Please advise me on what to do next...

[Reef Keeper]

Hello,

I have a 130 gallon reef tank full of fish and corals. For the past 3 years, I have no problems and many LFS owners have seen my tank and are quite impressed with what they see. Well, recently I had a small outbreak of red slime and I applied the Ultralife RSR according to the bottle. The next day, most of the corals went into decline and the clam was dead within a day. My open brain coral started to slough so last night I changed 40 gallons. This morning, the open brain still sloughing but within 10 minutes of the MH coming on, he started to get bigger. All the xenia, pipe organs, plate coral, frogspawn, green star polyps are retracting into their shells into tiny dots (size of a rice) but no sign of sloughing. Does that mean they have a chance of recovering? I could not turn on my skimmer because the bubbles start to overflow even at slowest setting. Should I go ahead and do another 40 gallon PWC tonight or it is to soon to do so? I used RSR before without any issue but why now my corals are suffering so much? I also added two airstones to keep the O2 level up. I await your expert replies. Thanks RK

 

[Reefman29]

I have never used any red slime remover. I have heard some tanks crash after use so I found it best to stay away. I would try to turn on the protein skimmer and do another water change. Is there any chance you put in too much RSR? Do you run carbon? I would recommend you run carbon at least until the corals look better. Best of luck

 

[steelhead77]

Do a minimum 50% water change ASAP. Then do another. Always remember that the solution to pollution is dillution. Then, never run any chemicals again. The large water changes will not hurt and will only help the corals. Add a big bag of carbon in a high flow area or in a reactor, then do another 50% water change.

If you must run anything (other than carbon) I've found that Chemipure works well for cyano - mine disappeared within a day of adding it to a reactor.

Good Luck.

 

[WETFISH]

You must turn your skimmer WAY down after using RSR until it starts to skim normally,which can happen fairly quickly(within 6-8 hrs).Better yet just let it rip into a bucket and change the water that way.I wouldn't go crazy with the water change all at once...you may shock the corals that way.10% one day 10% the next.I have used Ultra RSR a few times...never had a problem.

 

[steelhead77]

You must turn your skimmer WAY down after using RSR until it starts to skim normally,which can happen fairly quickly(within 6-8 hrs).Better yet just let it rip into a bucket and change the water that way.I wouldn't go crazy with the water change all at once...you may shock the corals that way.10% one day 10% the next.I have used Ultra RSR a few times...never had a problem.

You will not shock the corals with a large water change. Think about it, what's worse: corals sitting in poisoned (relatively speaking) water or getting a nice dose of fresh clean healthy water. 10% is not enough to dilute any bad stuff in the water. You must do a large change to see immediate results.

 

[Chris27]

I've used the Ultralife RSR before with no ill effects to my softies, LPS, or anemones. My guess is that the two air stones you have in there probably aren't getting the job done and the pH dropped significantly in just a little bit of time. Turn the skimmer down as far as you can, and then take the collection cup off allowing the skimmer to overflow into the sump, the skimmer will draw in far more O2 then the air stones.

At this point everything is ****ed off, which subsequently may result in some toxins being emitted by the corals, so the large water change suggested above is a good idea....as is a fresh change of carbon.

Good Luck - your tank should be able to pull through.

 

[syrinx]

If you do it right you can do up to a total water change. For this case I would do 50%- just be sure your temp and ph are equal.