Dead clowns

[taymarie]

I have had an established tank for about 8 months now and my two clowns for about 6. I have a 20 gallon hex tank. Five hermits were added about two months ago and I have various corals. Last weekend I added some copeopods from petco( I don’t normally use Petco organisms but my lfs is an hour away. They were all alive) and some microbelift which I have used before. I tested water last night and everything was fine.
Salinity
Gravity 1.024
Alk 10
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0.8
Phos 0.3
Calcium 400
Temp: 74
Ph:8.2
I did water change last night as maintenance noticing phosphate was a little high. It was about a 15% change. No other changes or new additions. Everything was fine.
When I woke up this morning both of my clowns were dead and the corals looked unhappy. The clowns had lost their color and my heart broke. I immediately checked the parameters again and no ammonia but nitrite had skyrocketed. And there are like little white things on the glass. A friend said my city water might have changed. I am feeling very discouraged and upset as I watch the rest of my creatures die. It seems as if my cycle crashed overnight? Idk I am very upset and was wondering if it was something I did wrong or if anyone has seen something similar

 

[gentlefish]

...city water? Do you mix your own saltwater with reverse osmosis water and salt and a functioning refractometer or do you buy your saltwater from the fish store?
Until you know the underlying problem use carbon for absorption and increase Oxygen.

 

[MohrReefs]

I have had an established tank for about 8 months now and my two clowns for about 6. I have a 20 gallon hex tank. Five hermits were added about two months ago and I have various corals. Last weekend I added some copeopods from petco( I don’t normally use Petco organisms but my lfs is an hour away. They were all alive) and some microbelift which I have used before. I tested water last night and everything was fine.
Salinity
Gravity 1.024
Alk 10
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0.8
Phos 0.3
Calcium 400
Temp: 74
Ph:8.2
I did water change last night as maintenance noticing phosphate was a little high. It was about a 15% change. No other changes or new additions. Everything was fine.
When I woke up this morning both of my clowns were dead and the corals looked unhappy. The clowns had lost their color and my heart broke. I immediately checked the parameters again and no ammonia but nitrite had skyrocketed. And there are like little white things on the glass. A friend said my city water might have changed. I am feeling very discouraged and upset as I watch the rest of my creatures die. It seems as if my cycle crashed overnight? Idk I am very upset and was wondering if it was something I did wrong or if anyone has seen something similar

Whats it testing at now? Was there anything on your hands you may have accidentally introduced to the tank? Candle anywhere close it? Cleaners used near the tank? Seems really strange for all that with those parameters so I think something got in for sure.

+1 on where you get your water from?
Any stray voltage?

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Never use city water. Ever. I’m an environmental engineer, you would not believe the things that can be contained in your water and it still be “safe” per state regulations. The west coast is terrible for this. Most states even allow you to have violations and just pay a fine and go on producing unsafe drinking water

 

[Tamberav]

I use city water for my QT tanks by dosing prime but water is different everywhere you go.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

I use city water for my QT tanks by dosing prime but water is different everywhere you go.

Prime doesn’t remove things like lead, chromium, TCE, ect. I wouldn’t trust city water regardless my friend.

 

[MohrReefs]

Prime doesn’t remove things like lead, chromium, TCE, ect. I wouldn’t trust city water regardless my friend.

Do RODI systems not pull most of that?

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Do RODI systems not pull most of that?

I don’t know honestly. For the more toxic stuff I highly doubt it but that’s stuff you find in like industrial runoff. If anything if you’re gonna use city water I would only use it with RODI not just prime.

 

[Jekyl]

City water may have changed or you finally built up enough copper for it to be an issue.

 

[PBnJOnWheat]

I’m not sure but I use the hose which is plumbed to the city and I use an RO/DI on the hose so I’d say no. My ICP came back with none of those from my RODI or tank water. So I would reccomend for the thread to get an RO/DI and try another pair

 

[Tamberav]

Prime doesn’t remove things like lead, chromium, TCE, ect. I wouldn’t trust city water regardless my friend.

It is what it is... I rather QT in city water then not QT at all and I don't have time to make enough water for TTM with my job.

Fish seem fine... sensative ones too... copperband... leopard wrasses... Anampses wrasses... no problem. Thriving!

There is an entire thread of beautiful tanks using tap water. I am not that brave but been working fine for QT.

 

[Jekyl]

I don't see it as much of an issue for QT. Lots of the chemicals in city water are designed to kill bacteria anyway. Getting city water mixed in with your rocks and substrate in the DT is a completely different story

 

[PBnJOnWheat]

I don't see it as much of an issue for QT. Lots of the chemicals in city water are designed to kill bacteria anyway. Getting city water mixed in with your rocks and substrate in the DT is a completely different story

+1

 

[Tamberav]

FYI, you can buy distilled water for a nano easily enough instead of using tap.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

FYI, you can buy distilled water for a nano easily enough instead of using tap.

Agreed. This is what I do for my 32 Gal.

 

[MohrReefs]

Agreed. This is what I do for my 32 Gal.

You two use distilled instead of rodi? To top off? Sorry this is the first I've heard of using distilled.

 

[taymarie]

...city water? Do you mix your own saltwater with reverse osmosis water and salt and a functioning refractometer or do you buy your saltwater from the fish store?
Until you know the underlying problem use carbon for absorption and increase Oxygen.

I’m newer to the hobby so I haven’t used an rodi system. It was just my clowns and crabs and they never had any problem with the water before. I was dechlorinatimg tap water. It tastes fine and I have three freshwater tanks and a quarantine tank for freshwater that are all fine. I haven’t done a change for them yet because now I’m nervous

 

[taymarie]

Whats it testing at now? Was there anything on your hands you may have accidentally introduced to the tank? Candle anywhere close it? Cleaners used near the tank? Seems really strange for all that with those parameters so I think something got in for sure.

+1 on where you get your water from?
Any stray voltage?

Ammonia still zero and raised nitrites. I took a sad nap so I’m going to check the other levels again. I don’t think there was anything on my hands. No candles lit and hadn’t cleaned before that. If anything my hands were cleaner than normal after a shower

 

[Jekyl]

Problem with using tap for saltwater is every other thing besides chlorine. Those chemicals/solids leech into your rocks and sand and build over time. Freshwater you don't have those things

Edit: not saying chlorine is a good thing

 

[vetteguy53081]

Some issues I do see, which may or may not be a contributor to issue:

-Tank temp is a little cool. Aim to maintain 77-79. Youre at 74
-Alk 8-9. Youre a tad high
-Nitrate and ammonia with fish loss is improbable. It tells me you are using API test kits which are notorious for false readings and have let down many reefers. I would highly suggest taking a good water sample to a trusted LFS that does Not use API kits and see what they come up with for Ammonia-Nitrate-Nitrite-Ph
- calcium 440. Youre at 400 and insignificant unless you have corals in the tank
- As mentioned, city water . . . additives or no additives. Treatment plants have issues as we have as aquarists.

question was brought up, does not RODI removes all the compounds. Just as air quality and purity impacts human health, water quality directly influences the growth, coloration and continued development of all tank inhabitants.
Think about it. In the wild, what destroys marine life the fastest? Water contamination and pollution. If we satisfy the needs of water then the water satisfies the needs of our most beloved inhabitants. When it comes to reef tank water, the biggest threat is also the easiest to use - TAP WATER !!!
More times than not, their answers begin to explain that even thought they do use tap water, they treat it with some type of conditioner. Or, better yet, they quickly say yes and then go into a detailed explanation of how they implement a laundry list of nutrient export and nutritive supplement methods.
Here’s a hard truth that many have a difficult time accepting:

Just because tap water is relatively harmless for humans doesn’t mean the same for sensitive invertebrates, like coral. In fact, the chemical composition of tap water can be deadly. Tap water has so much more than trace amounts of chemical cleaning agents. The average city in the United States doses all those who drink from its tap water with inorganic and organic compounds, metals, phosphates, nitrates and even antibiotics.
So with with RODI systems, they are capable of extracting nearly 100% of common tap water contaminants and hence, these innovative water filtering devices are literally changing how reefers view water.

• The first stage of R/O filtration is when pressurized water moves through a pre-filter, which removes micron sediment (sand, silt, clay sediment, etc) that would otherwise inhibit R/O membrane functionality.
• The second stage involves the now semi-filtered water passing through an activated carbon filter, which absorbs a variety of contaminants and minerals, such as chlorine, chromium, pesticides, etc.

Finally, as water passes through the deionization (DI) cartridge, synthetic resins remove both positively (cations) and negatively (anions) charged ions and replace them with hydrogen (H+ and H-) ions. I know, this sounds extremely complicated, but the only thing you need to understand is this purification process doesn’t simply filter harmful compounds and chemicals. It literally alters the molecular structure of water.
Of course you can always purchase RO/DI water from your local reefing store or the purple cap distilled water from Walmart, but honestly, it’s a pain in the rear. Installing a personal RO/DI system is, without a doubt, one of the best decisions you can make as a reefer and especially when you see the difference with your tank and coral health
One last thing . . . . install and ro unit in the basement or ground floor. At some point, they do leak or we forget to turn them off and this way, it has not gone through walls and floors to the next lower floor in the house causing damage.