added lava rock all fish died within 2 hrs

[leventis72]

I had some lava rock from an old fw tank so i put this rock into the sw
setup i have now within 2 hours all my fish died. do you think heavy metals leeched out, i so what is the best way to remove these toxins?
tank is fully cycled btw
amm 0 ph 8.2
nitr 0
SG 1.021
TEMP 78 CONSTANT

 

[jabberjaw]

not sure about the make-up of lava rock (or what toxins it has in it), but if all the fish died (and assuming you have nothing else living in your tank), i'd honestly remove the lava rock, shut the tank down & start again from scratch (without the lava rock obviously)

 

[mcsassy]

What did you lose? = /

 

[kcress]

That fast!! I would also remove everything and dispose of all the water. Did you have a bunch of live rock?


What happens is the lava,(never use it in salt water), can have metals that don't go into solution in fresh water or do so so slowly that other things in the tank can take up the metals as they appear, keeping the actual metals in solution low enough to not harm your freshwater fish.

But in salt water the minerals can come out hecka fast! So they came out so fast that your fish died. Now it's in your gravel and your rocks. It would be really hard to get it all cleaned up. If you have a bunch of live rock you can probably get it out but it will take a bunch of soak/rinse/replace/soak/rinse/replace. Otherwise a shift in PH or temperature in the future could allow a big release again from your existing rock causing another massive die off. You just don't want to have to worry about that forever.

Sorry for your disaster.. Nasty!

 

[GregAW]

I wonder, have you ever treated your FW tank with copper? Maybe the lava absorbed the copper and it leached out in the SW tank... Or some other medication that you may have used. IF all was well prior to adding the lava rock, I think I would remove it to the yard and use it in your landscaping. Save your money and buy live rock.