I have had reef tanks or FOWLR since 2001 but I am currently having a problem in my 75 gallon that I cannot diagnose. Something in the water is giving some of the inhabitants symptoms of bad water quality although I have checked everything I can think of and have found nothing. This began about a month ago and this current tank has been running about a year. Only some of the animals/corals seem to be having problems but there have been no deaths yet. I cannot think of any changes I made a month ago that could cause this. If anyone can think of what might cause this or suggest steps to fix it I would appreciate it very much.
What I've tried:
double checked for stray voltage
40% water change 2 days ago (no apparent change)
checked all equipment is not malfunctioning or broken
tested water parameters daily for a week
Could it be:
metals or chemicals from the RO water if the filters are getting old?
something that was added to the tank inadvertently?
Zoas:mostly retracted, beginning to pale
Discosoma: becoming very pale (ricordia spreading like crazy though)
Kenya tree: retracts often and stays for up to an hour
Black spine urchin: slowly losing spines with base attached
Domino damsel: cloudy eyes, pale body, scratching on rocks (other fish fine)
Everything else seems to be prospering and growing well with great colors.
75 gallon tank
20 gallon sump
4 x T5 HO actinic/10K on 10 hours
about 100 lbs live rock
1 1/2" sand bed
Reef Octopus 2000 HOB skimmer (skims dark brown)
RO water showing 006 TDI for changes and fill-ups (need new filters)
bags of activated carbon and phosguard (changed monthly)
dose calcium, trace elements
feed mini pellets twice a day from feeding ring (fish eat every piece)
never used medicines or any additive similar
Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all test at 0 on two separate tests.
Calcium: 500 (a little high after water change)
Consistent 80 degrees
Ph: 8
dKH: 9
salinity: 1.026
Corals:
Zoas
Kenya tree
Ricordia
Discosoma
Animals:
1 Yellow watchman
1 domino damsel
1 clown
1 six line
1 long spine urchin
1 sifting star
1 tiger conch
1 emerald crab
4 trochus snails
5 astrea
2 turbos
15 hermits
3 nassarius
What I've tried:
double checked for stray voltage
40% water change 2 days ago (no apparent change)
checked all equipment is not malfunctioning or broken
tested water parameters daily for a week
Could it be:
metals or chemicals from the RO water if the filters are getting old?
something that was added to the tank inadvertently?
Zoas:mostly retracted, beginning to pale
Discosoma: becoming very pale (ricordia spreading like crazy though)
Kenya tree: retracts often and stays for up to an hour
Black spine urchin: slowly losing spines with base attached
Domino damsel: cloudy eyes, pale body, scratching on rocks (other fish fine)
Everything else seems to be prospering and growing well with great colors.
75 gallon tank
20 gallon sump
4 x T5 HO actinic/10K on 10 hours
about 100 lbs live rock
1 1/2" sand bed
Reef Octopus 2000 HOB skimmer (skims dark brown)
RO water showing 006 TDI for changes and fill-ups (need new filters)
bags of activated carbon and phosguard (changed monthly)
dose calcium, trace elements
feed mini pellets twice a day from feeding ring (fish eat every piece)
never used medicines or any additive similar
Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all test at 0 on two separate tests.
Calcium: 500 (a little high after water change)
Consistent 80 degrees
Ph: 8
dKH: 9
salinity: 1.026
Corals:
Zoas
Kenya tree
Ricordia
Discosoma
Animals:
1 Yellow watchman
1 domino damsel
1 clown
1 six line
1 long spine urchin
1 sifting star
1 tiger conch
1 emerald crab
4 trochus snails
5 astrea
2 turbos
15 hermits
3 nassarius
