Wondering what could be happening

[Freakyyfort]

So this is my Miami hurricane.. as you can see it's slowly dying.. and I'm looking for a reason as to why it would be..

Water is fine. Not perfect cause this is not a perfect tank nor is it a show tank. It's my tank. Everything is growing and fish are still alive. Hahaha

It's been higher in the tank all it's time with me. Been there for about 8 months and has grown from that spot as well. Just broke it off this am cause may be it's to high and I wanted to inspect it. I don't see anything on it? But may be someone else has had this issue and could point me in the right direction.. thanks

 

[CodyRVA]

If you haven't changed your lighting or flow then the placement is probably not the issue considering it's been in the same place for 8 months. I would really focus on your chemistry and the slight chance of critters (new additions?) bothering it; my guess is chemistry. Can you share parameters?

 

[Freakyyfort]

I'll check them tonight.
Just bothers me that one thing in my tank is dying everything else is fine. Which is why I'm thinking it's something like a critter. Nope no new additions in the last 5 or 6 months.
But as stated before nothing else is affected. Light and flow has all been the same.

 

[CodyRVA]

Has your aquascape changed at all? Did you move any rock around or have any of your colonies grow in size that could be shading this coral too much or blocking flow? Conversely, did you prune a colony and expose this one to too much light? Stuff like this is often over looked and we end up making a whole bunch of changes for nothing; resulting in more harm than good. If you're 100% certain it's isolated to that one specific coral, I would retrace my steps and take a closer look at what's going on in and around that specific piece.

FWIW I've seen a coral or two die off while others were fine and it ended up being a warning sign of things to come. Shortly there after another coral would look rough and after checking test results I noticed an issue that slowly built over time. Not saying this is what's happening, just something to look into before making any drastic changes.

 

[Paul C.]

I'd guess a alk swing. New batch of salt? Guess would be its high causing the alk burn.

 

[DSC reef]

Chalice corals are excellent indicators of chemistry swings, alk swings.

 

[Freakyyfort]

Hmm nope haven't touched my tank except my little water changes. And that all comes from the sump.. I'll be sure to check my water quality tonight. Thanks guys

 

[Paul C.]

What brand of salt are you using? Do you check your newly mixed saltwater before the WC? That is why I asked if maybe you switched brands or possibly you got a box that's a little off number wise.

 

[Freakyyfort]

Well I'm gonna hang my head cause I'm guessing it's more the water that's off..
Salinity 35
Nitrate above 5.0 on Api
Ammonia is <.15 salfiert test
Nitrite is 0
Ph is 8.4
Alk is 6.5 7 drops

 

[Freakyyfort]

Got a new job been working a lot... no reason to neglect my tank but life happens... I've never had this high of nitrate how do I bring it down? Water change... big one. I don't have the salt for that. Gonna have to wait if that's the case.

 

[Freakyyfort]

I looked I have quite a bit of bubble algae and some not much hair algea...

 

[CodyRVA]

I wouldn't worry about 5 ppm of nitrate, that's really not bad. Your ALK is a bit on the low side, has it been stable? CA and MG?

 

[Freakyyfort]

I don't know CA. Haven't tested it. Will test tomorrow. And I don't have a MG test kit. I don't add it so I haven't tested it. I use reef crystals. Alk was at about 9 drops. For a long time.. I was using diy lime water. So that's what was keeping it. But haven't made a batch of it in a bit and haven't been using it for about a month or so now..

 

[CodyRVA]

I don't know CA. Haven't tested it. Will test tomorrow. And I don't have a MG test kit. I don't add it so I haven't tested it. I use reef crystals. Alk was at about 9 drops. For a long time.. I was using diy lime water. So that's what was keeping it. But haven't made a batch of it in a bit and haven't been using it for about a month or so now..

Sounds to me like this is a result of unstable chemistry. FWIW communicate your ALK in identifiable units like dKH; your "drop count" won't mean anything to most reefers as most test kits vary.

 

[penguin_free]

Is that using the api kh kit, where the number of drops to color change = the alk in dkh? I actually really like that kit

 

[DSC reef]

Invest in quality kits. Salifert for mag, calcium, alk. Been using Hannah checker for alkalinity in DKH, really liking it. Only way to make sure your parameters are stable and monitoring your tanks uptake.

 

[Freakyyfort]

Well soon I'll be able to get them. And hopefully have the time again to pay better attention to my tank. As for now I'm gonna keep testing to see where it's at. And keep it stable according to there tests..

 

[Freakyyfort]

And yes the 9 drops means 9 DKH sorry for the confusion