Hammer/Frogspawn Help

[Trouble1375]

Need some help. Added about 2 weeks ago. Lost a teal hammer yesterday, whitish slime and the heads wouldn’t open and worried about the rest of them. Sitting at about 100-125 PAR. Some have gaping mouths, some aren’t opening and have a whiteish slime, and some seem to be fine. I know the phosphate is a little high and am working on getting that down. Will be doing water change after work today. Yes we use RODI water. Reef crystals is the salt we use. No one else seems to be having issues. It’s like watching $$ slowly burn and not being able to do anything about it. They get pulsed flow periodically from the Wavemakers.

 

[tnewell]

Hmmmm @vetteguy53081 @footgal

 

[PicassoClown04]

How many different euphyllias do you have together? Like within reasonable touching distance (4" or less). Whitish slime to me sounds like coral warfare, and if your euphyllia are touching each other (like a frog touching a hammer, not two hammers touching) then that would be my #1 suspicion

 

[Trouble1375]

How many different euphyllias do you have together? Like within reasonable touching distance (4" or less). Whitish slime to me sounds like coral warfare, and if your euphyllia are touching each other (like a frog touching a hammer, not two hammers touching) then that would be my #1 suspicion

They are all within touching distance. They were all single or double heads and I put them on a frag rack that was designed to hold 6 frags. They are angled away from each other but I am guessing that they can touch if they extend.

 

[PicassoClown04]

They are all within touching distance. They were all single or double heads and I put them on a frag rack that was designed to hold 6 frags. They are angled away from each other but I am guessing that they can touch if they extend.

You had hammers and frogs touching each other? Thats definitely not good. Separate them and they should recover. Hammers can touch other hammers no issues

 

[redeyejedi]

Looks like high phos low N03 could be the issue.

 

[Trouble1375]

You had hammers and frogs touching each other? Thats definitely not good. Separate them and they should recover. Hammers can touch other hammers no issues

I thought it was just torches that couldn't touch the hammers and frogs. I'll move them apart ASAP.

 

[Trouble1375]

Looks like high phos low N03 could be the issue.

This is being addressed. That testing was done last week. PHOS is coming down and NO3 is on rebound. The algae scrubber wasn't doing it's job very well so I adjusted it's flow and lighting and am lightly dosing NO3. The bioload in the tank took a big uptick 2 weeks ago when we added a 9" Sailfin Tang to the mix and we are adjusting to the new bioload she brought along with her.

 

[redeyejedi]

This is being addressed. That testing was done last week. PHOS is coming down and NO3 is on rebound. The algae scrubber wasn't doing it's job very well so I adjusted it's flow and lighting and am lightly dosing NO3. The bioload in the tank took a big uptick 2 weeks ago when we added a 9" Sailfin Tang to the mix and we are adjusting to the new bioload she brought along with her.

I agree with others that it could be coral warfare however the N03 and P04 wont be helping. I keep my mag way above 1500 as well which seems to help euphyllia.

 

[vsolovyev]

You had hammers and frogs touching each other? Thats definitely not good. Separate them and they should recover. Hammers can touch other hammers no issues

Hammers and frogspawns touching each other is okay, they are tolerable of each other, I have frogspawns, hammers and octospawns all touching and they have been fine ever since I got them. You can’t have torches near any other Euphyllia though

 

[vetteguy53081]

Euphyllia mixed is not an issue as I have a mixed jungle of them in 2 different tanks (see pics below)
Alk is quite high hence the white slime you are seeing and nitrate up a little.
I do have questions:
- What is age of tank?
- In addition to your digital readings, what test kits are you using?
Moderate light and water flow makes them happy. 150 PAR MAY be a tad low
Feed them 2x per week
Temp 77-79
Alk
other readings seem in range

 

[Trouble1375]

Euphyllia mixed is not an issue as I have a mixed jungle of them in 2 different tanks (see pics below)
Alk is quite high hence the white slime you are seeing and nitrate up a little.
I do have questions:
- What is age of tank?
- In addition to your digital readings, what test kits are you using?
Moderate light and water flow makes them happy. 150 PAR MAY be a tad low
Feed them 2x per week
Temp 77-79
Alk
other readings seem in range

The test kits I use are a mix of Hanna, Red Sea, Salifret and API. I also had my LFS run tests this week just to verify what I was getting. The readout is from an app on my phone that I use to track the results. Alk has been stable just a tab above 11 for almost a year. The tank is 2 years old. We have just started keeping corals.

 

[Trouble1375]

I agree with others that it could be coral warfare however the N03 and P04 wont be helping. I keep my mag way above 1500 as well which seems to help euphyllia.

Well found a source of PO4 that I hadn’t expected. Our RO/DI has PO4 that is too high. Ordered all new filters and resins for it today. So much for the water change I was planning for this weekend. TDS is 0 but I’m not going to compound a problem with more of the same problem.

 

[Shirak]

Well found a source of PO4 that I hadn’t expected. Our RO/DI has PO4 that is too high. Ordered all new filters and resins for it today. So much for the water change I was planning for this weekend. TDS is 0 but I’m not going to compound a problem with more of the same problem.

If you tried measuring PO4 on pure RODI with a kit designed for saltwater it will give inaccurate results. If you are concerned with your source water mix up some fresh saltwater to your usual salinity and then run your tests. Since your PO4 is pretty high which test kits are you using for it and have you confirmed the results with the LFS or a second kit?

 

[Shirak]

also.. for future reference turn the whites on for photos to post. Can't see much with the heavy blue

 

[Trouble1375]

If you tried measuring PO4 on pure RODI with a kit designed for saltwater it will give inaccurate results. If you are concerned with your source water mix up some fresh saltwater to your usual salinity and then run your tests. Since your PO4 is pretty high which test kits are you using for it and have you confirmed the results with the LFS or a second kit?

Using Hanna with brand new reagents. LFS also tested it and came up with very similar numbers. The test for the RODI was done on fresh mix of saltwater for the water change.

 

[Trouble1375]

also.. for future reference turn the whites on for photos to post. Can't see much with the heavy blue

The lights are app controlled and the app is on my hubby’s phone he was at work when I was taking pics.

 

[Shirak]

Reef crystals has a very high alkalinity so that would explain your tank dkh. What’s the PO4 in the newly mixed saltwater?

What are you feeding and how often? Have you tried target feeding the corals? That may help while the tank NO3 and PO4 are out of balance

 

[Shirak]

This is being addressed. That testing was done last week. PHOS is coming down and NO3 is on rebound. The algae scrubber wasn't doing it's job very well so I adjusted it's flow and lighting and am lightly dosing NO3. The bioload in the tank took a big uptick 2 weeks ago when we added a 9" Sailfin Tang to the mix and we are adjusting to the new bioload she brought along with her.

The algae scrubber will only bring phosphates down when nitrate is present. Algae can't grow if one is missing so dosing the nitrate will help but it will get used up very quickly as algae grows and pulls the phosphate down. The issue is if algae isn't growing because there isn't nitrate then your corals zooxanthellae algae are also starving.

How much is "lightly dosing NO3"? are you dosing enough to bump it to 3-5ppm each day? Interested in your feeding schedule and type. If PO4 is coming in with your source water as you say the nitrate additions via food can be helped by increased feeding.