Eeep! Blenny is going downhill, help.

[zcatzmeow]

29g JBJ HQI

I have a yellow sailfin blenny that is looking terrible today. I though maybe he looked poor yesterday but I was gone for most of the day and couldn't observe him. Today he's bad. Not moving much, his bright yellow is turning black/grey, and his respiration is very fast. I also noticed he does not have his normally fat round belly so he hasn't been eating.

Beemer and my tailspot blenny are fine and acting normally, swimming about, searching for stuff to eat.

I had my tank water checked about 3 days ago and all was good except my calc and alk were low (on going problem). I did a 5g water change about 2 days ago. I always run carbon and filter floss, cleaning those daily.

Could a PH swing cause this? I'm having real issues with my PH. I have a hard time keeping it around 8 and overnight it will drop to 7.8. I use 2 part dosing and just started adding magnesium (maybe magnesium is to blame?).

Very worried....must save blenny



PS - I indirectly blame this on karma and my chat with addboy a couple days ago where I assured him that I've never had any problems with my blennies and they seem to be very hardy.

[ErikH]

In short.... Don't dose what you are not testing for. Water change water change water change.
Test your fresh made RO/DI with salt added, and see what that PH is. Buffer it if necessary. What salt are you using? What is your salinity at? Fresh carbon won't hurt either. Temperature?

[zcatzmeow]

Okay, just back from an emergency trip to RCA for water and water test. Turns out my PH was super low, like around 7.4. Frustrating thing is that my Reefkeeper2 says my PH is 8.08. Sooooo.....guess that meter isn't working.

I'm just really not sure what dropped my PH so low. It was low 3 or 4 days ago along with my CA and ALK so I increased the amount of 2part solution. My CA and ALK are now within a normal range but my PH just bottomed out.

Just finished about a 40% water change. Blenny still looks bad.

[ErikH]

what kind of salt?????? Hopefully someone else will be able to chime in with a good reason why your ph keeps dropping.... Did you calibrate the RKII? I believe they need to be calibrated, but I am not positive. Do you have a light on your fuge that runs opposite your normal lighting schedule? That will help at night.

[fjr_wertheimber]

Yes, the RK2 was calibrated, the light on the fuge runs opposite the normal lighting schedule, and the tank is currently on Tropic Marin from the LFS (but will be on Red Sea Coral Pro as soon as I get the RO/DI unit set up...).

[zcatzmeow]

So I'm going to test and troubleshoot the probe.

Blenny has died .

So I have multiple things to work out...

- fix PH probe
- get tank back to an acceptable PH level
- determine why PH is dropping


So it seems to be obvious that the blenny died from the PH drop; however, it could just be a coincidence. Beemer, the tailspot blenny, and the pipefish are acting totally normal. All inverts and copepods are in good shape, and the corals look normal for my tank. It could be that the sailfin was just super sensitive. But what if it's something else?

[mama]

oh Cory...I'm sorry to hear that...I hope you get your tank issues solved ASAP!!! It was a pleasure meeting you and I will take a pic of my pretty ric as soon as she is adjusted...so far, so good!!

[ErikH]

what's the reading of your fresh water ph wise?? Are you letting it sit overnight? is there plenty of circulation and oxygen? parasites? How long have you had the fish? Did it adjust to tank life?

[ErikH]

oh yeah, stop dosing for now and see if you get better stabilization. Unless your tank is packed with corals, I doubt you need to be dosing it should be good on water changes. you could also ask Garrett how he does his dosing regimen, you may be adding a tad too much of one thing and not the other.....