Chloroquine Phosphate cause yellow water?

[Funkateer_1]

I recently treated a 4,000 gallon retail system with NFP Chloroquine Phosphate. The treatment was successful and fish are healthy but the water has turned very yellow, much like driftwood in a FW tank. The treatment killed all the algae in a nearly 30 year old system so I assume that is the cause of my troubles. Damsels and chromis seem to dropping quick as well. Water quality shows no NH3 or NO2. Nitrates are under 20.

The system runs an RK2 venturi skimmer rated at 20,000 gallons, 1,000w Aqua UV viper unit, and I recently added about 10 pounds of high-grade carbon. I have changed about 10% of the water (the system uses only RO/DI so changing large volumes is difficult). Any ideas on how to fix this...?

 

[HumbleFish]

Never seen CP turn the water yellow (although it's probably from the algae die off). My CP will sometimes turn the water a little cloudy; I suspect that's from the 1% binder.

If you got your CP from NFP, then it's likely not pharmaceutical grade 99% pure CP. My understanding is NFP is getting their CP from Fishman Chemical, an unreliable source.

 

[alprazo]

I have treated tanks full of algae and have never seen the water turn yellow. It could be a binder or other impurity. Brown algae does have some tannins in it and possibly it is from that. Have the fish improved or are you still seeing signs of disease? I would question the substance you put in. Quinacrine, which should not be unavailable in the US because of lack of manufactures, at least for humans, will turn the water yellow.

 

[Funkateer_1]

Generally speaking fish are doing well. When I first administered the treatment, fish acted lethargic, rabbitfish especially stopped eating and flared up. Now fish are doing well. Damsels and chromis seemed to not do well at first and I could see redness behind their gills. I put Seachem Focus in the food for about a week and they started doing better. I got in about 300 chromis today and seem to be doing well.

Only real issue is yellow water. Its just bad because we are a LFS and yellow water is very unflattering. I swapped the UV bulbs yesterday (4 x 250w halides) and we'll see if that helps.

 

[Randyp79]

I can't remember where I read it, but I vaguely recall that UV light can degrade CP and cause it to turn water brown. If you are running UV and there is still large amounts of CP in the water then this might be your problem. I have always used carbon to remove my CP and it works quick and well.

 

[MrTuskfish]

I can't remember where I read it, but I vaguely recall that UV light can degrade CP and cause it to turn water brown. If you are running UV and there is still large amounts of CP in the water then this might be your problem. I have always used carbon to remove my CP and it works quick and well.

Right on the UV degrading CP. With UV running, I doubt if any useful CP is still in the water. I'd run carbon, turn off the UV, and re-dose.