Hyposalinity and death

[jtkld75]

I have qt, in 2 differnt tanks, 1 yellow tang and one clarkii clown. i lost the clown last night, he got really pale in color and was dead this morning(. My salinity in the tangs tank is only at 1.013 at this point. the clowns was at, 1.009. Heres my question. For those that have a refractometer, when your reading it, do you count the mark where the color changes from light to dark, or, theres a spot thats is really lighter white inbetween the black and white(i hope this makes sense). Anyway, where di i read it? Did i let my salinity get too low and thats why i lost my clown?? Please help!!
thanks

 

[jdm_ae86]

How much time did you take to reduce the salinity of the water?, the rule is to slowly reduce the salinity over a weeks time..then when the qt'ing is done, slowly bring it back up in a weeks time again..

 

[jtkld75]

I performed the hypo by the book, thats why I was wondering what might have went wrong, as i monitered the sg/salinity (w. ref.) In my ref. the numbers are equivilant 1.009=14. He, for the most part, just seemed to lose his color and was gone the next morning. Just dont want to lose the tang to the same thing . Yes he is in another tank . I am going to do a water change tomorrow. do I just mix up 14 saltwater, the same as a normal water change? Thanks for the help so far.
josh

 

[big911dog]

i would tend to think pH also during the hypo unless the clarkii just succumbed to whatever u were treating him for (ich i assume).
On my atc refractometer, there is a clean line from blue to white. if u are seeing something else, there may be a problem with the prism or maybe air bubbles between the prism and cover during the test. the last thing i wonder is if ur refractometer is atc (automatic temp control) and have u tested and/or adjusted it recently with RODI water?
hth and sorry about ur clarkii...

 

[jtkld75]

Hey, Thanks for the help guys. I am going to 'recalibrate' it tody. Im not sure if its temp. sensetive. I was under the assumption( i know, lol) that reft. didnt need to be calibrated' temp' wise anyway.
Josh

 

[tandt]

I have had the same thing happen to 3 Damsels over the past 2 weeks and Salinity, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ph and Ammonia levels are well within range. Actually, all are perfect except for the Nitrate and they are at 20.