overnight water param disaster... HELP

[misskeeter2766]

last night, checked the water.. everything great... ammonia-0, nitrite-0, nitrate-less than 10... I put two flakes of food in for my two shrimp... 3 drops of marine snow, and one mL of purple up (my Ca was low-340)...

this afternoon, I checked... and was SHOCKED...

Temp-78
Salinity- 1.025
Phosphate-0
Calcium-380
Alk-1.7-2.8
pH 8.4
Ammonia-0.25
Nitrite-0.1
Nitrate-5.0

Im blaming the marine snow... (grrrr... just thought my feather duster and xenia could use some food.. they went nuts after I added it)....
I just did a 10% water change... what else can I do?? I really dont want to lose all my new frags and my shrimp...

 

[misskeeter2766]

oh.. and did I mention the ugly brown gunk on my sand... OVERNIGHT!!!

 

[austinsdad]

Is the tank fairly new? Wondering if diatoms are the culprit for the brown sand.

FWIW, I'd never use Marine Snow - especially in a 10g nano. I hear about tanks going foul real fast with that stuff. If nothing died, you can be sure the ammonia is from the Snow.

Don't mean to lecture you, but I hope you give that stuff up. My xenia and featherdusters never seemd to need supplemental feeding.

Keep making water as PWCs might be the only recourse over the next few days.

 

[melosu58]

I have to agree. Marine snow should never be used in a tank that small. It will foul your water quality up every time. Purple up should never be used either in a tank that size. PWC`s will accomplish what you need.

 

[misskeeter2766]

Yep... Im thinking Im gonna TOSS the marine snow... dang it... only used it once before... and I thought maybe I'd just done too much...

if they don't need it... then I won't use it... nothing died, so obviously that's what it was...

what are the chances that a daily (or even twice daily) water change will keep everything alive??? I have zoas, mushrooms, a hammer coral frag, galaxea frag, toadstool leather, kenya tree frag, candy cane frag, favite frag, two cleaner shrimp, an emrald crab, 12 nassa snails, 8 cerith snails, and a feather duster...
wow that seems like a lot... doesnt look like much because all my frags are so teensy. LOL

shouldnt I do something about the low calcium though???

 

[austinsdad]

Dunno if that'll keep stuff alive, but you gotta do them until the ammonia goes down anyway. That will keep stuff alive.

What kinda salt ya using? Water changes will keep calcium replinished enuf for your needs. I'm not sure 380 is all that bad.

 

[thominil]

Your coral is fine as it gets everything it needs from the light (photosynthesis) and water, CUC are fine since most just eat algae and scraps of uneaten food, and the featherduster filter feeds and shouldn't need any supplemental additives. I agree, just do pwc's to get the ammonia and nitrites down and to replenish the elements.

 

[Mitchell0605]

You calcium sounds fine. 350-450ppm is what you want.

 

[misskeeter2766]

okay... I'll toss the additives and pray everyone makes it till the water changes take care of my stupidity... I thought I was doing what was best... obviously not...
thank goodness I have my QT tank set up and cycled... lol... I have fish arriving tomorrow...

should I QT my pistol shrimp??? the QT tank has no substrate... bare tank.. 2 small pieces of live rock and a couple of pieces of pvc
I have a carribean pistol shrimp, yellow watchman goby, and percula clown coming in... (tried to cancel the order when I discovered my water disaster, but it was too late... )
THe problem with my qt tank is that I put two treatments worth of formalin ich treatment in there a week and a half ago... I've done quite a few water changes since then.. but I dont know that I want to chance it.

 

[austinsdad]

Sounds like a dilema. The pistol won't do the ammonia well at all. I wouldn't normally QT one either. Some would maybe. Says Formalin won't harm corals and inverts so I guess he should live in QT until the main is right again.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

...
THe problem with my qt tank is that I put two treatments worth of formalin ich treatment in there a week and a half ago... I've done quite a few water changes since then.. but I dont know that I want to chance it.

I know this doesn't help any at this point, but for future information...

If you were treating for ich in the QT, after treatment was over you should've emptied the tank, totally disinfected it, and let it dry out. Then refilled and recycled the tank. If that tank hasn't been fishless for 6-8 weeks, you could still have ich in it if whatever medication you used didn't actually kill it all.

Regarding the Marine Snow, I'm having a hard time believing 3 drops of it in a 10g tank caused those numbers. I've used the stuff in my 46g by the capful and not seen any issues. (I also didn't see any benefit, so I don't use it anymore.)

I am also having issues thinking that 1 ml of PurpleUp raised your calcium levels by 40ppm. I would be more apt to think that you had some testing inconsistencies or errors between those two tests. Regardless... using PurpleUp to raise calcium isn't really too good. PurpleUp also contains iodine, which can build up to toxic levels, depending on the amount of PurpleUp used over time. A better way to increase calcium levels would be to use a product like TurboCalcium (calcium chloride), mixed with some saltwater to dissolve it, and slowly poured into the tank. The correct calcium product levels to use for a given increase can be found here:

Reef Chemistry Calculator

If your "new" saltwater is consistently lower in calcium than you want it to be, bump up the calcium level of your new water just before you do a water change.

If you don't have anything dead or decomposing in the tank, then I'm not sure what the ammonia is coming from. But from my experience, I'm just not convinced it was the additives for the small amount you added. (But I'd still stop using them!)

 

[misskeeter2766]

hmmm.. okay... so much to learn for someone so new... (unfortunately I keep learning the hard way. LOL... I worry about those who go into this without doing as much research as I have)....

okay.. so I have probably goofed somewhere on the testing-I have no problem taking the blame.. got a new liquid test kit and last night was the first time I used it.. today was the second.... ) ...

looks like tonight my ammonia is down to 0... but my nitrates are still too high (that was all I tested tonight after the second water change)

I will not be using marine snow or purple up again... grr... and I guess I will watch my new fish very closely once I get them in QT tomorrow... was planning on keeping them in there for 6 weeks anyway... guess I can do hyposalinity if they show signs of ich.. I only had one fish in there with ich that never showed white spots, just scratching.. he was freshwater dipped before he went in.. and only stayed a couple of days before he died...


ugh...all this learning the hard way is getting old... Im researching all the time.. but I guess Im doing the wrong research. lol

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

hmmm.. okay... so much to learn for someone so new... (unfortunately I keep learning the hard way. LOL... I worry about those who go into this without doing as much research as I have)....

Hey... we've ALL learned certain things the hard way. One of mine was trying to increase my pH in my cycling tank by adding a TON of baking soda. (#1 mistake was even worrying about pH during the cycle!) Took me forever to get my alkalinity/calcium levels back where they should be.

Yes... there's a lot to learn, but we've all done this stuff. No one gets into this hobby without screwups.

.. got a new liquid test kit and last night was the first time I used it.. today was the second.... ) ...

So was the 340 calcium number using one brand test kit, and the 380 using a different brand? If so, that's where your difference in reading came from. You'll get three different readings with the same water, if you use three different test kits. Which one is right? Hmmm.... that's the tricky part! All depends on the brand of test kit. Some are known to be a little "off" from others. Yeah... more research! (Personally, I like the API and Salifert kits for calcium.)

.. I only had one fish in there with ich that never showed white spots, just scratching.. he was freshwater dipped before he went in.. and only stayed a couple of days before he died...

Oh... OK. It might not have been ich then. Fish will "flash", or scratch on things, sometimes "just because." My Clown Goby will do it sometimes to kick stuff up off corals and rocks to eat.

 

[misskeeter2766]

awe crap... I may have killed my tail spot blenny then. ..
had two clowns die of ich.. (or at the time I suspected brookynella)... then a few days later my tail spot started flashing... I freaked and moved him to QT and dosed him with formalin... he seemed fine before I did that... but wouldnt eat in qt...
now Im really sad... poor benny.. he was cool. ...

ugh...