Sudden retraction of ALL corals

[Jackmot]

Hey!
So, today started as a pretty regular day. All morning my corals looked as great as these past 3-5 months but at about 3-4pm my GSP started to retract, then my Pulsing Xenia followed and then my mushrooms. (They normally retract at 7-8pm)
Naturally, I did all the tests i could and all my parameters checked out (except for my nutrients which are very low). This past few months I've stabilized pretty much everything in the tank except for the nutrients because of the low bioload in it so i'm adding "Seachem flourish phosphorus" and "Thera +" pellets to get them to a detectable value. As you can see I'm still getting used to how much to add and when to add them haha.
Im not totally freaking out because they were doing great all morning but I just wanted to know what you guys think.

Any idea of what might have happened??

I'll post pics tomorrow after work in case they are still stressed and I'll keep you guys posted.

TESTS:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: Undetectable (Salifert)
Phosphate: Undetectable (Salifert)
Calcium: 400ppm (Salifert)
Kh: 11.2 dKh (Salifert)
Salinity: 1.023-1.024 (Refractometer)
Temp: 24-5-25.0c (76-77f)

BIOLOAD:
Pulsing Xenia
Green Star Polyp
2 Mushroom Corals
3 Turbo snails
LOTs of micro life (mostly copepods and similars)

 

[Gatorpa]

What has your DkH been running that’s a bit high there

 

[Jackmot]

It has been the same for the past 2-3 few months, maybe a 0.5 rise but not that much

 

[Jackmot]

(0.5 rise in a month or so, not a sudden rise haha)

 

[V A R I A N T]

Any cleaners or airborne contaminates that could make it in the tank?

 

[Jackmot]

Any cleaners or airborne contaminates that could make it in the tank?

Nothing at all, the last time I used cleaners was 3 days ago and that wasn't even close to the tank (the tank is inside my room).

 

[Jackmot]

Right now the only thing that's opened is my pulsing xenia and it looks super stressed. Usually if if the xenia is opened at night it is not grey at all, I'm pretty sure something's going on here...

 

[BigRick]

0 nitrates 0 phosphates... its starving.... get them up before you have issues like diatoms

 

[homer1475]

0 nutrients and super high ALK.

Get the nutrients up, and lower the ALK down to around 8 or so. Once you get your nutrients up, and they stay up, then if you want raise your ALK.

Not saying this why they all closed up so sudden, but can be contributing to your problem.

 

[Jackmot]

I already started trying to get them up but it always takes me a few days to do so and from the looks of the xenia I don't really have them.
I'm thinking that the first order of business would be to buy neo nitro in order to pump those levels up quickly.
I would think that a big water change would help me to lower the alk but that would also absolutely deplete my tank from nutrients so I don't think that's a good idea right now.

What do you think should I do?

PS: the lights are still out, they'll turn on in the next hour

 

[Jackmot]

Also,/. The polyps form the xenia looked like they are "burned", is that even possible or are they just really retracted?

 

[Jackmot]

Small update:
The lights have been on for 1 hour.
The xenia looks really bad.
The GSP looks like it's trying to extend it's polyps.
The mushrooms are retracted (not closed)
As soon as I finish work I'm gonna go the my LFS and buy the neo phos and neo nitro.
No water change for the moment because the salt I use is the red sea coral pro and it has a higher Kh than what I currently have.

Any other suggestions are really appreciated.
Thanks for the help guys, I hope all the corals make it

 

[Jackmot]

I may have found the culprit.
I just bought a Salifert magnesium test and it came out at 1140, what do you think?

 

[Lavey29]

I may have found the culprit.
I just bought a Salifert magnesium test and it came out at 1140, what do you think?

When you combine that with your nutrient and high alk problems you have a very bad environment to sustain corals. Corals decline typically from the inside out so it may take several months before they exhibit signs of stress and then decline rapidly.

 

[Jackmot]

When you combine that with your nutrient and high alk problems you have a very bad environment to sustain corals. Corals decline typically from the inside out so it may take several months before they exhibit signs of stress and then decline rapidly.

That sounds very reasonable, thanks!
It looks like I'm gonna be able to fix everything today except for the alk because I use the coral pro salt (which has a very high alk, maybe a big error on my end to have chosen that salt), do you know another way to lower the alk that doesn't involve a water change?

For now I'm gonna buy:
Brightwell Neo nitro
Brightwell Neo phos
Brightwell magnesium

Any other ideas or suggestions?

 

[Lavey29]

That sounds very reasonable, thanks!
It looks like I'm gonna be able to fix everything today except for the alk because I use the coral pro salt (which has a very high alk, maybe a big error on my end to have chosen that salt), do you know another way to lower the alk that doesn't involve a water change?

For now I'm gonna buy:
Brightwell Neo nitro
Brightwell Neo phos
Brightwell magnesium

Any other ideas or suggestions?

Well if your corals were healthy and growing, they would be using alk along with other nutrients. I had to double dose neophos and neonitro for months before my numbers stabilized. Bring mag up according to dose instructions but it can be brought up fairly easy. You want nitrates at 10 and phosphate at .05 to .1. Depending on the age of your tank consider getting and ICP done to check everything including your RODI. Keep up weekly water changes. You may lose a few corals but if you get your numbers up most might recover. Feeding more helps nitrates too and coral vitamins like reef roids or AB plus will elevate your phosphate levels but don't rely on these. Use them like once a week.

 

[Gatorpa]

0 nutrients and super high ALK.

Get the nutrients up, and lower the ALK down to around 8 or so. Once you get your nutrients up, and they stay up, then if you want raise your ALK.

Not saying this why they all closed up so sudden, but can be contributing to your problem.

So times those parameters can run like that for awhile and then the corals just can’t take it anymore.

 

[Jackmot]

Well if your corals were healthy and growing, they would be using alk along with other nutrients. I had to double dose neophos and neonitro for months before my numbers stabilized. Bring mag up according to dose instructions but it can be brought up fairly easy. You want nitrates at 10 and phosphate at .05 to .1. Depending on the age of your tank consider getting and ICP done to check everything including your RODI. Keep up weekly water changes. You may lose a few corals but if you get your numbers up most might recover. Feeding more helps nitrates too and coral vitamins like reef roids or AB plus will elevate your phosphate levels but don't rely on these. Use them like once a week.

Thanks for the reply! I'll keep it in mind. This would be my first corals that I lose in this tank so I'm really NOT looking forward to it haha.

I just dosed the following:
9ml of "Brightwell Magnesion (100,000ppm)" which should up 60ppm of my Mg
1.5ml of "Brightwell Neo Nitro" which should up 3ppm of my No3
0.45ml of "Brightwell Neo Phos" which should up 0.03ppm of my Po4

All of my calculations were made in a very conservative manner so I don't overdose (I did the calculations for less liters than the actual volume of the tank).

I'll keep you posted!!

 

[Gatorpa]

I may have found the culprit.
I just bought a Salifert magnesium test and it came out at 1140, what do you think?

Doubt just the mg is doing that.
xenia love dirty water. more likely the 0 NO3. that’s why xenia often would crash in ULN years ago.

 

[Jackmot]

Doubt the mg is doing that.
xenia love dirty water. more likely the 0 NO3. that’s why xenia often would crash in ULN years ago.

You're probably right, thanks! I really hope that this dosing helps them.
I'll keep posting photos and updates when anything changes.
The thing that surprises me the most is how in 40 mins the entire tank changed from thriving and having great coralline algae growth to everything being almost dead.