Water voltage question

[57chev]

I've had a 150 reef up and runnin for 8yrs or so. Havent added any fish in years. Recently lost a yellow tang and clarkii two to three weeks ago. The clarkii was old, and the yellow tang was old as well not to mention that over the last year or so he had become some what emaciated but allways ate well. All water parameters are within normal limits so I attribute their unfortunate and heart breaking deaths mostly to old age. My question is on the new fish I've added, yellow, purple, and naso tang are all acting a little weird. The fish were added 5.5 days ago. The naso tang after acting normal the first day has retreated to the reef, and has not eaten, he appears to be fine other than that, the purple tang has takin food as of a couple of hours ago. The yellow I'm afraid is on his way out, his lips are red, stuck open and it looks like there slightly swollen with an elivated respitory rate. The only other fish in the reef are two damsels and a purple psuedochromis. Though the water is in good shape I did do a 50 to 60 gal water change last night. I noticed when I put my hand in the water that I got a little tingle. So, I grabbed the volt meter and got 8 to 10 volts with the prob in the water and another 27 volts on the conduit going up to the hood. Its obvious to me were the stray voltage is coming from and I'll fix it emmediatly. My question is this putting a hurt on my fishes. It does appear at times that the fishes movements are a little darty. PLEASE HELP ME OUT BANG. I know you know the answere. donny

 

[rubberduck]

bump for u, i cant tell u but bang can
good luck

 

[robchuck]

Tangs are probably the most sensitive fish to stray voltage; it often leads to HLLE in tangs. A grounding probe can be a good solution to this problem; the probe grounds the tank through your home's electrical system.

 

[57chev]

Thanks Rubberduck and Robchuck, I appreciate your responses. I want to install a ground rod today. The question I would have is what metal am I allowed to make it out of? I did lose the yellow tang last night

The others are acting as I mentioned before. When the lights went of last night the voltage did drop a little. This afternoon I'll be yankin plugs till I find the source. Still waiting for the advise of the Bag-master. donny

 

[57chev]

I forgot to ask whats HLLE disease??????????????????????????:notsure:

 

[thomas712]

Originally posted by 57chev
My question is this putting a hurt on my fishes. It does appear at times that the fishes movements are a little darty. PLEASE HELP ME OUT BANG. I know you know the answere. donny

Yes it is putting a hurt on your fish, and will continue to do so until you fix the problem. There is a certain natural electricity in saltwater but your volts are way to much, too much current going through the bodies of your fish.
Last I checked I got a reading of 0.001v

 

[57chev]

Thanks Tom, whats suprising to me is when I started pulling plugs and learned that the voltage was coming from several sources. I shoulda known I feel so wetarded....................

 

[meadbhb]

Hiya,
If you want to know about HLLE, go to the diesease forum. They're lots of advice there.
Meadbhb

 

[robchuck]

Originally posted by 57chev
Thanks Rubberduck and Robchuck, I appreciate your responses. I want to install a ground rod today. The question I would have is what metal am I allowed to make it out of? I did lose the yellow tang last night

The others are acting as I mentioned before. When the lights went of last night the voltage did drop a little. This afternoon I'll be yankin plugs till I find the source. Still waiting for the advise of the Bag-master. donny
A grounding probe should really be something that's store bought (about $10-$15); you'd be much safer that way and have less risk of having metal corrode into the tank or worse, burning your house down.
The probe is made up of a titanium probe that goes into the tank, which is attached to an insulated and shielded wire, and terminates into a 3-prong plug, though only the ground prong is metal; the other two prongs are plastic.

 

[robchuck]

Originally posted by 57chev
I forgot to ask whats HLLE disease??????????????????????????:notsure:
HLLE is short for head and lateral line erosion. As Meadbhb mentioned, there is alot of info about HLLE in the disease forum.

 

[57chev]

Thankya all for the advise, I did order a ground rod it will be here in a couple of days. I made a make shift temporary one till it gets here that has emmediatly brought my voltage down to zero. I'll be courious to see if'n makes a difference short term in the fishes behavior. donny

 

[57chev]

Now that its been a few days I can report on the short term effects of having a ground rod installed after having a long term reef up and runnin with out one. As far as my new fish that were just added the difference in their behavior was almost emmediate! Even the coral looks like its getting a boost. Other than nuisance hair algae a have had relitively trouble free reef and havent bought fish for a long time. I feel bad that the other fish in the reef have been putting up with the free voltage for years, If it wouldnt have been for the new fish acting so weird I never would have asked. Thanks for the responds

 

[jgrossi]

Really educational reading........
Have owned and built tanks since I was a kid and never knew to check for this problem.............