Something to share.

[WiNd08]

Hi all folks.

Just to share something, I was helping my uncle repairing some air-con stuff and I felt my hands were stained with some fluid even after washing my hands multiple times.

Without knowing the effects, I went to adjust my shrimp tank rainbar and also went to feed my shrimps. The end result was rather bad. At least 8 out of my 20 shrimps died and the symptoms were fading of color, being motionless and finally death. This took many hours to occur.

From the research I have done, I found out that the chemical which was contaminated was Chlorodifluoromethane, more commonly known as R22 which is a propellant or coolant gas for air-con / chillers. Since I guess many of us here are using chillers, and if there is a leakage, similar case of negligence might occur. Hence, I decided to share this information here.

After reading the Material Safety and Data Sheet (MSDS) which is a internation data sheet for all chemicals, I found out the following:

R-22 is low in acute toxicity in animals. When oxygen levels in air are reduced to 12-14% by displacement, symptoms of asphyxiation, loss of coordination, increased pulse rate and deeper respiration will occur. At high levels, cardiac arrhythmia may occur.

This meant that shrimps will die from suffocation over a period of time, and hence I took these few measures:

1. To do a gradual (complete) water change over a few days with aged / treated water
2. To add in Activated Carbon/Charcoal to absorb any remnant R22 molecules in the water.
3. To raise my rain bar higher than water level to increase oxygen diffusion into the tank.


The deaths have stopped as of this morning and the remaining shrimps are roaming and eating as per before this happened. I will continue to monitor the situation and update how effective is my treatment routine.

I hope this would be beneficial for other hobbyist who are not aware of the effects of R22.

Regards,
CK

[WiNd08]

Here is a link to share:

R22 MSDS

[martin.kwang]

THank to share the info with Us thank bro thumb up

[sword28]

really new and great information!
thanks for sharing, especially the remedy part.

[ScorpionX86]

That's a valueble piece of information, thanks for sharing dude..

[Shaihulud]

Its good to know this, thanks for sharing your information and valuable experience!