My tank is falling apart

Coral4coral · May 16, 2019

Ok I have a 75 with only 4 fish I had an outbreak of velvet I'm guessing from a frag because I qt fish for over a month. Anyway my water is 1.026 Ca 450 KH 8
Magnesium 1600 nitrate undetectable
Nitrite 0. PO4 0.04 lighting viparspectra Chinese led I think they may be part of the problem,switching to t5. I have a sump with a large protien skimmer planned on having alot of fish but I turned it off now. Cheato died do to low nutrient. Main problem coral is losing color fast starting at the outer ring is white and inside pale I stopped running carbon and gfo to get nutrients up. Literally nothing is running in my sump except phoslock and socks. I still have new tank algae not alot but it's there bright green probable 30% of the tank has it. I just want to make my tank look really nice lol so any advice would be helpful like saving my coral and being able to add new fish btw my tank is 5 months old.

Hemmdog · May 16, 2019

Pull the socks get some nutrients in there. Remove phoslock, add more clean up crew to eat the algae. If nutrients are still low once your sure the velvet is out of your tank, add another fish.
Your mag is a bit high, I’d do a 30% water change, give yourself a little reset.

Aco5000 · May 16, 2019

What type of coral is the showing color loss? Also tank temp 78 to 82?, softies and some lps like more nutrient rich water ie. nitrates and phosphates, they are essentially coral food, your po4 is acceptable but your undetectable nitrates could be the issue or potentially too much light causing zooxanthellae loss or coral bleaching

Coral4coral · May 16, 2019

Mainly montipora and some zoas stay closed also and 1 acropora had the white besides that everything is very dull and temp is 77 maintained with apex ph is 7.9 to 8 . If there is fish in the tank will the velvet always be there just dormant? Thanks for the replys appreciate it

Hemmdog · May 16, 2019

@ngoodermuth is the best with fish disease and prevention.

ngoodermuth · May 16, 2019

For velvet, you should let the tank go fallow (fishless) for 6 weeks. IF you are certain it was velvet, and not a bad case of ich. How many fish are still alive? Do you have them in a QT now? Any photos? When was the last coral/fish/wet item added to the tank and when did symptoms begin?

Coral4coral · May 16, 2019

I added a jb mushroom and then a week later everything was covered in spots patchy skin the fish has twitchy seizures and 4 died I really thought they all were going to die but today everything pretty much cleared up on my snowflake clown pair orchid dotty back and hectors goby. I have a ton of with frags glued everywhere how should I catch the fish? I don't want to stress then into another outbreak.

ngoodermuth · May 16, 2019

Patchy skin.. like a film or slime? Or the skin itself was discolored? Any swimming into powerheads, excessive hiding/light sensitivity?

ngoodermuth · May 16, 2019

I use a trap, well an acclimation box with a string tied to the door, but same concept. Don't skimp on the bait, get some fresh clams, roe, something they wont be able to resist.

Coral4coral · May 17, 2019

No light sensitivity but heavy breathing and lying on the ground I'm going to try catching them today when I get home in going to send a picture of my tank and what the fish look like now so you guys can get a better idea

Coral4coral · May 19, 2019

Besides the dull color theres brown strings coming out of the coral

ngoodermuth · May 21, 2019

Any updates? Were you able to get any photos of the fish? How’s everything doing now?

dantimdad · May 21, 2019

Your rock looks really new.

The strings are probably dynos. DO NOT FREAK! If you remove your filter socks (or just leave them in and don't change them so they get nasty) and let your nutrients build up some it will help.

Remove any kind of chemical media as well.

Don't bother changing water.

Up the feeding if your fish are still eating and you can't catch them to treat in a separate tank.

Photos of the fish will help.

sfin52 · May 21, 2019

agree with possible dino.
Use a turkey baster to blow of the coral.
If you can get a 10micron sock. This will capture the dino.
Stop all gfo carbon dosing and nitrate removal.
You want to have activated carbon to take care of any toxins the dino may release.
Stop water changes for now. There has been observed correlation between new salt and dino population growth.
Keep your head up youll get through this.
@ngoodermuth is fantastic with fish issues.

dantimdad said:
Your rock looks really new.

The strings are probably dynos. DO NOT FREAK! If you remove your filter socks (or just leave them in and don't change them so they get nasty) and let your nutrients build up some it will help.

Remove any kind of chemical media as well.

Don't bother changing water.

Up the feeding if your fish are still eating and you can't catch them to treat in a separate tank.

Photos of the fish will help.

MnFish1 · May 21, 2019

Coral4coral said:
I'm guessing from a frag because I qt fish for over a month.

When you QT'd - did you treat with medications during that time - or just observe. At the National Aquarium - they have reported Velvet 65 days into observational QT.

Coral4coral said:
If there is fish in the tank will the velvet always be there just dormant? Thanks for the replys appreciate it

See above - they can be dormant 'for some time' - whether like CI they can keep up low grade infections in fish and thus remain 'forever' - IDK. But - since there is a recommendation to leave the tank fallow (without fish) for 6 weeks - I assume it can.

Coral4coral · May 22, 2019

Thanks for all the help and my fish are impossible to take photos of everything has appeared to clear up and when I qt i use copper and prazi pro with fresh water dips my last survivors where the snowflake clown pair and 1 hectors goby unfortunately while everything was clearing up I had a hot night and temperatures went up to 80 in my tank causing another ich outbrake losing the orchid dotty back I installed an ac in my room to keep that from happening I took advice as far as filtration nitrates are going up slowly and starting to notice some color come back on the corals also the clowns still have some spots I'll try to take some pics but they are eating and active to I'm very optimistic thanks again everyone for the advice and help I've been in this hobby for a little while and would like to think I'm a pro but the more I learn the less know lol