Ohhhh, my Lanta.

bang guy

Moderator
The problem of using Prime with no ammonia is that it consumes massive amounts of O2. So now you have bacteria going crazy (clouding the water) that are consuming lots and lots of O2 and you just added Prime which will lower O2 even more. This is why I suggested not adding it unless you actually have a problem with ammonia.
 

Kristin1234

Active Member
The problem of using Prime with no ammonia is that it consumes massive amounts of O2. So now you have bacteria going crazy (clouding the water) that are consuming lots and lots of O2 and you just added Prime which will lower O2 even more. This is why I suggested not adding it unless you actually have a problem with ammonia.

I hope it didn't do much harm. I had to add about 4 gallons of un conditioned tap water to get my water level where it needed to be. What do you think?
 

Kristin1234

Active Member
Well I hope I'm in the safe zone now. No losses. All fish are accounted for and water is clearing up, but weird thing is both of my starfish are dead. Did the polluted water do this? What source since ammonia was not detected?
 

bang guy

Moderator
O2 deprivation?

Total guess. If snails and other bottom dwellers are OK then I have no idea why starfish would die.

Did they just stop moving or did they start to disintegrate (could be osmotic shock).
 

Kristin1234

Active Member
O2 deprivation?

Total guess. If snails and other bottom dwellers are OK then I have no idea why starfish would die.

Did they just stop moving or did they start to disintegrate (could be osmotic shock).
On both they look kinda disenegrated. Not totally but enough to make them look really bad. Crabs are ok and the snails seem to be ok as well.
 

bang guy

Moderator
Sounds like a sudden decrease in salinity. Doesn't sound like that could have happened in this scenario though.
 

bang guy

Moderator
Look through the eyepiece again and look at the other side of the scale. One side will list "d 20 20" or something like that. That scale is not an accurate reading of Specific Gravity since refractometers do not measure S.G. Ignore that side.

The other side will list something like "0/00". That is the Salinity side of the scale. On calibrated ATC refractometers this salinity reading will be highly accurate.
 

Kristin1234

Active Member
Look through the eyepiece again and look at the other side of the scale. One side will list "d 20 20" or something like that. That scale is not an accurate reading of Specific Gravity since refractometers do not measure S.G. Ignore that side.

The other side will list something like "0/00". That is the Salinity side of the scale. On calibrated ATC refractometers this salinity reading will be highly accurate.

Ahh ha! Thank ya sir.
 

bang guy

Moderator
I'm glad I'm not the only one.
Yeah, sometime back in the early 80's people stopped deriving the actual salinity and settled for knowing the S.G. only. To derive Salinity from the S.G. you also need to know the temperature of the water and a conversion chart. This is why the S.G. on a refractometer is not accurate, it will automatically cool the water to room temp for the reading. The salinity is still accurate since salinity is not affected much by temperature. It actually got to the point where people were getting very accurate Salinity readings from conductivity meters and going through the trouble of converting to S.G. ????

SO I always kinda chuckle when I ask for a salinity check and someone gives an answer of 1.026. This is pretty close to the salinity reading I would get off of my tap water.
 

Kristin1234

Active Member
My tang and Fox face are trying to die. I did another 20 gallon change while rushing out the door to my son's game.

I'm sure the will be gone when I get home. I'm devastated.
 
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