Sick Lawnmower Blenny

A

angel626

AC Members
Apr 21, 2007
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Okay I am very discouraged 1st a dead firefish, then clown with ich (in quarantine) and now my blenny that I couldn't catch to put in quarantine is sick. He was looking really healthy and today he looks sick.

I drained 10 gals. from the tank and added 10 gallons of saltwater back into the tank yesterday.

Today he looks very thin, his eyes are sunken, and he is breathing hard. He's been eating off the LR but he won't eat seaweed that I add to the tank.

I tested everything today
Ph 8.2
am- 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
sal 1.022

The firefish died after my last water change and now this one is sick. I doubt that there related but kinda odd.

What am I doing wrong?? This really sucks. I would hate to lose another fish.

Tank is a little over 3 months old. Clowns have been in for 6 weeks, he's been in there for about 4. :help:
 
What are you using to measure the specific gravity? A hydrometer or refractometer? Your parameters look good so I am wondering it the specific gravity is way off.

What salt do you use? Have you tested alkalinity and calcium. I know Instant Ocean had problems awhile ago with the alkalinity being off the chart which killed fish in some peoples tanks.

Also what temperature do you keep the tank at and where do you buy your fish from? When you did the water change did you let the salt mix for awhile before adding it. It needs to be completely dissolved as in you can see the bottom of the bucket crystal clear.
 
Grins said:
The ich could have been the cause of death on the other. Everything I've read says that if one has it they all have it.
Click to expand...

I added a hippo tang to my tank and it was stressed from the yellow tang and came down with ich. Sadly it died, but none of the other fish broke out with ick. I think you can have isolated cases. I view ich as it always being there, but the healthy fish don't break out with it.
 
Lawnmower died. .I hate losing fish, it’s so sad.

Yes, I am using as hydrometer, yes I plan on buying a refractometer very soon. I am also using Instant Ocean salt.
I am having problems with my temp. On 7/5 it got up to 84 on my thermometer that reads low. My other thermometer reads high. Just found out that 1st one isn’t accurate after I tested with a different one yesterday. Or maybe the 2nd isn’t accurate, hard to know.

Yes, I made the mistake of mixing salt with powerhead and then adding it to my tank (on 6/30 20%water change). Temp of tank and water matched. When I took water from main tank for quarantine tank yesterday I used aged salt water to replace it. I am also using RO water.

On Sat when I tested my PH it was really low 7.4 so I added Seachems Reef buffer. It brought it up to 8.8. I thought it wasn’t suppose to bring it up past 8.3. I am using aquarium pham test kit.

I am not testing calcium or alk. I plan on starting to test. When I started my tank 3 ½ months ago I was told that the main tests I needed were am, nitrite, nitrate and ph but not I am finding out that I need to test calcium and alk.

Thanks for all the help.
 
I'm so sorry. Those lawnmowers seem to have oodles of personality and I'd hate to lose one.

If you're having trouble with heat try clip on fans (on either your main tank or sump). Expect more evaporation of course.

As for the test kits, you need to test for everything you dose with or for species that are delicate with strict parameters.

Sorry again about your losses.
 
The main issue I see is the pH buffer. When you added that you changed the pH by 1.4 which is a major shock. Everything you do in a saltwater tank should be done slowly.

When I was using a hydrometer it showed 1.024, but the salt was actually 1.030. I didn't realize this until I bought a refractometer. I slowly brought it down to 1.025 with no issues. If I just would've dropped it to 1.025 I probably would've lost some fish or inverts.

I'm assuming the ReefBuffer raises the alkalinity. You should really pickup an alkalinity test kit so you can keep the alkalinity within the correct range, which will help stabilize your pH.

What is causing your heat issues? Room temp, pumps in the sump, lighting? I would try and keep it 82 and under to be on the safe side. Things get hairy at 84. You can float bags of ice, use a fan blowing across the tank / sump as a temporary fix.

I've found that glass thermemoters are relatively accurate. If your using a digital I would confirm with that. I have a few digital and they all read different. I just use the one that matches the glass one.

Just to clarify you don't have to wait overnight for the salt to be completely mixed. I've mixed the salt with a powerhead and added it 30 min later. I just wait until the water is clear looking and I can see the bottom of the container. You just don't want the undissolved salt to come in contact with the fish.

Just don't get discouraged. I've lost three fish due to mistakes and my yellow tang just died out of nowhere. I had him for 3-4 months and one day he was at the bottom breathing heavy, the rest of the fish were doing great and the water parameters were fine.
 
Thanks for the encouragement and info. We went out of town overnight and turned off the AC, When we got home our house was 88 degrees inside. That caused the big jump.

I'm looking at refractometers on eBay is there any thing I should look for when buying one or all they all pretty accurate?

I was thinking about getting a digital thermometer because I thought it would be more accurate than my glass one, Maybe I will just stick with the one I have.
 
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