Salt spike

[clowninround]

Man it seems like after I fix one problem I get blasted with another. My friend took in my corals while I set up my new tank and just for safe keeping since her tank was doing so well...when I came to get them, they had a problem with the salt 2 days prior. They noticed all the corals looking bad, so they checked everything and noticed that the salt was at 1.038! So they did a 25% water change, went too low...slowly they continued to add salt to get it back up. All of this took about 2 DAYS! So I brought my corals home and exspected them to perk right up when I got home, but they are still in hiding. It's has been about 14 hours. How long should I expect them to be this way before I need to start worring? They aren't dead, none of them have slime...they just won't open. My water parameters are great...will they recover?

 

[fishfreek]

Do you know how low they went?

The net effect is in the course of a week the corals have gone thru some very stressful situations. First the high salinity. No idea how that happened? Then the lowsalinity that occured fairly rapidly. And then the slow increase to what I can only guess would be normal 1.025 levels. And then the final stresser was the move back to your tank.

They should be fine but dont be supprised if they dont open fully for a few days. Be on the watchout for deteration and disease like brown jelly.

 

[clowninround]

The salt spike was unexplained. The only water put in the tank was fresh ro water to replace evaporation...makes no sense at all. I am not sure about how low it went, mind you, they didn't inform me until I showed up. The salt was raised to 1.023, which is also where I like to keep my tank. I am watching them closely. I agree, that is a lot of stress . But I feel better knowing it may take a few days. It really worried me though, my starburst is really hardy and he is totally closed up I guess you could say.

 

[Salttanker]

Keeping the salinity at the proper level can be frustrating sometimes. After reading all the posts on this board, I have learned to start creating a 20G mix a couple of days before a water change, or top-off. This way, you can get the SG at the level you want, then add it in. Before that, my SG was always way too low, or too high. Now, it makes it easier to do water changes without guessing. Fish don't like the SG levels to change too fast, so this technique has worked great for me. FFT

Mike

 

[Atari]

I have learned to start creating a 20G mix a couple of days before a water change, or top-off.

You probably didn't mean that the way it sounded, but just to clarify top-offs should be done with FW not SW.

 

[Salttanker]

Most of the time, I usually do a water change rather than top-offs since it takes a while for my water to evaporate. usually in 15-20% changes every few weeks. However, since I keep my glass tops opened, it does evaporate much faster now, so I may end up doing top-offs after all.

Mike

 

[clowninround]

Looks like it might be getting worse, the torch coral has this maroon colored slime accumulating at the top of 2 of it's...branches?...I'm getting real scared. I had the water double checked at the LFS and everything is normal. Whats worse is now (since I put the corals back in), my snails seem to be either not moving at all 75% of them, or moving pretty slow. Fish are fine. ?????

 

[steve-s]

The salt spike was unexplained. The only water put in the tank was fresh ro water to replace evaporation...makes no sense at all. I

Find out if they use two part additives for alk/Ca. After a long period of use, the salts in these additives will affect the salinity of the tank.

Cheers
Steve

 

[clowninround]

Thanks everybody, but I think everything is dieing...nothing i can do . Everything I have check is fine. Don't know what else i can do

 

[clowninround]

But the fish are fine....

 

[quarryshark]

Sorry, you are having trouble again. You deserve a break, I'm sure one is coming.

 

[clowninround]

Yeah, but hey, my favorite fish is still alive and healthy so as long as i have that there's still hope He has 150 gallons to share with the manderin, thats gotta be nice. Course I bet at the pet shop nobody wants to come home with me...lol.