Need help ASAP please

[nervousmonkey]

You can test for copper, but if that was in the water column before, your corals would have been dead very quickly before this, and the copper will leach into the LR, and come out very slowly. I don't think it's copper. I think that you have an abundance of nutrients that algae can live on. If it was bad before, all you do when you kill algae is release the nutrients back into the water column, and living algae are made up of the nutrients we don't typically like high levels of. What you may have done when you changed all the water is give the algae fresh nutrients to grow with that they may have been rate limited on before that, such as iron, so you just gave them something they need to grow.
That being said, I'm just guessing at this point since I can't see your tank in person nor do I have enough info to go on. What do you mean all your tests are fine? What test kit are you using?

 

[justjes45]

Ok- here it is-
PH 8.2
Ammonia zero ppm
Nitrite zero ppm
Nitrite zero ppm
Calcium 440
Temperature 78°
Salinity right between 1.021 and 1.022
With my plastic hydrometer.

And phosphate is0

I'm using instant Ocean reef crystals salt. And my test kits are all from API


Would you suggest I do another water change or do you think I will just continue to feed the algae? I do not know anything about hydrogen peroxide dosing – and I prefer not to use a bunch of chemicals.

 

[p.pep85]

who feed your tank when you were away? there may be a lot of food in the sand bed try giving it a good vacuum see if that helps!

 

[melev]

Can we get some updated pictures? Avoid overreacting right now. You did a big water change, so unless your saltwater was bad for some reason, improvement should happen. This isn't a museum piece, you are trying to maintain delicate chemistry for livestock to live. Yes, there's a learning curve but you'll master it.

 

[justjes45]

who feed your tank when you were away? there may be a lot of food in the sand bed try giving it a good vacuum see if that helps!

My son fed them one when we were gone.
I only have two fish and one shrimp... ( I think, but he hides)
And a bunch of corals

 

[justjes45]

Can we get some updated pictures? Avoid overreacting right now. You did a big water change, so unless your saltwater was bad for some reason, improvement should happen. This isn't a museum piece, you are trying to maintain delicate chemistry for livestock to live. Yes, there's a learning curve but you'll master it.

Thanks, melev-
Yes I am in full worry mode-
I will take. Few pics- hold on-

 

[justjes45]

This is what my tank used to look like. My bubble Cora would be huge, there's a beautiful day as a pulp in front of it – now dead… And the rest is just extremely unhappy!
I have a plate type of coral on the top that is growing but is not as colorful as it should be –
My hammer is completely shriveled up, my torch is looking only moderately better – my birds nest coral has Algea on it...
And my poor teeny tiny strawberry anatomy looks like it has wilted .

 

[melev]

This is worse than described. Yes you need to know the proper salinity, but this looks more like dinoflagellates to me which are toxic to several things. Unfortunately, water changes seem to fuel dinoflagellates instead of remove them. You can siphon out whatever you can reach with flexible tubing or extract it with a turkey baster.

The corals closed up tightly like that would make me check salinity and alkalinity, twice.

Do you add anything else to the tank, like vinegar, sugar, vodka, vitamin C, pH buffer, etc?

 

[justjes45]

What the heck is a dinoflagellate!?! I will look it up next-
My refractometer (?) should be here any day, thanks to ups-

I am only a year into this and do not know ANYTHING about dosing with any of that stuff.

Is it save able? What should I do?

 

[justjes45]

You know, now that I think about it, I did one strange thing before I left for vacation. A guy at my local fish store gave me those powdered mix you put with warm water into a syringe in order to kill the aptisia-
Would that have upset anything else?

 

[melev]

What the heck is a dinoflagellate!?! I will look it up next-
My refractometer (?) should be here any day, thanks to ups-

I am only a year into this and do not know ANYTHING about dosing with any of that stuff.

Is it save able? What should I do?

Here is the full article. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php

Your tank isn't doomed, it just has a bad case of an infestation we prefer to avoid.

 

[melev]

You know, now that I think about it, I did one strange thing before I left for vacation. A guy at my local fish store gave me those powdered mix you put with warm water into a syringe in order to kill the aptisia-
Would that have upset anything else?

Not sure what type that is, there are a number of ways to kill aiptasia though. The smaller the tank, the quicker something can go wrong because the water volume is limited.

 

[justjes45]

Holy crap. That article nailed it completely. Aerated slime on glass, killed snails-

WHERE did this come from??
I am going to try the "elevate the PH" method first as I don't have any liquid lime to add....

I am also going to decrease the light cycle-

My new issues this. Because of course I asked it one more issue… I won an auction with WW see last night on eBay and a coral is supposed to be headed towards me maybe I can catch them and have them not ship it out yet.
I do not think this will be the most optimal time to add anything to my tank.

Raising the pH will not hurt anything else in the tank?

 

[justjes45]

This is the only pH powder I have and the says it will only set it at 8.2. Is there something else I should use?

 

[melev]

Kalkwasser (Mrs Wages Pickling Lime available at Walmart, Kroger, etc) is a good inexpensive way to raise pH. That product there is designed to raise it to 8.2, when that article was suggesting keeping it at 8.5 and maintaining that level.

Another choice that has worked for some is to use 3% peroxide, the stuff you use when you scrape yourself and want to avoid infection. 1 ml per 10g of liquid volume, added to the tank daily for 8 days in a row. (3og tank, 3ml per day x 8 days)

Reducing your light cycle to 4-5 hours a day would be a good choice in conjunction with the peroxide.

 

[justjes45]

I have reprogrammed the lights, and will start peroxide and get lime tomorrow. Thanks so much for your help-
Do you think the corals will open back up? Or have I killed them?
[emoji853]

 

[melev]

I have reprogrammed the lights, and will start peroxide and get lime tomorrow. Thanks so much for your help-
Do you think the corals will open back up? Or have I killed them?
[emoji853]

LPS can reopen again even after looking like that. Don't give up hope quite yet.

 

[justjes45]

You have been a huge help- thanks so much!

 

[melev]

Keep us updated with what is going on, and try not to overreact... There are times when huge action is needed, but sometimes it will take care of itself. This case requires some effort though, and I hope all your hard work pays off.

 

[Pfisherman]

This is where the dedicated reef hobbiest is separated from the casual looky-loo. Dinos have caused many to throw in the towel, but if you really love to keep your little reef don't give up. You have a major advantage in having a nano tank so even if you go the easiest route and trash everything inside your tank and start from scratch your not out thousands like the folks with 180g tanks.

There is a guy on here whose name I can't think of who was winning his dino battle by stopping water changes, elevating ph and adding lots of phytoplankton maybe a blackout cycle as well.