Water testing/ analysis lab

beachsidereefer · Dec 6, 2015

Hi Everyone,

Lost most of my fish last week and trying to troubleshoot what went wrong. Is there a company/ lab that I could send a sample of water to for detailed analysis? The parameters that I can measure using the standard test kits are all within normal range so need to make sure it's not something else as I go through the troubleshooting process.

Thanks!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 6, 2015

Aside from ammonia, most chemistry issues do not kill marine fish. There are a variety of labs, but I'm hesitant to recommend them to you as I expect they just be a waste of money.

Can you describe your system a bit more?

beachsidereefer · Dec 6, 2015

200 G
wet dry filter
wave makers
UV
2 carbon reactors
1 GFO reactor
Dose - 2 PART from BRS
chiller and heater
everything runs on a RKE unit.
I tested the heater and chiller and both are functioning normally so I don't think my fish were hit with a huge temp. swing.
all other equipment is functioning as expected.

system has been running for 1.5 years. Over this time I have lost the occasional fish and have had some corals die but plenty are flourishing.
I think I'm good on maintenance. every month I change out 35 gallons of water. I use good quality salt with RO/DI water and I test to make sure it's reading 0 TDS.

earlier this week, within 2 day almost all the fish died. I had a mixture of Chromis, Tangs, gobies, cardinals and blennies. The only two that survived were farmed raised, oscelarous clown fish.

All the snails, hermits, crabs and conch are doing well. The zoas and star pollips are sucked in but they seem to be alive. I have a hard coral, don't know what it's called, and it seems to be doing fine. One of my scallops died but the other seems to be hanging on but doesn't look happy.

So far I've changed 50 gallons of water on Thursday to try and stabilize the situation. Before doing the change I tested my parameters and all came back normal except amonia which i suspect was elevated because of the fish die off. After the water change the clown seemed much happier.

Today the zoa and star pollips still don't seem happy so I'm going to change another 50 gallons today.

So I'm thinking it's one of two things. Something toxic entered the water or some type of parasite. About a week ago I added some snails, two pistol shrimp and a goby to the tank. I know, I know... I should have quarantined and if it is a parasite then I paid dearly for my mistake.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 6, 2015

Well it's often hard to tell, but one possibility is that something died from a disease (maybe several somethings died), ammonia rose, more died, ammonia rose more, etc.

beachsidereefer · Dec 7, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Well it's often hard to tell, but one possibility is that something died from a disease (maybe several somethings died), ammonia rose, more died, ammonia rose more, etc.

Thank you and your superb knowledge is always appreciated!