Tank Crashing. Help me stop it.

[preef]

About a week and a half ago I started treating my Blue Throat trigger with food loaded with Metro. He was loosing weight and the consensus here on RC was that he had internal parasites. I treated with Metro loaded home made food for 5 or 6 days. This was the first time I made my own food (Shrimp, scallops, salmon, clams, mussels, oysters, kril, mysis, cyclopeeze, fresh garlic, krill). I normally don't run carbon but I began running it in a BRS reactor when I started treating to pull the medication out of the water. I had run carbon for a while several months ago but had a few frags die when I did so I stopped.

On Friday night I noticed that a purple digitata started to STN on me. The Blue Throat stopped eating on Saturday. I also noticed another digitata frag had poor polyp extension on Saturday. At that time I started making water for a water change and so I could set up a hospital tank. Sunday I changed 10 gallons and used the old water for the hospital tank. Catching the trigger was somewhat of a challenge and I had to rip out a bunch of rock and coral to get him. The coral went into buckets of tank water while I was pulling apart the tank. I caught the trigger in about 20 minutes and the coral went back in the tank. One of the corals that came out was a softball size orange digitata colony. It looked better than the others when I pulled it out but it hasn't extended its polyps since Sunday. I'm starting to see algae on its tips.

On Monday I noticed that my nice size orange monti cap started looking pale in the older growth. My green one is also getting pale and has some algae growing on an edge. I changed another 10 gallons of water on Monday.

Today I noticed that some of my acros are looking bad.

I changed the carbon today (black diamond) and filled the canister half way. I have never run GFO but I started running with about half an inch in the canister and it is tumbling nicely.

Here are my parameters:

Nitrate 5 ppm (Used to keep it < 1 but with all of the extra feeding it got as high as 10)
pH 8.2
Alk 8.0
Calc 460
Temp 82
SG 1.026
Mg 1380
Phosphate 0-0.015 with Salifert.

With the exception of nitrate, nothing else has changed. Lots of people swear by carbon so it is unlikely that it is the carbon so that leaves the Metro -- obviously.

With the exception of more water changes what else can I do?

What is the prognosis for my corals recovering?

 

[Dejavu]

The best advice is to continue doing water change daily, run carbon, and add a polyfilter. It sound like the Metro is the cause, so you need to remove as much of it as you can. The polyfilter should do it.

 

[returnofsid]

I have no idea what's causing your tank problems, however, might be able to help with the Blue Jaw Trigger.

Unlike most triggers, those of the Xanthichthys family are mainly herbivorous or planktovores. They aren't carnivores, like other families of triggers. The problems your trigger is experiencing may be due to lack of proper diet. In the past, I had a pair of these awesome triggers. They were fed a diet of dried algae sheets, live ulva and Rods Herbivorous frozen diet. They were VERY healthy.

 

[preef]

The best advice is to continue doing water change daily, run carbon, and add a polyfilter. It sound like the Metro is the cause, so you need to remove as much of it as you can. The polyfilter should do it.

I didn't think of the polyfilter. Thanks.

 

[preef]

I have no idea what's causing your tank problems, however, might be able to help with the Blue Jaw Trigger.

Unlike most triggers, those of the Xanthichthys family are mainly herbivorous or planktovores. They aren't carnivores, like other families of triggers. The problems your trigger is experiencing may be due to lack of proper diet. In the past, I had a pair of these awesome triggers. They were fed a diet of dried algae sheets, live ulva and Rods Herbivorous frozen diet. They were VERY healthy.

Before he slimmed down he was eating nori like crazy. He stopped eating it and now only eats meaty foods. I'll try again. Thanks.

 

[preef]

Still can use some help. Tank is still going down hill.

Monti digitata and caps were affected first followed by some of my acros and now I have some millis that are going. One small milli started to STN one side and worked its way up. Another started from the top and is working its way down. On that one I just cut off the affected tip.

I'm not sure if it was the Metro, change in food to home made or to the increase in food trying to get the fish to eat. I also used a different brand of Superglue about the time this started although I doubt it was that. I had started to increase the food quantity a few weeks before to get my acros to color up and some did very nicely but now all hell has broken loose. A pedal on my monti cap has started to bleach as well.

I have been doing 15 gal water changes daily and have been running my BRS reactor 3/4 way with carbon with about a half inch of GFO. I normally don't run carbon and GFO because I have had great success up to now.

Can I be making things worse the daily water changes and running the carbon and GFO? Should I just let things sit. I've stopped feeding the home made food and I'm going to stop feeding for a few days altogether just in case it is a nutrient thing.

Here are my parameters:

Nitrate 5 ppm
pH 8.2
Alk 7.6
Calc 440
Temp 80
SG 1.026
Mg 1380
Phosphate 0.

I'm measuring phosphate with a salifert test and using it in double precision mode (twice the water 2x the reagents) and I can't see any hint of blue. I ordered a Hanna Phosphate Checker today just in case the salifert test is way off.

What else can I do at this point? I'm so bummed out. I don't want to watch everything die.

 

[preef]

Just checked after lights out with a flashlight. The tips of this milli are receding big time. Here is what it looked like a few weeks ago.

I don't have a current picture. Very obvious when looking from the bottom with a flashlight. My alk is only around 7.7 so it can't be alk burn. I tested the kit with the 7.2 dkH solution that came with it (salifert) and it is spot on.

What causes the tips to recede like this if it isn't alk?

 

[preef]

More tissue recession on my millis overnight.

One other thing. A few days ago I noticed my cleaner shrimp was dead. It wasn't a molt but it was the actual shrimp. Is it possible that there was copper in a home made food ingredients? It was just fresh seafood from the grocery store as well as garlic cloves. Could copper have come from some other source? TDS out of my RO/DI is 0. I'll pick up a copper test kit on the way home from work.

 

[preef]

This milli started showing tissue loss on the bottom of some branches last night. It was a little worse in the morning. Came home from work to see all out RTN. Note the algae in the background. This started after I increased the feeding to treat my Blue Throat. The bubbles are a recent development. I'm measuring 0 phosphate and nitrate at 5 ppm. Nitrate had always been below 1 before I picked up the feeding. Is this RTN event due to the higher nitrate?

Here is what my nice orange digitata now looks like. I haven't quite given up hope on it yet.

This acro is now growing algae on the tips. It used to be a nice purple color.

My caps have lightened up. The left pedal on the orange cap has lost tissue and now light passes through it. The older growth areas have lightened up considerably. The green cap frag no has algae growing on it. Don't know if it is still alive.

Here is my favorite milli. It is losing flesh from the tips. Not really visible in the pic. I'm expecting this to RTN next.

Top view used to look like this on March 13.

Today, 2 1/2 weeks later, it looks like this.

Also note the change in color of my caps between the two pictures.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[jpruitt]

Your alk seems a little low. That us the only thing I see wrong in your parameters. Don't do a water change everyday you will kill stuff doing that. Do a 30 % change and leave it Alone for a week.

 

[stephenrsaiz]

Calibrate your refractometer. I had issues with recession when I thought mine was fine. Checked it against a buddy's and mine was WAAAAY out of calibration.

 

[tibob32]

you tested for nitrates, did you test for ammonia? I don't know anything about the med you used, but it could have killed your bacteria population.

 

[preef]

Your alk seems a little low. That us the only thing I see wrong in your parameters. Don't do a water change everyday you will kill stuff doing that. Do a 30 % change and leave it Alone for a week.

I decided I would stop doing water changes today. I calculated that only 20% of the original water can be left. My alk used to be in the high 9s or low 10s. I thought that might be too high so I started easing it down since early february. Do you think that stressed things. What should my target alk be?

Calibrate your refractometer. I had issues with recession when I thought mine was fine. Checked it against a buddy's and mine was WAAAAY out of calibration.

Thanks. Already checked it.

you tested for nitrates, did you test for ammonia? I don't know anything about the med you used, but it could have killed your bacteria population.

I haven't tested for ammonia for years. Good idea I'll do that now.

 

[tibob32]

It could be a completely unrelated occurence too. Did you consider stray voltage?

 

[preef]

It could be a completely unrelated occurence too. Did you consider stray voltage?

I do have ground probe. I'll check to make sure it didn't fall out while the ammonia test is sitting.

 

[preef]

Tank is ammonia free.

Ground probe is securely under water in the sump and plugged in.

 

[preef]

Just plotted out my alk over time.

It varies depending on time of day. It could swing by 1.5 throughout the day depending on when I test and soon it has been since I dose my BRS 2 part. I dose about 70 ml/day.

Here are my other parameters over time:

Phosphate has always measured 0 using salifert in the double precision mode.

 

[StillerNat]

i had about a dozen or so acro and a few chalices do the same thing. i had alk swings. try testing 3x a day and see how much it swings. i would suggest acro eating flat worms, but the death is too sudden. i would put my money on alk swings. i would frag some stuff to try and save it.

i was a horrible doser and i killed my stuff so i added a Calcium reactor and everything is great for me now, actually its better than ever. i had about 20 chalices white out and now they are actually coloring up and growing a new mantle.

 

[preef]

I currently dose once a day in the morning. When I have tested twice a day I have always observed big changes. I never quite knew how much of a swing was too much.

I just bought two BRS dosing pumps. They're finally back in stock. Now I need a controller so I can easily dose throughout the day to keep the level steady.

 

[FishinFool805]

Ever thought you might have a red acro bug?