Help my fish are struggling!

O

ozreef88

New member
Hi Reef Central.

My tank has been up and running for over 2 months now with great success. Over the weekend I purchase some leather corals and I wanted them to be on top of a sloped part of some live rock I have.

My LFS recommended some marine epoxy to stick the base of the corals to the rock.

That all went successfully but I noticed that the epoxy was starting to cloud the water. I was assured that this epoxy is reef safe and non-toxic. It has been 2 days now and the cloudy water has mostly cleared but my fish appear to have problems breathing.

My corals are fine, it's my fish that are struggling. I'm really worried.

I have a 35G tank setup, my readings appear normal. After some initial searches online I read that the breathing issues may be related to the cloudy water removing oxygen from the water?

Help!
 
If the fish look like they are having trouble pumping water through their gills, I would suggest adding an airstone. A water change never hurts :)
 
ozreef88 said:
Hi Reef Central.

My tank has been up and running for over 2 months now with great success. Over the weekend I purchase some leather corals and I wanted them to be on top of a sloped part of some live rock I have.

My LFS recommended some marine epoxy to stick the base of the corals to the rock.

That all went successfully but I noticed that the epoxy was starting to cloud the water. I was assured that this epoxy is reef safe and non-toxic. It has been 2 days now and the cloudy water has mostly cleared but my fish appear to have problems breathing.

My corals are fine, it's my fish that are struggling. I'm really worried.

I have a 35G tank setup, my readings appear normal. After some initial searches online I read that the breathing issues may be related to the cloudy water removing oxygen from the water?

Help!
Click to expand...

Three things right off the bat:

1. Have you tested your water?
2. Did you QT the coral?
3. What is the exact brand of marine epoxy?

Let us know and we can be more help.
 
texdoc77 said:
Three things right off the bat:

1. Have you tested your water?
2. Did you QT the coral?
3. What is the exact brand of marine epoxy?

Let us know and we can be more help.
Click to expand...

1. Yes, my tests seem to be the same as the were prior to adding the epoxy.

2. The corals were not QT'd

3. The epoxy was AquaScape
 
Kremis said:
If the fish look like they are having trouble pumping water through their gills, I would suggest adding an airstone. A water change never hurts :)
Click to expand...

I'll add an air stone to see if that makes any difference. I do have a lot of surface movement from my outlet pump and power head.

Thanks for the advice.
 
Here is the article I assume you found:

http://www.theaquariumsolution.us/aquascape-epoxy-warning-against-incorrect-use

One of the cautions in this article is:

The powdery substance in the putty that can cause cloudiness if over worked is talc. This is inert however if an excessive amount is dispersed in the water then it may possibly further lower the oxygen levels in poorly oxygenated aquariums and cause problems with the fish's breathing.

Increasing the oxygen in the water may be helpful with an airstone or increased surface agitation. A moderate water change may also be helpful, but make sure you do not stress the fish further. Continue to test the water daily to make sure you are staying on top of your parameters. Consider the possibility that the corals could have brought parasites such as marine velvet, brookynella or ich in with them. It is a little too fast to be ich, but could be velvet or brookynella as those hit aquariums fast and hard.

Keep us posted.
 
Run carbon. Annoyed leathers spit. Also do water change, check alkalinity = s/b 8.3.
 
texdoc77 said:
Here is the article I assume you found:

http://www.theaquariumsolution.us/aquascape-epoxy-warning-against-incorrect-use

One of the cautions in this article is:

The powdery substance in the putty that can cause cloudiness if over worked is talc. This is inert however if an excessive amount is dispersed in the water then it may possibly further lower the oxygen levels in poorly oxygenated aquariums and cause problems with the fish's breathing.

Increasing the oxygen in the water may be helpful with an airstone or increased surface agitation. A moderate water change may also be helpful, but make sure you do not stress the fish further. Continue to test the water daily to make sure you are staying on top of your parameters. Consider the possibility that the corals could have brought parasites such as marine velvet, brookynella or ich in with them. It is a little too fast to be ich, but could be velvet or brookynella as those hit aquariums fast and hard.

Keep us posted.
Click to expand...

Currently running an air stone and monitoring things. I'll leave it on for a few hours and see if anything changes.

As soon as I started to notice the cloudyness it was too late. I had a feeling this epoxy stuff was going to cause trouble.
 
ozreef88 said:
I hear this a lot from people but I'm not 100% sure I know what it means yet. Do you think you could clarify that a little bit for me? :spin2::spin2:
Click to expand...

You can buy granular activated carbon or GAC in small containers from bulk reef supply or your LFS. You put some in a small bag (some ppl use pantyhose) and place it in your sump and it adsorbs (chemically bonds) toxins out of the aquarium. It can also make your water more clear/reduce yellowing that occurs normally when we mix saltwater in our tanks.

GAC is more effective if used in a reactor but you probably do not have one of those lying around right now.
 
Update:

I ran with an aerator for a few days. I noticed that my PH started to drop day after day. I lost my sixline wrasse and my decora goby. I lost 1x soft leather coral. My sleeper goby survived but I believe the low PH has caused him to hide in his bolt hole most of the day, he comes out to feed but hides immediately after. I'm going to be buying some Kalkwasser and slowly dosing with my water change to bring the PH back up.

It dropped down to a low 7 (possibly even a high 6).

Strangely my inverts and most of my corals are fine.

Just wanted to thank you all for the advice.
 
I'm sorry about your losses.

An air stone will cause pH to rise not drop. If your pH was dropping, it was for another reason.

Maybe someone more experienced can chime in here but I don't think going to Kalkwasser at this point would be a great idea. Further large pH swings will cause more stress. I would personally do a few water changes and concentrate on figuring out why the pH is dropping.

If you are going to dose Kalk, you should do it with your top off water, not with water changes and be extremely careful. A Kalk overdose will cause a lot of problems.

Have you done any water changes? Put some carbon on that tank? Posting your parameters might help.
 
First thing I would have done (and still recommend) was a 50% water change..
Simply doing water changes alone could have saved everything..
Both carbon and airstone are valid options too but just aren't as fast acting as a water change..

The solution to pollution is dilution..
Any problems like that a water change should be the first step..
 
PH is not what you watch closely in a marine tank. You need an alkalinity (an additive) and an alkalinity test. Salifert is a good brand. PH in a marine tank is up and down in any one day. Alkalinity is your real guide to the situation. You want an alk level of 8.3. Follow instructions on the jar of buffer. Test BEFORE you add buffer and write that number down. Add buffer. Wait at least 8 hours, then test. Write that number down. Repeat until you reach 8.3. If it is continuing to fall, then you need a magnesium test (Salifert) and a bottle of magnesium supplement. Same procedure. Do not add 2 things in the same 8 hour period. It takes that long for chemistry to fix itself.
 
mcgyvr said:
First thing I would have done (and still recommend) was a 50% water change..
Simply doing water changes alone could have saved everything..
Both carbon and airstone are valid options too but just aren't as fast acting as a water change..

The solution to pollution is dilution..
Any problems like that a water change should be the first step..
Click to expand...


I'm totally putting that on a t-shirt.
 
Thanks all for the helpful responses. It's been just over 3 weeks since this all happened and I just wanted to give a final update about how things went.

I don't think the PH was the problem, in all honesty with the way PH can fluctuate throughout the day I think I was just getting mixed readings. I think the big problem was Salinity. I don't no why exactly the epoxy would affect salinity but my specific gravity readings were really low after this happened. I think my fish were struggling for this reason. I did a big 50% water change with beautiful fresh ocean water and left the tank for 2.5 weeks. I've been monitoring the levels since then, checking for things like Salinity & Alkalinity. My Alk is now getting a good reading at 8.0 and Salinity is back at normal levels.

Unfortunately I did lose all my coral and fish except for one extremely tough fiji leather. All of my inverts survived, they acted like nothing happened.

Things are now back on track, all my levels are normal again and I intend on slowly restocking some new tank mates.

At the end of the day I'm really not sure why the Aquascape epoxy caused these problems, maybe I got a bad batch or something. I know that this kind of epoxy is pretty commonly used for aquascaping but I honestly wouldn't recommend it or ever use it again.

Thanks again for all the replies.
 
I'm going to venture that your low salinity had nothing to do with the epoxy.

Unless you were removing crystallized salt that the epoxy coagulated chemically, I'd look elsewhere for the answer to your low salinity.
 
If the epoxy made your skimmer overflow and do so repeatedly that could affect salinity.

But it is a strange case. Next time you need a glue, try I-C-Gel, and Reef Putty. I have never had bad reactions with those.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Back to this wonderfull hobbie after 10 years
Replies
4
Views
206
griss
griss
B
Left Tank for a long time, now want to reboot
Replies
8
Views
226
SantaMonica
S
E
Marco dried rock or Live rock?
2
Replies
30
Views
3K
Timfish
Timfish
J
Attaching coral
Replies
16
Views
2K
JCOLE
JCOLE
E
Setting up 10g quarantine tank
Replies
9
Views
265
Dr. Reef
Dr. Reef
Back
Top