Help! Chemical warefare? Corals dying

[cjd]

slow down, 1. remove dying or dead things 2. do a massive water change , even a 100% if possible . stop adding things your making it worse and chasing numbers is not good right now. chasing a ph number is pointless , all my tanks have run at 7.8 and I have had no problems . go back to basics and save your tank .

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Agreed no carbon dosing huge water change

 

[cmcoker]

Here's a good read on not chasing pH. Includes some changes you can make to help pH overall but also why you don't want to use buffers.
http://www.melevsreef.com/node/1739

 

[ou12004]

Nothing worse than watching a tank crash, I just lost half my SPS because my temp prove was 3 degrees low and I dumped about 15 gallons of kalk top off water in because the fan was causing serious evaporate. My ph went from a high of 8.0 to a high of 8.8 but I did not add anything to bring it down I just let the tank go back to equal.
The more you chase perfect levels the more damage you will do with swings. I would do large water changes until you get a handle on this but I would not mess with a chemical fix.

 

[Ashley L]

Yay! Use it! Probably it will not dissolve as nicely as fresh one, try a bit longer, I would lower SG to 1.023 as will have lower alk and to avoid some higher concentration if it does not dissolve totally. I used an entire box of zeovit "Refeers Best" after expired for two years! It was rock solid![/QUOTE
That traffic must be nerve wrecking! lol. I was almost in tears when I found that bucket of salt lol.. I changed 40 gallons and it seemed to help. My instant ocean was like yours was, it was solid as a rock. It took a screwdriver to pry it apart and then bust it! I couldn't find anyone to take my anemone and corals. All corals seem good. I finally just now finished and haven't even sat down since I talked with you earlier.. That's why my response was so delayed. A person I trust at a store in Knoxville said to do a major water change and then add them anyway. Poor things were bagged up all day today and in shipping yesterday. They seem fine though. I will post pics Thank you so much for all your help!

 

[Ashley L]

@CastAway East Tennessee Reef Club

I was just thinking the same as Duke4Life ...

Looking under local clubs, Tennessee, ETRC. There is an active community in East Tennessee maybe someone close enough you that could take your new corals while your tank gets sorted.

Post a link to this thread over there

Thanks so much, both of you! I did contact them and they helped talk me through it. I also called someone I trust at a store about a hour away that said to do the same thing that ETRC said. So, I did a 40 gallon water change.. Which is why my response is so delayed. I just now finished lol. And hey, thanks for letting me know about the clubs too! I never knew we had any in East TN. That is very cool!

 

[Ashley L]

He let me chim in. Ive been trying to keep up with the reading. Low ph not a big problem your test kit might be funky. But i had a whole reef tank destroyed by dosing no pox its alot like carbon dosing if not the same thing. Dont dose anymore carbon. You dosed to much to soon probably. Large water change i do a 80 percent change every month corals love it. Its ok

Wow! That is a huge water change! What salt mix do you use when you do one that large? I had a BAD experience with no pox too about a year ago. I was just carbon dosing with sugar. I do that if something ever dies in the tank that I can't get off the rock or something like that and it is usually a easy fix. I read where a lot of people had a major alkalinity problem from dosing too much ph buffer and I had been adding a lot trying to raise my ph... Which I now know isn't even that important lol. My test kit says it won't go bad until 2020, so it should be okay.. I hope! I did a 40 gal water change and added my nem and corals. All seem to be fine now. Thanks for all the help!

 

[Ashley L]

Btw don't beat yourself up over this, every single person on here has been in a similar boat at 1 point in time.

Thank you so much. That really made me feel better.. It really makes you panic in times like that and you just have to watch things go downhill right infront of you. It helps knowing you're not alone in it. I'm so glad I found this site. It has helped me so much! I did a 40gal water change with my old bucket of instant ocean that was hard as a rock lol. It did the trick though, I added everything and it seems to be doing good. I did lose one of my elegance corals today in the process of all of this, but that was it. Everything seems pretty happy right now. Thank you so much for all your help! I will be sure to post pics on here of my new arrivals

 

[jetmaker]

I use neomarine myself and have for years.
PH is a number a person shouldn't chase
The buffer is raising alk cause that's what it does
No more dosing and change water to get the dkh down to 8
Everything else will fall in line from the salt mix.

+1 on this and Imo a canister should be cleaned weakly you don't have to replace the chemicals but clean the filters.

 

[Ashley L]

See this picture of mine?

Chiller stopped working while I was on holiday...
then, while fragging , the entire rockscape colapsed...
started over... new sand, new rocks, cycling and: epic bacteria bloom!
fragged as fast as I could and saved a frag of every single colony but one because it was a little frag.
I spent an entire month frying bacteria and skimming wet.
That was 5 months ago!

Now the frags and some of the surviving colonies are growing again.

Today´s pic:

Wow, your tank looks fantastic! You would never think that it had went through all of that. Do you do anything to help yours grow so good and fast? I bet that made you sick watching that happen! I had my rockscape collapse once too. That is so scary! At least you were able to frag them though, I know that must have been so disappointing. They looked huge in your photo! That really makes me feel a lot better that we all have to go through these kind of things and just pull through. I was totally alone in it besides what my lfs would tell me.. Which was right about 50% of the time lol. I had a Condy anemone get in a powerhead about 6 months ago and killed everything in my tank aside from one or two small fish. It literally nuked my tank and nobody could tell me at any of my lfs around here what to do. I wish I would have had this then! I love it on here, it really gives a sense of community. It has helped me so much. I really appreciate the kind words and all your help. Thanks for telling my your story as well!

 

[Ashley L]

slow down, 1. remove dying or dead things 2. do a massive water change , even a 100% if possible . stop adding things your making it worse and chasing numbers is not good right now. chasing a ph number is pointless , all my tanks have run at 7.8 and I have had no problems . go back to basics and save your tank .

I did exactly like you said and it worked! I put my corals that were in bad shape or dying in their own "hospital tank" last night so they would be separated. I did a 40 gallon water change today.. That is why my response is so delayed lol. I was afraid to change much more or my tank may go through a cycling period again. It's a 110gal. I added the new livestock and everything seems fine. I will make sure to post pics after answering everyone. When this began I didn't know how to use this site to find help like I have learned today. I was relying on answers from a store nearby.. Which is why they sold me all these chemicals. I assume they were just trying to make a sale. Thank you so much for all your help!

 

[Ashley L]

Here's a good read on not chasing pH. Includes some changes you can make to help pH overall but also why you don't want to use buffers.
http://www.melevsreef.com/node/1739

Thank you so much! I will definitely check that out. I actually subbed to him on YouTube a while back. He has some great videos! I was actually commenting back and forth with him about my anemone just today lol

 

[Ashley L]

Nothing worse than watching a tank crash, I just lost half my SPS because my temp prove was 3 degrees low and I dumped about 15 gallons of kalk top off water in because the fan was causing serious evaporate. My ph went from a high of 8.0 to a high of 8.8 but I did not add anything to bring it down I just let the tank go back to equal.
The more you chase perfect levels the more damage you will do with swings. I would do large water changes until you get a handle on this but I would not mess with a chemical fix.

Thanks for the advice! I did a 40gallon water change and it seems like it has really helped a lot! Thank goodness lol. I agree, watching your tank crash is awful. About 6 months ago I had a Condy anemone get into a powerhead and it nuked my tank, killing everything except a couple of small fish. It will make you sick. It's good to have people to talk to on here and know we aren't in this alone!

 

[JMacedo]

You are very welcome, Ashley. I´m glad things are looking better. As the saying goes; " What doesn´t kill you makes you stronger"! You are now a much stronger reefer!

Now keep an eye for a possible problem with nuisance algae, they are quite opportunistic and take advantage when parameters are not stable. Keep changing your activated carbon and keep skimming wet. You can keep dosing a carbon source according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer, but do not dose any amino acids, polymers, organics and so until things are stable.

IMHO your next bucket of salt should be the Red Sea (non-pro blue bucket) it is the better salt in this case, the PRO is too rich and it will provide plenty for opportunistic algae to get ahead of things. The non-pro version of Red Sea is a more balanced salt with parameters closer to NSW like the best German brands of salt. ( I have tried both for long periods of time). After the first non-pro bucket and if there is no problem with algae you can go back to the Pro version of the salt as it is more suitable for LPS/softies than for SPS IMHO.

Now, just relax and enjoy reefing.

Cheers!

 

[Ashley L]

+1 on this and Imo a canister should be cleaned weakly you don't have to replace the chemicals but clean the filters.

I agree! I try to clean mine once or twice every two weeks. They can be nitrate factories! I had to learn that the hard way about a year ago when I had a huge eel in my tank.. It was a disaster! I was told at my lfs to clean them once every few months lol. I'm glad I know better now

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Wow! That is a huge water change! What salt mix do you use when you do one that large? I had a BAD experience with no pox too about a year ago. I was just carbon dosing with sugar. I do that if something ever dies in the tank that I can't get off the rock or something like that and it is usually a easy fix. I read where a lot of people had a major alkalinity problem from dosing too much ph buffer and I had been adding a lot trying to raise my ph... Which I now know isn't even that important lol. My test kit says it won't go bad until 2020, so it should be okay.. I hope! I did a 40 gal water change and added my nem and corals. All seem to be fine now. Thanks for all the help!

yeah carbon dosing tricky I use reef crystal, I premix 40 g and add Calcium and alk and mag to get it to the same readings as my tank and let it set a day then I do the water change

 

[Tommy's Reef]

Never had anything bad happen my corals love it

 

[nervousmonkey]

@Ashley L , have you retested the water? What are your current parameters? Have you done another WC? The last one of 40 gallons certainly helped but it cannot have brought your alkalinity down to where it needs to be. Take out the screwdriver and hammer and start making some new water! You have just scratched the surface of correcting your water; there is a long way to go...

 

[Ashley L]

Thanks everyone for all the tips! I'm sorry, I have the flu and haven't got to change any more water yet to retest... I'm doing good to pull myself out of bed. Talk about a bad time to get sick. I added 5 gallons of top off water today due to evaporation but that was all I was able to do.

 

[Ashley L]

You are very welcome, Ashley. I´m glad things are looking better. As the saying goes; " What doesn´t kill you makes you stronger"! You are now a much stronger reefer!

Now keep an eye for a possible problem with nuisance algae, they are quite opportunistic and take advantage when parameters are not stable. Keep changing your activated carbon and keep skimming wet. You can keep dosing a carbon source according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer, but do not dose any amino acids, polymers, organics and so until things are stable.

IMHO your next bucket of salt should be the Red Sea (non-pro blue bucket) it is the better salt in this case, the PRO is too rich and it will provide plenty for opportunistic algae to get ahead of things. The non-pro version of Red Sea is a more balanced salt with parameters closer to NSW like the best German brands of salt. ( I have tried both for long periods of time). After the first non-pro bucket and if there is no problem with algae you can go back to the Pro version of the salt as it is more suitable for LPS/softies than for SPS IMHO.

Now, just relax and enjoy reefing.

Cheers!

Thank you, and thanks for all the help! How often do you suggest I change my carbon right now? For my carbon dosing I was just adding sugar. I've been doing that for about a year if something ever happens to spike my nitrates. I actually have been giving some amino acids.. I don't know if it's enough to matter, but I was adding polyp lab's polyp booster before I feed my corals reef roids to get them to open up more for feeding... Maybe should stop that for now too? So far I am not having any algae problems., thank goodness! Thanks for the tips with the salt, I'll give it a shot!
I have another problem on my hands now too... Well, you know how I made a hospital tank out of my QT for my corals that were dying? Well I didn't get to quarantine that big anemone and corals I got the last time we talked and have someway introduced ich to my tank from the contaminated water they were shipped in. I can't see the spots on my fish yet, but some of my tangs are flashing. I went to the fish store to see if they had any reef safe treatments and they sold me sicce hypercure. The thing is, aside from that being all they had that is "reef safe", I can't find a single review online for it. Have you heard of it being effective? It says it has been tested with corals with no bad side effects but if something happens to do a huge water change. Doesn't sound very convincing. I have about 140+ lbs of live rock glued together in my tank too, so there's no way I can begin to catch all these fish to medicate them. I'll post a pic of my tank and you'll know why, haha. And I have the flu right now, so no more big water changes to help right now.... Lucky me lol.