Warning - seachem fluorish iron and tangs

[teri.willy]

Last night I dosed Seachem Fluorish iron for the first time (was using Red Sea Colors before). I have a display, return and refugium (255 gallon total) - apex controlled.

I put in 10 mL with my iron reading at 0.02 mg/L iron (2 capfuls). (Hanna checker) Within 3 hours, my blue and yellow tangs were DEAD (4 fish). No other fish or inverts, corals, etc., were affected. I also have 2 other tangs that were unaffected (Tomini and kole). The tangs that died were large (5-6"), healthy and have been with me since they were tiny. No drop in pH, etc. I am meticulous about maintenance.

Anyone ever seen anything like this? I am heartbroken and stumped. Needless to say, I am back to Red Sea for life.

Teri

 

[Stevenliu9]

wow sorry to hear that bro, that's terrible! just curious why dose iron? Isn't that for fresh water planted tanks?

 

[teri.willy]

I dose for the Chaeto in my fuge because I have ultra low phosphates and nitrates so I have to rely on lights and the iron seems to help. I keep the iron levels really low, but it seems to make a difference.

 

[Bill Nye]

I dose for the Chaeto in my fuge because I have ultra low phosphates and nitrates so I have to rely on lights and the iron seems to help. I keep the iron levels really low, but it seems to make a difference.

Interesting.

I wonder if this is more coincidental. Why would it only kill four of your fish? When I was in a freshwater phase I would dose this with Crystal Red Shrimp and I would imagine they are far more sensitive to contaminates than a large tang would be and I never had a problem.

Either way I am sorry for your losses. Losing a fish is never easy, especially those that have been with us for a while.

 

[teri.willy]

No way it was a coincidence. These fish were healthy and they started having trouble right after the add. I did an emergency water change as soon as I saw it, but it was too late. I even grabbed a sample and rechecked the iron level afterwards and it was 0.05 mg/L. I was really upset. I should have put carbon into the return filters, but I didn't think of it until after I did the water change and by then the fish were dead. It happened fast. The pH is monitored throughout with my apex and it was pretty stable 8.23-8.25 the entire time. I had the fish a year. They ate out of my hand.

 

[ca1ore]

Sorry to hear about you fish but I'd echo the earlier post ... Seachem Flourish is designed for freshwater plant aquariums. It contains much more than just iron and I'd not dose it into a reef tank under any circumstances.

 

[teri.willy]

Btw, thank you both for caring about the loss. It is crazy how attached we get to our finned friends. I really was attached to these guys.

 

[teri.willy]

You guys are right. It doesn't say it in the bottle, but it is on the website under the "category". Unfortunately, it is what our fish store gave us as a Red Sea replacement for iron on our reef (coral, fish, macro algae system). Man, what a lesson to learn. I feel horrible.

 

[eatbreakfast]

I have used Seachem Flourish Iron in a reef for the same purpose without issue. There is a whole line of Flourish products, a general fertilizer labeled simply as Flourish, but also more specific nutrients such as Potassium, Nitrogen, and Iron. Though designed specifically for freshwater planted aquariums, it should not affect saltwater fish that much more adversely than freshwater fish, corals and inverts would show a greater sensitivity, and as mentioned earlier can be safely added to the sensitive red crystal.shrimp.

 

[zooman72]

Yeah, this seems quite odd, unless the Flourish was contaminated with something else...

 

[teri.willy]

I am really perplexed. Nothing else was affected. I have a ton of babies serpant stars in the FUGE right now with my CUC that are all fine. All the corals, shrimp and other inverts - no affect. The other fish - cardinals, anthias, clowns, goby - ok. But, the 2 blue and 2 yellow tangs - dead. Here is a picture (although bad pic) of the tank tonight.

 

[teri.willy]

Btw, I talked to my lfs, and asked him about the fluorish products. There are 2 - Fluorish and Fluorish IRON. The one I used is the IRON, not the one that has copper and other elements. I put a pic of the product description from Seachem. I knew it didn't have anything about other elements on the bottle. This is why - there isn't supposed to be anything else in the bottle.

 

[bif24701]

I dosed some Seachem Florish Iron last night, my Large Blue Tang and Large Yellow tang are now dead this morning. I know that back in 2006 Randy Holmes said that he had been using the same product so I assumed it was safe. It is not, do not use this product in a reef tank with Tangs.

 

[OrionN]

Was this the first time either of you use this product?

 

[ca1ore]

I dose iron, but I use Ferrion which at least appears to be 'intended' for reef tank use. I used flourish iron back when I ran FW planted tanks, but never used it on my reef tank. I dose iron very judiciously and use polyfilters.