may I get some advice please.

[SALTWATER FISH HIPPIE]

long story short. my refractometer was way off. this is all my fault and I feel horrible about it. as I had not calibrated. anyhow I had just put a small Scopas Tang into the tank and it was in the aquarium for over 30 hours before I caught the error. I have slowly dropped salinity down to 1.026. is there any chance the fish will survive. its swimming and alert. has lost appetite and unfortunately has sunken belly. any advice would be appreciated. I had had a pair of clown in the tank for couple of months who are and have been doing fine. I noticed the change in the Scopas after 24 hours but did not catch the refracto for another 6 hours. so mad at myself right now.

 

[SALTWATER FISH HIPPIE]

also use same refracto on my other tank. I had noticed a lower than normal reading.but had not made any adjustments as tank is 3 years old. fish and inverts acting normal and appear happy. but after re calibration its a little high but nothing like the tank I put Scopas in.

 

[Garf]

long story short. my refractometer was way off. this is all my fault and I feel horrible about it. as I had not calibrated. anyhow I had just put a small Scopas Tang into the tank and it was in the aquarium for over 30 hours before I caught the error. I have slowly dropped salinity down to 1.026. is there any chance the fish will survive. its swimming and alert. has lost appetite and unfortunately has sunken belly. any advice would be appreciated. I had had a pair of clown in the tank for couple of months who are and have been doing fine. I noticed the change in the Scopas after 24 hours but did not catch the refracto for another 6 hours. so mad at myself right now.

Is it now calibrated with a 35ppt solution, not RODI? How high was it reading before?

 

[SALTWATER FISH HIPPIE]

Is it now calibrated with a 35ppt solution, not RODI? How high was it reading before?

Is it now calibrated with a 35ppt solution, not RODI? How high was it reading before?

calibrated with rodii water. I am also using a common plastic hydrometer to compare. I know I am pathetic. I am looking at a glass hydrometer for aquarium use. refracto reading was 1.029 before lowering. with that said I am ordering calibration fluid right now. 35 ppt.

do you think the fish can survive?

 

[Garf]

calibrated with rodii water. I am also using a common plastic hydrometer to compare. I know I am pathetic. I am looking at a glass hydrometer for aquarium use. refracto reading was 1.029 before lowering. with that said I am ordering calibration fluid right now. 35 ppt.

do you think the fish can survive?

Fishy peeps will be along soon but I expect it'll be ok salinity wise. They will want to look at the sunken belly, in white light I expect.

 

[Garf]

calibrated with rodii water. I am also using a common plastic hydrometer to compare. I know I am pathetic. I am looking at a glass hydrometer for aquarium use. refracto reading was 1.029 before lowering. with that said I am ordering calibration fluid right now. 35 ppt.

do you think the fish can survive?

By the way, there's a DIY salinity calibration link in my sig.

 

[SALTWATER FISH HIPPIE]

Fishy peeps will be along soon but I expect it'll be ok salinity wise. They will want to look at the sunken belly, in white light I expect.

thank you. I had never used a refractometer till about a year ago.i am pretty much self taught. I had always used a plastic hydrometer for a decade. I switched to refractometer and checked calibration when I first got it with rodi. I did a comparison using the refractometer and the hydrometer to be sure they matched. I have been using the refractometer since but failed to calibrate. I only have fish and inverts.

 

[SALTWATER FISH HIPPIE]

By the way, there's a DIY salinity calibration link in my sig.

thank you

 

[Garf]

tasted the tank water

Not the most accurate method, lol

 

[SALTWATER FISH HIPPIE]

Not the most accurate method, lol

lol I agree but rodi was a little bland.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

long story short. my refractometer was way off. this is all my fault and I feel horrible about it. as I had not calibrated. anyhow I had just put a small Scopas Tang into the tank and it was in the aquarium for over 30 hours before I caught the error. I have slowly dropped salinity down to 1.026. is there any chance the fish will survive. its swimming and alert. has lost appetite and unfortunately has sunken belly. any advice would be appreciated. I had had a pair of clown in the tank for couple of months who are and have been doing fine. I noticed the change in the Scopas after 24 hours but did not catch the refracto for another 6 hours. so mad at myself right now.

Do you know the actual salinity that the tang was coming from before it was acclimated to your tank at 1,029? What can happen is that a large rise in salinity can cause a fish to dehydrate and that can cause fish to suddenly look skinny.

There are too many variables to hazard a guess as to the outcome here, but you’ve done what you can I think.

 

[ScottJ]

thank you. I had never used a refractometer till about a year ago.i am pretty much self taught. I had always used a plastic hydrometer for a decade. I switched to refractometer and checked calibration when I first got it with rodi. I did a comparison using the refractometer and the hydrometer to be sure they matched. I have been using the refractometer since but failed to calibrate. I only have fish and inverts.

I have found that my refractometer needs to be calibrated every single time I use it. I calibrate with cal fluid, check tanks upstairs, carry it (in its case) downstairs to prep the water change water, and recheck the calibration. It's off. Sometimes only 1 or 2 points, sometimes 5 or 6. And this isn't a bargain basement refractometer, either. Not super expensive, but not cheep.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ive seen high rate of survival with this scenario and note, you can quickly drop salinity but must be Very gradual in raising salinity. Its current health and water quality and proper diet will offer it best chances. Offer foods such as plankton, mysis shrimp, PRS fish frenzy, tdo pellets and spirulina brine shrimp

 

[GARRIGA]

LFS might have been running low salinity and why best find out what that was. Might be best placing tang in QT at or near that salinity since it's already been exposed to higher. Assuming tank isn't fish only because in that case might be easier bringing tank to lower salinity. Wait on Tang to recover then bring entire tank to spec although running fish only at lower salinity doesn't hurt.

Can't stress enough why QT so valuable as one can put those parameters to best accept new arrivals and bring them up slowly to tank parameters. Plus a few days in observation eases thoughts of possibly carrying something not wanted.

 

[MnFish1]

long story short. my refractometer was way off. this is all my fault and I feel horrible about it. as I had not calibrated. anyhow I had just put a small Scopas Tang into the tank and it was in the aquarium for over 30 hours before I caught the error. I have slowly dropped salinity down to 1.026. is there any chance the fish will survive. its swimming and alert. has lost appetite and unfortunately has sunken belly. any advice would be appreciated. I had had a pair of clown in the tank for couple of months who are and have been doing fine. I noticed the change in the Scopas after 24 hours but did not catch the refracto for another 6 hours. so mad at myself right now.

Fish tolerate lowering high salinity lower than the other way around as already described. I would be concerned that the symptoms you're describing do not have anything to do with the salinity unless as Jay said, there was a very low salinity in the LFS.

 

[SALTWATER FISH HIPPIE]

LFS might have been running low salinity and why best find out what that was. Might be best placing tang in QT at or near that salinity since it's already been exposed to higher. Assuming tank isn't fish only because in that case might be easier bringing tank to lower salinity. Wait on Tang to recover then bring entire tank to spec although running fish only at lower salinity doesn't hurt.

Can't stress enough why QT so valuable as one can put those parameters to best accept new arrivals and bring them up slowly to tank parameters. Plus a few days in observation eases thoughts of possibly carrying something not wanted.

It’s fish only w a couple cleaner shrimp and a few hermits. I have calibration fluid on the way and have it down to 1.026 using rodi to calibrate till then. Also using a plastic hydrometer to compare. I can’t believe I forgot about calibration. Feel really bad. This little scopas is bar far one of my favorite fish and I messed up. Lesson learned will not make this mistake again.

 

[GARRIGA]

It’s fish only w a couple cleaner shrimp and a few hermits. I have calibration fluid on the way and have it down to 1.026 using rodi to calibrate till then. Also using a plastic hydrometer to compare. I can’t believe I forgot about calibration. Feel really bad. This little scopas is bar far one of my favorite fish and I messed up. Lesson learned will not make this mistake again.

If salinity the most likely culprit then WC not best course of action. Removing water and letting ATO do it's thing as it appears you are doing my approach. Way less stressful then large volume change of water which might be grossly off from that it replaces causing more stress. This reminds of another discussion I'm currently participating in where shot gun medication used in QT vs attacking the root cause present.

Have you considered an observation tank set to LFS salinity and major parameters? Easier to make minor adjustments there bringing new inhabitants to match main display plus ample time to evaluate if it brings other unwanted hitchhikers such as ich or fluke. LFS might be running lower salinity and copper medicated hiding these issues to only then become present once removed from their tanks.

 

[SALTWATER FISH HIPPIE]

If salinity the most likely culprit then WC not best course of action. Removing water and letting ATO do it's thing as it appears you are doing my approach. Way less stressful then large volume change of water which might be grossly off from that it replaces causing more stress. This reminds of another discussion I'm currently participating in where shot gun medication used in QT vs attacking the root cause present.

Have you considered an observation tank set to LFS salinity and major parameters? Easier to make minor adjustments there bringing new inhabitants to match main display plus ample time to evaluate if it brings other unwanted hitchhikers such as ich or fluke. LFS might be running lower salinity and copper medicated hiding these issues to only then become present once removed from their tanks.

Very good idea on the observation tank. I normally purchase local but had this one shipped. But that is a very good idea. Thank you for your replies. Hopefully it will come out of it but looking doubtful. He was eating very well at first. Got up next day and found out my salinity was off. Clued in by the fish acting completely different w sunken belly. My fault totally. Like I said I won’t let this mistake happen again.