Help-my corals are dying!!!

gad2ski · May 31, 2018

Hey all!

First of all, I apologize if I have started a thread in a wrong place. New to the forum.

Could someone please help identify the growth on my LPS? As of right now I have lost one coral and now I see all other ones are affected as well

It looks like there is some white cotton like looking spongy balls growing on the top of my LPS corals. Eventually the corals stop to expand and after touching them there is a brown residue left on my fingers. It started with one coral and now all of them are affected. Please help me!!! I am new to the hobby and I have no knowledge on the subject whatsoever.

As for my water parameters;

Calcium 480
PH 8.1
Nitrites 0
Nitrates are at 20 (last week 40 and 2 weeks ago about 80. I got them down to 20 and am still lowering them down but for some reason those are always a problem for me)
Phosphate.25
Magnesium 1410
KH/ALK 13.4
Ammonia 0
Salinity is always at 1.025
Temp is at 78 ( sometimes it gets warmer due to the weather but never over 80)

I know that my Nitrites are way to high, and like I have mentioned already, I’m working on lowering them, but since I am working with no sump (for the moment) on a 24 gallon nano cube, I do a weekly water changes and that is all. I do not over feed my fish (2 clowns and 1 domino damsel) and when I feed my corals with reef roids I do that 2 times a week with half a tee spoon orf roids per spot feeding. I did feed the corals with a small piece of krill at the end of last week ( that’s also when my corals started to get affected) but there wasn’t any leftover that would be ratting away. I also have a sand shifting star in there and a bunch of snails and crabs for a clean up crew.

I know that I am doing something wrong but I don’t know what. Please help me out guys!!!

Crabs McJones · May 31, 2018

20 for nitrates isn't really all that bad. is phosphate .25 or .025? What lighting are you using and what is your schedule?

RobZilla04 · May 31, 2018

Alk of 13+ dKH is high. That won't cause the issue you're seeing though. Cut the feeding of coral, they really don't need it and you may have irritated them.

Are there any other coral in the tank that have been effected? What is the overall health of everything else?

lickyricky · May 31, 2018

gad2ski said:
Hey all!

First of all, I apologize if I have started a thread in a wrong place. New to the forum.

Could someone please help identify the growth on my LPS? As of right now I have lost one coral and now I see all other ones are affected as well It looks like there is some white cotton like looking spongy balls growing on the top of my LPS corals. Eventually the corals stop to expand and after touching them there is a brown residue left on my fingers. It started with one coral and now all of them are affected. Please help me!!! I am new to the hobby and I have no knowledge on the subject whatsoever.

As for my water parameters;

Calcium 480
PH 8.1
Nitrites 0
Nitrates are at 20 (last week 40 and 2 weeks ago about 80. I got them down to 20 and am still lowering them down but for some reason those are always a problem for me)
Phosphate.25
Magnesium 1410
KH/ALK 13.4
Ammonia 0
Salinity is always at 1.025
Temp is at 78 ( sometimes it gets warmer due to the weather but never over 80)

I know that my Nitrites are way to high, and like I have mentioned already, I’m working on lowering them, but since I am working with no sump (for the moment) on a 24 gallon nano cube, I do a weekly water changes and that is all. I do not over feed my fish (2 clowns and 1 domino damsel) and when I feed my corals with reef roids I do that 2 times a week with half a tee spoon orf roids per spot feeding. I did feed the corals with a small piece of krill at the end of last week ( that’s also when my corals started to get affected) but there wasn’t any leftover that would be ratting away. I also have a sand shifting star in there and a bunch of snails and crabs for a clean up crew.

I know that I am doing something wrong but I don’t know what. Please help me out guys!!!

Have you tried moving the frags to other places in the tank? They can be finicky and need the right flow and light combination to thrive.
I would suggest lowering your KH to 11 or less.

burtbollinger · May 31, 2018

dumb question but no peppermint shrimp in this tank, right?

burtbollinger · May 31, 2018

(double post, sorry)

gad2ski · May 31, 2018

Thanks for responding to my thread!

My Phosphate reading is 0.25 on a scale from API SALTWATER MASTER TEST KIT

I am using AI Prime HD for lighting and am slowly building up its intensity. Currently I am at 55 percent of its strength. The light comes on at 8 and goes off at 10:30 at 6 I only use actinic lights.

I have a cleaner shrimp with long white whiskers and red line on top of his body that has another white line inside the red one.

All my LPS corals are affected but my zoas are good healthy and my SPS are also ok. My 3 Kenya Trees are also healthy looking. A while back my Open Brain Coral also lost his color and now, from being like neon green his entirely reddish or brownish. I also have a sea anemone that is doing very good. She is moving every so often but is never hiding and the only time she is deflated is when she is pooping ( I think). Once in a blue moon. The overall fish tank is doing good. I have no coralline algae for some reason but this fish tank is only 5 months old so maybe it needs more time. I don’t know.

As far as moving the corals, I haven’t done that. They were all doing very good where they were so I didn’t think that was necessary.

IslandLifeReef · May 31, 2018

I would say to slowly reduce that Alk and also reduce your photo period. 14.5 hours of light is a lot. Try reducing that to 6 or 7 and see what happens. If everything is happy, then try slowly increasing the hours the light is on. Just my opinion.