OK, if anybody is wondering what happens when you have a really high potassium level, I can tell you. I have a mixed reef, with tangs, anthias, wrasses and clowns. This was not an experiment, just a result of stubbornness and not taking advice.
K 5-600 anthias die
700-800: Clams appear unhappy. Wrasses die
900: tangs die. Acros begin losing tissue. Some montis bleached. Clams die. Things die rapidly.
My gem tang and clowns were unaffected. Most of my corals looked fine or unhappy... some of my acros and LPS had less PE. 1 of 3 montis began to bleach. My Maxima clam was partially closed; my gigas clam gaped and died
I attribute it to K since ll the fish behaved normally, looked normal, then would lose appetite for 2 days and just die, or disappear. No abnormalities, worms etc on post mortem exams.
The reason my potassium was high is because I switched to an alkalinity supplement with potassium in it. I did the initial math wrong and overdosed. My k went from 450 to 600 then hovered there for a few months; I attributed problems at that level to anthias fighting leading to attrition.
It slowly began to climb/fluctuate over the next 2-3 months and I lost a wrasse or two but did not connect it the high K.
Then 2 weeks ago I got an ICP back...it spiked to 900 (no dosing change) and stuff had just started dying daily. I picked out my scopes tang, my clam, then the next day my powder blue tang. I realized prior issues were probably due to my high potassium. My CUC (which is small) was less active. Snails were on the ground, writhing.
I immediately did 3x 30% water change. Repeat ICP is being sent tomorrow. My remaining clam immediately opened up and was happier.. I think it will get me down to 500, which is fine as far as I am concerned. Hopefully in the next two weeks I'll see how everything recovers. Looking forward to that ICP coming back looking much better.
So if anyone is wondering how high you can get potassium before it really starts to get bad...900
K 5-600 anthias die
700-800: Clams appear unhappy. Wrasses die
900: tangs die. Acros begin losing tissue. Some montis bleached. Clams die. Things die rapidly.
My gem tang and clowns were unaffected. Most of my corals looked fine or unhappy... some of my acros and LPS had less PE. 1 of 3 montis began to bleach. My Maxima clam was partially closed; my gigas clam gaped and died
I attribute it to K since ll the fish behaved normally, looked normal, then would lose appetite for 2 days and just die, or disappear. No abnormalities, worms etc on post mortem exams.
The reason my potassium was high is because I switched to an alkalinity supplement with potassium in it. I did the initial math wrong and overdosed. My k went from 450 to 600 then hovered there for a few months; I attributed problems at that level to anthias fighting leading to attrition.
It slowly began to climb/fluctuate over the next 2-3 months and I lost a wrasse or two but did not connect it the high K.
Then 2 weeks ago I got an ICP back...it spiked to 900 (no dosing change) and stuff had just started dying daily. I picked out my scopes tang, my clam, then the next day my powder blue tang. I realized prior issues were probably due to my high potassium. My CUC (which is small) was less active. Snails were on the ground, writhing.
I immediately did 3x 30% water change. Repeat ICP is being sent tomorrow. My remaining clam immediately opened up and was happier.. I think it will get me down to 500, which is fine as far as I am concerned. Hopefully in the next two weeks I'll see how everything recovers. Looking forward to that ICP coming back looking much better.
So if anyone is wondering how high you can get potassium before it really starts to get bad...900
