Things just keep getting worse...

[GobyWanKenobie]

This is interesting. I have been having a similar problem with my small biocube, which is mostly acans, zoas and a few chalices on a frag rack. I missed a water change, the alk dropped, I noticed a bunch of pineapple sponges in the back chambers, and then I lost half of my acans. Now I do a water change once a week, and I have been dosing with baking soda and a little magnesium and still my alk seems low. I also have a bloom of what looks like cyano, but it's almost black in color. I wonder if this new algae/bacteria/whatever is using up all the alkalinity? The tank is at least 2 years old, and I've never had this problem before. Luckily, it's only happening in one of my tanks. Did you get any type of algae bloom before this happened?

 

[RadReefer]

I would recommend buying a reliable test kit, Elos are very nice. If you aren't dosing 2 part and relying on water changes only for Alk repletion, this is most likely the issue.

 

[frank180reef]

Joe, I will test your water, pm when u want to meet

 

[frank180reef]

I would recommend buying a reliable test kit, Elos are very nice. If you aren't dosing 2 part and relying on water changes only for Alk repletion, this is most likely the issue.

I totally agree with this (fwiw); its always the alk and the butler

 

[Matt W]

Ya ill try to find someone to test for me. Ph was 8.2 tonight, calc was tested last weekend at 420, and sorry to say never test for mag.

I work in Burlington between 830 and 6pm near wayside plaza. Bring me a sample I will test tonight, I need to do mine tonight anyway. Additionally, I am a GMP analytical chemist.

PM me if you interested.

 

[stingythingy45]

I said "around 2" because I use the red seat test. The safe range is 1.7-2.8 meg/l. Mine is closer to the 2.8, but it is hard to tell if it is 2, or 2.2 or 2.5....since the color between the 1.7-2.8 are pretty close.
Mine is closer to the blue side, but a little greenish.
.

1.7 meq/l?= 4.8 DKH..and that's ok with Red Sea?Something is not right here.
Your Meq/l should be between 2.5 meq/l=7 dkh and 3.6 meq/l=10 dkh.
The simplest and somewhat accurate Alk test for me is API.It's a great back up for my Elos test kit.

 

[stingythingy45]

This is interesting. I have been having a similar problem with my small biocube, which is mostly acans, zoas and a few chalices on a frag rack. I missed a water change, the alk dropped, I noticed a bunch of pineapple sponges in the back chambers, and then I lost half of my acans. Now I do a water change once a week, and I have been dosing with baking soda and a little magnesium and still my alk seems low. I also have a bloom of what looks like cyano, but it's almost black in color. I wonder if this new algae/bacteria/whatever is using up all the alkalinity? The tank is at least 2 years old, and I've never had this problem before. Luckily, it's only happening in one of my tanks. Did you get any type of algae bloom before this happened?

I find this begins to happen at this time of the year.
Most likely has to do with having the house closed up for the winter months and PH droping from excess CO2.

 

[wrassefan]

IMO...I think it is the swings and instability of your water. It goes up and down and that is what kills corals and inverts. The fluctuation prob killed the nudi and they are toxic....especially the bright colored ones. They release toxins when they die....that could have set off a chain reaction. This is how I would start: I would do a 50% water change and add fresh carbon. I would do another 50% water change in 2 days and replace with fresh carbon. Do you use kalwasser in your topoff water? This will help keep alk more stable.

 

[delta]

Get additional eyes on the testing. Confirm what is going on before making adjustment.

What are you doing to maintain the ALK on a daily basis? Dosing? CA reactor. ALK drops by usage in tank the more corals the more that is used.

You want to test for ALK, Ca, and Mg they all play off each other if they are not balanced then you will have issues.

I use Salifert probably the easiest test to read no counting drops, less room for error

 

[P-Nut]

1.7 meq/l?= 4.8 DKH..and that's ok with Red Sea?Something is not right here.
Your Meq/l should be between 2.5 meq/l=7 dkh and 3.6 meq/l=10 dkh.
The simplest and somewhat accurate Alk test for me is API.It's a great back up for my Elos test kit.

That's what Red Sea says. But mine is above that.

 

[jdeb101]

Wow... thanks for the overwhelming replies. I really appreciate all the help. I use Seachem test kit for my Alk and API for everything else. Let me see if I can answer all your questions...

GobyWanKenobie - Funny you say that because I did notice a bit of an algae increase before or during all the recent disasters. I've always had a few dead spots in tank, mostly lower left corner where dark brown film would cover sand bed. It seemed to get larger and even noticed a couple days where it had tons of small bubbles in it. It looks like I may be getting control of that as I dont see the bubbles anymore and it may have shrunk a little.

Frank & Matt - Thank you both for the offers. I'll see if I can swing by Wayside tonight Matt, if not maybe I can meet you tomorrow AM Frank? Would you guys mind testing my freshly mixed sw as well?

Delta - I haven't dosed in a couple years, and only started dosing Alk (Seachem Reef Builder) per advice from other reefers a month or so ago when I noticed Zoa's were disappearing. Before my recent issues every other coral looked perfectly happy, healthy and growing without me ever dosing, even my zoas that weren't disappearing. I don't really have much sps so my calc has been maintainable by keeping up with water changes. I've never once seen my Calc drop below 420.

One other coral going south I forgot to mention was my toadstool. It was so wide open, polyps extended, and happy, but now its shrunk quite a bit in size and looks like a layer of skin is pealing from the sides of it. Not only will I be really upset if I lose it, but my clown loves to host it.

 

[stingythingy45]

One note.
Make sure to check your temperature now that the weather is growing colder and the house temps have dropped some.
Toadstools will sometimes molt for no reason what so ever.They are very hardy.
I had one die from a heater poison issue and now the residual material that was left on the LR is growing back.

 

[jdeb101]

One note.
Make sure to check your temperature now that the weather is growing colder and the house temps have dropped some.
Toadstools will sometimes molt for no reason what so ever.They are very hardy.
I had one die from a heater poison issue and now the residual material that was left on the LR is growing back.

I recently got a new Jager heater and temp has been steady around 79-80 degrees.

 

[jdeb101]

btw... found this interesting article I thought I'd share with you all since we are talking alk/calc balance here: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/chemistry

 

[bonghapster]

Did you test your salinity w. a calibrated refractometer? I notice dosing reef builder with low salinity creates large swings in water parameters n melt corals.

 

[jdeb101]

Did you test your salinity w. a calibrated refractometer? I notice dosing reef builder with low salinity creates large swings in water parameters n melt corals.

Interesting... I test with one of these and it was in the higher end of acceptable salt level (about 1.028 I think) http://www.petsupplies.com/item/tropic-marin-aquarium-hydrometer/720564/?srccode=MRPSAPAD&mr:trackingCode=4F2EAAD2-8319-E211-96D6-BC305BEDEAD8&mr:referralID=NA

 

[frank180reef]

that is a tad high salinty, very suprised if/that your alk is low with that high salinity

 

[jdeb101]

Sorry I was off. Its at 1.025.

 

[Pat02026]

I went back and re-read your other thread, to see if anything stood out. You changed bulbs, as well as ran carbon around the same time; I'm wondering if the carbon really cleared the water to the point of an increase in PAR enough along with the new bulbs to shock some corals. There was also mention of flatworm exit in that thread. Did you ever end up using that to treat planaria? If so their die off is pretty toxic in a large quantity. Have you tested for Nitrate at all? one other thing that just came to ming was CUC; any sandsifters that could have moved some sand that has been un-disturbed for some time?

I'm still leaning toward Alk and the stability of parameters to be the culprit here. But a combination of all the above could have a hand in it as well. How are things looking today? better, same, worse?

 

[RadReefer]

Good points regarding the light intensity change Pat. The corals may have been sunburned. Also, the flatworms have been known to nuke tanks after eradication if you have a decent outbreak and don't run carbon/water changes.

Jdeb, If you are losing tissue on the sides of the toadstool it may be fighting bacterial infection. From what you describe, it doesnt sound like a normal shedding. When my leathers do this I always give them an iodine bath to clean them up. You can do this by taking a gallon or so of tank water and adding iodine until the water is tea colored. Let the coral soak for 15 mins or so, I swish the water around with a turkey baster every few mins. I had a nepthea that was literally melting and this stopped the infection and the coral bounced back in no time.