Corals suddenly stressed

cjrudy · Feb 9, 2014

I have a three year old 90 gallon mixed reef and within a day everything is looking stressed.
Goniopora, Gorgonians, leathers and zoas are suddenly closing up and my green slimer has white slime coming from it.
There has been no changes to anything and my parameters remain stable.
Alk 10.0
CA 435
Mg 1470
No3 2.5
Po4 . 009
PH 8.0
Salinity 1.026
Temp 78.5

Additionally I run carbon and GFO, with good flow from the return and two WP25 's

I'm at a total loss of what is happening or why.

slapshot · Feb 9, 2014

Look for something that has been dropped into the tank, I had a tank crash from a penny someone threw in my sump. Check no one sprayed bag cleaning products around the tank. Lastly check for a broken heater or pump. Check with a volt meter first then examine your heaters.

Adam Baggett · Feb 9, 2014

Have you tried a large water change?

cjrudy · Feb 9, 2014

Cant think of any cause, just mixed up a batch of saltwater for a change tmrw

Reefing Madness · Feb 9, 2014

Old lighting?

cjrudy · Feb 10, 2014

Well, I got home from work and immediately did a water change and refreshed the carbon in my reactor.

But things have gotten worse, my monticap has turned from red to pale, while the gorgonian leather and zoas are closed up and the goniopra and hammer are not looking good.

I have checked for a foreign object in the tank, for anything that my have died, for a stray voltage, for anything to give me a clue and have found nothing.

Hopefully the water change will help..........have had some of these corals for three years......ugh !!!

Reefing Madness · Feb 10, 2014

Im wondering if your water is to clean for them. Ocean water has .03 phospahtes, you have close to 0, along with Nitrates at almost 0. Just a thought.

cjrudy · Feb 10, 2014

My water is definitely not too clean, and clean water is not going to crash a tank in 48hrs

cjrudy · Feb 11, 2014

Just tested for stray current , reading 0 in the DT and 2 in the sump. So that's not it.

After last night's water and carbon change the goniopora and zoas look the same while the hammer and gorginian look slightly better, barely.

Frantically making water for another water change tomorrow.

Not sure what else to do

cjrudy · Feb 13, 2014

Day five and corals are looking better especially my Goniopora, gorgonian and hammer. I may have lost a few sps frags but surprisingly my birdsnest colony looks ok.

Just finished my 2nd water change in three days, interestingly enough I may have found the cause, a blob at the bottom of the sump hidden behind the reactor pump. It was about an inch by two inches, no idea what it is or was but it was covered in a white mold. Did a second inventory of the tank just to be sure but I am not missing anything, everyone is accounted for so who knows where this fleshy blob came from ?