Coral Dying Rapidly

[macyjones1984]

Hi, I have had these corals for a year & am now losing heads very quickly. They’re disintegrating into slime & washing away. A week back, I lost one head & the nitrates were well above 40 by my testing kit, but tap water (well) was reading a yellow that corresponds with 20. I’ve been doing water changes daily, 5 gallons out of maybe 20 at a time. The nitrate was in the okay range & kept bouncing back up within the day during this time, I believe because of the die-off contaminating the clean water. It’s low & fairly stable now but they are dying all the faster. I also got an additive that neutralizes nitrate, nitrite, chlorine & have been putting in probably more than what’s prescribed every day. I didn’t scrub the algae off until I’d talked to the LFS because I wasn’t sure it would make it worse to have it in the water, but i have cleaned it now, as a note. Any advice appreciated.

 

[TheCanuck]

my nitrates are over 140 and no issues with corals. I’d go get a full work up because corals need nitrates to live.

Phosphate
Alk
Calcium

Those would probably be more important to test

 

[macyjones1984]

my nitrates are over 140 and no issues with corals. I’d go get a full work up because corals need nitrates to live.

Phosphate
Alk
Calcium

Those would probably be more important to test

Thank you. The fish store guy told me to worry about getting the nitrates down for now, that he didn't think PAC was what needed to be worried about. I will get supplies for that in the morning, per your advice He also said that by adding in water I'd be replacing trace elements. I just now tested my tap water versus distilled water for nitrates and the tap is orange (40) and the distilled is light yellow (no reaction). I wonder if something's wrong with what's coming out of my well.

 

[SeaDweller]

why would you add TAP water? theres tons of stuff in TAP that doesnt belong in a reef tank. Sounds like you have brown jelly disease, and a bacterial issue. Your source water isn't helping.