Why are my corals dying?

[coralgazer]

:cry:

Over the last month, I slowly watched my favorite corals start closing up more and more. Now I am pretty sure they are dying!

This reef tank has been up and running over a year now, well cycled of course. My softies seem to be okay, zoas and palys not quite as open as they were. one of my Florida Ricordias now staying very small, when he used to be huge.

The only real problem I have had so far is a few Aiptasia, which I killed with Aiptasia X and I can't see any left behind.
As you can see in the pictures below, Kenya, Leather, frog spawn and hammer right on the edge (actually, the frog spawn melted last night).

I do a 10% water change weekly, and below are my stats tonight. I do realize the calcium and Mag is a little high, but I have recently changed from reef crystals back to instant ocean, and plan to wait it out while they drop.

See photos too, the one with the red arrow shows a brown line around the bottom of the leather. Is this significant?

RODI water + Instant Ocean
T= 81 F
SG= 1.025
pH=8.1
Ammonia= 0
Nitrates= 0
Nitrites= 0
Alkalinity= 11.1 dKh
Calcium= 540
Magnesium= 1400
Phosphates= Trace

36 gallon bowfront with 15 gallon sump; Coralife lamp: (2) HO T5 10,000K + (2) Actinic Blue HO75; Total 124 watts; (2) Koralia 550 wavemakers; Bubble Magus NAC 3.5 skimmer, filter sock, chemipure and activ carbon bags in sump

Livestock:
CUC turbo snails and hermit crabs, 2 peppermint shrimp
2 large feather dusters
1 large hammer coral
1 Frog spawn
1 Leather
1 Kenya tree
1 Fox coral
1 very large rock with green mushrooms
3 Florida ricordeas
Several small frags with multiple zoas & palys
1 firefish, 1 royal gramma, 2 clownfish, 1 pajama Cardinal, 1 midas blenny

Please, any advice appreciated. This is sad! :cry:

 

[Lazys Coral House]

1st and 2nd picture looks like brown jelly disease. 3rd pic looks normal.

 

[cultivatedcoral]

Not sure what test kits you are using for phosphate and nitrate but if they are quality brands and your numbers are correct I would say it was the changing of the salt. Ive had corals dying when I changed salts and I tried to switch over slowly. Did you switch salts slowly or all at once?

 

[vetteguy53081]

CHECK your Salinity!! Check it with two different devices. I had one tell me 1.023 and bought another and discovered it was 1.029!@! Lost quite a bit of coral an even fish. Corrected the salinity and now have a beauty of a system re-building.

 

[Duffam3434]

What do you feed the Corals?

 

[mike007]

Your alk and ca are a little high. I have had problems before when my alk level was high.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Moved to current forum. Have you checked the TDS on your RO/DI water?

 

[coralgazer]

Okay, here's the scoop:
I just checked my RODI with TDS meter= 000
I check SG with a refractometer. I just tested it on that "0" RODI water and it was right at 1.000, perfect, so SG is not the problem.
I do all my reef testing with Salifert. I only use API for nitrites, nitrates and phosphate.
I've done a lot of surfing on this, my Alk is not that high and from what I've read, slightly high calcium should not harm corals. Well enough kill them!
I just started transitioning back to Instant Ocean today with my water change of 10%. These problems started long before today, so I doubt changing salt brands has anything to do with it.
I feed my corals once a week with Coral Frenzy & Reef Snow.
I haven't seen any brown jellylike substance. The frog spawn just melted overnight. The hammer peeks out every now and then, but not near what he was (glorious).
My Fox coral looks fantastic. As do mushrooms, feather dusters, fish acting fine.
HELP!

 

[cultivatedcoral]

Based on your last post I would suggest using better nitrate and phosphate kits. Salifert for nitrate and Hanna checker for phosphate. API kits are horrible. You very well may not be getting good readings for phosphate and nitrate with the API kits. If your shrooms and softies are doing well you might have have high nitrates and/or phosphates and that would affect them as much.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Think back to a month ago. Were there any changes that coincided with the decline of the corals? No matter how small it may help us figure this out.

 

[kes]

If i were you, I would perform a large water change, even with your new salt (Instant Ocean), about 40% or more, then hopefully things will stabilize. All the basic water parameters look fine, and some have suggested, your test kits could be giving off bad numbers (but unlikely), you could have contaminants in tank that the test kits don't measure. I would also refrain from feeding your corals at this time, or adding any other supplements; just rely on good water changes and things should shape back up quickly.

 

[coralgazer]

Think back to a month ago. Were there any changes that coincided with the decline of the corals? No matter how small it may help us figure this out.

I honestly can't think of anything. A month ago I did treat a few Aiptasia with Aiptasia X, but I didn't go crazy with it, used minimal amount just on the aiptasia. I just can't think of anything else different.

 

[Eienna]

I did have some issues myself after using aiptasia-x, but that being coincidental with my accidental high alk and salinity makes me think there may or may not be a connection.

You have to shake the heck outta the second nitrate bottle to get a correct reading. Some people even bang it on a hard surface a couple of times. Have you been doing that?

 

[coralgazer]

I will retest today, thanks.

 

[LivinTheSwreefLife]

I highly doubt its aiptasia x. I routinely use this and often get some on my rbtas and corals (i never bother turning off pumps) and they never seem to care

 

[Eienna]

I will retest today, thanks.

Any news?

 

[coralgazer]

Hi,
well, I lost the frog spawn and the Kenya tree. They were dead so I pulled them out. The frog spawn looks suspiciously like Brown Jelly Disease, as Lazy livin suggested. I did retest the nitrates by shaking the API bottle extremely well. It did show 5ppm nitrates, not enough to kill corals (?). Also, all the affected corals are in one end of the tank. I did a 15% water change last night and plan to do it again each night for 4 days, which should equal over 50% water change.

I also read up on treating BJD and am going to try the 14 day Vitamin C treatment. Anybody have luck with that?
Any other suggestions welcome, yesterday my beloved Fox coral starting to close up a little, I am heartbroken.

 

[Alabamareef]

Are you running carbon, GFO or bio pellets. Also are you dosing 2 Part and if so where in your system does it enter? Also how's your ph, sometimes with a high alk your ph is also a little high?

 

[jt17]

Has your tank ran at 81F all year? Do you get temperature swings? I had to buy a chiller cause I couldn't temp steady in my tank. Has your alk always been that high? Your LPS and softies might prefer a lower alk. Be careful with large water changes while you're switching salts. That IO could drop your parameters too quickly, particularly alk. I think you are on the right track with allowing the parameters to slowly go down to the Instant Ocean levels
Is there sunlight hitting the affected side of the tank?

 

[coralgazer]

Are you running carbon, GFO or bio pellets. Also are you dosing 2 Part and if so where in your system does it enter? Also how's your ph, sometimes with a high alk your ph is also a little high?

I have carbon bags and Chemipure in the sump, passively. I use BFS dosing, but have not had to use any additives, calcium or Mag, while using Reef Crystals. It always ran high, that's why a switching back to IO. My pH honestly has held steady at 8.1-8.2