# white and cloudy



## newby30gallon (Jan 15, 2010)

recently bought a royal gramma, mid part of fish turning white, no spots appears to be shedding. tested water everything normal. any ideas?


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

Can you post a photo of the fish please? Also include the water params for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, and calcium, spg/salinity, size of the tank, tank mates, how long it has been set up, water temp, and equipment you are using, etc. The more info you provide the faster we can sort it out.


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## newby30gallon (Jan 15, 2010)

thank you for your response. found him dead under a rock. had him/her for a week, ph 8.2, amon/nitra/ nitri 0.0, phos .5, kh 11, cal 380ppm. i believe the stress may have done it.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

It could have been stress in combination with a number of other things. 380 is pretty low for calcium... should work on getting that up to about 420 before you consider any other animals in that tank.

Did you quarantine the fish first?


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## newby30gallon (Jan 15, 2010)

did not quaranteen first, i will be setting up a tank this week. i do have a false clown and firefish and they are doing well. so i am curious about this issue.

do you know of any posts on here i can read up on?

thanks


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

Sorry, I don't have time to scroll the threads looking for that stuff. Maybe someone else can guide you to it. Long term, calcium level that is too low or too high will cause damage to the fish and cause their organs to stop functioning normally. Calcium levels in a marine tank are extremely important for fish and inverts alike. Low or high Calcium can also throw off other levels in the water chemistry. I would strongly urge you to get that stabilized before attempting to add anything else to the tank, including live rock. Animals in particular will use up what calcium is in the system, and if it isn't replenished enough, the level will just continue to fall. That is a common silent killer in marine systems.


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## Pasfur (Mar 29, 2008)

From a water quality standpoint, I consider calcium and alkalinity testing to be highly important. For the most part, when you test ammonia and nitrite you know that the results will be zero. The test doesn't tell you much unless positive, in which case it is after a problem has occurred.

Testing for alkalinity and calcium gives you information before serious problems occur. Making adjustments at this stage is easy, and just requires a buffer and calcium supplement. More details can be found here:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...calcium-testing-important-every-marine-33079/


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

Thanks for posting that link Pasfur.


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