I recently had a blasto and jf favites recede and die within about 3 days. Found amphipods all over them. Want to blame the amphipods, but know its probably my fault. My trumpet corals, monti plate, and other cyphastrea also don't look great. My platygyra, other favites, mushrooms, acan, zoas, and monti digitata look good.
I ran out of original salt and changed to red sea coral pro based on their calculator and recommendation. I have already gone through 5 water changes with this salt. The die off may be correlated with a new batch of salt I mixed (20g tank, I mix 25-30 gallons of salt at at time and do roughly 5 gallon water changes). Below are my test results
10/05
nitrate 2
salinity 1.025
calcium 390
magnesium 1400
alkalinity 8.3
phosphate 0.53
10/11
Water Change (first of new batch)
10/13
nitrate 3
salinity 1.024
calcium 430
magnesium 1440
alkalinity 8.6
phosphate 0.31
10/15
amphipods all over the favites and blasto
10/16
blasto and favites gone : (
10/17
nitrate 1
salinity 1.024
calcium 410
magnesium 1400
alkalinity (ran out of reagent)
phosphate 0.25
10/18
Water Change
10/20
nitrate 1
salinity 1.024
calcium 430
magnesium 1490
alkalinity 8.5
phosphate 0.24
I always check my salinity to match before the water change. Just got a Hanna digital temp/salinity tester a few days ago and it is reading lower (1.022 vs 1.024) than the refractometer which has been calibrated.
I can't decide if my coral die off is from:
1. alk changes with the coral pro salt (which is supposed to be alk of 11.5, but I haven't checked it)
2. salinity being lower than I thought
3. phos dropping too fast
What do I do?
1. Dump my 20 gallons of red sea coral pro saltwater and change to the regular red sea salt
2. Follow my digital salinity tester and increase the salinity of my tank (probably needs a bump anyway, but not sure if 1.022 is problematic if that is the accurate number)
3. Get on better schedule. I think I will be testing sunday evenings. Water change monday, and testing again tuesday or wednesday for a while until I am comfortable again.
Any help would be appreciated, thank you!
I ran out of original salt and changed to red sea coral pro based on their calculator and recommendation. I have already gone through 5 water changes with this salt. The die off may be correlated with a new batch of salt I mixed (20g tank, I mix 25-30 gallons of salt at at time and do roughly 5 gallon water changes). Below are my test results
10/05
nitrate 2
salinity 1.025
calcium 390
magnesium 1400
alkalinity 8.3
phosphate 0.53
10/11
Water Change (first of new batch)
10/13
nitrate 3
salinity 1.024
calcium 430
magnesium 1440
alkalinity 8.6
phosphate 0.31
10/15
amphipods all over the favites and blasto
10/16
blasto and favites gone : (
10/17
nitrate 1
salinity 1.024
calcium 410
magnesium 1400
alkalinity (ran out of reagent)
phosphate 0.25
10/18
Water Change
10/20
nitrate 1
salinity 1.024
calcium 430
magnesium 1490
alkalinity 8.5
phosphate 0.24
I always check my salinity to match before the water change. Just got a Hanna digital temp/salinity tester a few days ago and it is reading lower (1.022 vs 1.024) than the refractometer which has been calibrated.
I can't decide if my coral die off is from:
1. alk changes with the coral pro salt (which is supposed to be alk of 11.5, but I haven't checked it)
2. salinity being lower than I thought
3. phos dropping too fast
What do I do?
1. Dump my 20 gallons of red sea coral pro saltwater and change to the regular red sea salt
2. Follow my digital salinity tester and increase the salinity of my tank (probably needs a bump anyway, but not sure if 1.022 is problematic if that is the accurate number)
3. Get on better schedule. I think I will be testing sunday evenings. Water change monday, and testing again tuesday or wednesday for a while until I am comfortable again.
Any help would be appreciated, thank you!