Help.. Coral dying dont know what to do or what to check for

spritzfrizon · 04/30/2012, 04:58 PM

Hello i need some help and anything would be appriciated.. I have a larger acrapora that is starting to bleach on part of it and looks healthy on the other half. Also i have a big healthy 5inch by 6inch star polyp that is now only coming up in a small 1inch by 1inch area. I touched the star polyp and some of it just broke off like dust. The acrapora was next to another coral a softy i was told is waving hands aphillia. One of the arms of that was touching the acrapora and thats wheres its bleaching so i moved it to another spot not near anything.. I just checked my parameters and here they are.

PH 7.9-8.4
nitrate,nitrite and ammonia all at .0
calc is close to 580-600
salinity 1.024

Just performed a 15gal water change yesterday and all my water and top off's i use r/o water. The tank is a 120gal 72x22x18 with a coralife MH fixture (3 d.e 20k pheonix halides and 4 96w actinic p.c.) all bulbs are around 7 months old. Both overflows are draining into a wet/dry sump then into a refugium.

(Coral in tank) There are some polyps,cabbage coral,giant hammer (100 heads)mushrooms,star polyps,leathers,birds nest,candy cane and a few other corals but nothing near the star polyp

(fish in tank) 3 clown (2mated and 1 baby) yellow tang,mandrin goby,flame angel,butterfly,mated pair coral banded shrimp and misc. hermit crabs and snails.

The odd thing is the birds nest and other corals are all doing good, all the other coral was doing great untill about 1-2 weeks ago.. If anyone has any ideas or recomendation please let me know.. Thanks for the help

feh · 04/30/2012, 05:11 PM

Whats your Alk at? Your Ca is kind of high.

Psirex · 04/30/2012, 05:11 PM

what is your lighting?

spritzfrizon · 04/30/2012, 05:26 PM

Dont know what alk is i have been looking for a store to go to tonight for a tester but no one has one until tomorrow and my lighting is a Coralife MH fixture (3x 150w d.e. 20k pheonix bulbs and 4x96w actinics all around 7 months old.. Also I forgot to mention location the star polyp is under good flow lower to med of tank ans sps is good flow mid to upper of tank

jwoyshnar · 04/30/2012, 06:28 PM

If your cal is that high I would guess your salinity is much higher than you state.

spritzfrizon · 04/30/2012, 06:57 PM

i used the same hydrometer on my reef tank that i used on my predator tank both same size tanks. I even used a second tested and got the same numbers. Like i said i have no idea what my next move should be

yalan · 04/30/2012, 07:06 PM

I think your waving hands aphillia probably touched it and it is start to die off. You can try to cut off the infected parts, to stop the spread (before you lose the entire colony), just make sure that you cut/break off just a little over the heathy parts (where there is still healthy tissues not where there is none or already infected). I had a similar experience, where my birdnest was touched by another coral and end up dying very quickly. I tried the cut off method in a separate incident and it save the colony. Good luck!

aleonn · 04/30/2012, 07:13 PM

Hydrometers don't measure as accurately or reproducibly as a refractometer. It probably isn't the main cause of the coral issues, though. I'm concerned about the high calcium and possibly low alk. I'd run carbon to remove possible toxins as well as to address allelopathy (chemical warfare) issues.

alton · 05/01/2012, 05:56 AM

Is it a glass hydrometer or a swing arm? Swing arms become liars. Also with your Calcium that high you are definitely low on ALk, and probably Mag.. Also check your lamps, I have had DE lamps go bad in less than 8 months and your eyes can not tell only a meter. I would also do a large water change with instant ocean which is low in calcium to get that below 500.

spritzfrizon · 05/01/2012, 03:59 PM

Ok every one thanks for the advise.. Off to the lfs I will let you know how it goes

spritzfrizon · 05/02/2012, 04:02 PM

Well I just found out what is making my calcium read so high.. My friend added reef code A and B and added about 1/10th of the bottles in at once, so he put probably about a months worth of code A and B at one time.. What do i do now?

Sk8r · 05/02/2012, 04:19 PM

20% water changes every 3 days for a couple of weeks. It's rough treatment, so measure carefully, but it's the fastest way to straighten out a screwed-up water balance.

spritzfrizon · 05/02/2012, 04:56 PM

Thank you for the help, Would it be better or quicker if i did bigger water changes? And should i be ready to loose any other coral? If so i have another 120gal with 5 fish (my predator tank) thats been up for about 1 1/2 yrs should i move my larger corals into that tank or even put the fish into my 55gal extra tank thats empty and just drain all the water out of the reef then swap water from other tank to reef (basicly starting with 80% new water thats been cycled for a year and very balanced on levels).. Whats your opinion?

david pinder · 05/02/2012, 07:33 PM

You want ever keep sps if you dont know your alk if it gets to low it will wipe out your sps overnite

spritzfrizon · 05/04/2012, 07:36 PM

well I took some water to my lfs and found out my nitrates are around 60 so i added some nitrate killer and am hoping for the best.. Apparently my api test kits have a experation date and mine are to old.. Thank you everyone for all the help, I also ordered all new bulbs and am doing 20% water changes every 3 days.. Once again thank you all very much for the advise and help

f3honda4me · 05/04/2012, 08:18 PM

Define "nitrate killer"

spritzfrizon · 05/05/2012, 03:52 PM

I dont remember the name its a 2 part kit by brightwell i think, It has a bacteria and some rock looking things i had to soak together for 24hrs then put the rocks into a bag and put in sump.. Im going there tomorrow (lfs) and i will get you the name, plus today i added a bunch of algae to the refugium to help

04/30/2012, 04:58 PM	#1
spritzfrizon Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 35	Help.. Coral dying dont know what to do or what to check for Hello i need some help and anything would be appriciated.. I have a larger acrapora that is starting to bleach on part of it and looks healthy on the other half. Also i have a big healthy 5inch by 6inch star polyp that is now only coming up in a small 1inch by 1inch area. I touched the star polyp and some of it just broke off like dust. The acrapora was next to another coral a softy i was told is waving hands aphillia. One of the arms of that was touching the acrapora and thats wheres its bleaching so i moved it to another spot not near anything.. I just checked my parameters and here they are. PH 7.9-8.4 nitrate,nitrite and ammonia all at .0 calc is close to 580-600 salinity 1.024 Just performed a 15gal water change yesterday and all my water and top off's i use r/o water. The tank is a 120gal 72x22x18 with a coralife MH fixture (3 d.e 20k pheonix halides and 4 96w actinic p.c.) all bulbs are around 7 months old. Both overflows are draining into a wet/dry sump then into a refugium. (Coral in tank) There are some polyps,cabbage coral,giant hammer (100 heads)mushrooms,star polyps,leathers,birds nest,candy cane and a few other corals but nothing near the star polyp (fish in tank) 3 clown (2mated and 1 baby) yellow tang,mandrin goby,flame angel,butterfly,mated pair coral banded shrimp and misc. hermit crabs and snails. The odd thing is the birds nest and other corals are all doing good, all the other coral was doing great untill about 1-2 weeks ago.. If anyone has any ideas or recomendation please let me know.. Thanks for the help

04/30/2012, 05:11 PM	#3
Psirex Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Albany, NY Posts: 1,934	what is your lighting? __________________ SALINITY NOW....

04/30/2012, 07:06 PM	#7
yalan Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Stafford, VA Posts: 24	I think your waving hands aphillia probably touched it and it is start to die off. You can try to cut off the infected parts, to stop the spread (before you lose the entire colony), just make sure that you cut/break off just a little over the heathy parts (where there is still healthy tissues not where there is none or already infected). I had a similar experience, where my birdnest was touched by another coral and end up dying very quickly. I tried the cut off method in a separate incident and it save the colony. Good luck! Last edited by yalan; 04/30/2012 at 07:12 PM. Reason: add more info

05/02/2012, 04:19 PM	#12
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	20% water changes every 3 days for a couple of weeks. It's rough treatment, so measure carefully, but it's the fastest way to straighten out a screwed-up water balance. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

04/30/2012, 05:11 PM	#2
feh Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Atlanta area Posts: 535	Whats your Alk at? Your Ca is kind of high.

04/30/2012, 05:26 PM	#4
spritzfrizon Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 35	Dont know what alk is i have been looking for a store to go to tonight for a tester but no one has one until tomorrow and my lighting is a Coralife MH fixture (3x 150w d.e. 20k pheonix bulbs and 4x96w actinics all around 7 months old.. Also I forgot to mention location the star polyp is under good flow lower to med of tank ans sps is good flow mid to upper of tank

04/30/2012, 06:28 PM	#5
jwoyshnar Registered Member Join Date: May 2009 Location: 18441 Posts: 1,531	If your cal is that high I would guess your salinity is much higher than you state.

04/30/2012, 06:57 PM	#6
spritzfrizon Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 35	i used the same hydrometer on my reef tank that i used on my predator tank both same size tanks. I even used a second tested and got the same numbers. Like i said i have no idea what my next move should be

04/30/2012, 07:13 PM	#8
aleonn Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 4,041	Hydrometers don't measure as accurately or reproducibly as a refractometer. It probably isn't the main cause of the coral issues, though. I'm concerned about the high calcium and possibly low alk. I'd run carbon to remove possible toxins as well as to address allelopathy (chemical warfare) issues.

05/01/2012, 05:56 AM	#9
alton Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Zuehl, Texas Posts: 4,460	Is it a glass hydrometer or a swing arm? Swing arms become liars. Also with your Calcium that high you are definitely low on ALk, and probably Mag.. Also check your lamps, I have had DE lamps go bad in less than 8 months and your eyes can not tell only a meter. I would also do a large water change with instant ocean which is low in calcium to get that below 500.

05/01/2012, 03:59 PM	#10
spritzfrizon Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 35	Ok every one thanks for the advise.. Off to the lfs I will let you know how it goes

05/02/2012, 04:02 PM	#11
spritzfrizon Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 35	Well I just found out what is making my calcium read so high.. My friend added reef code A and B and added about 1/10th of the bottles in at once, so he put probably about a months worth of code A and B at one time.. What do i do now?

05/02/2012, 04:56 PM	#13
spritzfrizon Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 35	Thank you for the help, Would it be better or quicker if i did bigger water changes? And should i be ready to loose any other coral? If so i have another 120gal with 5 fish (my predator tank) thats been up for about 1 1/2 yrs should i move my larger corals into that tank or even put the fish into my 55gal extra tank thats empty and just drain all the water out of the reef then swap water from other tank to reef (basicly starting with 80% new water thats been cycled for a year and very balanced on levels).. Whats your opinion?

05/02/2012, 07:33 PM	#14
david pinder Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: houston tx 77316 Posts: 538	You want ever keep sps if you dont know your alk if it gets to low it will wipe out your sps overnite

05/04/2012, 07:36 PM	#15
spritzfrizon Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 35	well I took some water to my lfs and found out my nitrates are around 60 so i added some nitrate killer and am hoping for the best.. Apparently my api test kits have a experation date and mine are to old.. Thank you everyone for all the help, I also ordered all new bulbs and am doing 20% water changes every 3 days.. Once again thank you all very much for the advise and help

05/04/2012, 08:18 PM	#16
f3honda4me Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 1,218	Define "nitrate killer"

05/05/2012, 03:52 PM	#17
spritzfrizon Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 35	I dont remember the name its a 2 part kit by brightwell i think, It has a bacteria and some rock looking things i had to soak together for 24hrs then put the rocks into a bag and put in sump.. Im going there tomorrow (lfs) and i will get you the name, plus today i added a bunch of algae to the refugium to help