Advice Appreciated

[Ambones]

Hi team,

I've had my 10 gallon tank for ten months and everything was going great. All of a sudden I had a giant GHA outbreak and what seemed to be green algae/cyano/dino outbreak on the substrate. There did not seem to be any issues with the parameters. After many weeks of trying to feed less and manual removal I treated the tank with fluconazole (1 treatment), dino x (2 weeks) and chemiclean ( 2 treatments) (not simultaneously and rookie mistake I know).

A few weeks after I stopped all treatments my euphylia started looking very unhappy at the same time. Over the course of the last month or so I have lost a branching hammer, my torch is obviously dying and a wall hammer is not looking healthy at all (it's usually 4x puffier and doesn't retract at night like it used to). Also all my trochus started dying.

I have done multiple large water changes and used carbon to fix the issue but to no avail. I just would like to know what the issue is to save what i have and before I invest in more coral. It may have been any of the treatments but I want to rule out anything else that may have caused this.

My parameters are as follows:
pH - 8.3
Temp - 78
Nitrate - 8
Alk - 8.8
Ca - 430
Mg - 1450
Salinity - 1.025
Phos - 0.05

I do a 10 to 20% water change every week as well.

I bought a multimeter and tested yesterday and found stray voltage of 7.8 volts. I'm not sure that's whats causing the issue but have ordered a grounding probe that supposed to arrive mid week. I also see no signs of pests. I also ran carbon for 4 days after things turned but have not continued.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[crazyfishmom]

Hi!

A few questions:

1) you’re probably doing this but I have to ask: are you using RODI?
2) your parameters look good, how consistent are they?
3) was this a dry rock start?
4) what’s your CUC look like? I would highly recommend adding Mexican turbo snails and lettuce nudibranches to deal with that kind of GHA

As you already know, the chemicals have likely created issues for your coral. Unfortunately, it takes weeks to see the effects of any one of these chemicals as a negative event tends to show over time and not necessarily immediately. For LPS, I like adding brightwell’s Restore, it helps repair tissue damage. Adding more beneficial bacteria to your tank may also help stabilize and balance it out because again your parameters look good but stability may not be there.

 

[Jekyl]

My thoughts would be irritation from the added chemicals and the shifting of environment. Stability is key and it seems for a stretch that everything had been haywire.

 

[Ambones]

Hi!

A few questions:

1) you’re probably doing this but I have to ask: are you using RODI?
2) your parameters look good, how consistent are they?
3) was this a dry rock start?
4) what’s your CUC look like? I would highly recommend adding Mexican turbo snails and lettuce nudibranches to deal with that kind of GHA

As you already know, the chemicals have likely created issues for your coral. Unfortunately, it takes weeks to see the effects of any one of these chemicals as a negative event tends to show over time and not necessarily immediately. For LPS, I like adding brightwell’s Restore, it helps repair tissue damage. Adding more beneficial bacteria to your tank may also help stabilize and balance it out because again your parameters look good but stability may not be there.

Thanks for the quick reply and advice.

In response to your questions:

1. Yes I use RODI.
2. Parameters are fairly consistent, I test and dose every week for Mg, Ca and Alk and it's been a minor amount and never caused issues. I had a minor Phospate jump after using fluconazole but it's come down.
3. Yes it was dey rock.
4. I used to have 3 trochus ( all dead now) 3 cerith, 2 nassarius and 5 blue legged hermits. Also one cleaner shrimp as an ornamental. It's only a 10 gallon mind you.

As for your advice, I heard mexican turbos get huge and knock things over so I never added. It'd really hard to reattach corals cuz its such a tight fit without crushing other corals and getting stung by the torch. Do you still recommend turbos for the tank of that size and if so how many? Sea hares are not available in my area unfortunately.

I will definitely get Restore, any specific bacteria you recommend?

Thanks again!

 

[crazyfishmom]

Thanks for the quick reply and advice.

In response to your questions:

1. Yes I use RODI.
2. Parameters are fairly consistent, I test and dose every week for Mg, Ca and Alk and it's been a minor amount and never caused issues. I had a minor Phospate jump after using fluconazole but it's come down.
3. Yes it was dey rock.
4. I used to have 3 trochus ( all dead now) 3 cerith, 2 nassarius and 5 blue legged hermits. Also one cleaner shrimp as an ornamental. It's only a 10 gallon mind you.

As for your advice, I heard mexican turbos get huge and knock things over so I never added. It'd really hard to reattach corals cuz its such a tight fit without crushing other corals and getting stung by the torch. Do you still recommend turbos for the tank of that size and if so how many? Sea hares are not available in my area unfortunately.

I will definitely get Restore, any specific bacteria you recommend?

Thanks again!

I think you can get two turbos and rehome when they’ve taken care of your algae problem.

I would really consider ordering 3-4 lettuce nudibranches. Sea hares are hard to find but lettuce nudibranches are really great for gha.

For bacteria microbacter 7 or seachem stability would be good. There’s something out of balance, just have to figure out what .