Can phosphates kill invertebrates?

Can high phosphate levels kill invertebrates?

 

i think high phosphate levels can have a negative impact towards anything in your tank...i have yet to reach that point to be concerned. maybe someone else can chime in who has more experience with phosphates...

 

I mean kill them directly.

 

There's quite a few different types of invertebrates so I'm not sure which ones you are speaking of.

If you are talking about snails, crabs, shrimp, cucumbers, etc. the answer would be no.

However, if you are talking about corals (particularly SPS) then the answer is yes. High phosphates will cause them to first lose their colors and brown out. If this condition is allowed to last for too long, they will bleach. It is much harder for them to be re-infected by the same clade of zoox or a different clade of zoox in a tank setting so you are forced to give them 100% of their energy budget via direct feeding (with a side effect being yet even more phosphates).

 

I'm talking about snails and sea stars. I have a new tank that just cycled and the clean up crew keeps dieing. And dying really fast so I'm wondering what it could be. No one seems to have a reasonable answer. Last time I tried the snails in there the only readable thing was nitrite .25 ppm. I've read on a couple websites that snails are ok under 1 ppm nitrite. So I'm just trying to figure out what is in the tank that kills them so quickly. It's really bugging me.

 

Where are you keeping your Specific Gravity? Snails and ESPECIALLY stars should be around 1.025~1.026.

 

Hmm My SG is 1.023. When I get my water from the sea it's 1.025 I don't know why it drops over a time.

 

Add a grounding probe..

 

Is that just a wire that leads to a ground plug? And what metal should this be made out of? And is this something to make or buy?

 

I may be wrong, however, I believe your snails are dying due to insufficient food. With a new tank comes the fact that algae etc. really hasn't taken root yet. When I started my tank, I went a few months before adding snails to my tank. Another important thing to watch for is that some snails sp. once they fall off a rock or the glass may not be able to right themselves upright to climb up the glass or rock again. Also some can't navigate through your substrate, basically leaving them stranded in one place to dye of starvation or predation!
Sea stars are different as they can find food like detritus and uneaten food that gets stuck in the rock work or land on the benthic area of your tank(substrate)! You can include Crabs and shrimp in this category as well. JUST my opinion-but hopefully it helps ya.
Everyting' else aire?