4 dead fish this morning...others in danger?

[Lowell Lemon]

I don't use febreze because it makes my cats puke, so no. I avoid aerosols in general because they're horrible for the environment and air. I cleaned the salt lines off the outside from me messing with the tank with Windex, but I sprayed it on the towel instead of directly on the glass.

Windex is an ammonia source and should never be used around an aquarium. Soap residue on your hands is another toxin for fish tanks. Make sure to wipe tanks with just a damp (water only) cotton cloth and a dry clean cloth to prevent water streaks.

It is possible the cleaning killed the fish coupled with soap residue from you hands. Some gloves may have contamination that could harm fish depending on the manufacturing process.

 

[15aleo]

Windex is an ammonia source and should never be used around an aquarium. Soap residue on your hands is another toxin for fish tanks. Make sure to wipe tanks with just a damp (water only) cotton cloth and a dry clean cloth to prevent water streaks.

It is possible the cleaning killed the fish coupled with soap residue from you hands. Some gloves may have contamination that could harm fish depending on the manufacturing process.

The Windex was done maybe 2 weeks ago, but I won't use it again.

I used the same gloves that I use for piercing, and saw almost identical gloves being suggested for handling anemones. I can't say all soap was off my hands as you can't tell if it's all off.. I rinsed for a long time afterward.

 

[15aleo]

Update: took a water sample to PetCo. Their test wasn’t API, and says

Nitrate 0-20
Nitrite 0-0.5
Kh 300
Ph 7.8-8.4
Ammonia trace, just above 0 but not quite 0.25
PetCo apparently keeps their salinity at 1.020.

…my refractometer was way off. I thought my tank was at 1.025, but it was closer to 1.03 when she tested it

Neither PetCo nor PetSmart had any sticker parameter packs or hydrometers in stock for me to double check, but I picked up some Tetra test strips just so I have a second kind. And I’ve recalibrated the refractometer..again. I’m going to do daily 10% water changes until the salinity is slowly brought down and parameters get better. The lady at PetCo thinks the only reason everything didn’t die was because I drip acclimated them for an hour.

 

[Tamberav]

Update: took a water sample to PetCo. Their test wasn’t API, and says

Nitrate 0-20
Nitrite 0-0.5
Kh 300
Ph 7.8-8.4
Ammonia trace, just above 0 but not quite 0.25
PetCo apparently keeps their salinity at 1.020.

…my refractometer was way off. I thought my tank was at 1.025, but it was closer to 1.03 when she tested it

Neither PetCo nor PetSmart had any sticker parameter packs or hydrometers in stock for me to double check, but I picked up some Tetra test strips just so I have a second kind. And I’ve recalibrated the refractometer..again. I’m going to do daily 10% water changes until the salinity is slowly brought down and parameters get better. The lady at PetCo thinks the only reason everything didn’t die was because I drip acclimated them for an hour.

I would agree that 1.020 to 1.030... an hour would not be long enough. This is likely the cause. I would check calibration every time you use it. It just takes a few drops anyways. Some brands can drift a fair amount between use.

Let your current fish settle and give it two weeks or so. Be sure to research and pick out appropriate fish since some of those misc pecto clown/damsel fish grow to 5 inches and get very mean. Snails will probably be appropriate at some point when the micro film algae starts.

 

[Danroo]

I’m glad this was a good investment didn’t realize the refractometer could be way off.

Hanna Salinity Tester HI98319 Amazon product

 

[LeftyReefer]

Update: took a water sample to PetCo. Their test wasn’t API, and says

Nitrate 0-20
Nitrite 0-0.5
Kh 300
Ph 7.8-8.4
Ammonia trace, just above 0 but not quite 0.25
PetCo apparently keeps their salinity at 1.020.

…my refractometer was way off. I thought my tank was at 1.025, but it was closer to 1.03 when she tested it

Which is what I suggested back in post #54. Your salinity level is higher than you think. Its a common mistake by new reefers. Couple that with the fact that most fish stores keep their salinity lower than most home reefs. Equaled a bad outcome. You should always check the store/shipping water and your water before adding any livestock... if they aren't close, then you need to adjust the fish slowly. Fish can adapt to a wide range of salt levels, but they need to do it slowly... big jumps can and will kill them.

At least you were able to learn this lesson with some common fish and not something rare or expensive.

good luck with restocking and your remaining fish.

 

[blaxsun]

I’m glad this was a good investment didn’t realize the refractometer could be way off.

Hanna Salinity Tester HI98319 Amazon product

When you calibrate, make sure you place the sealed calibration solution in your tank for 10-15 minutes prior. Otherwise it’s likely to be off until you recalibrate.

Glad you were able to eventually track down the (suspected) issue.

 

[15aleo]

Which is what I suggested back in post #54. Your salinity level is higher than you think. Its a common mistake by new reefers. Couple that with the fact that most fish stores keep their salinity lower than most home reefs. Equaled a bad outcome. You should always check the store/shipping water and your water before adding any livestock... if they aren't close, then you need to adjust the fish slowly. Fish can adapt to a wide range of salt levels, but they need to do it slowly... big jumps can and will kill them.

At least you were able to learn this lesson with some common fish and not something rare or expensive.

good luck with restocking and your remaining fish.

Yup, you were right. I feel terrible, but I definitely learned an important lesson. I'm going to recalibrate the refractometer every single time from now on, and try to get another way to test so I can double check everything.

Thank you. The remaining cardinalfish fish made it through another night, not breathing heavy, hungry, and not hovering near the surface, so I'm hopeful they'll make it. The hermit crabs are busy doing their own thing playing king of the hill on the rock scape, so I'm hopeful they'll make it too.

 

[Frostblitz20]

Yup, you were right. I feel terrible, but I definitely learned an important lesson. I'm going to recalibrate the refractometer every single time from now on, and try to get another way to test so I can double check everything.

Thank you. The remaining cardinalfish fish made it through another night, not breathing heavy, hungry, and not hovering near the surface, so I'm hopeful they'll make it. The hermit crabs are busy doing their own thing playing king of the hill on the rock scape, so I'm hopeful they'll make it too.

If you got money to spend and dont want to recalibrate the refractometer everytime i would look into a Hanna Saltwater tester. they run about 49.00$ and they check temp too.

 

[15aleo]

I would agree that 1.020 to 1.030... an hour would not be long enough. This is likely the cause. I would check calibration every time you use it. It just takes a few drops anyways. Some brands can drift a fair amount between use.

Let your current fish settle and give it two weeks or so. Be sure to research and pick out appropriate fish since some of those misc pecto clown/damsel fish grow to 5 inches and get very mean. Snails will probably be appropriate at some point when the micro film algae starts.

I'm going to recalibrate it every time, and I'm going to get a second way to test for salinity so I can always double check everything. The lady at PetCo also said she'd be more than happy to double check my water any time, and since it's only 5 minutes away it'd be worth it.

I'm honestly probably going to give it at least another month before I try adding anything new to the tank because now I'm even more nervous and I don't want to be a fish mass murderer. It also looks like on top of more research, I'm going to have to double check everything when the saltwater lady isn't at PetCo because the rest of the staff is clueless.

 

[15aleo]

If you got money to spend and dont want to recalibrate the refractometer everytime i would look into a Hanna Saltwater tester. they run about 49.00$ and they check temp too.

I'll probably get that then, and maybe also a hydrometer to triple check. I have 2 thermometers (one on each side) and my heater also shows the temperature. I learned with my FW tank to double check a lot of stuff, looks like I'll have to triple check with the SW.