Whats wrong with my coral ??
 

I did a water change roughly 1.5 weeks ago and all my SPS decided to start crapping out on me. Everything was colorful/colring up ,and I have awesome polyp extension ,then after I did my usualy water change the same as always ,the corals become un happy.

They are all browning out and not showing near as much extension as before. I don`t know what I did wrong ??

Nitrates=0
Nitrites=0
Phosphate=0
pH=8.0
ammonia=0.6

The ammonia has always been around 0.6 ,so I dont see why all my SPS would suddenly start to go down hill.

Also I'm running 2 T5-0H's at the moment ,and the same 12 hour light cycle since I started the tank.

when did you start the tank??

In January.

All my other coral is doing fine ,as well. There is LPS and softies in there also.

Did you use RO water for the water change? And have you calibrated your refractometer lately?

There should also be no ammonia except in the cycle. I can't say ive ever had any in my tank. Maybe your test kit expired? Just a guess though.

Hydrometer should be spot on ,salinity is at .027 when I last checked a few days ago.

Also test kit might be expired. I'll take it to a LFS soon for a second opinion.

Also I've been using plain tap water since day one.

salinity is a bit high is it always like that?

hydrometers are never spot on they need to be recalibrated very frequently, they are notorious for being off. if your salinity on your hd is 1.027 it could even be higher. take a sample or the hydrometer in for recalibration if you dont do it reguarily:)

Okay well my only guess is that it's the tap water, the reason most people use ro is for consistency. The tap water can have fluctuations in the phosphates, nitrates and even metals. It may have not shown up in the past but there can be sudden changes in the water quality. That is my guess, that or I have heard of the copper pipes in houses causing issues, it kinda builds up copper in the system and then can lead to a crash.

I would try doing some small water changes with ro water and see how things turn out over the next few days. Maybe run some carbon and phosban as well it will just help pull anything out of the water.

Are you using an AP Ammonia test kit?

Mine always tested at 0.6ppm. I switched to seachem and I get 0ppm from the same test. I think AP is out to lunch.

Shall do. Also how do I re-calibrate a hydrometer ,per say ??


Oh ,also its at .026 ,not .027 .Silly memory :madgrin:

Yeah your right that's a little higher than I would keep it, evaporation can really cause it to spike.

api??? api is the best brand you can use for amonia :P

That a little more ideal!

you need to get it calibrated by a refractometer, go to red coral or some other lfs and they can do it for you free of charge:) you can also bring in a small sample of water for testing and salinity:)

the tank is three monthes old.....that would my guess as to why your having sps issues.....to soon for something as finicky as sps IMHO....

totally agree buddy totaly agree, sps need the maturity and stability a mature tank offers, too many swings in a new tank :)

I got it for my filefish to eat ,however sadly she has passed on (along with all my other fish :sad: ) So I'm trying my best to keep it alive either way.

understandable id do the same but the fact remains the same sps do better in mature systems.

honestly i dont think its the tap water doing it i had sps with tap water in edmonton no prob.


so no fish in your tank??


the salinity is a good start as is watching the temp. amonia being present is not a good sign and can def do it too:)

Yup. API. My bad. I don't like the ammonia test kit they have. Mine wasn't even two months old and always tested less than ideal.

What about calcium and magnesium and alkalinity?

I haven't seen any readings for alk, Ca or Mg. Are you testing these? With sps you may need to start supplementing.

Du'oh! You beat me to it Nano :D

There is a single Diamond Watchman Goby tugging along ,he never seened to get sick like all the other fish.

Calcium is above 20 mg/l

Thats as specific as it gets for now.

No clue on alk and magnesium.

All your fish have died, the tank is only three months old, and your SPS are dying? No kidding.
To keep SPS, you need a stable tank, older than 3 months if you're new at this, and you need to know Ca, alk, and probably Mg.
You also need to be able to keep fish alive before you can keep corals alive.

What happened to the fish? All die at the same time? Or?

I would say at this point, figure out the fish problem, then let the tank mature as you practice keeping it stable (measured by maintaining levels on the three parameters above in addition to PO4 and NO3).
Once you've got that, then think about corals...

The fish died from my own fault.

Everything has feeding well on NLS (aside from filefish) ,looking fine and dandy ,and I picked up a single fish and didn't QT ,and she made every single other fish in the tank sick. Everything died from it except for the goby. Hence all the fish dying.

Also the SPS isn't dying ,its just not doing as well :wink:

Also apart from the SPS ,all the other coral is doing fine. Acans are delightfully spewing out new heads and same goes for the Zoa's and Paly's. The Xena and friends are doing fine as well.

If you added a fish and it killed all the other fish, I'd suspect velvet. To clear that up, the remaining fish should be removed and the tank left fallow for 8 weeks.
You'll need to get test kits for Ca and alk at a minimum, they're important values for growing corals. The 20mg/l you mentioned above is either incorrect, or so low it might as well be 0. Ca needs to be about 400 or higher for corals, especially SPS. Which, if they aren't doing well, are dying. You may be able to reverse it, but maybe not.
I'd slow down a bit with the corals until you can manage stability in the tank. 3 months isn't long enough.

Well when you keep sps water quality is vital you need to know ppm not mg/l all mag and ca are very important to know

Very good to know.

I've got some decent quality test kits coming in now ,for calcium ,alk ,and mag.

Also for removing my last fish ,its been just him in the tank for the past 3+ weeks. Still take him out either way ??

Ya, I would. I lost all my fish except for a goby who didn't get affected, but they can build an immunity to velvet but still be a host. As long as there is fish, the velvet can survive. Took me a month to get the stupid thing out of the tank, then had to wait another 8 weeks.

Well I'll let him get nice and used to a fish trap ,then trap him a few weeks before I head out to Hawaii ,and by the time I come back the tank will have been fish free for a good 9+ weeks.

Also once I get him out and into a QT tank ,what do I do with him ??

Ideally you would treat him with copper or CP. My goby ended up jumping, so that was solved for me.

Well copper it is. Also I don't intend to have him jumping out on me any time soon :wink:

How long should I dose copper for ?? Two weeks ??


Also whcih test kit brand is better ?? Elos or Salifert ??

I don't use copper, personally. There are lots of threads here tho, detailing the use of it. Probably lots on Google as well.

Definitely do this in a qt tank not you dt ;)

Indeed :wink: