 

[Saltwatertaylor]

I am worried that your fish are now going to die because of the sudden salt level change. When you change the salt level that quickly and that much of a difference, it really stresses them out :l

 

[ritter6788]

It may not me ideal long term for all fish and inverts but it shouldn't hurt in the short term. Good thing you caught it though.

 

[BarbH]

Good thing you did catch it, the only thing I would advise is when making any changes to levels in your aquariuam you want to make the changes over a period of time. This will cause less stress on the inhabitants.

 

[Dublo8]

Wish you would have done it over a couple of weeks vs. all at once. Hopefully everything turns out ok. Take your hydrometer back, spend a little extra and get a refractometer. Hydrometer's are not always accurate. Some are but you have to test them against a calibrated refractometer. For example: My hydrometer shows 1.023 when in reality it's 1.026 when checked against my refractometer.

I think you should really get yourself some basic test kits for at home. Running down to the LFS gets old after a while(and expensive).

 

[Bentonb]

Wish you would have done it over a couple of weeks vs. all at once. Hopefully everything turns out ok. Take your hydrometer back, spend a little extra and get a refractometer. Hydrometer's are not always accurate. Some are but you have to test them against a calibrated refractometer. For example: My hydrometer shows 1.023 when in reality it's 1.026 when checked against my refractometer.

I think you should really get yourself some basic test kits for at home. Running down to the LFS gets old after a while(and expensive).

I do have testing kits at home, I just like them to double check them every now and then... also, my hydrometer read the exact same as his refractometer... I live like 5 mins from my lfs and my fish seem just fine after i switched out the water (thankfully) I only have 2 fish and its a 10 gallon tank.... i basically did a 1 gallon water change