MOST OF MY CORALS ARE DYING PLEASE HELP

[ScottR]

The OP said his NO3 was 5. He could have ammonia and nitrites as to say he may be in a mini cycle but he didn’t mention anything about fish dying. The corals would outlive the fish in the presence of ammonia. Therefore I can say that I think it’s most likely cycled.

 

[NeverlosT]

• relatively new system
• potential ATO malfunction causing salinity swings
• potentially overdosed calcium
• many new creatures (corals and fish) in young system, potential cycle
• irregular testing regiment so unknown parameter stability

Instead of changing anything huge or adding any supplements without tracking their levels, it seems that the best course of action would be:

1. Start keeping a reefing log with all test results (ideally electronic so you can see plots) and test AT LEAST once per week
2. Get ATO back on track and either automate or get into regular schedule for dosing, though with the age of this reef, simple water changes may be enough to maintain parameters
3. get into regular water change schedule of 10 or 15% water volume. Check chemistry (temp/salinity/alk, and maybe CA/Mag) of WC water before adding it. Know what you are putting in.

Establishing stable parameters and keeping "good water" is the primary goal, all of the animal health stems from there. Simplicity and stability.

So the bad news is, there may not be a way to save everything that is going south, but you can improve the system stability so that the critters have the best chance to recover and so that future critters fare better.

Good luck!

 

[BJcorals]

Salinity is a little low right now only because I had to top off the back just as I got home it’s at 1.023-1.024
Calcium is 425
Alkalinity is 8.2
Magnesium:1230-1260
Nitrate:5 ppm
Phosphate: undetectable for precise answer but not zero (was at 0 for a while so I had to raise it a little)

It’s your po4 when you say it was at 0 but not now. You are seeing the affects of when it was 0. It takes coral a couple weeks to show signs of something that went wrong in your tank. Get your po4 up. Feed and feed and feed

 

[zachtyd]

It’s your po4 when you say it was at 0 but not now. You are seeing the affects of when it was 0. It takes coral a couple weeks to show signs of something that went wrong in your tank. Get your po4 up. Feed and feed and feed

When I bought the tank the woman said that she had always kept them at 0 so I’ve tried to feed reef roofs into the water column as well until it finally raised but now I just woke up to all my fish covered in this white stuff and either dead or dying also..

 

[madweazl]

My guess would be an ammonia spike from the five additional fish being added at once. The phosphate theories dont hold any water; nothing would happen in the two day span the corals have been in the tank (I guarantee this isn't the immediate problem).

 

[Tamberav]

Sounds like the fish most likely also came with disease or the stress of adding them all at once and possible mini cycle caused them to get sick. Sounds like it must be a quick killer like velvet.

Tank needs to run without fish for awhile. I would give it 3 months for the parasite to starve.

 

[zachtyd]

My guess would be an ammonia spike from the five additional fish being added at once. The phosphate theories dont hold any water; nothing would happen in the two day span the corals have been in the tank (I guarantee this isn't the immediate problem).

My ammonia has said zero every day though and my fish are all covered in white specks and film now and some are dead

 

[zachtyd]

The OP said his NO3 was 5. He could have ammonia and nitrites as to say he may be in a mini cycle but he didn’t mention anything about fish dying. The corals would outlive the fish in the presence of ammonia. Therefore I can say that I think it’s most likely cycled.

What about the white all over my fish and rocks now though?

 

[zachtyd]

Sounds like the fish most likely also came with disease or the stress of adding them all at once and possible mini cycle caused them to get sick. Sounds like it must be a quick killer like velvet.

Tank needs to run without fish for awhile. I would give it 3 months for the parasite to starve.

Would it be putting white dots on my rocks also?

 

[zachtyd]

• relatively new system
• potential ATO malfunction causing salinity swings
• potentially overdosed calcium
• many new creatures (corals and fish) in young system, potential cycle
• irregular testing regiment so unknown parameter stability

Instead of changing anything huge or adding any supplements without tracking their levels, it seems that the best course of action would be:

1. Start keeping a reefing log with all test results (ideally electronic so you can see plots) and test AT LEAST once per week
2. Get ATO back on track and either automate or get into regular schedule for dosing, though with the age of this reef, simple water changes may be enough to maintain parameters
3. get into regular water change schedule of 10 or 15% water volume. Check chemistry (temp/salinity/alk, and maybe CA/Mag) of WC water before adding it. Know what you are putting in.

Establishing stable parameters and keeping "good water" is the primary goal, all of the animal health stems from there. Simplicity and stability.

So the bad news is, there may not be a way to save everything that is going south, but you can improve the system stability so that the critters have the best chance to recover and so that future critters fare better.

Good luck!

The tank and all of the inhabitants except for the chromis and tang and clownfish (plus a few coral frags) have been in there that whole life of the tank and I test the water every 3 days and I’ve been testing it every day since the problems started

 

[zachtyd]

Which test kit are you using for alk?

Salinity is one of the most important parameters. If your salinity drops because of too much water added, you’re diluting all the other things as well. So technically your alk, Ca, Mg and all other elements would be diluted as well. If I’ve learned anything in this hobby, it’s that stability is key. I’ve seen people have super low alk and super high alk - and their tanks were beautiful. But if they were to change that number too much within a given amount of time, they would most likely have similar problems to what you’re seeing.

I use all Salifert for my testing but I usually test every 3 days and the last week I’ve been testing daily in case I could catch a swing

 

[ScottB]

When I bought the tank the woman said that she had always kept them at 0 so I’ve tried to feed reef roofs into the water column as well until it finally raised but now I just woke up to all my fish covered in this white stuff and either dead or dying also..

The large bioload addition is not being processed by your system. Too much change too fast for the bacteria colony to catch up. Perhaps the tank is processing Ammonia into nitrite, but then not further processing the nitrite (toxic to fish) onto nitrate. Biology lesson over for now.

Don't panic; just work to save what you can.

a) Remove dead fish immediately
b) If a fish is barely hanging on, remove it
c) prep for several 20% water changes (temp and salinity matched to tank) and do the first change immediately
d) Run carbon (granular activated carbon)
e) Test for nitrite (not nitrate)
f) Confirm ammonia test with LFS or another test kit

 

[jeffchapok]

In addition to the fish, you stated you also added 6 new corals. What were they? Any anemones? I've had an unhappy nem nuke all the corals in my tank while leaving the fish unaffected.

 

[madweazl]

What about the white all over my fish and rocks now though?

You originally posted that all the fish looked fine. Perhaps you could snap some pictures of the fish (turn off the blue lights if you are using them so we can actually see what you're talking about)?

 

[Righteous]

5 fish to a 45 gallon that’s only 2 months old... almost certainly the cause. Definitely check for ammonia and nitrite. At this point they may already be zero, but that day or two before the bacteria could catch up was probably enough to stress everything.

if you still register even the slightest ammonia, I’d probably add prime. Other than that I think the best you can do is provide as much stability as possible and hope things recover.

 

[Tamberav]

Would it be putting white dots on my rocks also?

No. You have two problems here, new fish brought in disease and lots of sudden changes/stability issues are also killing the corals.

 

[Johniejumbo]

There is white growth on the rocks as well? In my experience that is usually some type of bacteria blooming to consume some type of nutrient. Is it possible to get a pic of it? I agree that water changes and fresh carbon may be the best treatment at the moment. So hard to tell what exactly is happening. I’m sorry your having so much trouble with this. Most of us have been there before. An established reef getting moved can present some very unique challenges. Be sure to take you time with the water changes and get the temp and salinity as close as you can to minimize stress in the tank. Also the Prime is good to have on hand too in case of ammonia or nitrite.

 

[Righteous]

Deleted... accidental post

 

[tmynice]

When you added the fish did you add the water from the bags? The seller may have been using copper or other treatments on fish contaminating the water.... Just a thought. My LFS uses copper on all fish for a period of time.

 

[zachtyd]

No. You have two problems here, new fish brought in disease and lots of sudden changes/stability issues are also killing the corals.

Welp that sucks but for what it’s worth this is my very first crash/crisis of either of my tanks as long as I’ve kept a reef! Always gotta think positive! Haha buuuuut yeah I gotta sort this out