Aquarium Corals suddenly declining

[codyadams1133]

So for context, the tank is 6 months old 2 days ago, since about a month ago I've had several corals decline in both appearance and several other factors. I've had an Acan since May, and it bloomed wonderfully loving life for several months, it had even started to develop a new head, rapidly at that. I've had my bubble coral since then as well, and it recovered from shipping and got even bigger and more beautiful, it has also started declining in the last month or so. The third coral that isn't doing well is my Mandarin firework, It was absolutely beautiful, 12+ heads on the frag when I bought it. ( I should mention the other tank inhabitants that are all doing well ( A monti, favia (doing amazing), chalice, pulsing xenia, several zoa tyes, a mushroom, and 2 sps (they aren't fairing well but I know why that is) (actual livestock: tail spot blenny, very small orange spotted goby, peppermint shrimp, BTA (now dead))

My parameters have been pretty constant since I've had the tank, Ph 8.2-8.4 Salinity 1.026 SG Cal and Mag are elevated (I believe due to instant ocean salt mix) at 475 and 1560, they always have been a little high. Kh 10.5-11.5.

My biggest problem starting the tank was that it's a fluval 15g all in one, I didn't have a skimmer for the first 4 months, got one two months ago, I also couldn't use NOPOX because I didn't have a skimmer. I had a high nitrate problem I bounced between 20-40ppm for a long time, but all the corals seemed fine. Then I started having an algae problem with the firework, lost several heads cuz the nitrates were so high the algae strangled the delicate heads. So I started dosing nopox until I hit like 5ppm nitrate. That's when all the problems started. My sea anemone melted. The acan is down the head it was trying to grow and maybe losing another soon, and is now coated in some kind of mucus. The bubble gets smaller every day. and the mandarin firework maybe only got helped a little bit. I feel like my tank was doing better when I had 20-40 ppm nitrate than now, I've been gradually bringing it back up to 10ppm and feeding more since I have a skimmer now. But everything seems to be doing terrible in what is considered to be "more ideal" conditions. I feel like i've done so much research and testing and monitoring but I'm failing, am I missing something?

I'm attaching pics of when I got them, some growth, and then the downhill.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Looks like you have some dinos, they can definitely irritate coral

 

[Uncle99]

In your post you talk about nitrate and your struggle down to 5ppm, but no mention of phosphate and IMM, that’s an important one.

In a mixed reef, Too little (below0.05) will starve corals and they will melt over time. Too much (more than .25) will inhibit growth.

I see no problem in targeting 10-20ppm nitrate and .1ppm phosphate, so even if the test is a bit inaccurate, you “know” there’s trace in the water.

 

[codyadams1133]

In your post you talk about nitrate and your struggle down to 5ppm, but no mention of phosphate and IMM, that’s an important one.

In a mixed reef, Too little (below0.05) will starve corals and they will melt over time. Too much (more than .25) will inhibit growth.

I see no problem in targeting 10-20ppm nitrate and .1ppm phosphate, so even if the test is a bit inaccurate, you “know” there’s trace in the water.

I have no test for phosphate, you think I may have bottomed out my phosphate? I kept 0 record of phosphate this whole time since I didn't have a test, the addition of nopox may have brought it down to nothing maybe?

 

[codyadams1133]

Looks like you have some dinos, they can definitely irritate coral

I just don't understand, was my high nitrate stopping the dinos? I've had the brown stuff in the sand since like month 2-3 and only recently brought the nitrate down to 5, now 10.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I just don't understand, was my high nitrate stopping the dinos? I've had the brown stuff in the sand since like month 2-3 and only recently brought the nitrate down to 5, now 10.

Higher nitrates encourages algae growth, the algae could've been outcompeting the dinos. I think the nopox might've bottomed your phosphates out, and that's something that dinos enjoy too. I'd stop using the nopox, especially if you're not testing phosphates. My rule of thumb is: don't dose or treat for anything you're not testing for. What kind of skimmer do you use? I took my skimmer off my flex 15 just because I couldn't keep my nitrates up.

 

[happyhourhero]

Prob have bottomed out phosphates.

 

[Morpheosz]

I just posted a very similar plea for help on my 6 month old 15g reef tank. I have been on the opposite journey though with ultra-low nitrates. I've been testing PO4 but never detected anything. I have started feeding more generously over the past 2 months and I believe I have dino starting up now that I never had before but my Salifert still reads 0 PO4 as best I can tell. Never used a skimmer. Just checked the scale on my test kit and the diff between 0 and .25 is the difference between a clear sample and barely visible blue so maybe I've missed seeing it.

 

[Morpheosz]

I just don't understand, was my high nitrate stopping the dinos? I've had the brown stuff in the sand since like month 2-3 and only recently brought the nitrate down to 5, now 10.

As I mentioned, I've been on a very similar journey of discovery over the past few days with similar problems on my similar tank, and it sounds like, per other's comments as well, that that is the case. I assumed when the dinos showed up it meant my nutrients had gotten higher, but it seems the opposite is true, with no nutrients, the organisms that out compete the dinos die off. It was counterintuitive to me too, but it's exactly what I saw in my tank as well. I ran across this helpful article yesterday...

The Dreaded Dinos! What To Do About Dinoflagellates

Dinos or dinoflagellates tend to look more like bubbly snot as opposed to slimy cyanobacteria which is often confused to be the same thing. Depending on the exact type you have, they often reduce or disappear at night and then come back when the lights turn on. They are unsightly, compete with...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

"So the obvious remedy here is to increase your nutrients in the tank which thankfully is pretty straightforward."

When I was dosing B-Ionic Nitrate to bring my 0 nitrate situation up for my corals, the dinos all but disappeared. When I thought I'd gotten too high for other reasons and stopped, a few weeks later, they have bloomed more than ever.