So I did Hyposalinity- this is what happend- please help

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by joker3762
My Blue tang just died

Those spots i was referring to at the end covered the whole underside of his body, It was a light blue color and was only on the bottom. Could he have died from ich and could my flame angel have died due to ich.
Let me know what you think
I don't know what your flame looked like to determine the death. Was he completely covered in ich? Ich is a parasite and a fish is usually COVERED before they succumb to it unless the fish has a very weak immune system. As far as the spots on your tang. Ich spots are not light blue. They are small and white. I am so sorry to say that I realy think these deaths were due to the ph shock that went on yesterday into today. Test your RO water, it has a low ph and it wet into a tank that had a high ph. What many people don't know about ph is that it is calculated logarithmic. Meaning that between the points 7.9 to 8.0 there is a 10 point difference. This means that 7.9 is 10 times more acidic than 8.0 So if your RO water was 7.2 and your tank water was 8.2 that is 100X more acidic water that went into a tank that needs a stable environment. Salt fish can't take a flucuation of 8.0-8.2 too quickly. It isn't your fault, you didn't know.

 

[joker3762]

Sepulatian
Why would my clowns still be alive? Is it due to the fact that they are tank raised?? Could it have been prevented had i used Proper PH you had talked about earlier? Also, I have never purchased fish online, do you think it is a good Idea, I know this site sells them and i do have an account. They are also cheeper than my lfs.
Please give me any insight. Thanks again. I am new (only 10 months) so these 2 loses i am chalking up to lack of knowledge. This is my first tank so it is pretty difficult to get everything accurate. Any advice you use to maintain your tanks would be grateful.
Thanks

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by joker3762
Sepulatian
Why would my clowns still be alive? Is it due to the fact that they are tank raised?? Could it have been prevented had i used Proper PH you had talked about earlier? Also, I have never purchased fish online, do you think it is a good Idea, I know this site sells them and i do have an account. They are also cheeper than my lfs.
Please give me any insight. Thanks again. I am new (only 10 months) so these 2 loses i am chalking up to lack of knowledge. This is my first tank so it is pretty difficult to get everything accurate. Any advice you use to maintain your tanks would be grateful.
Thanks
Well, clowns are WAY more hearty than tangs or angels even if they were wild. The fact that they are tank raised is a HUGE plus. The ocean is remarkably stable because of the water volume. Animals comming from the ocean can not handle changes because they have never delt with them before. They and their ancestors have never delt with things like ph fluctuations, nitrate, ammonia, all of the things that tend to kill them in our tanks. For a wild specimen to see a temp drop of 2-3 degrees it takes a planetary movement.
As far as purchasing from this site. I have heard nothing but great things. The fish come in healthy and active. I also spend a good deal of time in the New Hobbiests section on these boards and the stories I have read are those of success. You still want to ALWAYS qt any new purchase. It does not matter what source you get them from, it is an absolute must.
My own tanks. I qt EVERYTHING. I draw a line on the side of my tanks for the water level. I know just by a glance if they need to be topped off. I test ever other day when the tank is new and then about every 3-5 once it is going well. I don't just test when I notice someone is acting odd. Once the tank is up and running I only test ammonia once in a while (usually once a week or two) or if something new is added. Nitrate is tested every week. If the trates reach 15-20 it is time for a water change. I mix my water in a 36 gallon trash can. It mixes for 24-48 hrs using a powerhead and a heater. I test all of the levels before I put it into the tank. The only reading that should be different is nitrate (zero in the new water of course) I usually do about a 20% change if the trates are under 15, i they are over 20 then I do a 25-30% change. As long as all of your levels are the same as in your tank. Larger water changes are more effective to get rid of nitrates. Smaller changes are barely worth it, unless you like to do weekly 10% changes. I have never found that very effective though.
I hope I have answered all of your questions. Anything else you want to know, please just ask!!

 

[joker3762]

Ok, Now that I have dealt with my fish dying, should i keep my salinity where it is at to kill the ich or should i bring it back to normal?? Also previously i was told to use Cure ick which had machilete green and formalin. I didnt remove my ls or lr. does that mean they are no longer good, and should be replaced?? I did that before i read about hyposalinity, or else i would have never done it. ick really sucks. I tested my regular water and the ph level was actually 8.4, I cant explain this. I also have a sand sifting star and a cleaner shrimp in my qt tank. as well as my snails. I must leave them in my qt tank, correct.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by joker3762
Ok, Now that I have dealt with my fish dying, should i keep my salinity where it is at to kill the ich or should i bring it back to normal?? Also previously i was told to use Cure ick which had machilete green and formalin. I didnt remove my ls or lr. does that mean they are no longer good, and should be replaced?? I did that before i read about hyposalinity, or else i would have never done it. ick really sucks. I tested my regular water and the ph level was actually 8.4, I cant explain this. I also have a sand sifting star and a cleaner shrimp in my qt tank. as well as my snails. I must leave them in my qt tank, correct.
WHOA!!!!!!!!!!! back this up. Where are your fish, in the DT? Is that where you are doing hypo? Please explain where everything is and what you have done previously.

 

[joker3762]

Ok here is what happend, I made the mistake of putting my blue tang directly into my display( I know this was stupid) On the same day i put in my Choc. Chip star, Sand Sifting star and Cleaner shrimp, as well as some snails and crabs. LFS told me it would be ok to add them all at once. Everything was going fine until i noticed the tang had white spots on him. I was on my way to the lfs to purchase some new light bulbs. I told them of the issue and was given Cure ICK. I followed the instructions on the package, however I couldnt remove the lr because of my crabs. (At this time I had my QT tank with my Snails, Stars and Shrimp) I did the Cure iCk for about 4 days using correct dosage for 100 gallon tank (I have a 95 wave tank+ 5 for filter and skimmer.) So after doing the Cure Ick I saw beths post. Since Cure ick wasnt removing the ick i attempted to do HYPO.
by your reaction i guess i was wrong to do that, I only have 1 20g qt tank and I was told I needed to treat the entire tank because once the fish have ich that it will stay with them. for example if i put the fish in a qt tank the ich would continue to spawn and infect the qt tank. so therefor i need to treat the DT. I was told this by my lfs (the same place that sold me Cure ICk). Again I am new so I was ignorant to anything else. I also thought i was following beths post pretty accurately.
please advise if i did something wrong
thanks

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by joker3762
Ok here is what happend, I made the mistake of putting my blue tang directly into my display( I know this was stupid) On the same day i put in my Choc. Chip star, Sand Sifting star and Cleaner shrimp, as well as some snails and crabs. LFS told me it would be ok to add them all at once. Everything was going fine until i noticed the tang had white spots on him. I was on my way to the lfs to purchase some new light bulbs. I told them of the issue and was given Cure ICK. I followed the instructions on the package, however I couldnt remove the lr because of my crabs. (At this time I had my QT tank with my Snails, Stars and Shrimp) I did the Cure iCk for about 4 days using correct dosage for 100 gallon tank (I have a 95 wave tank+ 5 for filter and skimmer.) So after doing the Cure Ick I saw beths post. Since Cure ick wasnt removing the ick i attempted to do HYPO.
by your reaction i guess i was wrong to do that, I only have 1 20g qt tank and I was told I needed to treat the entire tank because once the fish have ich that it will stay with them. for example if i put the fish in a qt tank the ich would continue to spawn and infect the qt tank. so therefor i need to treat the DT. I was told this by my lfs (the same place that sold me Cure ICk). Again I am new so I was ignorant to anything else. I also thought i was following beths post pretty accurately.
please advise if i did something wrong
thanks
Joker, please PLEASE tell me that the rock and inverts are not in the dt with your fish that are in hypo!
I just re read, so your rocks are in there?? Get them out NOW do you have a rubbermaid tub or a new trash can or SOMETHING you can put them in? Do you have LS?

 

[joker3762]

my inverts are not in the dt only the lr, I only had 3 small pieces so if they are dead then i can live with that mistake.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by joker3762
my inverts are not in the dt only the lr, I only had 3 small pieces so if they are dead then i can live with that mistake.
Whao, you had me panicking!lol Everything besides the bacteria on your rock will be dead, but you can just use that as base rock. It will get new life when you add new rock.

 

[joker3762]

Does that mean my ls is dead also. Really where did i go wrong??? I dont want to make the same mistake again.

 

[sepulatian]

This med that you added had malechite and formalin in it? That is horrible that they told you it was ok to add to the dt. The star, take it back. This tank is not going to be star safe for a long time. The snails "might" be alright after the 4-6 weeks and all of the water changes. Malechite and formalin are no where near safe for any invert of any kind. What is worse is that it soaks into your sand, your now dead rock (forget hypo, they were dead from the med) the silicone of your tank, any porous surface. I would raise hell at the LFS if I were you.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by joker3762
Does that mean my ls is dead also. Really where did i go wrong??? I dont want to make the same mistake again.
AGH you have LS as well? With the med any and all critters in it are now dead anyway, hypo will not matter. Are you certain with all of this crap going on that you didn't have a huge ammonia spike? This could have weakened your fish and then with the hypo (sorry to bring that up, but it is true). I would realy raise a big stink at your lfs. Did he know you had LR and LS? And he sold you the inverts? Take them back. They will not be ok in that tank for quite awhile.

 

[joker3762]

correct to the first question. Melachite and formalin combined in formula. Do I need to purchase new LS. I also have black silicone on my tank so I dont notice any discoloring of that.
Please advise on what to do to solve my problem.
Thanks again

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by joker3762
correct to the first question. Melachite and formalin combined in formula. Do I need to purchase new LS. I also have black silicone on my tank so I dont notice any discoloring of that.
Please advise on what to do to solve my problem.
Thanks again
Right now just worry about the hypo. After that is done. You only need to buy a few lbs of LS to seed the old. After that, buy just a few snails and crabs and make sure they live. Add inverts VERY slowly! No stars for a good 6 months to a year. They are very sensitive and need an established tank anyway, with the meds that you had, wait on stars, urcins, conch's, etc. Your tank is not ruined. Copper soaks in worse! Thank goodness they didn't tell you to use that! My 55 salt once had cichlids in it and I have the original sand. I had used Rid ich in it which conains malechite and formalin. My tank is fine now, but it has been over a year since it was treated. When I converted it I had issues with inverts. Let your tank finish the hypo and add inverts very slowly to be sure they live. The ones in the qt, take them back and (If I were you) Tell that lfs owner what he did to your system!!!!!

 

[joker3762]

I will definately do that. But since my star is in a qt tank can i make that into a dt temporarily to keep the star and snails and shrimp, they seem to be doing ok for now. What are your thoughts??

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by joker3762
I will definately do that. But since my star is in a qt tank can i make that into a dt temporarily to keep the star and snails and shrimp, they seem to be doing ok for now. What are your thoughts??
You certainly can! If you are not going to buy another fish for 6 months. Or if you want to set up another qt. How long has your qt been running? What kind of star was this a CC? They need lots of rock and a very established tank. ALL stars do. I know you love him, but it realy doesn't matter what kind of star, he will not live long in the qt. Please, PLEASE QT everything comming in. You buy one darn snail, QT HIM for three weeks. anything from the ocean or lfs, consider contaminated. You still get to watch your newbie, but not in the display yet. Do you realy want to go through this ordeal again? If it is not a fish qt it for three weeks. Fish, qt for 3-6 weeks, but observe them CLOSELY!!!! Use a magnifying glass to watch them, be certain that they recompletely pure for 4 weeks!!

 

[joker3762]

Sand sifting star, My cc star burned himself and died. this has definately been a (*&^ ordeal.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by joker3762
Sand sifting star, My cc star burned himself and died. this has definately been a (*&^ ordeal.
Ok, another reason to not like your LFS. Sand sifting stars grow HUGE quickly. They are excellent detrivores, but they only eat detris. Once they clean your entire sand bed of detris they eat your other sand sifters. Once your sand bed is now "plain sand with bacteria" they die. Sand sifting stars do not eat prepared foods. They consume, then distroy, then die unless you have a 210-500g tank with a 5-6 inch sand bed. Then he would be happy for awhile. They get HUGE!!!!! Take him back and do not get another! If you want detrivores, go with snails, crabs, worms etc. You want enough sand sifting critters to keep your sand bed clean. This site sells a nice package. Once your hypo is done. And you buy a sail or two and make sure they live. Then buy a 10lb bag of REAL live sand. Then worry about detrivores. Take that darn star back. I can't believe they sold that to you and the med. I am actually mad at you lfs!

 

[joker3762]

What if I cant bring the star back??

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by joker3762
What if I cant bring the star back??
Then it will consume and destroy untill it dies in your tank. They are terrible. Sand sifting stars eat detiris. Once that is gone they eat any detrivores you have, leaving your sand bed dead. Then they die. You can try on here in the classifieds "free to a large tank".