S.o.s.

[claudiabkr]

I just found that my 2 year old dumped a black magic marker and a bunch of tissue into my 15 gal nano reef! I've done a 5 gal water change and am mixing another 5 gals as I type. The fish look fine, but all the corals have closed or shrunk in size.

Will the water changes be enough to save them, or is it already too late.
Claudia

 

[reefin'aggie]

Dumped the ink from the marker into it? or just threw the marker in? Was the tissue paper scented? Lotion? etc? I would start running mass carbon and try to get as much of the tissue out ASAP. Water changes=good, but can also have ill effects b/c of instability. But, the tradeoff is that the contaminates remain in the tank if not diluted by the water changes.

Good Luck and keep us posted,
Jacob

 

[reefin'aggie]

Oh, and is there any way you can relocate the livestock to another holding tank?

Jacob

 

[Sk8r]

Possible remedies: carbon, polypads (pull chemicals out)---you can cut the stuff to fit your size. The corals have defenses and may slime up, which may challenge the tank too: carbon and a skimmer may help that. Sympathies.

 

[chocolateblnt]

Was it a toxic marker? I second running carbon and metal removing polypads for the marker.

If the tissue had aloe vera I wouldn't worry because aloe vera is found in stress coat