Tank smells for 2 days - montipora starts dying

[lasmol]

Hi

I started to have some problems with my tank for the last month.

Here the story:

about a month ago my tank starts smelling funny(like when your at a harbour)
The tank smells for 2 days, and then all my montipora and seritapora starts losing tissue. All my acropora seems fine, with all their polyps out, but my softcorals, hammercorals and discosoma are not happy.

A week ago the same thing happend, tank started smelling for 2 days and then all my new montipora died. This time i watched the tank, and every thing was doing great when the tank smelled, but after 2 days my montis starts dying. Again my acropora seems to be fine. This time i lost some fish also.

All my parameters is in check, and i dont dose anything to the system.

Tank data: 800 liters
Pumps: 2 x tunze 6101
Return pump: Red dragon 8200
Skimmer: Bubbleking 200 mini

The system is not overstocked with fish

Every advice is really welcome.

Kind regards

Christian

 

[AMedinas]

Hi,

do you use GAC? How many Water changes do you make?

It can be some wars by soft corals.

 

[Jabrams]

Have you tested anything ?

Test everything...

 

[Nanook]

Something could have spawned.

 

[lasmol]

Hi

I have double checked all my parms, and they are all in check. The smells tells me that there is some sort of proces going on in my tank.

I have some xenia and a big sacrophyton, but i dont think they are the problem. I dont make wc, havent done it for over 3 years.

Maybe i have some "dead" area in/behind my liverock ?

I will try to add another tunze 6101. Will keep you posted.

 

[collie man]

when i had a larger colony of SS start RTNing on me my tank smelled like that for two days also. try doing a large water change and throw in some GAC.

 

[collie man]

also, check for black sand, it can smell like rotten eggs once siphoned out of the tank.

 

[lasmol]

also, check for black sand, it can smell like rotten eggs once siphoned out of the tank.

Well, maybe i have found the reason. I have some black sand in the left side of the tank.

Do you think that sand could have caused the monti death in my tank ?

Maybe the sollution to my problems is in my sandbed(it is not a dsb) ?

kind regards

Christian

 

[collie man]

black sand can come from limited flow within the sand or a dead spot. maybe a portion of the sand was disturbed and released some nasty stuff into your water column. i do believe that black sand is a secret killer.

siphon out a test patch and smell it. if it does smell try and get it all out carefully. if it does not smell i would just leave the rest and continue searching.

 

[collie man]

IMO sand in general is too harsh for corals when it comes to physical touching. whenever one of my coral are on the sand i see dead spots where it has been touching within days.

-Jeremy K, Best of luck

 

[lasmol]

IMO sand in general is too harsh for corals when it comes to physical touching. whenever one of my coral are on the sand i see dead spots where it has been touching within days.

-Jeremy K, Best of luck

Thanks Jeremy

I am just so frustrated, the tank has been running for 3 years without any problems, and now i deal with this problem. Throwing out big colonies of sps is never funny:mad2:

Thanks to every one who wrote in this tread, nice with some input.

Will keep you guys updated

Kind regards

Christian

 

[collie man]

No worries

Please keel us updated as im sure this is a cause others may be facing as well without knowing.

Later on, Jeremy

 

[danreefman]

did you check for any dead creatures snails, fish, starfish, cucumbers, etc.?

 

[lasmol]

Just want to give you an update on this.

For the last 3 months i have had some probs with my system, but i think i have found the reason why.

The reason i have had these issues, is that i bought some cheap salt at my LFS. Normally i use Tropic Marin salt, but that was out of stock, so i bought the cheap salt. I just want to buff my salinity from 1,022 to 1,024. The first time i used the salt i my system, made a huge impact on my tank. All my seritipora died, we are taking big colonies ( 60 cm X 30 cm), also my montiporas died. For a month ago i made 25 liters of new saltwater, with the cheap salt, and then after a day, i could smell the same thing again. The next day my monti and softcorals looks like Sh.., This time i did not loose something, but everything looked terrible for a week.
The salt is called Blue ocean(will try to make a pic), dont know who made this crap. But dont buy it. Stick to a brand that you know(lesson learned!)

Kind regards

Christian

 

[fq600]

Dang, that sucks man. And yea, throwing out colonies of sps make my heart skipped a beat.

I hope this will solve the issue. Keep us posted in a few weeks/months and let us know that everything went back to normal.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

You havent done a water change in three years and you have dead black sand in your system and you have decided that your problem is bad salt. Wow

 

[Finland]

You havent done a water change in three years and you have dead black sand in your system and you have decided that your problem is bad salt. Wow

LOL :headwally::headwally::headwally:

 

[lasmol]

You havent done a water change in three years and you have dead black sand in your system and you have decided that your problem is bad salt. Wow

Well, the thing with the black sand was solved quickly after i heard i could be a problem. I have added the cheap salt 2 times in my system with problems coming after 1-2 days. A local reefer have had the same problem, after using this salt. Thats why i am pretty sure, that my issues is coming from using this salt.

I am not the first one to be suspicious, that some cheap salt brand is the main cause to problems in the tank.

Kind regards

Christian