Water quality

[PlantedReef]

I have a 40 breeder with a 20 gallon sump that has been running for about 4 months now. 40 lbs of "life" rock and about a 2-3" sand bed (CaribSea figi pink). I use IO Reef Crystals and my parameters are as follows:
pH - 8.0
Temp - 77F
Ammonia (API) - 0
Nitrite (API) - 0
Nitrate (API) - 0
Phosphate (Salifert) - 0
SG (Salifert) - 1.025
ALK (Salifert) - 7.5
Calcium (Salifert) - 490
Magnesium (Salifert) - 1395
Icecap S1 100 protein skimmer
Typically, I do at least a 20% (10 gallon) water change per week. I just lost a Royal Gramma to fin\tail rot that he's had for a few weeks (kept getting better when I do more water changes) but dropped back down to 1/week when it was looking better. Goby has a purple head and looks like he's on his last legs. Sapphire damsel has a piece of his tail missing. Flame Angle had an ich spot that seems to have went away since I've upped my water changes to 20% twice a week again. When I step up my water changes to twice a week, the issues seem to subside. Some people say they do water changes every couple of weeks to a month. Why am I seeing so much disease unless I do them twice a week? You'd think my water quality would be great changing so much water but, keep seeing disease. Does anyone have any ideas why? I also see daily brown\reddish algae\cyano? I can clean the glass everyday and stir up the sand every day and the next day its back. I also have a bag (1 cup) of Phosguard in my sump in front of a tube that runs back into my sump from the return so it is forced through the media. Any ideas are welcome. Just want my fish to be happy. Thanks in advance for any ideas for a new reefer.

 

[mcgyvr]

Water change schedule will have little effect on disease.. Just a coincidence you are seeing IMO..
20% every 2 weeks should be more than sufficient.. Anymore than that as general maintenance is typically excessive.. Many do 20% every month or less but in the first year 20% every 2 weeks is usually plenty..

Phosguard should be used only when you have a phosphate "problem".. Phosphate is a beneficial nutrient required by all marine life.. Too little is just as bad if not worse than too much..

In general targeting "unmeasurable" nitrate and phosphate levels isn't the best plan..

Cyano/algae should be 100% expected in a new tank like yours and is very normal..


As to why you are seeing so much disease that could simply be your supplier or just bad luck,etc...
Do you perform a quarantine process when you purchase these fish to ensure they are disease free before entering your tank in the first place?

Once you have disease you need to treat it properly.. Water changes do not really do that at all.. You typically need a hospital tank or medication,etc...

 

[PlantedReef]

Thanks for the fast reply mcgyvr. I keep reading that the reason I have to clean sand\glass everyday is because my phosphates are "high". So, I've been increasing water changes. Of course, I have no low level test kit that tells me exactly when my level is. I will ease up on the water changes a bit. No, I don't have a QT but, my LFS says they run copper and QT their fish before selling. Who knows how much that helps? Do you think I should treat the DT? I have been seeing fin issues, eye issues and a white spot or two that go away after a day or two on a couple of different fish. Seemed like when I increased my water changes, the symptoms got better. I get it though that I'm not curing them with new water Just not sure if I should go ahead with dosing the DT with a broad spectrum antibiotic like Furan 2 for example?

 

[JWClark]

Second mcgyvr. At this point I'd pull all fish and put in QT and let your tank go fallow for a few months. If you have ich this is how long it will take to kill it off on your rocks and such.

May lose the current fish but consider it the cost of education. If you caught early enough you may save some by treating w/ proper diagnosis. Set up a permanent QT tank and use it--4 wk minimum for any fish. And I do the tank transfer method before I QT so I never have to treat for ich.

Even liverock I get from fellow reefers I put into a fish free QT for at least 75 days. Only way to prevent ich. Same for snails and such too but I have cheated here to no ill effect so far.

For salt water there really is no way around a QT. Many of us have tried and paid the price.

 

[PlantedReef]

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I've never heard of the TTM before.

 

[Dmorty217]

You need to figure out what disease you’re dealing with. Ich isn’t ever just one spot, and the spots will drop off every 3 days and then reappear