Reef in trouble

TheAsian0328 · Jun 14, 2016

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So I've had my tank running for about 6 months and have had no major problems until recently. A lot of my corals have been sucked in and not coming out. Hardly eat and the over all color is just poor. I've check water quality and all seem to be fine. My acans and Zoas are the ones mostly sucked in but everything else seems fine with new growth. Today I also found my emerald crab dead and also not sure why. I've had him since the start and he hasn't really grown over 1". Any suggestions on what I should do or look for? Parameters: dkh-8.7, calcium-430, magnesium-1360, ph-8.1, ammonia-0ppm, nitrite-0ppm, nitrate-5.0ppm, salinity- 1.025.

Shep · Jun 14, 2016

[HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]

kschweer · Jun 14, 2016

Are you sure the crab was dead and it wasn't a molt you found? Any recent changes to the tank?

Humblefish · Jun 14, 2016

Any potential toxins nearby? Just today I was reading about a tank where all the SPS were dying, but fish/inverts seemed fine. Come to find out, the guy's wife had one of those auto air freshener things going in the same room as the tank. :eek:

saltyfilmfolks · Jun 14, 2016

+1 to all the above. It looks like a relatively new tank. Are you running gfo or reactors?

Diesel · Jun 14, 2016

A large water change can do miracles as we speak but take a good water sample for testing and a Triton test can tell you basically a lot if not all you need to know.
Your parameters look good, nothing wrong with to ask a second opinion from a friend to test your water or take it a LFS.
Check also for broken part in the tank or sump from pumps heater or anything unusual.
Do you have a open top or canopy?
I see some cyano on the glass too, did you use something to get rid of that or so?

Elysium · Jun 14, 2016

Check equipment too. Heaters, pumps, anything with magnets.

I had a Jager heater crack and the voltage wasn't enough to shock me, but my corals were all receded and it killed some snails too. Switched it out and things went back to normal.

eliramos · Jun 14, 2016

Is that a bio cube 29 with stock lighting or have you changed anything.
I ask because the nems are stretched out pretty large but also seem very pale. This usually happens when the lighting is not sufficient. In adequate lighting can also cause fluctuations of ph are you running the stock skimmer? Or do you have an air stone your ph may be fluctuating throughout the day as well just grabbing straws with things I've dealt with in the past

FishOfHex · Jun 15, 2016

TheAsian0328 said:
.
So I've had my tank running for about 6 months and have had no major problems until recently. A lot of my corals have been sucked in and not coming out. Hardly eat and the over all color is just poor. I've check water quality and all seem to be fine. My acans and Zoas are the ones mostly sucked in but everything else seems fine with new growth. Today I also found my emerald crab dead and also not sure why. I've had him since the start and he hasn't really grown over 1". Any suggestions on what I should do or look for? Parameters: dkh-8.7, calcium-430, magnesium-1360, ph-8.1, ammonia-0ppm, nitrite-0ppm, nitrate-5.0ppm, salinity- 1.025.

From what i see in the picture you have cyano in the lower right hand corner. (red algae) Also your rocks are more green then normal. Now if this is true you have a nutrient issue that you are not picking up on. Its hard to test for bc the algae is using up the available nutrients. What i recommend is you check everything you are adding to the tank that could be adding to the issue like TDS RO water, over feeding, not a big enough water change I have a video on my channel that has helps others solve the same issue. Best of luck

TheAsian0328 · Jun 15, 2016

Thank you everyone for the ideas. I have the stock lights on in the tank. I have about 20gal in the tank and do a 10gal change every weekend. Me get be the to water in getting from water and ice. I'll probably spend the extra money and start going to my aquarium store for the water. Cut back on feeding to ever two days. I'm running gfo carbon and a tunze skimmer. Doing a treatment for the red slime this Friday before the next water change. Hopefully it helps out. I'll update the post after all this is done and see how it turns out. Thank you everyone again for the great information!

TheAsian0328 · Jun 15, 2016

Not positive the crab was a molt or dead. Haven't seen it move since last night and haven't seen it in the tank in another location so idk.

TheAsian0328 · Jun 15, 2016

Diesel said:
A large water change can do miracles as we speak but take a good water sample for testing and a Triton test can tell you basically a lot if not all you need to know.
Your parameters look good, nothing wrong with to ask a second opinion from a friend to test your water or take it a LFS.
Check also for broken part in the tank or sump from pumps heater or anything unusual.
Do you have a open top or canopy?
I see some cyano on the glass too, did you use something to get rid of that or so?

Closed canopy.

Diesel · Jun 15, 2016

TheAsian0328 said:
Closed canopy.

So the possibility that something airborne got in there is almost 0.0%.
Did you checked your equipment and if something fell in the sump or overflow?
Maybe a bad magnet from a wavemaker?
Test your ATO water for TDS.

TheAsian0328 · Jun 16, 2016

Diesel said:
So the possibility that something airborne got in there is almost 0.0%.
Did you checked your equipment and if something fell in the sump or overflow?
Maybe a bad magnet from a wavemaker?
Test your ATO water for TDS.

I'm taking in a water sample today to have it tested for everything.

Brett H whitt · Jun 16, 2016

You said you are using stock lighting, what type of tank do you have. Is your lighting T5, MH or led

TheAsian0328 · Jun 16, 2016

Brett H whitt said:
You said you are using stock lighting, what type of tank do you have. Is your lighting T5, MH or led

Biocube 29 lights. 10k wite with blue actinic 4 blue led and one wite. Bulbs changed may 15th.

TheAsian0328 · Jun 16, 2016

Phone is going crazy. White* don't know why that's misspelled.

Kungpaoshizi · Jun 17, 2016

Get a Triton test done. I had black sand that was leaching Aluminum and that caused all sorts of stress. (mostly corals closed up long-term)

And do you not have powerhead covers and an anemone in the same tank? (that spells fail :( )