Treating With Vitamin C

Pufferpunk · Nov 4, 2007

As many of you have heard my complaints of losing entire colonies of zoas/palys that have been wonderful for years & for no apparent reason , got pinched/stretched, covered with brown & melted away, while colonies right next to them are fine. I read somewhere about raising your coral's immune system with vitamin C & echinacea. My echinacea comes in capsules & would be a PITA to open each one (I'm not sure about if it's OK to add the gelatin to my tank), so I decided to try vit C. At 1st I used 1x1000mg in the tank morning & 1 at night (tank is 90g/20g fuge/20g sump). I didn't see much improvement in my zoas, so I raised it to 2000 morning & night. I really think I'm seeing improvements! The last straw was seeing my really nice colony of Tub's blues closing & pinching/stretching & getting brown. I knew what was coming next...

Now, most are open & looking great again--only a couple are still closed. Same with some of my other faltering colonies.

Has anyone every try this method or read anything about it? Can I do any harm by keeping this up indefinately? I'd really like to see someone that is having the same problem try this & tell me it isn't just a coincidence.

Hypertek99 · Nov 4, 2007

So are you using gel vitamin c's??? Which brand are you using???

Pufferpunk · Nov 4, 2007

No, it's a tablet & has 1000mg vit C w/rose hips.
It's the Sam's Club brand: Member's Mark.

Hypertek99 · Nov 4, 2007

Keep us updated on this sounds interesting.

NeveSSL · Nov 4, 2007

This does sound interesting...

Congrats on your tubs coming back! In fact, to celebrate, I'll PM you my address and you can share.

lol.... j/k

Brandon

Hypertek99 · Nov 4, 2007

Do you have any pics? Like a before and after?

surfn · Nov 4, 2007

hmmmm, where did you read this?

honestly, chemically i don't see how this is possible. i don't really see why a soft coral would need vitamin C. i have no idea about echinacea other than i know the "immune systems" of corals are nothing like that of a mammel.

have you kept an eye on your nitrates since you started adding these tablets? i'd be curious to know if it was actually increasing your nitrates, and thus your zoas are looking better due to the increase in nitrates.

i know i used to have some stuff i got at a store once to try and heal a fish. i don't remember what was in it, but it was some sort of herb. but the stuff in the bottle had a heavey menthol smell. i didn't mind trying this on a FO tank......but I'd never put anything like that in a tank with corals.

Chelsey · Nov 4, 2007

Fish have a requirement for vitamin C, but I don't know about coral...

I think I'd be concerned about your fish getting too much Vit C, but I'm not sure if they'd be able to absorb it through the water like they can some vitamins/minerals.

Azurel · Nov 4, 2007

Here is a link that talks about Vitamin C used as a cure for bacterial disease

So who knows might be something to look into if they were in fact coming down with infection....
http://www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/996/996_4.html

Pufferpunk · Nov 5, 2007

Aha! So maybe I've got the right idea. Great article. I'm also wondering about my phosphates (I've got red turf algae) & silicates (I'm constantly cleaning diatoms off the glass). What test kits are good for these?

That "menthol" stuff is Melafix.

turbois300 · Nov 16, 2007

So does anyone have any concrete answers about this vit C treatment??

Pufferpunk - how long have you been dosing and do you have any before and after pix?? Also do you add it directly to the display, drip into display, put it into sump/fuge??

It would seem to make sense that c could help with color as I've never seen a citrus fruit that didn't have bright colors, but I'm sure I'm not thinking chemically correct

Hypertek99 · Nov 16, 2007

I want to give this a try i have a 29gal how much vitamin c do i use???

Pufferpunk · Nov 17, 2007

I have lots of pics to show what my colonies were going thru but all those had died. I didn't bother to take more pics before treating with the C as I didn't realize the great sucess I'd have with it. I can only guess but if I'm treating around 100g w/2000mg 2x/day, I'd say try 500mg/2x for your 29g tank.

I have been dosing vit C for about 2 weeks now. I put the whole tablet into the sump, where there is most agitation, where the water dumps in from the overflow. I have rubble in there, to help with bubbles so I'm sure the tab fals in between. That's also where I do all my other dosing.

I just tested:
dKH 8.5
pH 8.2
Ca 430
NO3 1
Exactly what it was before adding the vitamin C, 2 weeks ago.

Hypertek99 · Nov 17, 2007

So just drop the tablet in and let it dissolve. Where can i buy the one your using at??? do you have a pic of the bottle?

Pufferpunk · Nov 17, 2007

I don't think the brand matters. I just buy the Sam's Club brand (cheaspest). Vit C w/rose hips (a natural source of Vitamin C). I did start out with 1/2 the dose & after not much of a difference, I doubled it to what I'm using now. That article linked to in the other thread mentions a 2 week treatment. I'm kinda afraid to stop though...

I'm going in for some surgery on Monday--maybe I won't have my husband dose while I'm in the hospital for 4 days & see if there is any difference.

anomie · Nov 17, 2007

Hmmm, this is very interesting. Do you use AA's at all like selcon or Reef Plus?

Pufferpunk · Nov 17, 2007

Yes, I add Selcon to their food 2x/wk.

anomie · Nov 17, 2007

I do the same. I soak the food in selcon and dose the tank with reef plus. They both contain Vit. C. I was trying to see if there was a Vit. C deficancy in your tank before, but it doesn't sound like it.