HELP! All my tangs are DEAD!

[Drewcipher]

Sorry, google for O2 tests. I am pretty sure tetra makes one. If you want the best method, or at least sufficient for our purposes, go check in with Randy. He will probably be able to point you to a good one.

 

[dj synystr]

thanks. as i said my routine is pretty stable with my tank EVERYTHNG is automated. down to auto top off. the onlything i do is feed and i do that the same time every time i feed. my house only consists of me so its not like that routine changed. as for adding fish i added all of those fish very slow following the add one fish at t ime wait a month or so before adding another. i wasnt cancelling out the 02 thing it just didnt make sense to me with all nothing changing in my house, tank, food, lights, equipment. other than water change with fresh ro water. could the water change have done it with the ro water? it was sitting in the container for a few eeks with the heater in and i used an powerhead to stir it up for a while before adding it into the tank.

 

[integlikewhoa]

I say 02 or food. But we wernt there and you have shut down everyhing we said so i think we are done here.

 

[dj synystr]

dj88 im not an idiot don't talk to me like a child! i understand how it works. never said i didnt. and why would it have taken 6 months for this to happen? it was an overnight thing. you mean to tell me this whole time i have been walking that line with having power outages, equipemnt failer and all that. doubtfull. im thinking it has to be the water from my water change. maybe it didnt have enough 02 in that water.

 

[Drewcipher]

Did you test the water prior to putting it in? I never let new water sit around for more than a week before using it. Maybe something got in there. Was it a new bag of salt? Maybe salt was bad?

Something changed, we just don't know what. And I wasn't questioning how you put these fish in, I was suggesting that you get a baseline of levels in your tank for O2 and when you add something test again to see if it is affected and by how much.

Let us know what happens.

 

[Gobie]

Do you have a refugium or algae in the tank? During the day algae uses co2 and produces oxygen. If you have the lights out over your refugium the algae is communing oxygen and producing co2.

 

[dj synystr]

oh i know, i was just lettign you know i didnt just dump 5 tnags in the tank at a shot. the salt was the same salt i have been using from the same 5 gallon bucket. does an ro unit remove all o2 from the water?

 

[dj synystr]

yes i have a refugium/ frag tank and a sump.

 

[meemoo]

hi gobie

 

[Drewcipher]

I don't believe an ro unit would affect O2. When were the filters last changed? Maybe it is not working effectively.

 

[mhurley]

The water change could have pushed it, depending on how you mix up the water. I know people that toss in a powerhead for a few hours and do the change. I know others that mix it with a huge pump and a very large air bubbler for days before using it.

So if that water change was low in O2, perhaps that, combined with the other factors started the chain reaction. Night falls, O2 levels naturally fall in the tank...being depressed a little further by the water change water....

There is going to be no sure fire way to know for sure without use of a Way-Back machine but I think your system was walking a fine line and something pushed it over the edge.

Tonight, at the same time roughly, take a glass of water from the tank...Measure its' pH (BTW, are you using a meter or test kits?).
Then, take that glass and put it outside on the porch with an airpump and an airstone in it, plug it in for 30 minutes.
Retest the pH. Any different?

This is no longer a perfect test since 4 of your large animals are gone from the system but it might help give you an idea.

 

[andycook]

dj synystr, what are the dimensions of the tank?

 

[dj synystr]

regular 125 gallon, 6' by 18" by 24 high. i am really starting to think it was the ro water having a lack of 02 in it. i did about a 13 gallon change.

 

[dj synystr]

oh sorry test kit with liquid drops.

 

[Gobie]

Are your refugium lights on 24/7?

Hi meemoo

 

[dj synystr]

nah they go out when the last light goes out in the tank.

 

[Gobie]

There is your cause of death the plants sucked up all the oxygen that was left after the water change.

 

[Drewcipher]

Can you run the refugium lights on a reverse cycle from the tank. That is a better way to keep the system stable.

 

[dj synystr]

yeah i can. does an ro/di unit remove the o2 in the water coming out of it?

 

[Gobie]

Yes an RO unit does remove oxygen and itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s better to run your refugium 24/7 no dark cycle. This way you only produce oxygen not consume it.