RODI and glade air freshener and fish dying

[Dweezilz]

My wife put a 'glade plugin' air freshener in the basement bathroom where my RODI is located (Spectrapure Maxcap 90). Not sure if it's a coincidence but I'm running into big issues with multiple fish with no signs of health issues dying randomly over time (ie not all at once) including a few that I've had for 6+ months and a few newer fish. Probably 5 fish in all and I have 4 left now. All quarantined properly and seemingly healthy with no signs of any disease at all. To be clear, the fish tank is upstairs so not near the air freshener.

Is it possible for the glad plugin air particles to actually get inside the RODI unit or my RODI Smartbuddy pump). The water is stored in a separate room so the air freshener would have to get into the sealed RODI unit which I can't see happening but it's just a thought. Very confusing and frustrating. I'm going to do an ICP on the RODI and throw away the stored water from my brute cans even though they are stored in a different room so not susceptible to the glade air freshener. I'll also check for stray voltage but I'm not detecting any when I touch the water.

 

[bushdoc]

I would investigate other causes of your fish health issues.

 

[Ann Enomy]

What type of fish? If they are high energy fish like anthias if they are not fed multiple times a day they will starve to death. If tangs aren't fed nori or the like, they don't get nutrients needed from what typically grows in the tank. Contamination usually wipes the tank out all at once. I don't think it's the plug in.

 

[Miami Reef]

Let’s not go there. I’m sure OP is trying to think of all the possible causes for the fish losses. There’s nothing prejudice in his post.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My wife put a 'glade plugin' air freshener in the basement bathroom where my RODI is located (Spectrapure Maxcap 90). Not sure if it's a coincidence but I'm running into big issues with multiple fish with no signs of health issues dying randomly over time (ie not all at once) including a few that I've had for 6+ months and a few newer fish. Probably 5 fish in all and I have 4 left now. All quarantined properly and seemingly healthy with no signs of any disease at all. To be clear, the fish tank is upstairs so not near the air freshener.

Is it possible for the glad plugin air particles to actually get inside the RODI unit or my RODI Smartbuddy pump). The water is stored in a separate room so the air freshener would have to get into the sealed RODI unit which I can't see happening but it's just a thought. Very confusing and frustrating. I'm going to do an ICP on the RODI and throw away the stored water from my brute cans even though they are stored in a different room so not susceptible to the glade air freshener. I'll also check for stray voltage but I'm not detecting any when I touch the water.

The rule-out I always use for water contamination is: if the tank houses both fish and corals, and only the fish have issues, it is virtually always a disease or fish husbandry issue. In rare cases, I've see low dissolved oxygen levels kill fish but leave corals mostly unharmed.

The ICP test will not identify organic contaminants, as those will just be reported as their elemental composition.

Induced voltage (stray voltage) is a red herring and won't be the issue. More serious can be short circuits (shock hazard to you as well). If the tank is plugged into a GFI circuit, those should be ruled out.

Jay

 

[Dweezilz]

What type of fish? If they are high energy fish like anthias if they are not fed multiple times a day they will starve to death. If tangs aren't fed nori or the like, they don't get nutrients needed from what typically grows in the tank. Contamination usually wipes the tank out all at once. I don't think it's the plug in. But nice job trying to blame the woman.

No Tangs, no anthias, and I have been feeding the fish well. I have watched about every video I could from BRS (hundreds and hundreds) and others, read multiple forums including here, RC, Humble, others, asked questions about every process for 2 full years before adding a drop of water to the tank and I really do know quite a bit and I research every minute detail about everything before doing it. I appreciate all the help I've received including yours here that it's probably not a contaminate. I'm actually at a loss for what the issue is. I'm not the typical 'newbie', I'm a really well informed newbie, but still learning obviously.

On the last point you made...just wow...I didn't even think for a second or intend for a second to use a demeaning tone to woman, so that is 100% an unnecessary comment. I stated facts and that's it and certainly didn't intend to 'blame' anyone due to their gender. My wife added it and I didn't even think about it being there. End of story. I didn't put the freshener there and didn't really notice it was there. I would have said the same exact thing if I had put it there, a male friend put it there, my husband put it there or if my son had put it there. Just rude and wrong of you to write that I'm blaming a woman. I have had 5 or 6 fish die and I'm quite upset and not placing any blame on anyone, just trying to figure this out. To attach that type of agenda in my post is ridiculous. I am the exact opposite of that type of person (if you knew me, you'd figure that out quickly) which is why shaming people you don't know like that based on one comment is just bad form.

 

[Stephen8169301]

do you happen to have a full tank shot how are the other fish in the tank do you have videos of them under white lighting? What is your water parameters? Post as much info as you can for people to help you find the cause

 

[vetteguy53081]

My wife put a 'glade plugin' air freshener in the basement bathroom where my RODI is located (Spectrapure Maxcap 90). Not sure if it's a coincidence but I'm running into big issues with multiple fish with no signs of health issues dying randomly over time (ie not all at once) including a few that I've had for 6+ months and a few newer fish. Probably 5 fish in all and I have 4 left now. All quarantined properly and seemingly healthy with no signs of any disease at all. To be clear, the fish tank is upstairs so not near the air freshener.

Is it possible for the glad plugin air particles to actually get inside the RODI unit or my RODI Smartbuddy pump). The water is stored in a separate room so the air freshener would have to get into the sealed RODI unit which I can't see happening but it's just a thought. Very confusing and frustrating. I'm going to do an ICP on the RODI and throw away the stored water from my brute cans even though they are stored in a different room so not susceptible to the glade air freshener. I'll also check for stray voltage but I'm not detecting any when I touch the water.

While anything is possible, I have low suspicion with the glade unit. Sudden deaths are often velvet.
Any unusual symptoms you saw such as loss of appetite, rapid breathing or scratching and even increased breathing rate?

 

[Dweezilz]

The rule-out I always use for water contamination is: if the tank houses both fish and corals, and only the fish have issues, it is virtually always a disease or fish husbandry issue. In rare cases, I've see low dissolved oxygen levels kill fish but leave corals mostly unharmed.

The ICP test will not identify organic contaminants, as those will just be reported as their elemental composition.

Induced voltage (stray voltage) is a red herring and won't be the issue. More serious can be short circuits (shock hazard to you as well). If the tank is plugged into a GFI circuit, those should be ruled out.

Jay

Thanks Jay. You had helped me previously with my flasher wrasse and I always appreciate your insight. I don't have any corals at all, so it's just the fish that have died over time. Some died a week after putting them in and some have been in for 5-6 months. I don't see a single indicator of disease though. I even dipped them in fresh water after they died to check for flukes...nothing. No spots at all. The only thing I could see was maybe breathing heavier than normal?? Everything is on a GFI circuit. No shorts that I can tell as I have not felt a thing. I guess it could be bad luck too I suppose but it's very frustrating to have this happen. I wish I knew why the other 4 fish seem ok. This is difficult. All params seem fine from top down too. No swings for PH, DHK, Salinity either. Ugg....

 

[homer1475]

My wife insists on having one of those glade plugin things in my fish room that also houses the cats litter box. I have 60G of RO/DI in a brute, and 40G of SW also in a brute not 4 feet from the plug in.

In 10 years I have never had an issue.

Your fish deaths are from something else.

 

[Dweezilz]

While anything is possible, I have low suspicion with the glade unit. Sudden deaths are often velvet.
Any unusual symptoms you saw such as loss of appetite, rapid breathing or scratching and even increased breathing rate?

Nothing much besides all the fish that died seemed to stop eating and did show some increased breathing. No scratching, skin issues, white spots, discoloration. All QT'd from a known online source (don't want discuss or throw them under the bus). If it was velvet, could the two clowns and engineer goby be fine with no signs of any issues though after 9 months? Also could there be no physical signs? I've also been using my microscope quite a bit since SCA dinos invaded in March, but nothing besides SCA dinos were found as far as bad things. They are gone now thankfully. (fingers crossed). Not sure if velvet would be seen under scope.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Hi, it sounds suspicious but if you could disregard the plug in air freshener and rodi water. I would concentrate on aquarium first, do general testing and revert back to basics,

What fish do you have including the ones you have lost, what size aquriam and how old/new?

What was dead fish appearance, any signs of bullying/ bites/ shrunken stomach
How was they acting before death

I added 4 firefish and they randomly died altough my other inhabitants still thrive, sometimes it happens.

I'm no expert but the more information you could provide will help you find answers

 

[vetteguy53081]

Nothing much besides all the fish that died seemed to stop eating and did show some increased breathing. No scratching, skin issues, white spots, discoloration. All QT'd from a known online source (don't want discuss or throw them under the bus). If it was velvet, could the two clowns and engineer goby be fine with no signs of any issues though after 9 months? Also could there be no physical signs? I've also been using my microscope quite a bit since SCA dinos invaded in March, but nothing besides SCA dinos were found as far as bad things. They are gone now thankfully. (fingers crossed). Not sure if velvet would be seen under scope.

velvet is a suspect and can kill quickly. Other signs ( seeing if any are noticeable: Fish with velvet will typically stay at the surface of the water, have clamped fins, or remain in a position where a steady flow of water is present in the tank.

If Glade was an issue and it affected oxygen levels, were the dead fish discovered with their mouths open similar to picture below?

 

[Dweezilz]

do you happen to have a full tank shot how are the other fish in the tank do you have videos of them under white lighting? What is your water parameters? Post as much info as you can for people to help you find the cause

Red Sea Reefer 250 (65g total)
Params:
PO4 - .07
NO3 - 7.7
NH3 - 0
PH - 8.2
DHK - 9.5 (slightly elevated due to dosing silicates for SCA dinos)
Salinity 1.024
Temp - 78
Light - Hydra52 HD
return - vecra S2 set at 65% (was running a Sicce SCD 3 which was under powered for the tank)
powerheads - was Current USA eFlux now Jebao MLW20 and MLW10

I had zero algae besides diatoms on sand and rocks but unfortunately wasn't testing for PO4 and it was 0 and turns out it was SCA Dinos in March. Probably had them for a few months and thought they were diatoms but my microscope confirmed tons of SCA. Mack's helped me and I've been able to get rid of them by dosing water glass, phyto, pods, MB7, and NeoPos as needed to raise PO4 to where it's stabilized now at around .07 (went up to .15 for a bit) and NeoNitro as needed when Nitrate dropped to 2. I run a carbon filter bag in a Sicce Shark Pro just in case dino toxins are present. My tank is recovering now with tons of diatoms, GHA, and cyano. Zero dinos seen under scope in 2 weeks. All seem to be receding now as silicates are being used up by the diatoms. The Cyano is a PIA but should start to fade I hope with balanced NO3 and PO4.

Inhabitants: (alive unless noted)
August 2022 - Two clowns
October 2022 - Watchman Goby (died late March), Pistol Shrimp, Starry Blenny (died in 1 day)
January 2023 - McCoster's Wrasse (died of UNWD), Royal Gramma (died late March), Halloween Hermit, 2x engineer goby (ordered 1 but 2 shipped)(1 died May 22nd), Tiger Conch, 10 Nassarius and 10 Nerite snails.
April 2023 - Xmas Wrasse (died in 2 days), Coral Beauty, Midas Blenny (died in 7 days), 10 Trocus, 10 Nassarius snails

All fish that died showed zero physical signs of issues. No skin issues, no fin issues, no spots, or discolorations or white dots, etc... Just lost appetite for a week or so and then either vanished or found dead.

Let me know if any other info is important. That's pretty much all that's happened. Here's a video...sorry for the splashing as I'm cleaning my old pump to sell it.

 

[Dweezilz]

velvet is a suspect and can kill quickly. Other signs ( seeing if any are noticeable: Fish with velvet will typically stay at the surface of the water, have clamped fins, or remain in a position where a steady flow of water is present in the tank.

If Glade was an issue and it affected oxygen levels, were the dead fish discovered with their mouths open similar to picture below?

No mouths open. All fish seem to hang out low in the tank and actually avoid the water flow, especially the clowns who seem to hate the flow. I've repositioned the pumps away from them to give them space. They have hosted my bottom corner of the tank since day 1. I even tried to turn the pumps super low at first and those two fools won't leave that corner!

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Just a thought but Could any of the additives/ chemicals you have been using to get rid of cynao, gha and diatoms thrown off the balance in your your aquarium? Also from your video are you still battling with gha? Also maybe try adjusting your power head level to minimum and maybe point one up or both to reduce flow to see how your clown fish respond, it could be to high flow for them to settle/swim, you could gradually increase over time but best to start slow.
You could also reduce white lights as it appears you have no coral, this should help slow algae growth.
Other then chemicals causing a problem then I would agree with others with possible diseases
Just my thoughts,

 

[Dweezilz]

Just a thought but Could any of the additives/ chemicals you have been using to get rid of cynao, gha and diatoms thrown off the balance in your your aquarium? Also from your video are you still battling with gha? Also maybe try adjusting your power head level to minimum and maybe point one up or both to reduce flow to see how your clown fish respond, it could be to high flow for them to settle/swim, you could gradually increase over time but best to start slow

The Royal Gramma & Watchman died before doing anything for the dinos. I didn't use any chemicals besides dosing waterglass for silicates to induce diatom bloom, NeoPhos to raise PO4 due to 0 phosphate, Phyto & Pods. I let the tank get really dirty as directed in this process so GHA and Cyano grew a ton. All of this out competes the dinos and it actually worked. I'm slowly removing the GHA which isn't really growing back where I removed it. The entire rocks were covered in it but I'm going slow in the removal so that Dinos do not come back. Cyano is coming back over and over but getting less each time after manual removal. I do have a weird bunch of white spots I remove each day from the sand (see other post) but under scope, it looks like algae with some bacteria mixed in of some sort (too small to see more than dots zipping around even at 1000X). It is possible the waterglass could have thrown the tank balance as far as minerals etc... Hopefully my ICP will uncover those issues. So that's the state of the dinos/algae.

The flow thing is a problem for the clowns for sure. They hated it from day 1 with my under powered eFlux 1024's and definitely don't like the Jebao MLW20's which are like Nero5's. They literally won't go past where the powerhead starts. Once in a blue moon they will venture in front of the overflow but quickly scurry back to the corner and will only eat there. Right now I really need a ton of flow with all the stuff lingering but I will try to reduce once the tank is back to normal with clean sand. Should I physically move them up from the middle where they are and point up too or leave them and point up vs. down. At first I tried all sorts of things to get the clowns out, even having the eFlux off or at the lowest for a few days and the clowns still stayed where they are in the corner.

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Yes unfortunately I have never used waterglass so I'm unsure about this chemical but have seen alot of dosing questions about it. The ICP test will hopefully show you if there is a problem with water chemistry.
In regards to flow, I have 45g tank, 2 wavemakers... One is 10watt and other 5 watt, (I'm still adjusting mine due to corals) however both are approximately half power both pointing up, I'll share some pics, I have a u.v filter cannister also that generates airation and flow

maybe a u.v. light could help with your aquarium? Have you looked into this, it helped with my GHA in early stages when it was all over my rocks, I still get odd growths now but easier to manage

 

[Rick's Reviews]

So they are positioned approx 3/4 up wards, the right 10w 3/4 towards back and left 5w 3/4 towards front,
I hope this helps

 

[Dweezilz]

Yes unfortunately I have never used waterglass so I'm unsure about this chemical but have seen alot of dosing questions about it. The ICP test will hopefully show you if there is a problem with water chemistry.
In regards to flow, I have 45g tank, 2 wavemakers... One is 10watt and other 5 watt, (I'm still adjusting mine due to corals) however both are approximately half power both pointing up, I'll share some pics, I have a u.v filter cannister also that generates airation and flow

maybe a u.v. light could help with your aquarium? Have you looked into this, it helped with my GHA in early stages when it was all over my rocks, I still get odd growths now but easier to manage

I considered the UV but when the dinos turned out to be SCA which don't go into the water as much I went with the other known safe remedy for SCA which was the waterglass. From everything I've read, there is no known issues for fish or coral with high levels of Silicate or waterglass (which is basically pure silicate) even when levels were crazy over recommended 2ppg levels. So I don't think that caused the issue, plus 2 established fish died before that started. I could get the UV anyway but as of now I don't want to kill off any good guys since I'm just two weeks removed from my last SCA dino but maybe in the future I can add one. I don't really think the GHA is an issue anymore because if I pluck it out (comes out crazy easy) no more grows in it's place. The Cyano is really the only thing now still out of control. Hopefully it dies out soon.