One of the easiest traps to fall into is deciding 'it must be x' and not checking y or z.
If you are having mystery problems or failure to thrive, and you are doing everything right---don't assume it's x. Test y and z.
Things to check:
1. salinity
2. temperature
3. alkalinity
4. magnesium
5. calcium (with stony corals or clams, particularly)
6. stray current (electricity loose in your tank)
7. red-spot deaths: a mantis or rabbitfish or its like.
8. oxygenation AT certain hours: that pump has to run all the time. Timing of deaths can tell you something.
9. copper from some source (run a strip of PolyFilter. It turns colors to diagnose metal contamination---and, good news, it removes same.)
10. water changes: trace element depletion or balance. Cure this with a series of large (20%) water changes 2 days apart.
11. hydrogen sulfide (black crud buildup under sand)---get your livestock all to qt and prepare to do some heavy duty sandbed maintenance, including a mini-cycle, with water changes.
12. algaes: in general, run GFO.
13. nitrate buildup. Corals want to be a round 2. Fish don't mind that either, but will tolerate nitrates up into the 50's. Make it as good as you can. And if you CAN'T get the nitrates down, take a look at vinegar dosing, but READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!
14. Rare that a fully functioning tank develops that problem, but if you spot it, very first thing is move all fish and mobile inverts out to qt. Some corals can tolerate more of it than fish, but it's not good. Getting all the apt-to-die creatures out eliminates any future ammonia because they won't be in there adding to the problem.
If you are having mystery problems or failure to thrive, and you are doing everything right---don't assume it's x. Test y and z.
Things to check:
1. salinity
2. temperature
3. alkalinity
4. magnesium
5. calcium (with stony corals or clams, particularly)
6. stray current (electricity loose in your tank)
7. red-spot deaths: a mantis or rabbitfish or its like.
8. oxygenation AT certain hours: that pump has to run all the time. Timing of deaths can tell you something.
9. copper from some source (run a strip of PolyFilter. It turns colors to diagnose metal contamination---and, good news, it removes same.)
10. water changes: trace element depletion or balance. Cure this with a series of large (20%) water changes 2 days apart.
11. hydrogen sulfide (black crud buildup under sand)---get your livestock all to qt and prepare to do some heavy duty sandbed maintenance, including a mini-cycle, with water changes.
12. algaes: in general, run GFO.
13. nitrate buildup. Corals want to be a round 2. Fish don't mind that either, but will tolerate nitrates up into the 50's. Make it as good as you can. And if you CAN'T get the nitrates down, take a look at vinegar dosing, but READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!
14. Rare that a fully functioning tank develops that problem, but if you spot it, very first thing is move all fish and mobile inverts out to qt. Some corals can tolerate more of it than fish, but it's not good. Getting all the apt-to-die creatures out eliminates any future ammonia because they won't be in there adding to the problem.
