Hammer flesh dying off quickly

[ErikVR]

I have a euphyllia thats been in my system for about a month. At first it seemed to do really well but over the last 24 hours it has started dying off quickly.

I checked the parameters and phosphate is reading dead zero on the hanna ulr po4 checker. Is that probably the issue? And if so, would raising the po4 with additives be quick enough to save it?

Nitrate levels are 14.9.

 

[MnFish1]

MY guess is something else is off. You can add PO4 with food. EDiT - or you can add phosphate.... If its dying off 'quickly' - I would carefully consider what you did within the last week - and - btw I''m with you - these things seem to happen without warning/reason

 

[ryanjohn1]

Bacteria

 

[ErikVR]

MY guess is something else is off. You can add PO4 with food. EDiT - or you can add phosphate.... If its dying off 'quickly' - I would carefully consider what you did within the last week - and - btw I''m with you - these things seem to happen without warning/reason

I have been too busy with work to change anything. Last thing I did was 7 days ago. And that was a 20% water change that I do every two weeks.

The tank only has a clown and a royal gramma. And a handful of turbo snails.

 

[ErikVR]

Bacteria

Is there anything I can do if it's bacterial? I dip all my corals in red sea dipx when I bring them home. Could that have caused anything?

 

[ryanjohn1]

Cipro dip

 

[ryanjohn1]

Is there anything I can do if it's bacterial? I dip all my corals in red sea dipx when I bring them home. Could that have caused anything?

I don’t think so not dip x. I use that as well. I’ve had hammers and noodles do the same. Look great one day then the next poof gone. It doesn’t look like brown jelly disease. You could try iodine dip

 

[MnFish1]

Cipro dip

I would not recommend a cipro dip - from a scientific standpoint - it does not work that fast

 

[MnFish1]

I don’t think so not dip x. I use that as well. I’ve had hammers and noodles do the same. Look great one day then the next poof gone. It doesn’t look like brown jelly disease. You could try iodine dip

So something is wrong here - Following the thread - there is no reason for a cipro dip - which is an antibiotic - he asked if there was nothing he could do if it was bacterial - but a cipro dip was recommended?

 

[MnFish1]

I don’t think so not dip x. I use that as well. I’ve had hammers and noodles do the same. Look great one day then the next poof gone. It doesn’t look like brown jelly disease. You could try iodine dip

Now it's an iodine dip? what is the evidence for what you're saying

 

[mermaid_life]

Phosphate could certainly be a reason.... how are your calcium levels?

 

[kevgib67]

Phosphate could certainly be a reason.... how are your calcium levels?

I agree we need calcium and magnesium levels.

 

[ErikVR]

I agree we need calcium and magnesium levels.

So the complete parameters are:

Salinity: 1.025sg
Ammonia: 0
Phosphate: 0
Nitrate: 14.9 ppm
PH: 8.4
Alkalinity: 8.4 dKH
Calcium: 450 ppm
Magnesium: 1500 ppm
PAR: 200

Salinity, phosphate and nitrate are tested with the Hanna checkers.
PH and PAR with a Seneye.
The rest with Red Sea marine care and foundation pro kits.

I didn't really monitor these levels until now. The tank is only 200 liters and the guys at my fish store told me not to worry about alkalinity, calcium and magnesium for now. The tank only has 8 pieces of euphyllia and star polyps. They told me my normal 10% weekly water changes would be more than enough for the next 6 months or so.

I've heard that wall hammers are almost impossible to keep. But this one looked so good in the store that I couldn't resist. Was that foolish of me?

 

[OctaviusBrine]

So the complete parameters are:

Salinity: 1.025sg
Ammonia: 0
Phosphate: 0
Nitrate: 14.9 ppm
PH: 8.4
Alkalinity: 8.4 dKH
Calcium: 450 ppm
Magnesium: 1500 ppm
PAR: 200

Salinity, phosphate and nitrate are tested with the Hanna checkers.
PH and PAR with a Seneye.
The rest with Red Sea marine care and foundation pro kits.

I didn't really monitor these levels until now. The tank is only 200 liters and the guys at my fish store told me not to worry about alkalinity, calcium and magnesium for now. The tank only has 8 pieces of euphyllia and star polyps. They told me my normal 10% weekly water changes would be more than enough for the next 6 months or so.

I've heard that wall hammers are almost impossible to keep. But this one looked so good in the store that I couldn't resist. Was that foolish of me?

You need to bring up that po4 everything else looks good. reef roids will help with that. Hammers and torches like there water a little dirty.

 

[kevgib67]

^ this!

 

[ErikVR]

I can never seem to get any po4 values in my tanks. Just no3. No matter how much I feed. Frozen and pellets.

Of course this has to happen on a Friday night. So I'll go get some additives on Monday morning. Hope I'm not too late. Turned off my skimmer yesterday. Hopefully that helps.

Would adding some more fish help?

 

[kevgib67]

Probably, what size tank and what fish are currently in it?

 

[hexcolor reef]

What do you have that’s removing PO4?
Instead of looking at coral dip, pick up witch hazel and dip the coral in a solution 15ml of witch hazel / 2Qt water
Move that hammer to a lower PAR. If you just added that hammer it’s likely being burned out from high PAR. Start that lower 150/100 PAR. From the picture it look like it’s in a hot spot. And such high PAR needs nutrients to help. And PO4 is in need

 

[ErikVR]

What do you have that’s removing PO4?
Instead of looking at coral dip, pick up witch hazel and dip the coral in a solution 15ml of witch hazel / 2Qt water
Move that hammer to a lower PAR. If you just added that hammer it’s likely being burned out from high PAR. Start that lower 150/100 PAR. From the picture it look like it’s in a hot spot. And such high PAR needs nutrients to help. And PO4 is in need

It was at 200, measured.
But I figured at much yesterday and moved to down a few rocks to about 120. It is still on the frag disc it came on because I wanted to find the happiest spot for it.

The only waste removal I have is filter floss and skimmer. I'm not dosing anything just yet.

 

[ErikVR]

Probably, what size tank and what fish are currently in it?

It's a 200 liter system but only has a clown and royal gramma in it. Was waiting for my QT to become available again as it's housing new fish for my main DT in the living room.