Sad days

schooleyosis · Mar 3, 2015

Sorry to hear about this Corey. There are many good suggestions already listed and I don't have much more to offer except to keep trying and don't give up! Following along to hopefully hear of turn around in the near future.

JOKER · Mar 3, 2015

Thanks Ryan. Well test results, salinity was at 1.023 a little low so will be bringing that up over next few days. Alk 10, calcium 500, nitrate 10, phosphate .1 hanna 0 salifert which I figured since removing gfo. Will be getting gfo back on and am cutting feeding down a little. Next step is to remove socks and put ph in sump. Tried a new nitrate test today NYOS seems ok like the color chart it read right about even with the salifert maybe a little higher.

Stephanie11 · Mar 3, 2015

Did you move any rocks on the sand bed? Did you clean your sand? How's the ammonia? Do you have cats?

I've seen tanks running 4+ years and the owners decide to siphon the sand in the back or re aquascape their tanks causing detritus, ammonia and pockets of nastiest go into the water column. They pollute their tank when they think they are doing good. This is the time of year when we are inside more and do more things to our tanks.

Cats are notorious for causing problems with tanks. From pee, to putting a paw in the tanks.

Sometimes even a bad heater throws things off

Temp swings from months ago can trigger deaths far later.

Just some thoughts and ideas, hope anything helps. I've battled loss before as well. Sorry to hear.

tdaviau · Mar 3, 2015

Seems like every time this has happened to me it has been parasite related.. Just got through a 2 week treatment to get rid of Acro-Eating Flatworms and/or red bugs... Usually starts at the base and works its way up...

JOKER · Mar 3, 2015

I do have a cat and the litter box is in laundry room with the water storage but has been from day one and never had any ammonia. I worried about that at the beginning but never had trouble. The acro that are dying go from tip down, others have less PE but seem ok. Hopefully by the weekend I can get frag tank going and it get cycled fairly quickly. Have some old rock from another tank I may use to start cycle.

coralreefing · Mar 4, 2015

Just curious, have you changed the type of calcium you use in the last 6 months or so? If the corals are receding from the tip, it sounds like a ALK/CAL/MAG issue. I switched to a home made 2 part calcium mix once and the levels all tested great but the corals didn't like it and eventually started to recede. Likely after the original CAL in the water was used up.

I switched back to my original CAL and having the 2 types in the water seemed to throw off the tests. It was like the test would read the total hardness at 500 but actually it was 250 of one CAL and 250 of the other. I kept dosing the good CAL until the corals started growing again then I tested and got a reading of about 650. That was followed by many large water changes to get back to normal.