Re: Can way high calcium kill fish??? Please help! PLEASSE!!!

Casey wrote:
We have a well established 180gal reef tank. My father inadvertently added WAY too much calcium chloride on Sunday. Tuesday I noticed a dead fish. Yesterday I scooped out 5 more and today I don't see the last couple. The 2.5' long waving hands looks almost dead, the 1.5' leather coral looks BAD. All the mushrooms are now closed up. Could this all be from the calcium?? Its around 580 ppm and water is now turning a bit milky... We have changed about 25 gal in last 2 days but the problem is I tested the Tropic Marine salt we've been using and even though there is no calcium listed in the 75 nutrients shown to be in the salt the level is HIGH. I mixed up r/o water and salt to a high concentration of about 1.029 or so thinking that it would take a high concentration to get a reading and to my amazement it tested at 700-800!!!!

What can I do?!?!? I can't just dump in 25-30 gal fresh water to drop the calcium because that would screw the salt level, ph, etc....

Has anyone tested instant ocean to see what the calcium level is??

Haven't tested tank today but Tuesday's levels
PH ~8.15 ish (hard to tell)
Ammonia 0 - 0.1
Nitrite .05
Nitrate 6 - 7
Alkalinity 4
Calcium 540-560

Yesterday's levels
PH ~8.0-8.05 (again hard to tell)
Alkalinity 3.75
Calcium 580

Could the Alkalinity be more of a problem than the calcium??
I think the water is turning milky because the salinity is dropping trying to mix it weak and even some fresh to drop the calcium.


If I don't get this thing headed in the right direction TODAY I'm afraid Everything will die :-( !!!
Most everything in the tank has been doing great for over 2 years or more and has multiplied in size several times... man I hate to see anything die!


The first thing, and most importantly is to stop panicking.....it hurts to lose fish and your inverts/corals but acting an impulse will kill even more.....time to start being rational.....the worst thing is to start adjusting stuff drastically and causing more stress to your livestock....

The water is milky because of calcium precipitation - as hard as I've tried to find out I have never heard anyone say that high calcium actually kills fish - it just looks ugly.....

The most likely cause of your losses is the sudden change in the water parameters. The best way of losing more fish is to change everything again suddenly....you need to do this gradually but also paradoxically as quickly as you can.....I'm guessing the raised nitrite is down to the deaths but you do need to fix it (with water changes)

Adding additional fresh RO water is a bad idea....just continue with your normal top up regime.....But doing water changes is a good idea because of your nitrite and ammonia will rise with unfound bodies etc etc, which will result in further deaths....and of course to reduce your calcium.....

What I have found (and experienced) is that salt mixes tend to settle and so therefore your salt mix could make up higher concentrates of various minerals....someone told me to roll the salt bucket around the floor to mix it and since I've done this my calcium, magnesium and alkalinity tend to remain stable on my mixes....without the playing football with the tub I was getting random results....(usually high calcium)

I also learnt that unless levels drop significantly the best bet is not to add anything other than the saltwater mix on your water changes....of course your need to add calcium and other minerals or buffering will depend on what you are keeping but this is where the testing comes in....Keep it simple and then complicate it if you need to on the basis of the health of your livestock and test results....

In your position I would do small water changes once or twice daily....changing between 10 and 20% each time.....

JMHO and not overly experienced with marine but quite a few years of fish keeping otherwise under my belt

Gill
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Can way high calcium kill fish??? Please help! PLEASSE!!!
    ... WAY too much calcium chloride on Sunday. ... Its around 580 ppm and water is now turning a bit milky... ... to lose fish and your inverts/corals but acting an impulse will kill ... your normal top up regime.....But doing water changes is a good idea ...
    (rec.aquaria.marine.reefs)
  • Homebrew Digest #5546 (May 04, 2009)
    ... TODAY'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY: ... Flag poles for hops ... behind whatever water remains locked in the spent grain, ... have liquor that is super saturated with respect to calcium carbonate, ...
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  • Re: Can way high calcium kill fish??? Please help! PLEASSE!!!
    ... WAY too much calcium chloride on Sunday. ... Its around 580 ppm and water is now turning a bit milky... ... Most everything in the tank has been doing great for over 2 years or more ... to lose fish and your inverts/corals but acting an impulse will kill ...
    (rec.aquaria.marine.reefs)
  • Homebrew Digest #4920 (December 26, 2005)
    ... Adjusting Mineral Content ... Fred - My Kansas City area water is loaded with minerals. ... Then I add 5 grams calcium chloride. ... resemble that of the city whose beer you are trying to replicate in this ...
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