New LiveAquaria Shipment - 1.009 SG, 7.2 pH, 2 ppm Ammonia

Q

qfrisco

New member
Hi all -

After approx 10 years in the reefkeeping hobby, I decided to try LiveAquaria for the first time. I liked the idea that LiveAquaria keeps their California facility SG around 1.019 - simplifying the acclimation to the 1.024 I keep in my DT. This is actually also the first time I've ever ordered livestock from online.

Well, my order of a Kole Tang and a single clownfish came today - 6 hours late due to severe weather (per UPS' tracking info). I checked the SG and it was 1.009!!! I'm curious if anyone else has received any shipments lately and what the incoming SG was? So much for 1.019. This was tested, btw, with a Milwaukee ATC Refractometer calibrated with Pinpoint Calibration solution.

Also, is it typical to have such a high ammonia level from an overnight shipment? I have no experience with ordering from online.

Healthwise - the clown seems OK, but the tang is acting sluggish. They're in my QT now but not sure if it's too late for the tang. Fingers crossed!
 
I am guessing that they had the SG that low for ick. (Hyposalinity) I hope that you took a few hour acclimating them to 1.024. As for the ammonia. That might just be the urine from the fish. Hope eveyone makes it.

I look at their site a few times a month but have yet to purchase anything.
 
Yep, last pair of fish out of CA where in two bags with two different SG below 1.020, had to bring them up slowly prior to formalin dip.
 
Thanks for the reply! I dropped my QT SG down to 1.009 to match so no problem there. I did still have to drip to match pH,.

Makes sense about the ich, but they're so proud of not keeping their water at hyposaline levels, it surprises me to see the bag water as exactly that!

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neiltus said:
Yep, last pair of fish out of CA where in two bags with two different SG below 1.020, had to bring them up slowly prior to formalin dip.
Click to expand...
Do you remember how far below 1.020? LiveAquaria states they keep their CA water at 1.019, so yours may actually have been normal for them. I'm wondering about my two bags with 1.009.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 
Hmmm. My last shipment from them a few weeks ago was 1.018 which about where it usually is from them.

As for the ammonia, once you open the bag the ammonia level rises rapidly with any fish that's been bagged for almost 24 hours. That's why so many of us don't do drip acclimations but do like you did and set the QT salinity where the shipping salinity is and only temp acclimate before opening the bag.
 
I've ordered 8 times from LA in the last year and every one was 1.018 plus or minus 0.001. Anomalies do happen.
 
In the future, since you matched SG you should not have waited or tried to match pH--NH3 is a killer and at low pH is OK, ammonium salt.
It really doesn't matter what the water parameters are from the shipper--match SG and add to QT asap.
Have you checked your refractometer w/ 35ppt solution?
 
Thanks, wrott. Good to know for the future!

I have two bottles of 35ppt calibration solution and both are within 0.001 of each other on my refractometer.

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neiltus said:
I want to say one was around .015 and the other was .010
Click to expand...

Thanks, nelltus! Good to hear I'm possibly not the only one. I'm even starting to doubt my refractometer calibration fluid - even though I have two bottles of it. Haha. I'm going to my LFS this morning just to confirm.
 
Did the tang make it through the night?
And sorry I didn't see where you had stated that you checked your refractometer in the first post. I've had really good experiences w/ LA/DD--I hope your fish will do well!
 
In the case where I have to do a short drip I always throw a shot of Prime into the bag the moment I open it to try to bond out the ammonia. I've always wondered if this causes other problems (risk of overdose?), but fortunately I rarely have a creature in the bag for more than a couple hours. Have you contacted LA about the issue?
 
wrott said:
Did the tang make it through the night?
And sorry I didn't see where you had stated that you checked your refractometer in the first post. I've had really good experiences w/ LA/DD--I hope your fish will do well!
Click to expand...

No worries! I still have the lights off over my QT but both appear OK. Knock on wood!
 
jccaclimber said:
In the case where I have to do a short drip I always throw a shot of Prime into the bag the moment I open it to try to bond out the ammonia. I've always wondered if this causes other problems (risk of overdose?), but fortunately I rarely have a creature in the bag for more than a couple hours. Have you contacted LA about the issue?
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I did - I put 1/4 capful of Amquel in my drip bucket to try and detoxify the ammonia. I haven't contacted LA yet, but check out my latest update.... TL;DR: They weren't the problem - my salinity calibration fluid is. Both bottles of them!
 
Last night I started wondering whether my salinity calibration fluid was off. I have two bottles of 1.026 fluid, but both are at least 4 years old. I went to one of my LFSes to compare with theirs - unfortunately, they calibrate with tap water instead of 1.026 fluid, but figured that was close enough for my purposes.

Well, one of my bottles of calibration fluid tested on their refractometer at 1.037!!! The other bottle tested at 1.035!!! As soon as I came home, I calibrated my refractometer with tap water and my DT was at 1.033. The QT, since I matched the salinity to the incoming salinity, is at 1.020 - close enough to what LiveAquaria states they should be. So the new fish are OK salinity-wise, just not sure how the ammonia affected them due to the delayed delivery. We shall see.

In retrospect - some things are making sense now:

- two years ago, I had a crash that killed all my SPS colonies. I attributed the loss at that time to an alkalinity spike. Now it makes sense that my salinity was probably slowly creeping upwards to the point that was deadly to SPS. The fish already in the DT were fine, I guess, because the salinity rise happened over a matter of years.

- over the last 3 years or so, I have noticed not seeing an abundance of pods in my tank and fuge - crawling around on the rock or on the glass, even though I didn't have a wrasse, goby, or other fish that fed on these things. I even got some pods a couple years ago to replenish but they never took. Again, high salinity would explain that.

- lastly, I've had a string of losses in QT that made me really distrust my LFSes and doubt my acclimation process. According to my refractometer (badly calibrated, now I realize) the bag water was coming in at a very low 1.010, and even bringing the fish up at 0.001 per day - I was taking them way past where they should be, thus killing them. Ugh.

So - I am now slowly draining my DT in an effort to bring the salinity down to normal levels. I am also ordering some new calibration fluid, as well as making my own per RHF's instructions.

Thanks, everyone!
 
Calibrating with tap water is not very accurate try to get some new calibration fluid or find a lfs or a friend where you can calibrate it to theirs. I wouldn't make make any changes until you refactometer is verified.
 
roli112 said:
Calibrating with tap water is not very accurate try to get some new calibration fluid or find a lfs or a friend where you can calibrate it to theirs. I wouldn't make make any changes until you refactometer is verified.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I did just finish making up some DIY calibration fluid per RHF's instructions here (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.php), and it confirms that my calibration fluids were reading grossly high!
 
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