Losing all corals for no apparent reason?

[gluca88]

Hi all,
All my problems started a bit less than 2 months ago, when i start loosing my pocillopora (i opened a thread on the sps section). Now basically all my sps are slowly dying and even lps are going bad except for a ricordea. The corals are kind of peeling from the bottom up. I had stable parameters since after cycling (11 months ago), never lost a coral before. I know is not very long i have this tank but it seemed quite stable and beautiful, to me at least.
I exclude alk swings: always stable around 7 ( i would correct the parameter weekly)
I exclude lighting: everything was growing beautifully with no sign of bleaching (i have led)
pH:8
Ca:430
Mg:1300
Ammonia:0
NO3:10 (though it increased quite rapidly after a wrasse disappeared)
PO4:0.1 (was quite stable at 0.03 for a long while until the wrasse disappeared)

I did a water change (25% after the wrasse accident, normally i do 15% every 2 weeks). I have no clue what is going on. Im having a dino outbrake probably connected to the increase in nutrients. Im running a gfo reactor for the phosphates, but i having problems with reading the amount of PO4. With the test, i only can tell thet there are more than usual because the test becomes blue in seconds.
I red around that high levels of phosphate can cause problems like slow growth and loss of color but not sudden death. Am i wrong?
Please, ask me questions if you think you suspect something, and also give me suggestions on what i can do.
I wanted to celebrate a 1 year tank-birthday with a beautiful tank.
I will post pictures asap

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[reefgeezer]

Here's some things to think about but DON'T react too quickly. A lot of tanks have issues at right around a year old.

.1 phosphate wouldn't normally cause problems like you have described. However, it sounds like you don't have a good idea what the actual level is. A rapid drop in phosphate can certainly cause problems though. Too much GFO can cause this to happen. GFO dust not being contained in the reactor could be irritating the corals.

Certain species of Dino's can do a lot of damage to corals. These however, usually show up in very low nutrient systems.

Some contaminate might also be in play. Air fresheners, like the plug in ones, particularly those that shoot mist in the air, are a common problem. Stuff can also transfer from your hands. GAC or a poly filter can filter most contaminates.

 

[ThRoewer]

... Air fresheners, like the plug in ones, particularly those that shoot mist in the air, are a common problem. ...

That may have been what slowly killed my corals last year. My wife liked to to put up those chemical stinkers... Good thing my tanks are now in the garage.

 

[gluca88]

Here are the pictures the first i took on march 11th and the other one yesterday. Sorry for the poor quality but i rather spend my money on aquarium stuff than fancy phones or cameras.
I always made sure that no chemicals are sprayed within 2 meters from the tank, and anyway we use them sporadically. Also no air fresheners or similar are used in the living room. Also recently we got a cat and we stopped smoking in the room because of that. From this i would say that nicotine is beneficial to the tank (joking, obviously).
In the first picture all corals look well and brightly coloured. In the second my acro totally died (top left), the pocillpora is almost there as well. The BTA retracted all its tentacles. The goniopora doesn't show its polyps since 3 weeks at least. The buttons don't open up since 1 week. Birdnests started losing tissue some 5 days ago. The stylopora (my first coral and pride in the centre) was stunning blue, and now is also slowly loosing tissue since 1 week.

I know i had to avoid rushing with changing parameters, so the last couple of weeks i just let it be to see if the conditions would somehow improve. It didnt and now i'm afraid i waited too long.

Also i forgot to mention that i added a powerhead for water movement, it is quite at the top, i dont think it woul affect the coral so much, or at least not that much to kill them.

I dont know how informative can the pictures be, if needed i can post particulars of the corals.

 

[j.falk]

Have you tried doing a water change? When I start seeing things wrong with my aquarium inhabitants, the first thing I always do are a few water changes to clean things up.

A powerhead for water movement shouldn't be causing the issue.

Dinos (from what I've read lately) are caused by low nutrients.

Edit: I reread your main post and see where you did a 25% change...you might need to do a few more to help dilute things down if something did get in your water. Even things like soap residue / lotion / food grease / perfume or cologne on your hands can cause aquarium issues if you don't rinse your hands thoroughly before putting them in the tank.

 

[reefgeezer]

It's a long shot, but do you have kitty litter anywhere near the tank?

Water changes, GAC, and a poly filter would be a good way to ensure everything is ok.

 

[gluca88]

Have you tried doing a water change? When I start seeing things wrong with my aquarium inhabitants, the first thing I always do are a few water changes to clean things up.

A powerhead for water movement shouldn't be causing the issue.

Dinos (from what I've read lately) are caused by low nutrients.

Edit: I reread your main post and see where you did a 25% change...you might need to do a few more to help dilute things down if something did get in your water. Even things like soap residue / lotion / food grease / perfume or cologne on your hands can cause aquarium issues if you don't rinse your hands thoroughly before putting them in the tank.

I try to be careful about it, i normally rinse my hands in tap water before doing anyting in the tank. I already have a bag of carbon in my "sump" that i change every 3/4 weeks normally and filter wool, if you mean that with poly filter. I started with water changes yesterday. Buy i see no improvement yet. Everyting is closed up.

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[gluca88]

The litter is in the room but quite distant, and the litter box is closed on the top. But why would it be a problem? I mean, i dont think any litter entered the tank.

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[j.falk]

The litter is in the room but quite distant, and the litter box is closed on the top. But why would it be a problem? I mean, i dont think any litter entered the tank.

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Cats like to jump up and sit on top of aquariums / try to get the fish out of the tank.

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/how-to-keep-cats-off-fish-tanks.307246/

 

[RioReefr]

I have a few suggestions:

1) Does your tank not have any fish? I don't see any fish from the photos. IMO, Corals need more than light to survive. They do have mouths for a reason. That being said, get some coral food like Reef Roids, Coral Frenzy or CoralDelite. Also, I got great success using the AquaVitro Fuel product -- it contains amino acids/vitamins and my corals look great. Both items would cost you less than $40 combined.

2) Send your water to one of those testing labs. They send you 3 vials, you put the water in them and send them back. Who knows, maybe you have heavy metals in your water. Those tests are relatively inexpensive at $40-50 and you can even order them off Amazon.

3.) In the meantime, just get some GAC. If there are impurities or heavy metals in the tank, the GAC will take that stuff out of the water column.

The 3 aforementioned items would cost you less than $100 and can pretty much be done right now and you will know your answer quickly. Water changes are not the end-all solution IMO.

 

[Becks]

check your return pump, my jecod return pump had a stainless steel nut rust which caused a lot of my sps corals to RTN