Rip

[unleashed]

id like to take a moment and give all my aquatic freinds the final memories to share with all of you. as of wed most of my fish parished . i moved all of my fish to my daughters home until my new house purchase is finalized .well during the move my refractometer was misplaced and to add more water for the tanks i had to purchase a hydrometer {marine labritories} makers of instant ocean. we moved most of the water with the fish but we had to add about 40 gal to my 125 which we had no choise but to overstock this tank for the time being{300 would not fit into her house] aLL OF THE FISH DONE VERY WELL IN THE MOVE noigns of over stressing they were back to swimming and eating normally the next day,but we were still shy of 40 gal of water in this tank .after letting the salt mix we tested the sg the reading on the hydrometer was 1.022 we did our fill up and went to bed about 3 hrs later ,all fish seamed to have been fine at this time.we woke up the next morning about 6 hrs later to find all fish had died

except my eels which were struggling to survive. the fist thing we checked was ammonia and nitrates of course these were on the high side due to all the dewath but not lethal levels . the next was to check sg again.again i used the hydrometer the readings were right where i thought they were 1.022..i located my refractometer and retested the sg levels 1.009 :scared:
moral of this is due to the incorect reading from the hydrometer i put my fish into brackish water sg levels and killed all of my beautiful show fish
i was able to save all of my eels
as for the makers of this particular test item they will be hearing from me and my atterney

 

[fish1031]

OMG!!
I am starting a 180gal and just ordered a refractometer!
Sorry about your loss!
THAT SUCKS
I had no idea low salinity could kill fish like that...

 

[hatessushi]

So sorry for your loss, that's gotta be tough. A few weeks ago I lost a cleaner shrimp and my 4 emerald craps, plus an assortment of hermits due to my slainity monitor showing what I thought was the correct sg after calibrating. I had just received a replacement from the company that makes them due to a wiring problem in the probe. Well I bought a refractometer to check my salinity monitor only to find it reading 1.025 sg but in reality according to the refractometer it was at 1.030. At least I didn't kill the fish and corals. I have a company to contact also but my losses were no where near yours.

 

[fish1031]

Can Fish Really Die Like That From Low Salinity???

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by fish1031
Can Fish Really Die Like That From Low Salinity???
yes low salinity can realy kill fish that easily.
the shock of trying to adjust to low salinty so quickly I dont hypo any of my fish but for those that do this do know it needs to be lowered gradually so the fish will slowly adjust and not shock thier systems .
unfortunately the fish i lost were irreplacable .sized that took yrs to grow..
i was fortunate enough to manage to keep a few smaller fish alive ..these were not in the same tank but in a cooler waiting for their tank to be set up.. after thwe death of my other fish i got the sg to normal level and added the small survivors to the 125 all doing well.. but i do not see myself ever replacing the stock i lost in the future.. some i could never even find again.. this loss has really been a damper on my appreciation and love of this hobby..it almost feels not worth the effort anymore

 

[lubeck]

i couldn't imagine the heartache.... the time/love/money/images through the years of relations you had with your fish. i know i feel like a parent to my fish/corals/inverts and would never want to let them down.
i am sorry... i hope as time goes by your heart softens and will have the re-juvenated excitment and care for the hobby. it sucks with research and the right equipment even then things don't go right...

 

[unleashed]

thank you all for your kind thoughts .. i wish you all the best luck in the hobby .i pray that no one has to go through the experience that i have his week

 

[46bfinga]

man sorry to hear about your loss,im moving my reef and fish only tank in two weeks to my new house,ive been stressing over it for months now.ive never had trouble with my hydrometers i use two for redundancy but now you have me thinking :notsure:

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by 46bfinga
man sorry to hear about your loss,im moving my reef and fish only tank in two weeks to my new house,ive been stressing over it for months now.ive never had trouble with my hydrometers i use two for redundancy but now you have me thinking :notsure:
if you have been using hydrometers all this time you should not have the same issues this i have figured out.. i also in the past used the hydrometers with no problems .even lfs use them ,these fish adapt to the levels gradually when introduced to their new homes ..however if using a a more acurate test such as a refractometer then going to the lesser accurate hydrometer .it was this inaccuracy my fish were not accustom to that did them in ..ur tests are what your fish are accustom to you should not have the same issues at all ..but for those of us that use the more presice tests {refractometers} take caution and do not substutute a hydrometer for your refectometer unless you can do a comparible test before adding new water to your tanks

 

[46bfinga]

i actually used my friends refractometer and compared it to my hydrometers and they were spot on.thanks for the advice and im sorry for your loss.