Corals dying

[Emelinda76]

Omg just woke up to fishy smelly cloudy water n to top it off most if my corals look like they are "melting" nitrate went up to 40 ppm.. Don't inderstand. I have not done anything different!! Help what is happening? .. My diamond goby went missing too for about one week

[rdnelson99]

As much as I hate to say it, I would suspect the goby died and is decomposing somewhere in the tank. That is causing the am, nitrite and nitrate to spike. I very well could be the cause of the cloudy water and the demise of the corals. I would search and try to find him and get him out of the tank. On top of that I would do PWCs often and try to keep the nitrates down. I am no expert so I hope someone else chimes in but I know that is the route I would take.

[carey]

I would for sure agree. Get some serious water changes done and get those levels down. How are the other fish in the tank?

[Emelinda76]

I'm missing the two stars too... Here are some pics

[Emelinda76]

What's strange is the only parameter that is up is nitrate... Nitrite , ammonia is zero. Phos is 1 .. Ph is 8.2 ... Ca 500 kh is 11 alk 3.5 n mag is 1150

[carey]

were the stars sand sifting ones? Cause those when they run out of food burrow under the sand and die there causing major headaches.

I owuld go with pwc's and see where that gets you. You seem to be in grave trouble if your corals are dying so doing back to back water changes might help.

Good luck, let us know

[Emelinda76]

They were lickia orange n blue stars.. The rest of fish. Seem to be fine..

[Emelinda76]

I did change the phos media to gfo two days ago.. Could to any harm other than bring phos down?

[carey]

It shouldn't have. I woudl try to find that goby in there, maybe the ammonia and nitrite already prciessed and now youre left with the obscene nitrates which would make sense.

[Emelinda76]

Originally Posted by carey

It shouldn't have. I woudl try to find that goby in there, maybe the ammonia and nitrite already prciessed and now youre left with the obscene nitrates which would make sense.

Very true Carey.. Thanks!! But I can't find the darn goby. He was like 5 inches..

Just finished doing 55 gal water change.. Filling it up again... Won't be ready until like 5 pm

[carey]

Good luck! Maybe the goby is jammed in somewhere between the rocks or his remains. Do you have a strong clean up crew, maybe they took care of most of it and the rest is still in there.

[mr_X]

the swapping out of the phosphate media might stress corals if you have used a lot of GFO, but i don't think it will kill fish.
you do not have a calcium level of 500 if your KH is 11. you are probably using API test kits and they are incorrect. even so, that would not kill the fish or make the corals melt away, unless you had a parameter spike, like perhaps your alk plummeted or something.
what size tank was this again?

[Emelinda76]

Originally Posted by mr_X

the swapping out of the phosphate media might stress corals if you have used a lot of GFO, but i don't think it will kill fish.
you do not have a calcium level of 500 if your KH is 11. you are probably using API test kits and they are incorrect. even so, that would not kill the fish or make the corals melt away, unless you had a parameter spike, like perhaps your alk plummeted or something.
what size tank was this again?

I have a 220 gallon

[Emelinda76]

Which test kit should I use for alk..

Cause those have been the readings.. Only parameter that's high has been nitrates...

[carey]

I recommend salifert for calcium, magnesium and alkalinity.

[mr_X]

220 gallons of water isn't easy to spoil. i don't think a single fish would spoil that tank to the point of killing other creatures. how about stray voltage, some other toxin perhaps, how about a predator?

[Emelinda76]

That's what I was thinking.... Voltage? Hummm don't know where? I'm missing one goby n two linkage stars.

[Emelinda76]

Toxins? From ? Don't know what happened but I lost three nice size mushrooms, yellow tonga? Medium xenias , 2 scallops n few others

[mr_X]

what are you doing in terms of water changes? using R.O.D.I.? if not, maybe the source water is funky....how about the salt? how are you performing water changes? mixing the new water overnight before adding?
when did this start?

[mr_X]

the scallops aren't going to live for long anyway. yellow tonga leathers or mushrooms? leathers some times put off toxins.