Coral die off

[Jarrito]

Shipment of coral arrived yesterday, 2 hammers and a xenia. I woke up this morning and all of them had basically melted away so I just took them out of the tank. I was worried as the coral came while I was at school but my mom had brought them inside. When I got back I temp acclimated for a little bit, the xenia looked pretty bad already one of the hammers was pretty retracted and the second looked ok. I then drip acclimated for 30-40 mins then added them in the tank. I turned the lights down and put them on the sandbed. Both hammers started to release some slimy string and the xenia was slumped over. Next morning the xenia was disintegrating and the hammers were turning into a slimy puddle. Also ordered some trochus snails and they haven't been moving and their feet are shriveled in their shells. What happened? Stress from shipping? I'm thinking of just going to my lfs next time. I only ordered online because of the price and variety. I have 2 clownfish in the tank and they are doing perfectly fine.

Here's my testing results
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Alkalinity: 9 ish
Ph: 8
Phosphate: 0
Magnesium; 1500 ish
Calcium above 500

 

[xitsmike]

Shipment of coral arrived yesterday, 2 hammers and a xenia. I woke up this morning and all of them had basically melted away so I just took them out of the tank. I was worried as the coral came while I was at school but my mom had brought them inside. When I got back I temp acclimated for a little bit, the xenia looked pretty bad already one of the hammers was pretty retracted and the second looked ok. I then drip acclimated for 30-40 mins then added them in the tank. I turned the lights down and put them on the sandbed. Both hammers started to release some slimy string and the xenia was slumped over. Next morning the xenia was disintegrating and the hammers were turning into a slimy puddle. Also ordered some trochus snails and they haven't been moving and their feet are shriveled in their shells. What happened? Stress from shipping? I'm thinking of just going to my lfs next time. I only ordered online because of the price and variety. I have 2 clownfish in the tank and they are doing perfectly fine.

Here's my testing results
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Alkalinity: 9 ish
Ph: 8
Phosphate: 0
Magnesium; 1500 ish
Calcium above 500

was the slimy string brown looking? they could've been expelling zooxanthella. Though it happened really fast, it could be a bailout.

 

[Jarrito]

was the slimy string brown looking? they could've been expelling zooxanthella. Though it happened really fast, it could be a bailout

No, it was like a white slimy string

 

[Rjukan]

Shipment of coral arrived yesterday, 2 hammers and a xenia. I woke up this morning and all of them had basically melted away so I just took them out of the tank. I was worried as the coral came while I was at school but my mom had brought them inside. When I got back I temp acclimated for a little bit, the xenia looked pretty bad already one of the hammers was pretty retracted and the second looked ok. I then drip acclimated for 30-40 mins then added them in the tank. I turned the lights down and put them on the sandbed. Both hammers started to release some slimy string and the xenia was slumped over. Next morning the xenia was disintegrating and the hammers were turning into a slimy puddle. Also ordered some trochus snails and they haven't been moving and their feet are shriveled in their shells. What happened? Stress from shipping? I'm thinking of just going to my lfs next time. I only ordered online because of the price and variety. I have 2 clownfish in the tank and they are doing perfectly fine.

Here's my testing results
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Alkalinity: 9 ish
Ph: 8
Phosphate: 0
Magnesium; 1500 ish
Calcium above 500

Where was the shipment from?

 

[Jarrito]

Where was the shipment from?

AquaSD

 

[NonstopSoda]

Your trace elements are a little high but that shouldn’t be the issue, 0 phos and 0 nitrates are an issue though. No3 and Po4 are nutrients that corals need to grow and survive, if they’re at zero constantly then the corals are starving.

 

[NonstopSoda]

Also what’s your salinity and temperature of the tank?

 

[crazyfishmom]

Because of how quickly it happened, I am going to rule out nutrients being the main cause but you do need to get phosphate and nitrate up if you want to keep coral alive.

As far as your other values: what is your salinity like? Calcium and magnesium being on the high side may be a side effect of high salinity which could kill coral quickly if the change is drastic especially after shipping.

Xenia typically look absolutely awful after shipping but tend to recover within a couple of hours. The hammers releasing white stringy stuff is just stress and most will recover after that in good conditions. LPS will slime pretty bad if stressed.

There’s something more here than just shipping stress from what you’re describing and I wouldn’t think it would be lighting or flow so I’m going to bet there’s a water quality issue even if your parameters don’t seem super off. Do you use RODI or tap? Do you have any other coral already in the tank?

 

[Jarrito]

Because of how quickly it happened, I am going to rule out nutrients being the main cause but you do need to get phosphate and nitrate up if you want to keep coral alive.

As far as your other values: what is your salinity like? Calcium and magnesium being on the high side may be a side effect of high salinity which could kill coral quickly if the change is drastic especially after shipping.

Xenia typically look absolutely awful after shipping but tend to recover within a couple of hours. The hammers releasing white stringy stuff is just stress and most will recover after that in good conditions. LPS will slime pretty bad if stressed.

There’s something more here than just shipping stress from what you’re describing and I wouldn’t think it would be lighting or flow so I’m going to bet there’s a water quality issue even if your parameters don’t seem super off. Do you use RODI or tap? Do you have any other coral already in the tank?

I use RODI no other coral just the two clowns. When I wanted to take a look at the hammers I picked them up and they were basically just like a brown goop and it was falling apart when i picked it up.
Temp is around 78 and salinity is 1.025. How do I get phosphate and nitrates up? I'm not sure why they are so low

 

[Jarrito]

also any idea what's happening to the snails? they are motionless and kind of shriveled up in their shells but I don't think they're dead

 

[NonstopSoda]

I use RODI no other coral just the two clowns. When I wanted to take a look at the hammers I picked them up and they were basically just like a brown goop and it was falling apart when i picked it up.
Temp is around 78 and salinity is 1.025. How do I get phosphate and nitrates up? I'm not sure why they are so low

I do agree with @crazyfishmom that the phosphate and nitrate levels may not be the cause of this current issue but it will help to raise them in the long run of growing coral, I use neonitro to raise my nitrate and it works great. I’ve also heard neophos is good for raising phosphate but I’ve never used it. I feed pretty heavy and that raises my phosphates for me (maybe a little too high) but as for the current issue, what lights do you have and flow and also some pictures in white light will be greatly appreciated

 

[crazyfishmom]

I use RODI no other coral just the two clowns. When I wanted to take a look at the hammers I picked them up and they were basically just like a brown goop and it was falling apart when i picked it up.
Temp is around 78 and salinity is 1.025. How do I get phosphate and nitrates up? I'm not sure why they are so low

It has to do with a lot of things… age of the tank, bioload, etc.

In the short term, dosing a little bit of neophos and Neonitro to get your numbers to ~0.1 phosphate and 10 ppm nitrate is a good start. After that, monitor and you may be able to keep them there with just feeding your fish more or honestly as the tank matures these levels tend to go up.

I want to think about your calcium and magnesium levels a little more. They should not be so high. No salt mix in the market mixes to those levels. Which salt do you use? Can you test a fresh batch of saltwater and tell us what the numbers are for it?

 

[Jarrito]

I do agree with @crazyfishmom that the phosphate and nitrate levels may not be the cause of this current issue but it will help to raise them in the long run of growing coral, I use neonitro to raise my nitrate and it works great. I’ve also heard neophos is good for raising phosphate but I’ve never used it. I feed pretty heavy and that raises my phosphates for me (maybe a little too high) but as for the current issue, what lights do you have and flow and also some pictures in white light will be greatly appreciated

I have 1 AI prime at 25% of BRS recommended lighting and for flow I just used the return pump while the coral were in. sorry about the algae all over the glass

I do agree with @crazyfishmom that the phosphate and nitrate levels may not be the cause of this current issue but it will help to raise them in the long run of growing coral, I use neonitro to raise my nitrate and it works great. I’ve also heard neophos is good for raising phosphate but I’ve never used it. I feed pretty heavy and that raises my phosphates for me (maybe a little too high) but as for the current issue, what lights do you have and flow and also some pictures in white light will be greatly appreciated

 

[crazyfishmom]

I have 1 AI prime at 25% of BRS recommended lighting and for flow I just used the return pump while the coral were in. sorry about the algae all over the glass

This amount of light (the settings not the lighting fixture itself) and flow are not going to be adequate to keep corals long term but they shouldn’t have caused death overnight.

With this amount of algae, it is clear that there’s an imbalance and we just need to figure out where it is coming from and correct it slowly before you add any more corals.

I will also say that while Xenia or GSP are excellent beginner corals, hammers are not and I would recommend waiting till you can keep soft corals alive for a couple of months before attempting them again.

 

[Jarrito]

It has to do with a lot of things… age of the tank, bioload, etc.

In the short term, dosing a little bit of neophos and Neonitro to get your numbers to ~0.1 phosphate and 10 ppm nitrate is a good start. After that, monitor and you may be able to keep them there with just feeding your fish more or honestly as the tank matures these levels tend to go up.

I want to think about your calcium and magnesium levels a little more. They should not be so high. No salt mix in the market mixes to those levels. Which salt do you use? Can you test a fresh batch of saltwater and tell us what the numbers are for it?

My tank is not very mature only about 3 months old. All my levels have been pretty stable so far except for alkalinity. It seems to drop at a pretty fast rate so I have to do frequent water changes to keep up with it. I don't know why it drops so much as prior to this I had no coral and my calcium and magnesium have been super high. I use red sea coral pro salt. I just did a water change and forgot to keep any of the water to test but I can make another small batch

 

[crazyfishmom]

My tank is not very mature only about 3 months old. All my levels have been pretty stable so far except for alkalinity. It seems to drop at a pretty fast rate so I have to do frequent water changes to keep up with it. I don't know why it drops so much as prior to this I had no coral and my calcium and magnesium have been super high. I use red sea coral pro salt. I just did a water change and forgot to keep any of the water to test but I can make another small batch

A few questions on how you’re making your salt mix:

Are you continually mixing while you make it? Do you use a heater set to around 70F? Are you stirring your salt before adding it to the water? What are you using to test salinity?

 

[Jarrito]

A few questions on how you’re making your salt mix:

Are you continually mixing while you make it? Do you use a heater set to around 70F? Are you stirring your salt before adding it to the water? What are you using to test salinity?

I usually add a cup in then mix for a bit then add another etc. I have a heater in that is preset to 75F and use a refractometer to test for salinity. I have not stirred the salt before adding it to the water.

 

[crazyfishmom]

I usually add a cup in then mix for a bit then add another etc. I have a heater in that is preset to 75F and use a refractometer to test for salinity. I have not stirred the salt before adding it to the water.

How long do you let the fresh batch of saltwater mix before you add it to the tank?

 

[Jarrito]

How long do you let the fresh batch of saltwater mix before you add it to the tank?

around an hour after getting desired salinity

 

[crazyfishmom]

around an hour after getting desired salinity

Did a little bit of research. This salt mixes to pretty high calcium, magnesium and alkalinity. For a beginner, k would highly recommend a salt mix that mixes to a lower alkalinity. Alkalinity this high is really difficult to maintain stable and corals will not do well if there are big alkalinity shifts.

It’s really hard to know why your alkalinity is dropping so much without anything to consume them in the tank.

You asked earlier about the snails: typically snails do not do well in really high magnesium levels so I’m wondering if the levels are actually higher than what you’re measuring. How are you measuring those mag levels?

Also, are you measuring salinity directly from your tank or is this just based on the fresh saltwater?

Last question in this long battery and I do apologize I just want to help… is your refractometer calibrated and if so, how was it calibrated? I’m saying this because when I first started in the hobby I miss calibrated my refractometer and it turned out that my salinity was 1.038 instead of 1.026. Needless to say, I put some coral in my tank that died overnight.