I've had a Yellow Tang and a chocolate chip starfish die on me in the last 24 hours... Needless to say, I'm skerred. But I don't know what is wrong. I'm still new to the saltwater hobby, and am learning a lot. Here are my readings:
- Salinity: 1.022
- Ammonia: 0
- Nitrite: 0
- Nitrate: 20 ppm (I did a 20% waterchange shortly after)
- pH: 8.4
- Temp: 79 F
- Calcium: 200
- GH/KH are off-the-charts high... The dropper kits can't measure it accurately because they only measure up to 12 drops before the water changes colors. Mine change colors around 35 drops. Hopefully that makes sense. I don't use RO water - could that be it?
I filter with a HOB Marineland Penguin 150. It has 2 carbon media filters in it, and one Phosphate filter media. I also have a protein skimmer, and a fluval orbit light. I do not have a sump tank.
I tinkered with it a lot during the water change, scrubbing algae off of the walls and blowing off the live rock. I usually spray some cologne on my arms in the morning - but I was messing around with it late last night. Could the toxins in the cologne have killed them, even if I sprayed it on myself 12+ hours before? I don't typically wear gloves when reaching into the tank. Should I be doing that?
I have recently had a problem controlling red slime algae growth, and I have treated my tank 3 times over the past 2 weeks with this stuff:
http://www.marinedepot.com/Ultralif...Algae_Control-Ultralife-UL1311-FIADAL-vi.html
It says that it is not harmful to the fish... But I am just trying to cover all my bases of what could be wrong.
Lastly - could the stress I caused from the water change simply be it? I know that stress can sometimes kill fish, but the fact that the starfish died too is making me doubt that problem.
- Salinity: 1.022
- Ammonia: 0
- Nitrite: 0
- Nitrate: 20 ppm (I did a 20% waterchange shortly after)
- pH: 8.4
- Temp: 79 F
- Calcium: 200
- GH/KH are off-the-charts high... The dropper kits can't measure it accurately because they only measure up to 12 drops before the water changes colors. Mine change colors around 35 drops. Hopefully that makes sense. I don't use RO water - could that be it?
I filter with a HOB Marineland Penguin 150. It has 2 carbon media filters in it, and one Phosphate filter media. I also have a protein skimmer, and a fluval orbit light. I do not have a sump tank.
I tinkered with it a lot during the water change, scrubbing algae off of the walls and blowing off the live rock. I usually spray some cologne on my arms in the morning - but I was messing around with it late last night. Could the toxins in the cologne have killed them, even if I sprayed it on myself 12+ hours before? I don't typically wear gloves when reaching into the tank. Should I be doing that?
I have recently had a problem controlling red slime algae growth, and I have treated my tank 3 times over the past 2 weeks with this stuff:
http://www.marinedepot.com/Ultralif...Algae_Control-Ultralife-UL1311-FIADAL-vi.html
It says that it is not harmful to the fish... But I am just trying to cover all my bases of what could be wrong.
Lastly - could the stress I caused from the water change simply be it? I know that stress can sometimes kill fish, but the fact that the starfish died too is making me doubt that problem.