- Joined
- May 18, 2009
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Hi All,
Sorry for a second thread. I've been posting regularly to my other thread about struggles with what I suspect are dinoflagelletes here. Since the beginning of that post I've lost all of my SPS, many of my LPS and zoas. After a disaster last night, I thought I should post a more recent thread.
I've tried numerous things (not at the same time):
Parameters so far:
Alk 7.0 (Hanna)
Phosphate 0.06 (Hanna)
Nitrate 4ppm to 8ppm (Red Sea Pro)
Salinity 1.026 (Milwaukee and Refractometer, both calibrated)
Ammonia 0 (Salifert)
My corals do not look better or worse from the water change. My inverts like cleaner shrimp, hermits, and snails unchanged.
However, 3 of 5 my fish have died overnight. I've had them for over 8 months all have been fully quarantined with copper and prazipro.
I suspect two things might have caused the issue and I'm hoping someone can give me some insight on how to proceed.
I am a scientist and am willing to try anything and everything to figure this out, so all suggestions are welcome.
Sorry for a second thread. I've been posting regularly to my other thread about struggles with what I suspect are dinoflagelletes here. Since the beginning of that post I've lost all of my SPS, many of my LPS and zoas. After a disaster last night, I thought I should post a more recent thread.
I've tried numerous things (not at the same time):
- Small water changes
- Large water changes with siphoning out as much as possible
- No water changes. Measuring phosphate and nitrate every day and dosing Microbacter7 (daily) and/or Dr.Tim's Refresh (weekly)
Parameters so far:
Alk 7.0 (Hanna)
Phosphate 0.06 (Hanna)
Nitrate 4ppm to 8ppm (Red Sea Pro)
Salinity 1.026 (Milwaukee and Refractometer, both calibrated)
Ammonia 0 (Salifert)
My corals do not look better or worse from the water change. My inverts like cleaner shrimp, hermits, and snails unchanged.
However, 3 of 5 my fish have died overnight. I've had them for over 8 months all have been fully quarantined with copper and prazipro.
I suspect two things might have caused the issue and I'm hoping someone can give me some insight on how to proceed.
- Part of the procedure for my water change. Use waterproof handheld waterpik to blast the rocks clean of dinos, scrub and pull hair algae. All of this was done with the pumps on and with a water stone. I kept my skimmer, carbon reactor, and filter socks (10u) in the sump. This may have caused a large die-off causing gill damage to fish. However, I would expect there to be ammonia in the tank.
- There is a contaminant in my RO/DI water. I replaced all filters last month and bought the BRS 5-stage kit for chloramines. I've never registered more than 0TDS from my water. However, is there a chance something like chlorine can still make it? Or some other contaminent?
I am a scientist and am willing to try anything and everything to figure this out, so all suggestions are welcome.