Made a mistake on pico tank by not double checking salinity. Dying monti etc.

[Tham121988]

So last night I had the unfortunate event to have 2 of my tanks have issues. In my larger tank, my long-nosed hawkfish died for an unknown reason all of a sudden. I've posted another thread for that one. My pride and joy 7 gallon pico had a salinity crash (due to my own stupidity) and I whited out montiporas and a favia that I've been growing for about a year now. Half of the jedi mind trick monti whited out in just one night. That's when I realized the salinity was off. It has ALWAYS been 1.026 and it dropped to 1.023. I know exactly what I did.

So how this occurred is I was doing a water change. I forgot to turn off the auto top off system and when I removed rocks it dropped the water level obviously and started putting in ro/di water. Instead of allowing it to just evaporate out, I stupidly removed saltwater from the system. With it only being 7 gallons this had a devastating effect on the salinity and I didn't think or notice the signs until I saw bleaching.

Half of my jedi montipora i've had for a year is toast like I said. I am having to wait 1 hour before I can go to the aquarium store to get more saltwater to rectify the situation. They don't open until 11 local. These are the things that make me want to quit the hobby. 1 day ago this tank was pristine and now I'm reeling to save what is dying. Should I slowly add salt to the aquarium or fill up the aquarium a little higher and let the water evaporate to rebalance it?

 

[doodledreads]

Definetly do not add salt directly to the system, that would likely cause more damage. If it were me, I would slowly but consistantly bring the water's salinity to normal over an hour - just like acclimating new corals. Hypo Salinity can kill corals - not just bleach them. Good luck.

Edit: Saw the new salinity is still acceptable and not considered "Hypo", still the sudden change can cause stress in coral due to osmosis.

 

[Tham121988]

Definetly do not add salt directly to the system, that would likely cause more damage. If it were me, I would slowly but consistantly bring the water's salinity to normal over an hour - just like acclimating new corals. Hypo Salinity can kill corals - not just bleach them. Good luck.

Well I meant of course dissolving in small amounts of ro/di water. Its slowly coming back up and my gorgonian is starting to show polyps again so fingers crossed the few that bleached will be able to recover.

 

[Justin Cook]

I would add saltwater as the top off. That normally take a while but on a 7 gallon tank it'll go pretty quick. It was probably the shock that did them in and at this point I'd try to adjust it slowly. If the salinity got back up to 1.026 too quick, it would be just as shocking.

 

[Tham121988]

I would add saltwater as the top off. That normally take a while but on a 7 gallon tank it'll go pretty quick. It was probably the shock that did them in and at this point I'd try to adjust it slowly. If the salinity got back up to 1.026 too quick, it would be just as shocking.

Yeah, I'm sure it was. Just so unfortunate that it was an error on my end. And everything was going so well. I am slowly adjusting it now. Should I remove the dead part of the monti or just leave it be?

 

[Justin Cook]

If it were me, I'd let it ride for a while. Honestly, there's probably no harm in trimming off the dead parts at this point but I always err on the side of caution and trimming it might be a little stressful. These things happen and stuff like this is the part of the hobby that stinks. Bet you won't do it twice but it's still a rough lesson. I would slowly bring the salinity up, the damage has been done, and once things settle a bit, trim the dead stuff off.

 

[doodledreads]

If the current salinity is truly 1.023, then it is still in acceptable range. It's probabbly the shock that caused the bleaching. So make the corrections very slowly back to where things were.

I reeeeally advise investing in a RODI unit. It will pay for itself very quicly both in time and money.

 

[brandon429]

before making any changes, how would you prove your salinity test is accurate
that has to be verified first

 

[doodledreads]

before making any changes, how would you prove your salinity test is accurate
that has to be verified first

I agree. Establish the current salinity accurately. Double check. Also measure the other params - everything. It would give you a base line.

 

[Tham121988]

If it were me, I'd let it ride for a while. Honestly, there's probably no harm in trimming off the dead parts at this point but I always err on the side of caution and trimming it might be a little stressful. These things happen and stuff like this is the part of the hobby that stinks. Bet you won't do it twice but it's still a rough lesson. I would slowly bring the salinity up, the damage has been done, and once things settle a bit, trim the dead stuff off.

You are exactly right. Double and triple checking from now on. Unfortunately this was a hard way to learn that lesson!

 

[Tham121988]

If the current salinity is truly 1.023, then it is still in acceptable range. It's probabbly the shock that caused the bleaching. So make the corrections very slowly back to where things were.

I reeeeally advise investing in a RODI unit. It will pay for itself very quicly both in time and money.

I have a few at my parents house. I'm just currently in medical school (MD) and don't have time to deal with all of that. Much easier to grab water from the local fish store. Hopefully in a few years I can get that set back up again and have more time. Until then, its LFS water.

 

[Tham121988]

before making any changes, how would you prove your salinity test is accurate
that has to be verified first

Measured my other tank and the water I got from the LFS. Both 1.026. Measured the other aquarium it was 1.023. I tested a dozen times each. 100% sure this is accurate. Also, I check against pure ro/di that measured 0.