high sg

[madstyle1]

Can high sg cause my cleaner shrimp to die?Yellow tang, 3 blue chromis, 2 tuebo snails are fine.

 

[roka64]

How high?
How did you acclimate the shrimp?

 

[melosu58]

Higher salinity causes lower oxygen in the tank. Being this is in the FOWLR section you should have a 1.022-1.025 range. If it`s not there then slowly get it there and keep it stable.

 

[madstyle1]

Its at 1.029.. I did the drip acclimation. I've havd him for about 2 weeks and today I saw him dead.

 

[roka64]

Are you sure it's not a molt?
You reall should do a PWC with a slightly lower SG (1.024) about 10-20% depending on size of your tank.
Are you using a hydrometer?

 

[melosu58]

I agree with Scott do a PWC with a lower salinity to bring yours down. 1.029 is too high. You want to bring it down slowly.

 

[madstyle1]

I'm almost positive its not a molt but then again I didn't really look throughly. I'm using a refractometer, its a 60 gallon, should I only do 20 percent pwc?

 

[melosu58]

15-20% sounds good to me. I`m thinking you use 1.023-1.024 you should come up with around 1.026 and I would shoot for another one in a week to bring it down a little more. JMO

 

[roka64]

I agree with Mike.
Do you premix your water to adjust for the tank's temp and salinity? This is a good practice, salt mix is caustic and premixing will get the salt and water mixed and aerated.

 

[madstyle1]

Ok thanks I will do that

 

[madstyle1]

I make a premix the night before I put the water in. I use a 20 gallon trash can with a 100w heater and a bubble stone to areated the water

 

[roka64]

Cool deal! I use a ph just to get good surface ripple/pH.

 

[madstyle1]

good news guys, when i came home from work the shrimp was still around, guess it was a molt of his skin that i picked up in the tank.. just wanted to update you guys. Thanks for all your help

 

[roka64]

Cool deal!

 

[melosu58]

That`s good nrews but still go along with plan of lowering your salinity. It will allow more oxygen in the tank.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Sorry to butt in but if/when/the next time your salinity is too high, wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to just take out some saltwater and replace it with freshwater??? It will save you both money and time.

 

[roka64]

You can do that, but it's hard to judge how much salt you are taking out. You don't want to the the salinity too quickly as it could have adverse effects on your critters.

 

[Tommy Gun]

True...but you can do the same thing with water changes as well. Besides, it would be very much the same thing as topping a tank off due to evaporation. Of course, I'm not trying to say it is good to remove half the saltwater and replace it with freshwater but I've always been able to do this with the aid of a hydrometer since it is a cheap and easy tool that can show relatively accurate changes over many samples; assuming that it is being used correctly. Additionally, I also perform this sort of thing by removing a 64 ounce (the super sized McDonald's version to be exact) at a time and replace it with the same amount of FW, repeating that until I acheive my goal.

IME, this is also a good option because it does not require a delay in time between noticing the descrepancy and curing saltwater for hours...which I wholeheartedly support doing like others who have mentioned the same. Likewise, though dilligent topping off with freshwater and mixing new SW to match the tank's sg and temp, this is a pretty easy situation to avoid. Anyways, I do agree with you in that there may be risks involved with what I am suggesting, but I feel as though they are no larger than the water change option. And for the record, I'm not disagreeing with the water change method, only that I have found my suggestion to be easier.

 

[roka64]

Those are all perfect reasons and I don't disagree at all. And you are not butting in at all! You are simply sharing your experiences.

 

[madstyle1]

i like both ideas i will still do the water change premixing my water as we speak..