Monti's and star polyps not doing well

S

SneakyOwner

Member
My tank parameters are good...
kH:10
Ca:420
Mg:1400
po4:0
pH: 8.0
nitrate:20-40
nitrite:0
My salinity is around 10.28 but it stays stable there and the corals were doing fine at this salinity but for the past few weeks my orange and purple monti have started dying around the edges and my GSP seem to be receding. One of my zoa colonies is receding as well but I have many other zoa and hard corals that are doing fine. For the past two days my open brain coral has been closed as well as my green birds nest. This is weird because I have a green pocillapora right next to the birds nest that is doing fine and a lobo brain next to my open brain that is doing fine also. Please help I don't want to lose these corals and all of my other corals are doing fine. What should I check for? My water is always stable and I don't know what could be causing this.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
How often are you doing water changes and in what % ? I see you are a long time member, but thought I would ask...
 
S

SneakyOwner

Member
I have a 200gallon system and I change 10 gallons weekly. Everything has been stable at the same parameters for years but recently certain corals are not doing well. I'm worried because my brain is starting to show some skeleton in two spots. I don't know what it is!! I have other sps and brains that are perfect but my one brain and two monti's are not doing well. I have 250W 20k halides on the tank and the bulbs are good. I've been in the hobby for about 9yrs and I just cant figure this out. :(
 
bshady

bshady

Member
Whats the temperature of the tank? How old are your test kits? Have any chemicals been sprayed around your fish tank? Your nitrates are high I would do larger water changes and try and figure out where the nitrates are coming from.
 
S

SneakyOwner

Member
Test kits are new. Nitrates come from my mom feeding the fish too many pellets. I have a fuge with chaeto and mangroves but the nitrates never get to 0. I have an 8 in. blue tang a 7in. yellow tang a 6in bicolor angel and about 10 other fish. If anything its from overfeeding. I have a chiller the temperature stays at 79 F I just checked my R.O. filter and its coming up with 2ppm. Could that small amount of TDS in my R.O. water cause the corals to do this? I will change out the filters tomorrow but what can I do if the 2ppm from the dissolved solids from the R.O. water has built up in the tank?
 
bshady

bshady

Member
corals and inverts can be pretty sensitive to nitrates especially sps. I would try and get your mom to stop over feeding the fish to start. whens the last time you changed your filter in the RO unit?
 
Robzilla

Robzilla

Active Member
You never mention Alk....alk is a huge component in stony coral growth and health. Also, you may have just purchased the tests, but what is the expiration date? It could have been on a shelf for a very long time.

What other corals are in close proximity to these that are not not doing so well?
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Here's how I "think" I'd proceed. First of all unless it's something drastic like "Chemical Spill" or something dire I wouldn't try to make any drastic changes. Even with HIGH NO3 if they've been relatively elevated for a while your "System" is somewhat accustomed to them. Lower them gradually over a couple of weeks with a game plan. Here's what I suggest:

  • A) Get an alternate set of tests ran... either a local friend of LFS. Get specific #'s not "yea this tested in the GOOD range".
  • B) Add some CARBON bags to the system.... NOW! That's always my first line of defence and I've always got a bag (or 5) ready to go.
  • C) Start preparing for water changes by mixing the SW now. Test your newly made Salt Mix just to make sure it's not out of whack.
  • D) Do a few larger water changes of 25% - 30% in order to lower your NO3 but at acceptable levels. Keep this rule in mind : "Nitrate (NO3) reduction is directly proportional to percentage of Water Change. " Changing 10g of water in a 200g is only 5%. Lets use the higher NO3 of 40. If you change 5% of your tank water you're only lowering NO3 down to 38 which really isn't even detectable. You need to step it up and get them down in a few weeks.
  • E) Don't just sit back and "go with the flow" on feeding. Everything you (or anyone else) puts into the tank has a direct effect on everything else in the tank. What is fed, how often it's fed and how MUCH is fed needs to be controlled closely especially since it's possibly causing a problem now.
  • F) Why are you keeping your SG up there at 1.028? Suggested is around 1.025 with a general range of 1.024 - 1.026: You need to slowly lower this to at least 1.026 and keep it there. Do this by making you newly mixed salt water slightly lower in SG and mix it into your system gradually.

SLOW is the key here with everything except adding CARBON to the system. I would do that YESTERDAY or sooner.

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
S

SneakyOwner

Member
Ok so two days ago I went to the LFS and got my water tested again. Nitrates had gone up more in 2 days from 40ppm to 80ppm. Everything else was
kH: 11
Ca: 460
Mg: 1350
Po4: .03 I changed the media in my phosphate reactor.
pH: 8.3
no2: 0
I also added a new bag of carbon the day I posted the problem on the forum ;)
Since then I have done a 60 gallon water change and I am going back to the LFS today to check on the nitrates and phosphates. Everything is staring to look better so I think it helped. I'm getting polyp extension again on the birds nest and the brain is starting to fill up again. I also noticed the return pipe for my refugium was clogged with cheato and barely flowing that may have helped raise the nitrates since it was barely getting water flow through it. As for the salt level I get natural seawater from the LFS. The salinity is usually around 1.028 to 1.030 so I guess from doing water changes the salinty has settled around 1.028. I'm going to slowly bring it down it 1.026 I also cut back the feeding to just feeding frozen every other day. I will keep you guys updated thanks for the help.
 
S

SneakyOwner

Member
Got the water tested again today. Nitrates are down to 40ppm so I did another 20 gallon water change. The damn salinity of natural seawater is high though so my salinity is creeping up a little after I do each water change. I'll worry about that once I get rid of these nitrates.
 
dmatt88

dmatt88

Has been struck by the ban stick
Hey sneaky ur not adding unmixed salt to ur tank are you?

Sent from Matts DROID x using Tapatalk
 
S

SneakyOwner

Member
Its from Miami since I live in south Florida. I know the guy that delivers the natural water to most of the stores in the area so it is natural water. I tested the water yesterday and its at 1.030 the store owner said about a mile out its usually 1.032. hopefully this new store by me opens soon so I can start going elsewhere.
 
DesertOrchid

DesertOrchid

Active Member
Makes me wonder about the SG being natural??? Is he just adding a few gallons of 'natural' water to regular made up saltwater and calling it 'natural?' Also what are you using to measure your salinity?? Hydrometers become much more unreliable as they age. Just a few thoughts on the high salinity.
 
N83259

N83259

Member
No reason you can't add some RO water to dilute your natural seawater down to 1.026 or so.

If I ever see an elevation in nitrate and/or think I've overfed, I use a pump or turkey baster to bring debris on the bed and rock into suspension. Then I attempt to net out any big particles, then run a thick filter floss to catch as much as I can. I do this before and during the water change. My therory is that the debris will be removed and therefore won't have to be decomposed by bacteria, thereby cutting the nitrate spike short.
 
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