NITRATES OVER 0.5---1.0 PLEASE HELP

[W1ngz]

Great. The numbers seem to be naturally coming back to normal levels by themselves. That appears to be a lot of consumption for ~1 day but that should slow down as the levels come down. Keep yesterday's and today's numbers, and test daily for a couple of days to see what the trend is.

With the high levels and quick drop, I wonder, how do you mix your salt? If the store has a recommendation such as heating and mixing for 24 hours, it might help the high levels. I've seen some tests where brand new water is unusually high and needs thorough mixing to get stable. If it is unknown salt, then I'd suggest heating and keeping a pump in the mixing bucket for 24 hours before using it. Test the new water to see what the levels are. Keep the results to compare the next time you make more water.

Sad about the brown jelly on the hammers. If it is affecting just one head of multiple, you can try and cut off that head if you're equipped with cutters or a very fine tooth saw. That coral should come out though, as the brown jelly could affect other corals too. To try and save that hammer, you can try blowing off the brown jelly in a separate container, treating it in coral dip or iodine and then putting it into a quarantine tank. At best you have I'd say a 50/50 chance to save it.

 

[W1ngz]

While you are waiting for the levels to come down and doing daily testing, it is a good time to do some research and see what levels you want to keep so that you have a goal. Do you want natural sea water levels? Slightly higher than sea water? A little higher alk will help a small amount if your pH is a little low.

Once you know where you want to go, then you can decide the best way to get there.

 

[reefer2000]

Great. The numbers seem to be naturally coming back to normal levels by themselves. That appears to be a lot of consumption for ~1 day but that should slow down as the levels come down. Keep yesterday's and today's numbers, and test daily for a couple of days to see what the trend is.

With the high levels and quick drop, I wonder, how do you mix your salt? If the store has a recommendation such as heating and mixing for 24 hours, it might help the high levels. I've seen some tests where brand new water is unusually high and needs thorough mixing to get stable. If it is unknown salt, then I'd suggest heating and keeping a pump in the mixing bucket for 24 hours before using it. Test the new water to see what the levels are. Keep the results to compare the next time you make more water.

Sad about the brown jelly on the hammers. If it is affecting just one head of multiple, you can try and cut off that head if you're equipped with cutters or a very fine tooth saw. That coral should come out though, as the brown jelly could affect other corals too. To try and save that hammer, you can try blowing off the brown jelly in a separate container, treating it in coral dip or iodine and then putting it into a quarantine tank. At best you have I'd say a 50/50 chance to save it.

Thanks for all the advise i will do as you say and keep you updated.

 

[reefer2000]

Great. The numbers seem to be naturally coming back to normal levels by themselves. That appears to be a lot of consumption for ~1 day but that should slow down as the levels come down. Keep yesterday's and today's numbers, and test daily for a couple of days to see what the trend is.

With the high levels and quick drop, I wonder, how do you mix your salt? If the store has a recommendation such as heating and mixing for 24 hours, it might help the high levels. I've seen some tests where brand new water is unusually high and needs thorough mixing to get stable. If it is unknown salt, then I'd suggest heating and keeping a pump in the mixing bucket for 24 hours before using it. Test the new water to see what the levels are. Keep the results to compare the next time you make more water.

Sad about the brown jelly on the hammers. If it is affecting just one head of multiple, you can try and cut off that head if you're equipped with cutters or a very fine tooth saw. That coral should come out though, as the brown jelly could affect other corals too. To try and save that hammer, you can try blowing off the brown jelly in a separate container, treating it in coral dip or iodine and then putting it into a quarantine tank. At best you have I'd say a 50/50 chance to save it.

Forgpr lt to mention i have a dremel tool and i will cut the heads with brown jelly only thing is i cant find iodine to dip them

 

[W1ngz]

Forgpr lt to mention i have a dremel tool and i will cut the heads with brown jelly only thing is i cant find iodine to dip them

Does your fish store sell coral dip?
Dremel is great, wear gloves, goggles and a mask. Go slow and beware of friction heat burning the coral.

 

[reefer2000]

Does your fish store sell coral dip?
Dremel is great, wear gloves, goggles and a mask. Go slow and beware of friction heat burning the coral.

No none of them have it we cant order coral dips or any type of treatment because the shiping rules here says no toxins. And ill keep that in mind about friction.

 

[Stigigemla]

I am pretty shure you can buy Iodine as Lugols solution. Try a shop selling horse accessories. Its used to desinfect minor wounds.
In a bucket of 5 liters with tank water You drip just as much of it so You dont see the bottom. 5 minutes in this will kill most of the coral parasites. (But not their eggs so You have to do it again after 2 weeks).

Or if you can get Potassium chloride (kalium chloride or stump remover). Can be possible to buy as a agricultural fertilizer. You add 3 grams to 4 liter tank water and dip the coral for 5 minutes. This takes flatworms too but not their eggs. You can also use potassium nitrate but then You need 1 gram per liter. In this solution You can grow corals but flatworms and fish will die.

When I get brown jelly on Euphyllias I just shake the coral in a 5 liter bucket with tank water so most of the jelly disappears. Then I hang up the coral in front of a powerhead for 24 hours in a flow so strong that all tentacles are completely retracted.
This method has stopped brown jelly every time i tried it.

 

[reefer2000]

Does your fish store sell coral dip?
Dremel is great, wear gloves, goggles and a mask. Go slow and beware of friction heat burning the coral.

Hey Wingz im realy worried about my tank i havent done anything to it just a 10 litr vater change and thats it but my tank is almost dead all my corals are **** what sould i do parametrs are
Calcium 470
Magnesium 1740
Alk 10.5
Nitrate 25
Phosphate 0.25
Salinity 1.025
Heres some pics of my tank now

 

[W1ngz]

ok so I just had a look through your other threads. You do appear to have a few things going on. On one of your pics of the trumpet corals I think I saw some vermetid snails, which can irritate corals and make them retract. If you see anything like a sharp pinkish brown blob with a tube you should scrape them off. I also see you had an anemone die in the tank recently. Do you run carbon on the tank?

I still think most of those corals need to be dipped in a coral dip or iodine.

What is the brown all over? Is it like a dusty brown, or reddish slime? Your parameters seem more or less stable, just a little elevated. That's not likely to kill anything.

What are you using for source water?

How old is that tea cup? Old pottery can sometimes leach lead. I'm not saying it is, but it's possible.

 

[reefer2000]

ok so I just had a look through your other threads. You do appear to have a few things going on. On one of your pics of the trumpet corals I think I saw some vermetid snails, which can irritate corals and make them retract. If you see anything like a sharp pinkish brown blob with a tube you should scrape them off. I also see you had an anemone die in the tank recently. Do you run carbon on the tank?

I still think most of those corals need to be dipped in a coral dip or iodine.

What is the brown all over? Is it like a dusty brown, or reddish slime? Your parameters seem more or less stable, just a little elevated. That's not likely to kill anything.

What are you using for source water?

How old is that tea cup? Old pottery can sometimes leach lead. I'm not saying it is, but it's possible.

Ok about the the nem. I transported it for about 2 days in a plastik bag from germany to armenia due to the fact that we did not have magnifica nems here, and when i unpacked it the water was murky and all smelling basically the nem did not make the transport and killed itself in the bag and never recovered due to stress.

the brown stuff is diatoms i still cant fight them of since day 1 . My tank is 8 months old.

For water i use regular tap water nothing else,

I took the tea cup out( because i glued a leather coral to it about a week ago before the crash and it did fine then when my tank crashed it was not there apparently it came off)
and about dipping them can i do a potassium chloride dip bcause i still cant find iodine but i can get a potassium chloride from the local pharmacy

 

[W1ngz]

It might be interesting to see an ammonia, nitrate and phosphate test of the tap water. If it's chlorinated, I assume you at least do some sort of treatment with tap water conditioner to deal with that? I don't know much about potassium chloride as a coral dip, but there's a few threads around. Rinse off anything you can and brush with a soft toothbrush to try and remove any algae, brown jelly or pests that you see.

Going forward this is what I would do. It will take some time but in a few months you should see things turn around. Unfortunately, I think you will lose one or two corals before things improve.
-Quarantine everything new for 30 days at least.
-always siphon the sand to remove whatever diatoms you can. Whatever they are feeding on, if you remove diatoms, you remove some of the food with them. Eventually you'll win the fight.
-get an RODI system.
-prepare fresh water using a refractometer to test salinity and a heater, test to match the parameters you want to maintain. Don't worry about matching the tank's alk, cal and mag, they will fall in line with disciplined 10-15% weekly water changes if you are testing and dosing the new water to the levels you want to maintain.
-use activated carbon to remove toxins from the tank.

 

[bigcheese]

Ask your pharmacy if they have Povidone-Iodine, Povidone, Betadine. They're all the same, just different names.

Considering it's a very old, very common antiseptic and listed as one of the World Health Organization's Essential Medications, it's hard to believe it's not there somewhere. It's over-the-counter in every country I've been to, so it may not be "behind the counter". Check to see if it's with the first aid supplies.

 

[reefer2000]

It might be interesting to see an ammonia, nitrate and phosphate test of the tap water. If it's chlorinated, I assume you at least do some sort of treatment with tap water conditioner to deal with that? I don't know much about potassium chloride as a coral dip, but there's a few threads around. Rinse off anything you can and brush with a soft toothbrush to try and remove any algae, brown jelly or pests that you see.

Going forward this is what I would do. It will take some time but in a few months you should see things turn around. Unfortunately, I think you will lose one or two corals before things improve.
-Quarantine everything new for 30 days at least.
-always siphon the sand to remove whatever diatoms you can. Whatever they are feeding on, if you remove diatoms, you remove some of the food with them. Eventually you'll win the fight.
-get an RODI system.
-prepare fresh water using a refractometer to test salinity and a heater, test to match the parameters you want to maintain. Don't worry about matching the tank's alk, cal and mag, they will fall in line with disciplined 10-15% weekly water changes if you are testing and dosing the new water to the levels you want to maintain.
-use activated carbon to remove toxins from the tank.

I do not have amonia tester but might get it in meanwhile.About tap water i think i am going to boil it and let it just cool off before adding salt and stuff and checking it.I checked for nitrates and phosphates and to my surprise it was from 10-20 for nitrates and 0.10 for phos!!! I will syphon the sand for diatoms . And a question, how do you run cabon, because i have never done it. thanks for all the help

 

[reefer2000]

Ask your pharmacy if they have Povidone-Iodine, Povidone, Betadine. They're all the same, just different names.

Considering it's a very old, very common antiseptic and listed as one of the World Health Organization's Essential Medications, it's hard to believe it's not there somewhere. It's over-the-counter in every country I've been to, so it may not be "behind the counter". Check to see if it's with the first aid supplies.

ok ill make sure to fin those and can you please tell me the dosing

 

[W1ngz]

I do not have amonia tester but might get it in meanwhile.About tap water i think i am going to boil it and let it just cool off before adding salt and stuff and checking it.I checked for nitrates and phosphates and to my surprise it was from 10-20 for nitrates and 0.10 for phos!!! I will syphon the sand for diatoms . And a question, how do you run cabon, because i have never done it. thanks for all the help

Boiling it won't do anything beneficial in this case. All it will do is cost you in gas or electricity. Boiling also risks transferring anything leftover in the pot, possible trace metals, traces of detergent or food and adding it to the tank. Safe to drink doesn't make it ideal for a reef.

Carbon can either be added in pouches, or in bulk added to an empty media bag or even a nylon sock in the filter area or other high flow area where the water is more likely to pass through instead of around it.
Most run it in a reactor similar to what an RO cartridge reactor looks like, or a two little fishies phosban reactor with a small pump.

 

[ChiSox Rabbitfish]

Some prime will help detoxify those nitrates

 

[reefer2000]

Boiling it won't do anything beneficial in this case. All it will do is cost you in gas or electricity. Boiling also risks transferring anything leftover in the pot, possible trace metals, traces of detergent or food and adding it to the tank. Safe to drink doesn't make it ideal for a reef.

Carbon can either be added in pouches, or in bulk added to an empty media bag or even a nylon sock in the filter area or other high flow area where the water is more likely to pass through instead of around it.
Most run it in a reactor similar to what an RO cartridge reactor looks like, or a two little fishies phosban reactor with a small pump.

ok i will make sure i run carbon. And i am gonna make sure i find a way to get rodi water

 

[bigcheese]

ok ill make sure to fin those and can you please tell me the dosing

You might also ask if they have Lugol's solution.. it's common both as a medicine and as a slide stain used in medical tests.

When I do a coral dip, I take a small bucket, big enough to hold the coral comfortably. Put fresh saltwater (salinity and temperature matched to the tank) in to a depth to cover the coral plus 20mm or so. Stir in Iodine until the water's about the color of strong tea.
Put the hammer in and agitate the water every 1-2 minutes.
I dip for about 10-15 minutes in an iodine / potassium iodide solution, you might want to go 15-20. Povidone is mostly the ionic form of iodine but chelated so it's more of a longer, "time release" action.
Quick rinse with tank water and pop the hammer back into the tank.
There's a great thread out here on it, I'll post it up when I get a sec.

 

[reefer2000]

You might also ask if they have Lugol's solution.. it's common both as a medicine and as a slide stain used in medical tests.

When I do a coral dip, I take a small bucket, big enough to hold the coral comfortably. Put fresh saltwater (salinity and temperature matched to the tank) in to a depth to cover the coral plus 20mm or so. Stir in Iodine until the water's about the color of strong tea.
Put the hammer in and agitate the water every 1-2 minutes.
I dip for about 10-15 minutes in an iodine / potassium iodide solution, you might want to go 15-20. Povidone is mostly the ionic form of iodine but chelated so it's more of a longer, "time release" action.
Quick rinse with tank water and pop the hammer back into the tank.
There's a great thread out here on it, I'll post it up when I get a sec.

ok thank you i will follow your dosing.I will do that first thing in the morning.

 

[reefer2000]

You might also ask if they have Lugol's solution.. it's common both as a medicine and as a slide stain used in medical tests.

When I do a coral dip, I take a small bucket, big enough to hold the coral comfortably. Put fresh saltwater (salinity and temperature matched to the tank) in to a depth to cover the coral plus 20mm or so. Stir in Iodine until the water's about the color of strong tea.
Put the hammer in and agitate the water every 1-2 minutes.
I dip for about 10-15 minutes in an iodine / potassium iodide solution, you might want to go 15-20. Povidone is mostly the ionic form of iodine but chelated so it's more of a longer, "time release" action.
Quick rinse with tank water and pop the hammer back into the tank.
There's a great thread out here on it, I'll post it up when I get a sec.

I dipped my corals in iodine from the pharmacy and now the corals look worse than before there is some white fuzzy stuff coming out of it they all shrunk to the skeleton should i worry? I took some pics of it