Help!!!

indigobluetc

indigobluetc

Member
Ok so this morning I woke up and the V lion looked like crap! He was all washed out looking and lost one of his horns! Also my stars and stripes puffers eyes were all cloudy. My lunare wrasse and SFE on the other hand were ok
PH 8.4
Am 0
Nate 160+!!!!!!!

Niter 0
SG 1.024
Temp 80
So.. I just changed 50g of water and thinking of adding prime to help a little more. This is a 135 g tank by the way with 4 fish in it. Does this sound like it will fix everyone or what else do I need to do?
Have not changed anything on the tank for months. Nothing has died in the tank. All perams were fine lastnight. Dunno what could of happened!?
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't add prime to a saltwater tank because it also lowers nitrates... it's bad because this will also lower your pH and probably kill some of the fish.
The reason why your fish probably look bad is because of nitrate poison. You did a good job by doing a large water change. Keep up on water changes.
 
indigobluetc

indigobluetc

Member
Well I got up last night and well.. Now the SFE is lost his color and the lion is worse. Have not seen wrasse yet puff is still the same. Levels have jumped back up what to do.. Good way to detoxify the nitrates?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Not enough info here. What are you using for mechanical andor chemical filtration, how much live rock, live sand, is this a pikie in nitrates or do they always run high, what was the reading before the 160? Those should be good enough starting points for us to help to identify something to hone in on.
 
indigobluetc

indigobluetc

Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2743635
Not enough info here. What are you using for mechanical andor chemical filtration, how much live rock, live sand, is this a pikie in nitrates or do they always run high, what was the reading before the 160? Those should be good enough starting points for us to help to identify something to hone in on.
29g sump with bio balls
75 lbs Live rock
120 lbs live sand
Just a spike in the nitrates they usually are around 20-40 NEVER this high!
I lost the lion for an update.. sigh
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Hmmm.. that kind of a "spike" would suggest to me the loss of a critter or some really excessive overfeeding. You do need to see where it is coming from however to mitigate it you do need to keep doing the changes. I would do 25% today and in two days do another 25%. If they don't go down with that you have something in there that has to be taken care of. Have you cleaned the bio balls in the sump? How long has the system been up and running? Could someone have overfed the tank or dropped something in there?
 
indigobluetc

indigobluetc

Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2743798
Hmmm.. that kind of a "spike" would suggest to me the loss of a critter or some really excessive overfeeding. You do need to see where it is coming from however to mitigate it you do need to keep doing the changes. I would do 25% today and in two days do another 25%. If they don't go down with that you have something in there that has to be taken care of. Have you cleaned the bio balls in the sump? How long has the system been up and running? Could someone have overfed the tank or dropped something in there?
Nothing has died in there. I dont over feed the fish.. Did a 48g water change and it never affected it. I have cleaned the bio balls but only half. It been up for about 8 months.. Nothing has been dropped in the tank
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Do you have a bad test kit, they do go bad from time to time. Can you take a sample to the LFS and see if they get the same reading?
 
indigobluetc

indigobluetc

Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2743813
Do you have a bad test kit, they do go bad from time to time. Can you take a sample to the LFS and see if they get the same reading?
I would hope not I just got it like 2 months ago.. I will take some to the LFS when they open. I also found some one I know who can take them.. He has a 120 thats been running for 2+ years. I am thinking that putting them in a good running tank is better then my ghetto QT..
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Agreed on something is causing the spike. How much was the spike actually? What were the nitrate levels before? Indeed, go get the water tested at the LFS.
Do you have any clean up guys in there? Some large turbos or anything? Since this is a FO, consider during a water change remove each piece LR and dip it into the dirty WC water, and shake the rock clean of any detritus. Also you'll be able to see if there's any trapped dead critters (hitckhikers you haven't seen maybe) that have perished under the rocks.
 
indigobluetc

indigobluetc

Member
It went from about 20 to 160! So a good spike.. I am prob turning it off today and rebuilding.. Figure its easier that way since I will be putting a new sump on it.. I found some one to take the fish..
 
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