LPS Frags - I think they are dying.

[laeelin]

I purchased 4 frags last week:

Two of them look like they are doing well, but two of them are dying (I think)

My leather and mushrooms are looking well - and have been in the tank for 5-10 years.

The two that look well are:
Clove
Trumpet

The two looking bad are:
Hammer
Galaxia


My tanks stats are:
Salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.0
Ammonia: .25
Nitrate: 5
Temprature: 80

I just moved the tank from my dads house to my house a little less than two weeks ago. Shortly after the move I experienced a small ammonia spike. It started at .50 and is now down to .25.

I'm using one cap of prime daily.

Pictures
Doing well:

Looking Bad (two pictures of each... 6 days apart.)

What should I do?

 

[Marty.H]

Water change and more water changes get the ammonia out of the system that is your issue I would say

What's your nitrite ?

And your

Mag
Calcium
Alk

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but both of your LPS are dead. The Hammer appears to have brown jelly disease. Also need to know the parameters for Cal, Alk and mag. In addition to that what type of lighting do you have and how much flow in the tank where you placed them?

You showing ammonia could be from two possibilities. Either your tank is not cycled as it appears to be fairly new because of the white sand and diatoms on the rocks, or when you moved it it created a cycle. Ammonia can also be missread on some test kits and show a false positive of .25

Yes I know you said it's an older tank I'm just giving you the two possibilities that I see. I just doesn't look like a 5-10 year old tank.

 

[laeelin]

I just doesn't look like a 5-10 year old tank.

My dad gave me his 90g (10 year old tank), and I'm not sure how long ago he purchased the leathers. Thats why I said 5-10 years old.

I setup a 55g at my house. I added new sand to the 55g and matched his salinity and temperature.

Then I moved all of his live rock, fish and coral to the 55g (acclimatiing everything to the new tank just to be on the safe side.)

Thats why the sand and tank is so clean. They are both new. Everything else is 5-10 years old.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but both of your LPS are dead. The Hammer appears to have brown jelly disease.

That sucks, at least they were are small frags

Also need to know the parameters for Cal, Alk and mag.

Alk = 6 dKH

I do not have a Cal or Mag test yet. I'll pick them up when I can.

In addition to that what type of lighting do you have and how much flow in the tank where you placed them?

My lighting is currently the 48" - 60" version HERE

It's a total of 30w LED.

The bottom of the tank is 19" from the light.

The Galaxia was near the top of the tank.
The Hammer was in the middle of the tank.

The Galaxia was in medium / high flow.
The Hammer was in low / medium flow.

Both are now on the bottom of the tank.

You showing ammonia could be from two possibilities. Either your tank is not cycled as it appears to be fairly new because of the white sand and diatoms on the rocks, or when you moved it it created a cycle. Ammonia can also be missread on some test kits and show a false positive of .25

Yes I know you said it's an older tank I'm just giving you the two possibilities that I see.

I think your right about the move causing a cycle, I'm just surprised that it's still going on. It's been almost 2 weeks now - I was expecting a very fast cycle.

Water change and more water changes get the ammonia out of the system that is your issue I would say

I'm going to do a 30% change today and if that's not enough I'll keep doing them daily until it's back down.

 

[Marty.H]

Alk 6 that's far to low I run 9.3

What salt you using ?

30w lighting is also not enough [emoji20]

You need a calcium and mag test kit.

 

[laeelin]

I'm using oceanic natural sea salt mix.

I'm planning on changing to Instant Ocean Reef Crystal next time I buy more salt.

I'm putting the tests and improved lighting on my list.

 

[Marty.H]

You need to get your ALK up

 

[laeelin]

After the water change, some marine buffer, and 24 hours...

Ammonia: less than .25 - only a small trace now.
Alk: 9

I'll check again tomorrow.

 

[laeelin]

Another 24 hours...

Ammonia: 0
Alk: 9.5

Everything else in the tank looks great!

I've removed the hammer coral skeleton.

The 5 remaining heads on the Galaxia are looking much better.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[jayball]

Another 24 hours...

Ammonia: 0
Alk: 9.5

Everything else in the tank looks great!

I've removed the hammer coral skeleton.

The 5 remaining heads on the Galaxia are looking much better.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Glad it is coming back around for you.

FYI, next time leave the "dead" LPS skeletons in the tank. They often have a little tissue alive in the skeleton that can slowly come back and create a new colony. Also next time try to raise the ALK slower I would say closer to 1 DKH per day, preferably spread out over a few doses a day.

 

[laeelin]

Glad it is coming back around for you.

FYI, next time leave the "dead" LPS skeletons in the tank. They often have a little tissue alive in the skeleton that can slowly come back and create a new colony. Also next time try to raise the ALK slower I would say closer to 1 DKH per day, preferably spread out over a few doses a day.

Thats good to know. I'll remember it for next time.

I ordered Kalkwasser from amazon today, and I'll start dripping that next week.