Stressed or Dying Corals?

[Red Coral Aquariums]

CoralineCori;

Sorry to hear about the problems.

I have used the excital with good results but every tank is different and reacts differently to any new chemical or addition we add.

Your Goniopora is very delicate and it's demise could very well be the addition of the Excital.

Your calcium is high but you say you changed salts. Did you mix the salt in the bucket before you took any out for a water change?

Your hard corals seem to doing fine but your food coral (zenia, Gonipora ) are suffering. Try feeding your tank ie phytoplankton or zooplankton, coral vit etc and monitor those coral reactions. Excital might have stripped the water of one or more of these.

Kevin

[CoralineCori]

Thanks Kevin, I will try adding some zooplankton later today I have Kent Zooplankton as well as Reef Crew's Nannochloropsis Oculata. When you ask if I mixed salt do you mean mixing the marine and reef crystals to gradually ease into the new salt water? If so no...we ran out of the marine and chose to try the new stuff without even thinking about it. other wise yes I mix the salt water and then let it sit over night to completely adjust etc. I was reading up on some chemical additives and heard that they could burn corals that are in the path of powerheads. What I have observed though is that these corals look like they are trying to hang in there and I noticed that my Gonio is a bit more perky. We knew getting it that its survival rate was not the greatest, but we decided to try it out. We have already had it longer than some LFS can hang onto them lol. Since I have tried everything I can thnik of, my only concern now is when to pull out the corals (if they dont make it) so they don't release any toxic substances and spike the tank. I really dont need a crash on my hands!

Michelle

[Red Coral Aquariums]

Originally Posted by CoralineCori

Thanks Kevin, I will try adding some zooplankton later today I have Kent Zooplankton as well as Reef Crew's Nannochloropsis Oculata. When you ask if I mixed salt do you mean mixing the marine and reef crystals to gradually ease into the new salt water?
Michelle

That food should be fine.

What I mean about mixing the salt . Before you opened your new pail of salt Did you roll the pail thus thoroughly mixing the dry salt in the bucket before use. In new pails chemicals settle like sand in your tanks. Smallest particles to the bottom biggest to top. Cal or Mg would be the top chemical in an unstirred pail of salt.

Kevin

[CoralineCori]

hmmmm, interesting...never thought of doing that, but it makes all the sense in the world. I will start doing that. Will keep you posted on how everything goes in the tank, I am keeping my fingers crossed

[CoralineCori]

Well, things are slowly...very slowly starting spring back..however I see signs of cyano returning. It's very little and barely there but hubby and I can see it. Hubby was scared that the treatment completely stripped the tank of nutrients because all algae had gone including whatever was stuck on filter return, skimmer intake. I would imagine if we have a tiny bit of nitrate in there, that there is still some beneficial nutrients/algae? Anyways Gonio is reaching out a bit more, everyday I get more red polyps opening on the zoa and although the xenias are still shrivelled, the polyps have turned a light pink again...still not opening up but better than they were for sure. My fingers are still crossed lol.

[sphelps]

Did you perform a large water change after the treatment, I know I've used a red slime treatment before (can't recall brand) and I believe it called for several large water changes after the treatment. It could also take a few treatments to get rid of it 100%.

[CoralineCori]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Did you perform a large water change after the treatment, I know I've used a red slime treatment before (can't recall brand) and I believe it called for several large water changes after the treatment. It could also take a few treatments to get rid of it 100%.

No we didn't, this specific algae treatment explains that no water changes are needed, that it is 100% safe for all inhabitants in the reef system. We do however change 5gal of water each week just for our regular weekly maintenance. I've heard of a few others yes that are more "chemical" than a biological type of treatment that do require significant water changes. I'll tell ya though, I was a skeptic of this stuff but it really worked great..I would recommend it.

Thanks everyone for your input