Water toxicity

[alemone]

After finishing my new water mixing station, I did a 20G water change in my 180G tank.
By the next day, I lot of my fish showed signs of distress and I lost 6 fish and a linckia star.

No changes in temp, salinity. Ammonia is zero.
The water sat in the mixing tank for about a week. I can imagine that my RODI setup's carbon filter is exhausted. It's hard for me to believe it was chlorine poisoning but I can’t think of anything else.
Corals, anemones, chocolate chip stars, invertebrates (except the linckia) are all unfazed. I did use a new expandable garden hose .

Has anybody lost fish to chlorine? Did it affect corals, other marine life?

[Bill_Moorman]

Did you rinse out the expandable hose first?


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[alemone]

Yes, I did. As I did the new plastic containers.

[Nick30G]

Maybe a bad batch of salt?

[alemone]

Originally Posted by Nick30G

Maybe a bad batch of salt?

To the point of killing fish?


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[alemone]

This is what the mixing station looks like.

[Misled]

Are those galvanized spouts? That's a no no.

[Bill_Moorman]

Originally Posted by alemone

This is what the mixing station looks like.

Those spouts are galvanized huh? It could have leached minerals into the water that were harmful to your fish.


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[alemone]

I know they look like that but they are 100% plastic.

Also, guys, keep in mind that this happened within several hours.

[on the spot]

those are quality water tanks. very weird. They are for potable water right?

oxygen deprivation?

it's usually something new or improved that wrecks our perceived balance.

Just re-read the 20 gallons in 180. Chlorine would likely kill more than the fish. did a pump not turn on/short out/electrical discharge into the tank?

[Cancun]

Originally Posted by alemone

After finishing my new water mixing station, I did a 20G water change in my 180G tank.
By the next day, I lot of my fish showed signs of distress and I lost 6 fish and a linckia star.

No changes in temp, salinity. Ammonia is zero.
The water sat in the mixing tank for about a week. I can imagine that my RODI setup's carbon filter is exhausted. It's hard for me to believe it was chlorine poisoning but I can’t think of anything else.
Corals, anemones, chocolate chip stars, invertebrates (except the linckia) are all unfazed. I did use a new expandable garden hose .

Has anybody lost fish to chlorine? Did it affect corals, other marine life?

This is just a thought....how about your pH? I had a bad week last week, not as bad as yours, but within 24 hours I lost a established bi color angel, captive bred Singapore Angel, and my Midas Blenny....had all three for several years, no new fish additions or signs of illness it disease..... immediately started testing my water, and discovered my pH was 7.6!!!!! Turns out my EchoTech MP40 was turned way down, and had barely any surface agitation....my pH is always stable at 8.2. No coral or inverts were affected....I immediately put my EchoTech back to where it normally us, and my pH is back to 8.2. Funny thing is during my testing my Alk was 11 and my calc was 440....so I am sure no water movement at the surface caused the drop in pH.....

Sorry about your fish by the way....I am still bummed....

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[Cancun]

This is just a thought....how about your pH? I had a bad week last week, not as bad as yours, but within 24 hours I lost a established bi color angel, captive bred Singapore Angel, and my Midas Blenny....had all three for several years, no new fish additions or signs of illness it disease..... immediately started testing my water, and discovered my pH was 7.6!!!!! Turns out my EchoTech MP40 was turned way down, and had barely any surface agitation....my pH is always stable at 8.2. No coral or inverts were affected....I immediately put my EchoTech back to where it normally us, and my pH is back to 8.2. Funny thing is during my testing my Alk was 11 and my calc was 440....so I am sure no water movement at the surface caused the drop in pH.....

Sorry about your fish by the way....I am still bummed....

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[alemone]

Originally Posted by Cancun

This is just a thought....how about your pH? I had a bad week last week, not as bad as yours, but within 24 hours I lost a established bi color angel, captive bred Singapore Angel, and my Midas Blenny....had all three for several years, no new fish additions or signs of illness it disease..... immediately started testing my water, and discovered my pH was 7.6!!!!! Turns out my EchoTech MP40 was turned way down, and had barely any surface agitation....my pH is always stable at 8.2. No coral or inverts were affected....I immediately put my EchoTech back to where it normally us, and my pH is back to 8.2. Funny thing is during my testing my Alk was 11 and my calc was 440....so I am sure no water movement at the surface caused the drop in pH.....

Sorry about your fish by the way....I am still bummed....

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Thank you!
My pH is constantly monitored and has not changed.
On a side note, I really think it wasn't pH that killed your fish. 7.6 won't do that. Low oxygen, on the other hand, may have been the culprit...

[alemone]

Originally Posted by on the spot

those are quality water tanks. very weird. They are for potable water right?

oxygen deprivation?

it's usually something new or improved that wrecks our perceived balance.

Just re-read the 20 gallons in 180. Chlorine would likely kill more than the fish. did a pump not turn on/short out/electrical discharge into the tank?

Yes, the tanks are widely used for this purpose in the hobby. There are threads on mixing stations. They are NSF approved.
Oxygen deprivation was a thought but nothing in my system had changed to cause a lack of O2. Powerheads, skimmer were going. I have a sump with tons of chaeto.
Chlorine and chloramines affect oxygen delivery by oxidizing the Fe++ ion in hemoglobin (methemoglobinemia). Lower species not dependent on hemoglobin-based O2 delivery should not be affected. It was only a 10% exchange though and I believe my municipality doesn’t use chloramines.
No shortouts/discharged that I can see.

[Cancun]

Originally Posted by alemone

Thank you!
My pH is constantly monitored and has not changed.
On a side note, I really think it wasn't pH that killed your fish. 7.6 won't do that. Low oxygen, on the other hand, may have been the culprit...

Yea that is a good point.... I quickly corrected the issue, and every thing is fine now! What kind of fish did you loose?

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[alemone]

Originally Posted by Cancun

Yea that is a good point.... I quickly corrected the issue, and every thing is fine now! What kind of fish did you loose?

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Our favorite 2 fish - a small Valentino puffer and hawkfish with a ton of personality. Also 2 angels and 2 dominos (fairy large).
The ones that survived with no signs of much distress- Clowns, a yellow tang, blue damsels, 2 large engineer gobies, Cardinals (including babies), a Mandarin, a variety of anemones, coralls, shrimp.
It was heartbreaking but I am grateful I didnt lose all.


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[Cancun]

Originally Posted by alemone

Our favorite 2 fish - a small Valentino puffer and hawkfish with a ton of personality. Also 2 angels and 2 dominos (fairy large).
The ones that survived with no signs of much distress- Clowns, a yellow tang, blue damsels, 2 large engineer gobies, Cardinals (including babies), a Mandarin, a variety of anemones, coralls, shrimp.
It was heartbreaking but I am grateful I didnt lose all.


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Yea definitely heart breaking.....I know I was so bummed loosing my 3 fish, especially having them so long, and was unexpected....

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[sfdan]

Try preparing water exactly like you did last time and then using a chlorine test strip to see if there is chlorine in the water. Could at least offer a clue to help diagnose the problem. Sorry about your fish, that sucks.

[alemone]

Originally Posted by sfdan

Try preparing water exactly like you did last time and then using a chlorine test strip to see if there is chlorine in the water. Could at least offer a clue to help diagnose the problem. Sorry about your fish, that sucks.

I am planning to do that. I am looking for a reliable low level chlorine test.

[oceanscurve]

How well did you flush out the new hose? Do you normally leave water for that long in your mixing containers?

[alemone]

Originally Posted by oceanscurve

How well did you flush out the new hose? Do you normally leave water for that long in your mixing containers?

I just set up this system. This was the first batch. I used maybe about 20G to test it and this is how much was flushed through the hose.

[Steve175]

Sounds like it may not be an issue for you, but I have to be pretty careful about stagnant water in my changing system. Mostly the 150G is hard plumbed into the system with a circulating pump running 24/7 (which serves to mix in the salt when I take the container off line to mix up new NSW); however, I have a line of flex PVP which I can use to add the water directly to my sump if my sump level is low. The water in that line gets nasty if it sits more than 24h. When I need to use it (rarely, like every other month), I am always careful to run the line into the sink for 30s or so before allowing it into the sump. The few times I have forgotten this, I have had some minor inverts die off and would have had more had I not an over-sized skimmer. Did your skimmer start wet skimming? I like the chlorine test theory: try to reproduce the event and text for chlorine.

[alemone]

Originally Posted by Steve175

Sounds like it may not be an issue for you, but I have to be pretty careful about stagnant water in my changing system. Mostly the 150G is hard plumbed into the system with a circulating pump running 24/7 (which serves to mix in the salt when I take the container off line to mix up new NSW); however, I have a line of flex PVP which I can use to add the water directly to my sump if my sump level is low. The water in that line gets nasty if it sits more than 24h. When I need to use it (rarely, like every other month), I am always careful to run the line into the sink for 30s or so before allowing it into the sump. The few times I have forgotten this, I have had some minor inverts die off and would have had more had I not an over-sized skimmer. Did your skimmer start wet skimming? I like the chlorine test theory: try to reproduce the event and text for chlorine.

No, there was no wet skimming. So OK the water gets stagnant but what specifically do you think killed the inverts? My chlorine test is on its way.

[sfdan]

Originally Posted by alemone

No, there was no wet skimming. So OK the water gets stagnant but what specifically do you think killed the inverts? My chlorine test is on its way.

My salt mixing container is a brute trash can, which isn't quite open but isn't quite sealed, and I often mix up saltwater and leave it completely stagnant for weeks at a time. Then before I make a water change I turn on the pump to mix it around for a few minutes, then pump it into the tank. I've never had any negative issues. So I don't think stagnant water in itself it anything dangerous. I do check it though and make sure the water looks clear and there isn't any weird smell or anything.

I still think chlorine has to be the prime suspect, but it is possible it could also be some contamination from the containers or the hose.

[Steve175]

Originally Posted by alemone

No, there was no wet skimming. So OK the water gets stagnant but what specifically do you think killed the inverts? My chlorine test is on its way.

In my case, the water can smell of rotting corpse. I have always assumed it was an ammonia spike for my invert event, but honestly am not certain. I am on a well without any chlorine input and with a 6 stage RODI system.