I originally posted this topic in New To The Hobby: (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1320504) I thought I should take jbarone’s advice as this point since my questions are more focused on saving the coral itself than just water quality like I thought they would it be. So I'm restarting the topic in LPS.
A revamp of what’s happened and you may feel safe to assume that I’m clueless about water quality, tests, and what I need to pay attention to…
Ok, just a few days ago I was preparing to my routine (every 3 weeks) water change (5 gallons â€"œ Tank is a 20 gallon tall) when I noticed my frogspawn looked really pale. Since then, it’s gone from pale to blistered looking and white. Percula9 told me this was the zooxanthellae being evacuated, aka bleaching. After doing some initial water tests, I found my Sg low and my Calcium around 300. I also discovered that my phosphate test was possibly reading up to .1 ppm. This is the lowest reading on the color chart and is difficult to tell the difference between it and 0 ppm. However, since I do have some hair algae, spot algae, and some sort of red bubble algae…we’ll go with .1. Unbeknownst to happy-go-lucky me…even .1 is bad. Percula9 suggested Phosban. I’ve managed to bring the Sg and calcium back up over the past three days. Today the coral is still opening up, but not to its fullest potential, it still looks blistered, but maybe not as bad. It’s still very pale and irritated looking and several heads are almost entirely withdrawn. While I do not have phosban, I do have Rowa Phos. I found a mesh filterbag and placed this with about 3 or 4 TSP of the stuff (rinsed) into the CPR where the water flows back into the tank. I also spot fed the coral a day early today with the frozen red plankton to ensure every head got a chance to eat…if it wanted. Looks like most of the plankton was spat back out in sticky threads. I ran out to Petsmart and found a reef master test from AP. It has calcium, nitrate, phosphate, and KH in it. I got it mostly for the KH and calcium. Unfortunately, the AP phosphate test is even less precise than the Redsea BUT the calcium test is easier to use and determine than the Redsea. Enough of my rambling, here’s the important stuff you’re interested in.
Below are the starting water readings from three days ago prior to the water change, followed by today’s readings.
3 Days Ago:
Amm: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Ph: 8.2
Calcium: 300 ppm
Phosphate: 0-.1 ppm
Today:
Amm: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Ph: 8.2
Calcium: 480 ppm per new AP test
Phosphate: 0-.1 ppm (Redsea)/ 0 ppm (AP)
KH: 7 dkh (a little low?)
I still don’t have the Mg test since I’m still gathering a list of things I need to order from Dr. Foster and Smith. I plan on getting that and an Iodine test since I’ve never been able to keep shrimp for more than 4 to 6 monthsand don't dose iodine.
Given what I have, what can I do to help remedy the problem…or at least finish pinpointing the problems. I’m sure this is just a domino effect where one thing adversely affects everything. I don’t want to lose the coral but realize I will lose at least some of it. What can I do to stay on top of this and keep things from getting worse? I’m sure dying heads are not going to help and I don’t know how to recognize one that’s too far gone to rescue.
Help? I can get as many pic as you like if you need them. Thank you!
A revamp of what’s happened and you may feel safe to assume that I’m clueless about water quality, tests, and what I need to pay attention to…
Ok, just a few days ago I was preparing to my routine (every 3 weeks) water change (5 gallons â€"œ Tank is a 20 gallon tall) when I noticed my frogspawn looked really pale. Since then, it’s gone from pale to blistered looking and white. Percula9 told me this was the zooxanthellae being evacuated, aka bleaching. After doing some initial water tests, I found my Sg low and my Calcium around 300. I also discovered that my phosphate test was possibly reading up to .1 ppm. This is the lowest reading on the color chart and is difficult to tell the difference between it and 0 ppm. However, since I do have some hair algae, spot algae, and some sort of red bubble algae…we’ll go with .1. Unbeknownst to happy-go-lucky me…even .1 is bad. Percula9 suggested Phosban. I’ve managed to bring the Sg and calcium back up over the past three days. Today the coral is still opening up, but not to its fullest potential, it still looks blistered, but maybe not as bad. It’s still very pale and irritated looking and several heads are almost entirely withdrawn. While I do not have phosban, I do have Rowa Phos. I found a mesh filterbag and placed this with about 3 or 4 TSP of the stuff (rinsed) into the CPR where the water flows back into the tank. I also spot fed the coral a day early today with the frozen red plankton to ensure every head got a chance to eat…if it wanted. Looks like most of the plankton was spat back out in sticky threads. I ran out to Petsmart and found a reef master test from AP. It has calcium, nitrate, phosphate, and KH in it. I got it mostly for the KH and calcium. Unfortunately, the AP phosphate test is even less precise than the Redsea BUT the calcium test is easier to use and determine than the Redsea. Enough of my rambling, here’s the important stuff you’re interested in.
Below are the starting water readings from three days ago prior to the water change, followed by today’s readings.
3 Days Ago:
Amm: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Ph: 8.2
Calcium: 300 ppm
Phosphate: 0-.1 ppm
Today:
Amm: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Ph: 8.2
Calcium: 480 ppm per new AP test
Phosphate: 0-.1 ppm (Redsea)/ 0 ppm (AP)
KH: 7 dkh (a little low?)
I still don’t have the Mg test since I’m still gathering a list of things I need to order from Dr. Foster and Smith. I plan on getting that and an Iodine test since I’ve never been able to keep shrimp for more than 4 to 6 monthsand don't dose iodine.
Given what I have, what can I do to help remedy the problem…or at least finish pinpointing the problems. I’m sure this is just a domino effect where one thing adversely affects everything. I don’t want to lose the coral but realize I will lose at least some of it. What can I do to stay on top of this and keep things from getting worse? I’m sure dying heads are not going to help and I don’t know how to recognize one that’s too far gone to rescue.
Help? I can get as many pic as you like if you need them. Thank you!
