need some help

[JReefaddict]

i need some help with my hammer wall. it has been in the tank for a few months, and recently starting shrinking up, its in a 180 gallon system, regular 25 gallon water changes every other week. my other lps seem to be doing fine, i have a few frogspawn, the only other coral i noticed was i lost a head off of my torch as well, the other heads appear to be doing fine.



this is the hammer that i took a pic of today. moved it off the rock to take a pic, it normally sits about halfway up in the tank

 

[JReefaddict]

going to have water tested at lfs tomorrow. anything in particular i should be looking for with the levels?

 

[Almondsaz]

Phosphate and Nitrates. Have you noticed any brown buildup on the skeleton underneath the fleshy part of the hammer? I would leave it in the area you moved it to take the picture for now. What is the flow like where the hammer is typically located? What is your lighting and how far from the surface is it. I could do this incrementally - but thought you might be able to just answer them all at once.

 

[JReefaddict]

the flow is about medium i would guess, the only brown i can see is in the area where the polyps are retracting into the skeleton, the hammer normally sits about halfway up in the tank under 8 bulb T5HO lighting. not sure on the exact specs of the lamp. going to most likely have an aquarium service guy that im friends with come by one day this week and take a look if i cant get it figured out

 

[JReefaddict]

Just came back from LFS with water test. pH is 7.9 salinity is 1.023 nitrate 50ppm and nitrite .1ppm

Doing a 25g water change now

 

[JReefaddict]

now lost a head on one of my frogspawn, im thinking brown jelly? but i dont see any brown jelly on or around the corals, dont know much about coral diseases

 

[JReefaddict]

well turns out it looks like some sort of infection, going to be doing another water change and a dip for all lps in the tank, is the hammer too far gone or can it come back?

 

[alexk3954]

Hmm, I would say your levels are off and that is probably what is stressing out your corals. 50 ppm nitrate is way too high for keeping coral. Optimally that would be below 10 ppm. Also it is very strange that there is nitrite, that should be undetectable in an established system. pH (8-8.3) and salinity (1.025) could both be a little bit higher but nitrate/ite are your primary concern. I think big water changes and cutting back on feeding will help you get nitrates under control. Maybe someone else has ideas on why you have nitrite

 

[JReefaddict]

dipped the hammer, and a couple other coral that didnt look good in lugols and did another water change and they seem to be fine