# Salinity problem



## bugoy

i have a problem, i setup a 75gallon aquarium last dec 2006 w/ 4 clown fish, 4 blue yellow tail damsel and a wrasse.. suddenly yesterday may 20, 2008 
1 wrasse, 3 clown fish, 2 yellow tail damsel died one by one up to right now as i got home from work... they started dying yesterday when i also got home from work.

and as i checked my water params, i was shocked salinity level is at 1.04 ? is that whats causing their death ? all my fish are 1 year old above and i bought them really small and now they have grown up and i was really sad seeing them dead realizing i bought them babies and i successfully raised them to how big they were right now and just die one by one

can someone give me advice right away what to do ? 

all is left are 2 yelllow tail damsel a clown fish

Thanks!


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## bugoy

i don't have corals or anemone by the way just the fish and live rocks and some small crabs i think there were 6-8 w/c i just remember all started dying too w/ the other fish


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## bugoy

and i just noticed right now, one of the remaining blue w/ yellow tail damsel has a huge white spot on it's body, chalk like white and has an almost red spot on the center, what is that ? he seems to be still strong and alive


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## seba

Your salinity level is high should be about 1.022 -->1.024, did you add anything to the tank recently, what are your water paremeters?(amonia,nitrite,nitrate,ph), I would start off with a 15% - 20% water change and get the salinity to carect specs.


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## bugoy

seba said:


> Your salinity level is high should be about 1.022 -->1.024, did you add anything to the tank recently, what are your water paremeters?(amonia,nitrite,nitrate,ph), I would start off with a 15% - 20% water change and get the salinity to carect specs.


i remember i added a fish forgot what it is called the blue fish on the movie Finding Nemo, he died a day after i bought him last january 2008.


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## bugoy

just an update the blue yellow tail damsel just died.. now i only have 3 left 2 clowns and a damsel no signs of what i saw on the damsel that just died so far


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## MattD

You are in a predicament, to say the least.

You are required to remove buckets and buckets of water, replacing the water with fresh water, unsalted. This will adjust the salt levels to be within an acceptable range (1.022 - 1.025, some keepers steady it at 1.026 though). This adjustment will need to be done relatively slowly, the fish are already extremely stressed and further duress could break them entirely. Pace yourself when adding the freshwater or the salinity flux could be the last finishing blow.

Time is critical, get to work my friend or there will be a lot more dead fish where those came from.


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## bugoy

MattD said:


> You are in a predicament, to say the least.
> 
> You are required to remove buckets and buckets of water, replacing the water with fresh water, unsalted. This will adjust the salt levels to be within an acceptable range (1.022 - 1.025, some keepers steady it at 1.026 though). This adjustment will need to be done relatively slowly, the fish are already extremely stressed and further duress could break them entirely. Pace yourself when adding the freshwater or the salinity flux could be the last finishing blow.
> 
> Time is critical, get to work my friend or there will be a lot more dead fish where those came from.


 i have started and removed 15 gallons and repleced them w/ fresh water. now salt level is at exactly 1.03 i'll continue tomorrow.

question ? what caused that white chalk like thing that grew on my damsel's belly ? when i got him out of the tank minutes after he died saw the middle part of that white thing like it was bitten by something ?


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## seba

bugoy said:


> seba said:
> 
> 
> 
> Your salinity level is high should be about 1.022 -->1.024, did you add anything to the tank recently, what are your water paremeters?(amonia,nitrite,nitrate,ph), I would start off with a 15% - 20% water change and get the salinity to carect specs.
> 
> 
> 
> i remember i added a fish forgot what it is called the blue fish on the movie Finding Nemo, he died a day after i bought him last january 2008.
Click to expand...

Probobly a Blue Tang, did you quarantiene it for a couple weeks before putting it in. Blue Tangs usually get (carry)ich when you first put it in the tank and they probobly infected all of your fish. This fish req's at lease 125 gal of water.


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## Pasfur

Have you decided on how your salinity became so high?

It appears to me that you have been using salt water to replace evaporated water. Did you realize that salt does not evaporate?  Evaporation replacement should occur with freshwater. You might occassionally replace evaporation with saltwater to account for "salt creep", but this would be rare.


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## bugoy

Pasfur said:


> Have you decided on how your salinity became so high?
> 
> It appears to me that you have been using salt water to replace evaporated water. Did you realize that salt does not evaporate? Evaporation replacement should occur with freshwater. You might occassionally replace evaporation with saltwater to account for "salt creep", but this would be rare.


yep i just realized that now, i;ve been replacing lost water w/ salt water too, i've just replaced it w/ fresh water twice last year when salt was at 1.03 but not as high as it is right now.


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## bugoy

seba said:


> Probobly a Blue Tang, did you quarantiene it for a couple weeks before putting it in. Blue Tangs usually get (carry)ich when you first put it in the tank and they probobly infected all of your fish. This fish req's at lease 125 gal of water.


no i did not quarantine it, so that's the culprit ? ich killed my fish ?


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## Dave66

That and the hypersalinity you had in the tank.

Dave


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## bugoy

ok i'm down to 2 fish now the clown fish to be specific, the remaining damsel died when i got home today and i bought a Pimafix anti-fungal treatment from API http://www.fishandfins.co.uk/pimafix.htm 










what i did right now is removed 25% of my water and replaced it w/ fresh water. now salinity is exactly between 1.02 and 1.03 and i applied 5 ml per 10 gallon as instructed on the medication i bought right now and turned of my filteration system as per instruction of the medication. am i on the right track ?

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## seba

bugoy, try to keep your salinity to more specific readings, 1.02->1.03 is a big difference, also i hope that this treatment you purchased does not have any copper in it. Copper is very hard to remove from your tank once it is already in there.(it will actually sink into your rock,silicone,substrate) and it will kill your inverts and corals.


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## bugoy

how do i know if it has copper ? all is written at the back regarding ingredients are "Active Ingredient: Pimenta Racemosa" ?


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## seba

It usually has a breakdown of all the ingredients on the back, I took a look at the link you provided it says it is safe for coral plants?. maybe someone else has any experience with this treatment.


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## Pasfur

Did you ever see any signs of Ich? Tell me again why we are treating this tank.


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## bugoy

Pasfur said:


> Did you ever see any signs of Ich? Tell me again why we are treating this tank.


7 fish all 1 year old died in two days. don't see anysign of weakness before the day it happened when i just got home from work i just saw it, and the other day i saw 1 out of the 4 remaining fish has a white cotton spot covering half of it's body left side, then when i got home he's dead.

salinity is at 1.04 when i checked now it's down to 1.025 because i changed 25% of my 75 gallon tank w/ fresh water and treated it w/ API Pimafix. 24 hour has passed 2 remaining fish are still normal and strong.

observation after applying pimafix, algea started to melt or disappear from rocks? and white chalk like powder is visible on the rocks what the hell are they ?


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## Pasfur

I don't hear anything in this that sounds like Ich. A picture would help tremendously, both in diagnosing th disease and in explaining the white dust.


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## jumpman23

Maintain the salinity within 1.02 - 1.023

Ur other parameter, nitrite? KH?


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