Unhappy Bubble Tip and Zoas won't open

[Keen4]

Hi Guys! I have a 20 gal Nuvo Panorama since January 2020. Right now there are 3 carpet anemones (Happy as pie) One green hammer and one pink hammer (fully open and happy also) a little baby star fish, a galaxy that just got into was with a carpet, two maroon clowns, a 6 line wrasse, a few frags of GSP's (moody but open for the most part) , One bright green bubble tip hosting the clowns, one teeny tiny baby rainbow bubble tip (hides a lot but comes out for food and opens up), a feather duster, one large turbo snail, a small black hermit crab, and two small ricordia frags that are also very happy and attached to my rock.

and then...........

theres the dark green bubble tip (very unhappy) I moved him while on his rock to the lower peninsula for the male clown and he paired with it but eventually after a week the bubble tip shrank and hasn't ever fully bubbled out again and his mouth is inside out. I placed his rock back up to the upper peninsula where he was happy before and im leaving him alone. Its day 2 now.

Next, the Zoas. I have one frag rock full of zoas and they are all opening and being normal, but the large rock full of zoas is not happy. The large rock of zoas was recently (2 weeks ago) in my small 5 gal, I moved it from there to the 20 gal because the lighting is better. Also I had noticed they weren't opening up so I moved them.

I just did a water change yesterday about 40%-50% and added chemipure blue to my sump. And deep cleaned out the sump
I have socks, filter floss under the socks, a nuvo skimmer, bio rings of course, KZ amino acid slow time release, KZ B-balance time release.
Im using API Salt Water Master Kit
PH: 7.9-8.0
Ammonia: .25-.50
Ca2+: 320 ppm
Nitrates: 40ppm
Mg: about 1230-1200
salinity: 1.025
Po4 3-: 0ppm

Lumini 30 pixie lamp
I lit on full spectrum for the photo (never sure what setting to place it on) tank gets light anywhere from 8-12 hrs a day im sure thats probably too much
PLEASe HELP

#reefsquad

 

[Coralreefer1]

Your ammonia level is concerning right of the bat! You should not have ammonia unless something is dying or has died. Your Green Bubble May be the culprit to the ammonia level. You may be best to remove it before your water parameters really get out of whack.
It seems as if you have a lot going on and are trying to do to much to quickly. First of all, moving Anemones is not a good thing to do as they move on their own to find a place that suits them. By you moving them, you create stress for the animal. You can try altering water flow, light intensity and feeding the Anemone but it is best to leave it be.
Your Zoanthids love nitrates and nutrient rich water, unlike their cousins the SPS. Water changes are a good habit to get into, but adding chemical media to achieve very low nutrients isn’t advisable when trying to maintain success with Zoanthids and Palythoas.
Try to not stress out so much and do too much or in such a short time. Sometimes, altering things can be your own worst enemy.
good luck and be safe!

 

[nereefpat]

From your readings:

You shouldn't be showing any ammonia. Some folks interpret API's ammonia kit to read 0.25 when it's really zero.

Ca should be closer to 400 than 320, which makes me wonder about......

Your alkalinity. I would be curious to see a value for that.

Edit: nitrates are too high as well

 

[Keen4]

Your ammonia level is concerning right of the bat! You should not have ammonia unless something is dying or has died. Your Green Bubble May be the culprit to the ammonia level. You may be best to remove it before your water parameters really get out of whack.
It seems as if you have a lot going on and are trying to do to much to quickly. First of all, moving Anemones is not a good thing to do as they move on their own to find a place that suits them. By you moving them, you create stress for the animal. You can try altering water flow, light intensity and feeding the Anemone but it is best to leave it be.
Your Zoanthids love nitrates and nutrient rich water, unlike their cousins the SPS. Water changes are a good habit to get into, but adding chemical media to achieve very low nutrients isn’t advisable when trying to maintain success with Zoanthids and Palythoas.
Try to not stress out so much and do too much or in such a short time. Sometimes, altering things can be your own worst enemy.
good luck and be safe!

There was a rock flower that died in the tank recently- there was a chemical warfare with the rock flower and the carpets. I removed the other rock flower into my 5 gal and left the carpets in the 20 gal.

 

[Keen4]

From your readings:

You shouldn't be showing any ammonia. Some folks interpret API's ammonia kit to read 0.25 when it's really zero.

Ca should be closer to 400 than 320, which makes me wonder about......

Your alkalinity. I would be curious to see a value for that.

Edit: nitrates are too high as well

So I just did the 40-50 % water change . should I wait and do another water change in 7 days>? how do I fix all of this?

 

[Keen4]

From your readings:

You shouldn't be showing any ammonia. Some folks interpret API's ammonia kit to read 0.25 when it's really zero.

Ca should be closer to 400 than 320, which makes me wonder about......

Your alkalinity. I would be curious to see a value for that.

Edit: nitrates are too high as well

When would be a good time to add some kalkwasser?

 

[Copingwithpods]

I'll echo the above posts ammonia is really bad, calcium at 320 and mag being a tad low makes me wonder about Alkalinity. With any parameters out of whack don't look to the organisms doing well as they indicate nothing more than in a bad situation they adapt a bit better than the others. I can assure you everything is stressed just some are hardier than others and show it alot less.

 

[Coralreefer1]

Best to do small frequent water changes like once every other day or so to get the ammonia under wraps. Make sure to test your water frequently as well.
Once you get the ammonia under control, you can then back off on the water changes to say 10% a week.
You I’ll need to find a balance in water quality since anemones require more strict and pristine water parameters than Zoanthids and Palythoas. They will let you know if they are happy as you are finding out now.

 

[Copingwithpods]

Are the parameters posted before or after the water change?

 

[Coralreefer1]

When would be a good time to add some kalkwasser?

You may be better off forgoing Kalkwasser. First of all, you could end up doing more harm than good. Secondly, if your doing frequent water changes, the corals will be constantly getting the calcium they need. Lastly, you don’t have too many corals that are hermatypic and calcium hogs like say if you have Acropora, Clams or abundance of coralline algae for instance.
You would want to test your water when dosing Kalk, plus it is caustic so avoid breathing it in or touching the powder.

 

[Keen4]

Are the parameters posted before or after the water change?

I have the parmaters from another feed- let go get them.

 

[Keen4]

Are the parameters posted before or after the water change?

parameters before the water change yesterday-
Salinity: 1.24
Ph: 8.0
Nitrite: 0ppm
Ammonia: .25
Phosphates: .25
Nitrates: 80ppm

The parameters posted are from today at the time of the post i was doing the testing.

 

[Copingwithpods]

What salt are you using? And do you have an alk test kit?

 

[Keen4]

What salt are you using? And do you have an alk test kit?

I don’t have an alk test nor do I have access right now. All non essential stores are closed here.
I buy ocean water from the pet store that I support. He gets the water from the Catalina channels in the Pacific Ocean. I also have pre mixed Brightwell salt ready for the next change

 

[Copingwithpods]

Oh OK I see, sounds like you're in socal?

I asked about the test kit and salt to see what the in coming cal alk and mag were in the water changes. If you can, Id do like above stated and do a bunch of water changes over the next few days to try and get those numbers to atleast nsw levels. That should bump up your mag and cal and reduce your ammonia and Nitrate.

 

[Keen4]

Oh OK I see, sounds like you're in socal?

I asked about the test kit and salt to see what the in coming cal alk and mag were in the water changes. If you can, Id do like above stated and do a bunch of water changes over the next few days to try and get those numbers to atleast nsw levels. That should bump up your mag and cal and reduce your ammonia and Nitrate.

Yes In Downtown LA.
THIS ALL SOUNDS LIKE REALLY GOOD SOLUTION- Thank you guys so much.
So goal plan-
water change with the brightwell NeoMarine every couple of days maybe starting tomorrow.
and test test test

The anem looks little bit better than earlier. maybe he was just burping or something. Whats their behavior usually like after eating too much? since ive been home i had been feeding everyday to every other day. for about 4 days now.

 

[Copingwithpods]

Don't over feed, it shows, PO4 and NO3 being that high isn't good not only for the inhabitants but for the algae issues that will shortly follow.

If you happen to find yourself in a tight spot and unable to aquire salt I'm not to far from you and have some salt you can have. I have instant ocean that's high in alk and cal at 1.025-26 and Coralife that's alot closer to NSW and what you've been buying.

 

[Keen4]

Don't over feed, it shows, PO4 and NO3 being that high isn't good not only for the inhabitants but for the algae issues that will shortly follow.

If you happen to find yourself in a tight spot and unable to aquire salt I'm not to far from you and have some salt you can have. I have instant ocean that's high in alk and cal at 1.025-26 and Coralife that's alot closer to NSW and what you've been buying.

Wow I really appreciate that! I think ill be ok for now. I have a new bag of this Neomarine salt. ive only used it twice. The first time i used it i had made too much and killed everything in my little 5 gal. From then on i was reluctant to make it again so i was buying water from Marks Tropical up in the valley. So lesson learned, i now undermix in my 5 gal bucket and test before using it in my 20g. I actually mixed for 4 gallons and the salinity came out to be 1.027 the next day.

 

[laverda]

Your ammonia is at toxic levels. It needs to be zero. Do not dose kalk without knowing your Alkalinity. I seriously doubt you should be dosing anything yet. The real issue is your tank is too new and not fully cycled if you have ammonia at all. Even if you don’t have ammonia your tank is too new and your putting to many different anemones in such a small tank. I have BTAs that are 14” across. Yours should get to 10-12” each if healthy. That does not leave a lot of room in a 20 gallon tank. Even BTAs will battle each other and should not be mixed with carpet anemones. Chemical war fair is much more an issue in such a small tank. Carpet anemones also get very large. Anemones typically do not do well in a tank that is less than 6 months old when set up with live rock and much longer when set up with dry rock. I would return some if not all the anemones if possible.

Get some decent test kits including one for ALK. Alkalinity is the most critical thing you need to be testing for once your nitrite and ammonia reach zero. Your phosphate and Nitrates are both high especially for a new tank. Both typically climb higher as tanks get older. That said your levels should not be an issue for BTAs. They use nitrate as a food source and will do very well with nitrates as high as 120 or more. Anemones are light loving animals. What lights are you using, at what intensity and schedule? They are also sensitive to Alkalinity levels and changes. Are you using RO/DI for topping off your tank?

FYI Catalina water does not come from the channel, but La Harbor. I would test your next water for nitrates and phosphates, which can both be elevated after rains when using natural seawater. The salinity can also vary as will Ca ALK and Mag levels. They are typically all lower than what we want for our tanks and should be adjusted ideally before doing water changes. If your interested I can send you enough calcium chloride to raise you Ca for years if you just pay the shipping.

Slow down and take your time. Good luck.

 

[Keen4]

Your ammonia is at toxic levels. It needs to be zero. Do not dose kalk without knowing your Alkalinity. I seriously doubt you should be dosing anything yet. The real issue is your tank is too new and not fully cycled if you have ammonia at all. Even if you don’t have ammonia your tank is too new and your putting to many different anemones in such a small tank. I have BTAs that are 14” across. Yours should get to 10-12” each if healthy. That does not leave a lot of room in a 20 gallon tank. Even BTAs will battle each other and should not be mixed with carpet anemones. Chemical war fair is much more an issue in such a small tank. Carpet anemones also get very large. Anemones typically do not do well in a tank that is less than 6 months old when set up with live rock and much longer when set up with dry rock. I would return some if not all the anemones if possible.

Get some decent test kits including one for ALK. Alkalinity is the most critical thing you need to be testing for once your nitrite and ammonia reach zero. Your phosphate and Nitrates are both high especially for a new tank. Both typically climb higher as tanks get older. That said your levels should not be an issue for BTAs. They use nitrate as a food source and will do very well with nitrates as high as 120 or more. Anemones are light loving animals. What lights are you using, at what intensity and schedule? They are also sensitive to Alkalinity levels and changes. Are you using RO/DI for topping off your tank?

FYI Catalina water does not come from the channel, but La Harbor. I would test your next water for nitrates and phosphates, which can both be elevated after rains when using natural seawater. The salinity can also vary as will Ca ALK and Mag levels. They are typically all lower than what we want for our tanks and should be adjusted ideally before doing water changes. If your interested I can send you enough calcium chloride to raise you Ca for years if you just pay the shipping.

Slow down and take your time. Good luck.