Water Change Problem

avanmg88 · Aug 7, 2022

A few days ago I recently did a routine water change on my aquarium and when I plugged all of my equipment back in, everything seemed off. First, my Rainsford and Mandarin Dragonette were showing weird swimming patterns. The Rainsford normally liked to hang out in front of his hole but now he was sporadically swimming throughout the water column making me think he was trying to jump. At the same time, the Mandarin went into the corner of the tank instead of cruising through the rocks. I went to run some errands and came home to a dead Mandarin and a missing Rainsford that popped up dead the next day. Along with this, my new corals I ordered (specifically my acros) have lost all color and are now dull and showing signs of tissue loss. I think this is due to me pouring the new saltwater on top of them but I'm not too sure. Can anyone explain what has happened and how to help me bring back my acros colors?

Tank Specs and Parameters:
IM Nuvo 20
Salinity: 1.026
Cal: 410 ppm
Alk: 6.4 dKH
Phosphate: 0.36
Nitrate: 10-20 ppm

MaxTremors · Aug 7, 2022

Your alk is low and your phosphates are really high, which could be why your acros lost coloration. I suspect, based what you explained and the behavior of your fish that you’ve got some stray electrical current running through your tank. I would get a grounding probe, but in the meantime you can test to see if that is the cause:

Hole in the Head Disease in Saltwater Fish

Hole-in-the-head disease (HITH), also called lateral line erosion, causes erosive pits in a fish's head. Learn the causes, treatment, and prevention.

www.thesprucepets.com

homer1475 · Aug 7, 2022

Agree with the above.

A WC should not cause any of the issues you saw, specially killing a fish. As long as the temp, alk, and salinity match with the water your removing, none of that should have been an issue.

Alk is super low, 6.4 is about where calcification stops.

0.3 is at the extreme upper end of the scale, and could be most of your issue with the acros.