What’s killing my corals?

[Freenow54]

Sorry have to ask. What is BJD?

 

[bruno3047]

Sorry have to ask. What is BJD?

Brown Jelly Disease. Some people think that it’s a cause. But I think it’s more an effect on an already sick coral.

 

[bruno3047]

What is a reverse flow UG filter?

Reverse flow undergravel filter. Under gravel filters were how we used to keep saltwater tanks before trickle filters and before live rock became popular and easily available. Reverse flow is when you push the water up through the gravel instead of down. This way, you keep the gravel clean.

 

[damsels are not mean]

Brown Jelly Disease. Some people think that it’s a cause. But I think it’s more an effect on an already sick coral.

I am inclined to agree. If healthy corals randomly developed an incurable disease with a near 100% mortaility rate you'd expect not to see human-sized euphyllia colonies in the wild as it would be near impossible for them to escape brown jelly entropy. But they're all over.

 

[bruno3047]

I am inclined to agree. If healthy corals randomly developed an uncurable disease with a near 100% mortaility rate you'd expect not to see human-sized euphyllia colonies in the wild as it would be near impossible for them to escape brown jelly entropy. But they're all over.

Every coral that I have ever lost to BJD has shown signs of stress before the BJD became apparent. In the case of euphyllia, they all go limp before the BJD shows up. Ever since I started cleaning my substrate regularly, I have not lost any corals.

 

[Freenow54]

Reverse flow undergravel filter. Under gravel filters were how we used to keep saltwater tanks before trickle filters and before live rock became popular and easily available. Reverse flow is when you push the water up through the gravel instead of down. This way, you keep the gravel clean.

Perfect. I wanted to do this after a tear down of my freshwater tank after losing all my in tank bred cichlids all died of Malawi bloat ( cant get meds up here ). I pulled the gravel out which I cleaned with my siphon, and drill driven pump as I said earlier every week, and a half. I washed it and and the water was like black coffee which is why I am not arguing about cleaning the salt one you saw. Just frustrated as to how to get at it all. I have been trying to figure out how to set up a better performing under gravel filter which I had years ago. Was not impressed., I am going to redo it 65 as well as my new one that you saw. Never thought of that. Love this forum

 

[bruno3047]

Perfect. I wanted to do this after a tear down of my freshwater tank after losing all my in tank bred cichlids all died of Malawi bloat ( cant get meds up here ). I pulled the gravel out which I cleaned with my siphon, and drill driven pump as I said earlier every week, and a half. I washed it and and the water was like black coffee which is why I am not arguing about cleaning the salt one you saw. Just frustrated as to how to get at it all. I have been trying to figure out how to set up a better performing under gravel filter which I had years ago. Was not impressed., I am going to redo it 65 as well as my new one that you saw. Never thought of that. Love this forum

When I first started in SW I was running undergravel filters. The way we used to keep the gravel clean was to suck out half of the gravel with the water, rinse it in that same water, and then put it back into the aquarium with new water. Six months or so later, you would do the same procedure to the other half. I did front half/back half so it wouldn’t look stupid because the clean gravel was always bright white and the old gravel was always brown. Sounds sucky because it was.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

You can NOT move alk or calcium. Not even a little. You should be reading the same alk for an entire month it should never ever move ... NEVER. Some corals are more senstive than others and LPS generally do better because you can feed them to help recovery (if they are the type that take direct feeding).

Even the smallest instability will cause problems. The worst part about all of this is that coral won't show signs of stress until it is too late. In fact you could have killed your coral and it will look Ok for a week to two weeks. Also, often times the shock is not recoverable. There will be literally nothing you can do but watch the coral slowly die.

There is a reason this is tough, but from my experience this is why. Even a .2 dKH move will cause grief.

My 2 cents

Mine fluxes .2 just with reagents and drops .4 b4 I pick up on it, alk swings under 1dkh are not a huge deal if the rest of you kingdom is in order.. my 3 cents