Corals slowly dying, need suggestions.

[jellyfish123]

Hi all,

There's been a death in the family which led me to having no time for the tank recently. Between going to work and hospital visits I was only able to do 10% water changes every two weeks.
Last month was worse, I went 3 weeks without a water change. I haven't fed the corals, I feed the two clownfish in the tank every other day but instead of measuring food well, Id just throw a pinch of pellets in and leave for work. Maybe what caused the high phosphates.
Two of my gonis have died, two hammers receded, im sure they will die soon. One dallas SPS went from beautiful vibrant green to white. All my zoas are closed up.
Only corals open and looking decent are my two torches, blastos and a favia.
Below are my water parameters, I was finally able to get them tested last week. I believe the nitrates are phosphates are high.
ALK 7.3
Cal 416
Mag 1490
pH 7.9
Phosphate 0.2
Nitrate 15
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Salinity 1.025 - 1.026

The tank is a Waterbox 25G (100L), Noopsyche K7 Mini Lights, I do not dose anything special, just water changes, I have two clownfish, snails, 2 aiptasia shrimp and they are doing fine.
Tank is 11 months old. It was going so well, corals were all fluffy, puffy, wavy and then now it all just looks sad.
The shop that tested my water sold me a bag of Rowaphos to put in the filter chamber so I've done that.
Any feedback or insight is welcome. Love the hobby but its depressing watching the tank dying right infront of my eyes.

 

[Lavey29]

Numbers are fine. Get back to weekly water changes. Run some carbon in case there is a contaminant.

 

[NanoSteam]

I think tank is still too young to self sustain so like Lavey29 mentioned going back to weekly 10% water changes may help here. Start with a 20% then 10% there after just to get anything else out.

I'm not sure I'd run rowaphos though 0.2 is not alarming and you risk going to low. Just use pure carbon on it's own (Not Petco carbon).

 

[mcarroll]

Due to the changes in fish feeding there was also a (trophic) shift for your corals from particulate food to dissolved nutrients....some corals will always be more susceptible than others to changes.

Either you need to get back to your old routine, or you need to like your "new selection" of corals more since they like your new routine just fine.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I think the best thing you can do is perform some water changes and get back into a regular maintenance schedule, it will take time to bring the tank around again. When a tank goes through a mini crash, it takes several months for the system to rebound and start showing signs of growth again. Good luck.

 

[jellyfish123]

Thank you very much everyone! I have done a 30% water change, added a bag of carbon, removed the Rowaphos and going to just stay on top of maintenance and not add any more corals until im very confident. Appreciate all the help. I won't give up on the hobby just yet, it seems so fun. However, I might give up on euphyllia and other corals, might do soft corals instead and live a slightly less stressful life haha.

 

[Lavey29]

Thank you very much everyone! I have done a 30% water change, added a bag of carbon, removed the Rowaphos and going to just stay on top of maintenance and not add any more corals until im very confident. Appreciate all the help. I won't give up on the hobby just yet, it seems so fun. However, I might give up on euphyllia and other corals, might do soft corals instead and live a slightly less stressful life haha.

Since your tank is a year old it would be wise to get an ICP test done to check everything too. I do these 3x per year.

 

[BryanM]

I'd say you're just in recovery mode due to life circumstances. You clearly had it going well before more important things took you away from the tank.

15 nitrates and .2 phos are generally fine, I think it was the change in routine that is at issue, that's all.

 

[jellyfish123]

Thank you for all the advice guys, I have to chalk up the losses and pick it up from here. Im just glad the two designer clownfish are fine. They were gifted to me by my mom. The rest are all replaceable! :)