HELP!!! ALL MY FISH ARE LAYUNG AT THE BOTTOM AND BREATHING HARD

[BZOFIQ]

I believe correct dose is 1ml per 10 Gallons (of the 3% variety); I'd do 5ml for your whole system and see what happens.

LOL, I posted in a wrong thread trying to verify this info.

 

[MSB123]

Thx!

 

[BZOFIQ]

dont panic at this point, dont do anything extreme, add small amount of peroxide I've mentioned and re-test your PH,

are your poweheads pointing at the surface, are your fish doing better, did you retest your pH to see if its bouncing back?

 

[Fudsey]

Dry ice is pure co2. You need to get an airstone in that tank and agitate the surface as much as you can. Stop adding buffer, fast changes in pH can kill your fish as well. I work for a dry ice distributor and have been for over 20 years. Dosing some h2o2 will help as well. I would make sure your brother NEVER puts anything in your tank that he isn't allowed to.

 

[MSB123]

Yeah, this is the first time he has down anything with the tank, I hope they recover

 

[MSB123]

It looks like everyone is recovering, sorry for the crap pictures but I’m keeping my lights out to help with stress

 

[BZOFIQ]

Great!.

 

[Bill_Moorman]

Don’t add any more buffer. Buffer is what I call synthetic pH. You want to raise the pH because there is more O2 in the water column.

Assuming you’re in a major city, run to a pet store (big box is okay) and get an air pump, airline, and a air stone. Your skimmer might not be quick enough. Get the air pump going with all of your pumps running and monitor the fish. The water is just saturated with CO2, which is why the fish are barely moving. They are suffocating.

I wouldn’t wait. Act now!

 

[MSB123]

Everything is looking better, I have my gyres on 100% at surface level, they are making the entire tank full of bubbles- I think it’s just sit and wait right now

 

[Eva Rose]

Hope it continues to get better. I see you have a cowfish. I didn’t read the size of this tank but if the cowfish dies it releases a toxin that can kill your other fish. So watch carefully.

 

[glb]

So next purchase is a lock to keep your brother away from the tank.

 

[Diesel]

I have seen, heard and read a lot in my 40+ years of reefing but this is completely new to me.
If you don’t mind can I use this story for my book that I’m writing?

Btw, how did a 10y old handle that dry ice?
Not with his bare hands I hope.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Add air (not wAVE) TO TANK AND LOWER YOUR Water temp a couple of degrees. Temps are cooler at bottom of tank

 

[MSB123]

Hope it continues to get better. I see you have a cowfish. I didn’t read the size of this tank but if the cowfish dies it releases a toxin that can kill your other fish. So watch carefully.

Thanks! Its a 200 gallon system and he will soon be moving out to a 1200 gallon system with a 550 display at a friends.

 

[Toofattofish]

The other thing to consider is to open windows and have fans blowing in the room to drive off whatever CO2 is in tank, though at this point that may have already happened. This is assuming it isn't 90 degrees plus outside.

 

[MSB123]

So next purchase is a lock to keep your brother away from the tank.

+1 Good idea! I think ill set up motion detectors that blare an alarm when they recognize him.

I have seen, heard and read a lot in my 40+ years of reefing but this is completely new to me.
If you don’t mind can I use this story for my book that I’m writing?

Btw, how did a 10y old handle that dry ice?
Not with his bare hands I hope.

Sure! shoot me a PM if you want the details. He used a cup.

 

[curiouser]

I read entire thread and maybe I missed these, but 2 questions.
1- Was oxygen content of water measured or how was it determined?
2- How does dry ice (CO2) reduce oxygen content of the tank water.

Last post listed as posted 46 mins ago. How are the fish doing?

 

[ReefJunky]

The basic principle of what happens when you add dry ice (frozen CO2) to a saltwater aquarium water is:
1) the CO2 gas combines with the water and forms carbonic acid = reduction of pH; and
2) so much CO2 gas dissolves into the water that the normal O2/CO2 ratio is dramatically shifted so that the fish's gills cannot get rid of CO2 and they absorb it due to the high concentration. Basically it's like anesthetizing them with CO2 and starving them of O2.

I also think with such an extreme concentration of CO2 in the aquarium water the O2 might get bound up with other ionic complexes in the saltwater, but this is just a guess. The chemistry of seawater is extremely complex. In college I saw the results of an attempt to document it and it was a collection of 35 or 38 volumes of what looked the Encyclopedia Britannica and it was just a partial discussion on the chemistry of seawater not complete. The author only examined the major chemistry.

 

[MSB123]

Fish are all ok.

 

[MSB123]

Thanks for all of your help!