Dying/Dead Corals!?

[schuby]

If you kept the rock wet the whole time, then the bacterial population should be intact. With that assumption, the Ammonia spike is likely from coral dying from being blasted by powerhead and the new lights. Consider reducing powerhead and lighting. Ramp up lights over a week or two.

Any fish? Fish-poop is a terrific source of food for most corals. Phosphate of zero usually results in starved corals.

 

[MaxTremors]

No. Don’t pluck it off. Put the rock in the jar with it (if it won’t fit, use a bowl or larger container).

 

[KeMiKiLL]

If you kept the rock wet the whole time, then the bacterial population should be intact. With that assumption, the Ammonia spike is likely from coral dying from being blasted by powerhead and the new lights. Consider reducing powerhead and lighting. Ramp up lights over a week or two.

Any fish? Fish-poop is a terrific source of food for most corals. Phosphate of zero usually results in starved corals.

Rock was definitely kept submerged during the entire transport. Only came out very briefly when transferring to the tank.

The original owner told me to set lights to 70% in acclimation mode for 5 days. Should I set to something like 50% for 14 days? They were in darkness for about 4 hours, I would estimate...

I am so perplexed by what is going on in that tank right now. Leather appears to be extending polyps. GSP is getting more "bumpy" but still no green showing. And some of the zoas are peeking out.

I'm only turning on the light 1 minute at a time to see what is going on. Other than that, it's dark now.

I still can't see how to remove the Xenia from the rock without crushing it or yanking it off. There appears to be no plug..

 

[schuby]

Testing with MA887. I triple checked.

Water in the filtration chamber is actually very low right now. Like under the floss. Should I add salt water to top it up? It wasn't that low last night. Is it possible to lose half a gallon in a day?

Nothing around the tank is wet so there is no leak.

Only water evaporates and not the salt. Only topoff evaporation-loss with RO/DI water.

If your water level is low from evaporation, then your salinity should be high: too much salt from less water. Big swings in salinity is easy in a small tank and makes corals and fish unhappy.

If your salinity is at correct level with low water-level, add saltwater to preserve same salinity. This would be unusual.

 

[KeMiKiLL]

If you kept the rock wet the whole time, then the bacterial population should be intact. With that assumption, the Ammonia spike is likely from coral dying from being blasted by powerhead and the new lights. Consider reducing powerhead and lighting. Ramp up lights over a week or two.

Any fish? Fish-poop is a terrific source of food for most corals. Phosphate of zero usually results in starved corals.

I was given some Coral Nutrition, Reef Roids, and Brine Shrimp. Should I feed them?

No fish at all. Just corals, CUC, and rock.

 

[davidcalgary29]

Rock was definitely kept submerged during the entire transport. Only came out very briefly when transferring to the tank.

The original owner told me to set lights to 70% in acclimation mode for 5 days. Should I set to something like 50% for 14 days? They were in darkness for about 4 hours, I would estimate...

I am so perplexed by what is going on in that tank right now. Leather appears to be extending polyps. GSP is getting more "bumpy" but still no green showing. And some of the zoas are peeking out.

I'm only turning on the light 1 minute at a time to see what is going on. Other than that, it's dark now.

I still can't see how to remove the Xenia from the rock without crushing it or yanking it off. There appears to be no plug..

Rock was definitely kept submerged during the entire transport. Only came out very briefly when transferring to the tank.

The original owner told me to set lights to 70% in acclimation mode for 5 days. Should I set to something like 50% for 14 days? They were in darkness for about 4 hours, I would estimate...

I am so perplexed by what is going on in that tank right now. Leather appears to be extending polyps. GSP is getting more "bumpy" but still no green showing. And some of the zoas are peeking out.

I'm only turning on the light 1 minute at a time to see what is going on. Other than that, it's dark now.

I still can't see how to remove the Xenia from the rock without crushing it or yanking it off. There appears to be no plug..

Well, just leave it in then. Cutting the xenia would just stress it more at this point.

 

[KeMiKiLL]

Only water evaporates and not the salt. Only topoff evaporation-loss with RO/DI water.

If your water level is low from evaporation, then your salinity should be high: too much salt from less water. Big swings in salinity is easy in a small tank and makes corals and fish unhappy.

If your salinity is at correct level with low water-level, add saltwater to preserve same salinity. This would be unusual.

When I saw the low water in the back chambers I thought for sure the salinity would be high but I tested multiple times.
I'll break out my refractometer and check with that after suing calibration solution to make sure all is correct. One moment...

 

[schuby]

I expect you would feed the same as previous owner. Did he give you a schedule and amount per day/week?

 

[KeMiKiLL]

Only water evaporates and not the salt. Only topoff evaporation-loss with RO/DI water.

If your water level is low from evaporation, then your salinity should be high: too much salt from less water. Big swings in salinity is easy in a small tank and makes corals and fish unhappy.

If your salinity is at correct level with low water-level, add saltwater to preserve same salinity. This would be unusual.

Tested MA887 and Refractomoeter with ultra-pure water. Both agree at 1.000. Tested tank with both after cleaning well. Both agree at 1.025.

 

[KeMiKiLL]

I expect you would feed the same as previous owner. Did he give you a schedule and amount per day/week?

He didn't. He did tell me how he mixed up the food and target fed. I found a feeding schedule online. They've been target fed once a day for the first two days. I haven't fed them yet today.

 

[KeMiKiLL]

I expect you would feed the same as previous owner. Did he give you a schedule and amount per day/week?

Is there something I should dose to bring Phosphates, or does the feeding take care of that?

 

[schuby]

The die-off may be due to starvation. Feeding schedule from previous owner would be best. For such a small tank with not a lot in it, likely you would not need to feed much. But you do need to feed some.

If you weren't told what and how much to feed, you might put a tiny amount of Coral Nutrition one day and a tiny amount of Reef Roids the next day. Tiny!

 

[schuby]

Is there something I should dose to bring Phosphates, or does the feeding take care of that?

Feeding would normally handle it. Reef Roids is loaded with phosphate so don't be too free with it. Maybe target feed more than you have been.

 

[KeMiKiLL]

The die-off may be due to starvation. Feeding schedule from previous owner would be best. For such a small tank with not a lot in it, likely you would not need to feed much. But you do need to feed some.

If you weren't told what and how much to feed, you might put a tiny amount of Coral Nutrition one day and a tiny amount of Reef Roids the next day. Tiny!

Okay. I'll send the previous owner a message to ask what his exact schedule was so I can replicate. I'm sure that Xenia is dead as I brushed it softly and pieces are falling off it. Should I be worried about it's body spiking ammonia in the tank?

Also, aside from no phosphates, is there anything you think I should correct with my parameters, and how?

Thank you all very much for all the help, by the way. I really appreciate it immensely.

 

[schuby]

I prefer Alkalinity around 7.5-8. If you lower yours, go slow. Maybe .5 dKh per day. Too fast alk swings make corals unhappy. Slow changes are best in reef tanks.

Remove Xenia if dead by scraping off rock. Dead things left in tank can cause more dead things.

 

[schuby]

Find out where previous owner kept Alk level.

 

[KeMiKiLL]

I prefer Alkalinity around 7.5-8. If you lower yours, go slow. Maybe .5 dKh per day. Too fast alk swings make corals unhappy. Slow changes are best in reef tanks.

Remove Xenia if dead by scraping off rock. Dead things left in tank can cause more dead things.

Okay. I'll scrape it off and put into fresh saltwater inn a clean container and see if a miracle happens. I was told that this stuff was near bulletproof...

 

[KeMiKiLL]

No. Don’t pluck it off. Put the rock in the jar with it (if it won’t fit, use a bowl or larger container).

The chunk of rock it was on also had a good sized colony of GSP. I did end up finding a small piece of stone I was able to disconnect from the main rock though and had it in a container over night. No change as of this morning and looks to be shrunk even more.

 

[schuby]

Retest for Ammonia. It should be at or very near zero unless something died. Bacteria should convert Ammonia to Nitrite and another bacteria convert that to Nitrate. Ammonia should not build up.

Are you in California or Canada?

 

[KeMiKiLL]

Retest for Ammonia. It should be at or very near zero unless something died. Bacteria should convert Ammonia to Nitrite and another bacteria convert that to Nitrate. Ammonia should not build up.

Are you in California or Canada?

I just got back from the LFS. They did a full set of tests and Ammmonia was even higher today than yesterday. They suspect that the tank is going through a mini cycle due to the stirring up of detritus and such during the move but it's hard to tell. I've just completed a 50% water change and threw in some Fritz Turbostart 9 bacteria to hopefully eat up that ammonia. Fingers crossed...