TANK CRASHING

[Arsenix2001]

5 Year old 75 gallon. Everything has been completely stable for 2 years and growing incredibly well. No additions and no changes until about a month ago I noticed that my alkalinity was down to 4.8. this likely had been occurring over a long period of time. I've been slowly raising alkalinity over the last 3 weeks. Alkalinity is currently at 7.1, calcium is 420, pH was 7.8, salinity 1.024. Temp 78. Everything was looking great last night but I noticed my pincushion urchin had lost alot of his spines and was slumped over. Didn't think too much of it. I was going to give him a chance to come back. This morning the urchin was totally dead, I looked in the tank a couple hours ago and all of my SPS, birds nest etc had either completely retracted or 90% retracted. The montipora looks like it's starting to mildly bleach. All of the LPS has pulled back as well. The tank had a fishy smell. And there was evidence of protein bubbles foaming in the sump. I've turned lights down to 20%, doing a 15 gallon water change and have added to large bags of activated carbon. Don't know what else to do at this point, I have removed the urchin carcass as well. I've lost a tank a few years ago to RTN, this doesn't seem anything like it. It seems like everything is just royally ticked off. Is it possible there was some type of toxin release from the urchin? any ideas? All fish seem to be doing okay. Also just cleaned my skimmer and replaced both filter socks. I did notice one of my wave maker pumps had quit working, I just replaced both of them and have everything running now. Is there anything else I'm not thinking of that I could be doing?

 

[Arsenix2001]

Additional pics. I also added one cap full of marine buffer.

 

[Fish Fan]

Sorry that you're experiencing this! If it was me, I would do an even larger water change, just make sure your water is at the same salinity and temp as the tank to avoid further stress.

Maybe the #reefsquad crew will be able to offer further advice.

Good luck!

 

[Red_Beard]

That really sucks. Agree w Fish Fan, larger water change, like 30-40 gallons. Just double check all the parameters you can on your fresh salt water too to make sure you dont have a bad batch of salt or something.

 

[Arsenix2001]

Thanks guys, unfortunately that's all the salt water that I had made. I have my RO running wide open right now and mixing new salt water as we speak. I'm 50/50 about this one. They just look very angry. I'm not sure that it's a total loss yet. There is still evidence of polyps. Snails hermit crabs and fish seem okay. I've cleaned the skimmer, change the filter socks. Did the 15 gallon water change. And have two large bags of carbon running. Have all circulation pumps up and running again. I'll keep my fingers crossed and continue mixing new salt water. Any other tips would be appreciated. Thanks guys

 

[tzabor10]

Agree with above. Did you rinse the carbon well? The fines are not good for marine life

 

[Arsenix2001]

Agree with above. Did you rinse the carbon well? The fines are not good for marine life

Yes, rinsed carbon well. Have two filter socks running in my sump in a high flow area. Mixing up another 15 gallons of salt water right now. How long would you guys recommend I let it mix before doing an additional water change? Don't want to introduce more problems.

 

[fish_collector]

You've already solved your problem, you let the number 1 most important parameter, alk, go way too low. Your corals are angry. Once you've made corrections you may not see improvement for weeks or more. It's your corals way of telling you not to neglect the alk. It happens to everyone even if they deny it :grinning-squinting-face:

Yes change some water to get it stable, give it some small shots of soda ash to get the alk buffer up and then leave it alone for a few weeks.

 

[Arsenix2001]

All due respect, that happened over a month ago. Everything was 100% healthy looking until overnight. Alk was already slowly raised to 7.2 over 3 week. This happened within 12 hours...

 

[fish_collector]

You've done all the right things. Make sure your skimmer is skimming, clean the neck daily to improve it's performance. The carbon will take care of any toxins. Make sure the surface is agitated well. Hopefully things will make a turn for the better. You've done this for 5 years you got it.

My corals all have delayed reaction to things, I can put something out of kilter and the corals won't tell me until weeks later.

 

[Arsenix2001]

This zooanthid colony was 90% closed up a few hours ago. Alot of the polyps of opened back up. Hoping that's a good sign. Everything else looks about the same so far. No worse but no better. Going to do another 15 gallon water change in a couple hours. How quickly should I change the carbon?

 

[Red_Beard]

It should be good for a couple days at least. where you added 2 large bags.

 

[Arsenix2001]

You've done all the right things. Make sure your skimmer is skimming, clean the neck daily to improve it's performance. The carbon will take care of any toxins. Make sure the surface is agitated well. Hopefully things will make a turn for the better. You've done this for 5 years you got it.

My corals all have delayed reaction to things, I can put something out of kilter and the corals won't tell me until weeks later.

My lights have just come on for the morning. I'm seeing some encouraging signs. I'm actually seeing some polyps come back out of the bird's nests, a few of the GSP have started to open a little bit. The montepora still looks bleached out. I guess the summary is, things have not gotten worse since yesterday, they look a little better. I'm at a loss on what to do as far as dosing right now. Should I test and just make sure everything is still within acceptable parameters and not dose reef fusion 1 and 2 for a couple days? Just continue to do 15 to 20% water changes to keep parameters stable? Appreciate any advice. I feel like I have a small chance of keeping this from going catastrophic, don't want to screw it up.

 

[Red_Beard]

If you are still doing large water changes, you likely won't need to dose. But, where things are in flux, it is always best to test and verify. Most of the time though, when your coral are stressed out, they are not going to be consuming very much of the big 3 anyways. But, as always, test it. It is better to know than guess and have to wonder. Maybe 1-2 more 15 gallon water changes then chill and let things settle for a week. Then back to routine maintenance.

 

[Arsenix2001]

Thanks for all of the help. I have another 25 gallons of saltwater mixing right now. Going to do another 10 gallons this evening and potentially 10 gallons tomorrow. Then let it ride.