Frustrated, what now???

[bizzybeas]

I put in a post about a week ago about losing all of my corals, even my clam. I am not sure what was the cause. My fish and shrooms are all fine. All of my papameters are good except calc= 350 and alk=10-11. I do not know why the low levels, I use sea lab cubes and reef builder to maintain levels. I recently increased the amounts of both to raise the levels.

I did a 50% water change over the past week with no improvement. (my leather is not opening his polyps) I also have a bad case of slime algae and some hair algae as well. The cyano started when my skimmer broke and seems to be going strong in spite of all efforts to remove it.

What is going on? I am so frustrated, I can not add anything to my tank until I figure this out. The only thing I have changed is I ordered a new bucket of salt (tropic marin). I have never used any water except RO.

 

[steve-s]

Could you provide a link to the Sea labs product or some additional info. Usually these "all in one" products are not all their cracked up to be. They can definately cause large increases in unnecessary elements that IMO cause more harm than good.

Cheers
Steve

 

[reefrunner69]

The only thing I have changed is I ordered a new bucket of salt (tropic marin). I have never used any water except RO.

Have you actually used the salt? How did you switch?

I remember this occurred after trying to nuke your aips with lemon juice...I know you told me what lemon juice you used, but could you post the brand name again.

 

[bizzybeas]

I used "RealLemon". I have been using the same salt, I just got a new bucket.

 

[bizzybeas]

http://www.DrsFosterSmith.com/Produ...d=4175&R=7327&N=2004+113461+113565&in_merch=1

Here is the link, Can you suggest another additive? I tried Bionic but it never seemed to budge my levels much. I would have to add a lot of it I guess, AND do it everyday. I was trying to find to an "easy "way.

 

[reefrunner69]

I think steve meant to the sealab blocks, I assume your using sealab 28 blocks. Personally, I do not believe that they dissolve based on need as they "supposedly" do. If they did, waterflow would have no effect on the way they dissolve and too much flow and they dissolve too quickly. I have never heard of one killing anyones corals before.

Was there anything going on in the neighborhood or in the house around the time they went south? It could be the lemon juice, but I would think it would have had to be caused by actually injecting or spraying the corals and clams with it, or doing so much at one time that it had a serious impact on your tank's ph.

 

[douggiestyle]

this is off subject.
last night i had a dream that i went to the zoo. and they had a clam. a real big one. and then for some reason i got lemon juice in the tank and it got on the clam. not knowing what to do i quickly grabed the clam and pulled it out of the water. i could smell the lemon juice on it and wanted to get it out. so i put the clam to my mouth and started started to blow into its "clam hole" (boy that sounds raunchy) to flush the lemon juice out. but instead i noticed that it tasted good. real good. so i took a bite. just like the sushi bar mmm mmm. and another bite. until i had eaten. the whole thing. i got caught and they through me out of the zoo.
sorry but i had totaly forgotten about the dream until i started reading this post so i had to share it.

 

[douggiestyle]

this is on subject.
what if the lemon juice got directly on the clam and was inhaled. would it not have the same effect as it does on aiptasia?
if the lemon juice was in the direct flow of water and the next stop was clam?

 

[bizzybeas]

The clam died 2 days after the lemon juice incident. Maybe something got into my makeup water. Nothing else had changed. I can not figure it out. I am obviously not going to add anything to the tank for awhile. My leather is still closed as is my tubinara. I do not know how to tell if the tubinara is dead. It looks like a scroll coral, so the polyps are tiny and I have not seen them for awhile. I would think if the conditions were better the leather would open. He has been slimey a lot lately due to the stress...could this kill the clam? Also my open brain looks awesome?!!? Go figure!

What now? Should I do normal 10% water changes every week?

What additives do you recommend? How do you adjust for changes in either ALK or CA if using a 2 part additive?

I dream about my tank a lot.

 

[reefrunner69]

Tell me about what is running your tank. You mentioned your skimmer was not working, had you received a replacement and been running it? Do you run GAC (if not I would be fright now for sure). It;'s possible that the leather nuked your other corals, also do you have any cukes?

 

[douggiestyle]

sorry but the dream was so surreal. i fall asleep thinking about a bigger tank most every night
i still think it was the lemon juice. did you notice if the the juice moved towards the clam after your injection misshap? when i put 2 mls of invertjuice into the tank a big cloud moves accross the tank. this is because i put the stuff in the direct flow of the pumps. in about a minute the cloud disipates.

 

[Dewey]

Heres something i learned about corals not opening. A month and a half ago i got my first refractometry. For the first year i always used a deep six hydrometer. And had no problems with tanks.Then slowly my corals were not opening all the way. I could not figure it out .I spent allot of money on different test kits to confirm the others. But never gave it a thought that the hydrometer could be off. To make a long story short . I decided to give a refractometer a shot so i bought one. My salt levels were way high. As soon as i started lowering it my corals started to open again.( I always cleaned my hydrometer to) .

Hope this helps someone........ Dewey

 

[bizzybeas]

I bought a new skimmer (aqua remora pro) which has been running more than one month. It skims great. I also have GAC, just replaced it during the crisis. No cukes. It just seems so weird to have crashed so suddenly, it has been running for 10 months now.

The clam is on the opposite side of the tank, but I have a lot of current in it.

Nothing else is new with my maintence routine. 8O I am type "A" and check my levels every week as well as do a weekly 10 % change. Nitrates have not gotten above 4 mg/L ever.

 

[bizzybeas]

A refractometer is not a bad idea.

 

[reefrunner69]

A refractometer is not a bad idea.

No, it's not, but I doubt salinity is the cause of your issues. I am at a loss for what the cause was, but I would think the salinity would have had to spike rather quickly to effect your livestock in such a drastic manner.

 

[yaksplat]

It;'s possible that the leather nuked your other corals

How can a leather nuke other corals? Does it release toxins?

Jim

 

[reefrunner69]

How can a leather nuke other corals? Does it release toxins?

Yes, all soft coral use chemical toxins as defense (terpenes) leathers tend to produce the most noxious of the chemicals, probably one of the reasons they are so prolific. They are easily handles by protien skimming and use of GAC, so it usually isn't an issue unless you aren't doing either.