Coral dying after water change ?

[melhe]

My tank maintenance company usually change 50 gallons water out of 320 gallon tank every 2-3 weeks. i have 5 months old tank , never had issues . Last week , he suggested to change water weekly since I have added some more corals . Most gonies, meat corals, blasto, zoas, torches , hammers Fish wise I have 7 chromes , 3 clown fish , one purple firefish , one goby, one fox face and 2 yellow tangs . So last week is the first time he changed to weekly based water change . the day after water change , over night , I lost GMK zoas. One coconut worm One feather duster and some baby zoa polyps , and one torch which I had a few months skeleton started to rot too And other corals in the tank most looked ticked off. after a couple days. Everything started to recover except the torch still not doing well. Tank guy said he never heard water change can cause problems. but I never lost coral like that before . Especially overnight , Gmk melted super fast .
then I checked numbers all seem ok
ph 8.2 , alk 8.2, temp 78.5, nitrate 12.5 , phosphate 0.08, calcium 430, mag 1350. Only thing I don’t know is salinity . The tank guy said he hasn’t got chance to calibrate apex salinity probe yet. But he told me they always match salinity perfectly when they change water . They test salinity during water change

the only thing change per my request was he raised temp from chiller from 77 to 78 because the chiller was on a lot before . He also installed apex system and 2 fans in the carbinet since chiller generates a lot of heat .

has Anyone heard anything like this ? Multiple corals died overnight after water change ? I sent my water samples to CPI test today , hopefully can figure out what’s going on . Please advise

 

[mdb_talon]

Seems like you checked all the main parameters other than salinity(even if I had someone else doing my water I would make sure I can double check that myself). Assuming salinity is good it seems unlikely the death is caused by the WC. I guess its always possible they had a toxin or something in the water, but again seems unlikely.

If it were me I would run some carbon or chemipure. If you do have some sort of toxin that may help.

As a side note weekly 15% water changes "because you have coral" seems crazy to me.

 

[melhe]

He said i have active carbon in the sump .

Another thing is I have another 180g African cichlid tank which they just changed water the week before too. They changed water one week later just because “ they were at my home “ and “ it’s good for fish “ , that tank we always change water every three to four weeks . I didn’t mind because fish doing ok after water change.

i am just heartbroken after losing Gmk zoas overnight. maybe corals don’t like frequent water change. Who knows

 

[pandaparties]

You have an extremely young tank filled with a lot of coral and fish. That's most likely the problem and you have some underlying instability that's causing coral to get upset. Sometimes coral don't show signs of stress for weeks after the fact which can make it really hard to diagnose. My guess is they just started showing stress from some other "event" and it just happened to line up with a WC. It's very unlikely that the WC caused it especially if you are running carbon, provided your parameters are in check and the WC didnt tank your alk or salinity.

There are obviously exceptions to this and contamination is always possible - any chance they are using TMP for water changes? They had some known issues with contamination and i could see a commercial maintenance company having bad batches from a while back. That is really the only thing i could think of that isn't just "its a coincidence". When things go wrong we look for answers and tend find lots of correlation that can be misleading

 

[melhe]

I’ll ask him about tmp.

So the tank is 263 gallon . Including sump would be additional 55-60 gallon . so Total 320 gallon, minus rocks and substrate occupancy total probably 280 gallon water So 50 gallon weekly isn’t too much ? Almost 19 %

 

[melhe]

You have an extremely young tank filled with a lot of coral and fish. That's most likely the problem and you have some underlying instability that's causing coral to get upset. Sometimes coral don't show signs of stress for weeks after the fact which can make it really hard to diagnose. My guess is they just started showing stress from some other "event" and it just happened to line up with a WC. It's very unlikely that the WC caused it especially if you are running carbon, provided your parameters are in check and the WC didnt tank your alk or salinity.

There are obviously exceptions to this and contamination is always possible - any chance they are using TMP for water changes? They had some known issues with contamination and i could see a commercial maintenance company having bad batches from a while back. That is really the only thing i could think of that isn't just "its a coincidence". When things go wrong we look for answers and tend find lots of correlation that can be misleading

Hard to explain overall they start to get better two days after water change except the three died over night and the torch . That torch I got it 2nd month after I started this tank , never had issues . It was obvious the very next day after wc all tentacles remained retracted . Then one head of skeleton started to turn white and rot. Now everything recovered , but that head is still not doing well .

 

[gbroadbridge]

My tank maintenance company usually change 50 gallons water out of 320 gallon tank every 2-3 weeks. i have 5 months old tank , never had issues . Last week , he suggested to change water weekly since I have added some more corals . Most gonies, meat corals, blasto, zoas, torches , hammers Fish wise I have 7 chromes , 3 clown fish , one purple firefish , one goby, one fox face and 2 yellow tangs . So last week is the first time he changed to weekly based water change . the day after water change , over night , I lost GMK zoas. One coconut worm One feather duster and some baby zoa polyps , and one torch which I had a few months skeleton started to rot too And other corals in the tank most looked ticked off. after a couple days. Everything started to recover except the torch still not doing well. Tank guy said he never heard water change can cause problems. but I never lost coral like that before . Especially overnight , Gmk melted super fast .
then I checked numbers all seem ok
ph 8.2 , alk 8.2, temp 78.5, nitrate 12.5 , phosphate 0.08, calcium 430, mag 1350. Only thing I don’t know is salinity . The tank guy said he hasn’t got chance to calibrate apex salinity probe yet. But he told me they always match salinity perfectly when they change water . They test salinity during water change

the only thing change per my request was he raised temp from chiller from 77 to 78 because the chiller was on a lot before . He also installed apex system and 2 fans in the carbinet since chiller generates a lot of heat .

has Anyone heard anything like this ? Multiple corals died overnight after water change ? I sent my water samples to CPI test today , hopefully can figure out what’s going on . Please advise

Unless the water was contaminated or way off in terms of salinity the water change would not cause the problem.

Something else is likely going on.

Keep in mind a 5 month old tank is a very unstable tank.

 

[melhe]

Unless the water was contaminated or way off in terms of salinity the water change would not cause the problem.

Something else is likely going on.

Keep in mind a 5 month old tank is a very unstable tank.

Thats true , agree . Maybe I should look into moonshiners method

 

[Tamberav]

I’ll ask him about tmp.

So the tank is 263 gallon . Including sump would be additional 55-60 gallon . so Total 320 gallon, minus rocks and substrate occupancy total probably 280 gallon water So 50 gallon weekly isn’t too much ? Almost 19 %

People do 100 percent water changes on picos tanks.

There is no such thing as too much unless your new water is way off mark in some way.

I would just buy the equipment to test and do things yourself. I never trust LFS water…and most maintenance companies seem to be run off a LFS.

Main reason I don’t trust them is they make a ton of water and sometimes slack on the filter changes or just too many hands in the pot. All it really takes is some metal piece of something falling in their mixing vats or such. Can’t trust others like I can myself

 

[bakbay]

I had unexplained issues before and some were definitely my fault (didn’t heat the new water and Alk swings) that drastically brought instability to the system. For more than a decade now, I stopped doing WCs since I hate doing it and didn’t have much luck! Doesn’t solve your immediate problem but perhaps look into the future? YMMV so please test your params closely. I dose with CaRx and Kalk so things have been (somewhat) stable.

Good luck and hope things settle down…

 

[melhe]

People do 100 percent water changes on picos tanks.

There is no such thing as too much unless your new water is way off mark in some way.

I would just buy the equipment to test and do things yourself. I never trust LFS water…and most maintenance companies seem to be run off a LFS.

Main reason I don’t trust them is they make a ton of water and sometimes slack on the filter changes or just too many hands in the pot. All it really takes is some metal piece of something falling in their mixing vats or such. Can’t trust others like I can myself

They set up the reverse osmosis system in my garage with heater in, total 55 gallon volume. . So it’s not LFS water

 

[melhe]

I had unexplained issues before and some were definitely my fault (didn’t heat the new water and Alk swings) that drastically brought instability to the system. For more than a decade now, I stopped doing WCs since I hate doing it and didn’t have much luck! Doesn’t solve your immediate problem but perhaps look into the future? YMMV so please test your params closely. I dose with CaRx and Kalk so things have been (somewhat) stable.

Good luck and hope things settle down…

Thank u. I appreciate. I am asking the company come back to every two weeks schedule instead of weekly wc. I hope I made right decision

 

[melhe]

I had unexplained issues before and some were definitely my fault (didn’t heat the new water and Alk swings) that drastically brought instability to the system. For more than a decade now, I stopped doing WCs since I hate doing it and didn’t have much luck! Doesn’t solve your immediate problem but perhaps look into the future? YMMV so please test your params closely. I dose with CaRx and Kalk so things have been (somewhat) stable.

Good luck and hope things settle down…

I got so paranoid now . Sent out icp and ordered bunch of moonshiner and brightwell products today . I guess I’ll stick on strict dosing parameters base on icp test result and keep strict wc schedule biweekly by now , maybe in the future q 3 weeks. The company will get upset of me if i stop wc. Lol.
I hope it will help resolve the issue . Indeed 5 months tank with 15 fish and bunch of soft coral and lps can be stressful for ecosystem . Thx god the Tank passed ugly stage after 3 months old . All numbers seem stable for a while . Coraline algae started to grow a little bit here and there . That’s why I am a little surprised 3 corals died same night . Since I started the tank . I only lost one coral before this. It was a baby torch skeleton got stung by a big frogspawn

 

[gbroadbridge]

I got so paranoid now . Sent out icp and ordered bunch of moonshiner and brightwell products today . I guess I’ll stick on strict dosing parameters base on icp test result and keep strict wc schedule biweekly by now , maybe in the future q 3 weeks. The company will get upset of me if i stop wc. Lol.
I hope it will help resolve the issue . Indeed 5 months tank with 15 fish and bunch of soft coral and lps can be stressful for ecosystem . Thx god the Tank passed ugly stage after 3 months old . All numbers seem stable for a while . Coraline algae started to grow a little bit here and there . That’s why I am a little surprised 3 corals died same night . Since I started the tank . I only lost one coral before this. It was a baby torch skeleton got stung by a big frogspawn

I would suggest just stick to basic supplementation Of Alk and Ca/Mg if needed.

Moonshiners is an advanced system for mature tanks.

It won't go to waste if you decide to manage the tank yourself - just not yet

 

[Tamberav]

They set up the reverse osmosis system in my garage with heater in, total 55 gallon volume. . So it’s not LFS water

RO? Or RODI?

I am definitely not convinced a water change harmed a soft coral.

 

[melhe]

I would suggest just stick to basic supplementation Of Alk and Ca/Mg if needed.

Moonshiners is an advanced system for mature tanks.

It won't go to waste if you decide to manage the tank yourself

I would suggest just stick to basic supplementation Of Alk and Ca/Mg if needed.

Moonshiners is an advanced system for mature tanks.

It won't go to waste if you decide to manage the tank yourself - just not yet

thats true . I bought those Hanna tests kits too . They still manage the tank . I just don’t want weekly change anymore . They still manage biweekly

 

[melhe]

RO? Or RODI?

I am definitely not convinced a water change harmed a soft coral.

I don’t know what’s different. It has 7 filters to filter out the water

 

[Tamberav]

I don’t know what’s different. It has 7 filters to filter out the water

Ok rodi then

 

[melhe]

Ok rodi th

They will come in today again for discus tank . I told them not to touch salt water tank this week since last week disaster . I got so paranoid . If u think wc is good for softies and Lps , should change water this week too ? Since I just send out PCI test , would wc Changes parameter of the samples

 

[GatorGreg]

I don’t know what’s different. It has 7 filters to filter out the water

No offense but if you don’t know the difference between RODI and RO. Perhaps something like the moonshiners method is a bit too complex for you at this point in your journey in the hobby. You seem to have quite a bit of funding here for your little ventures. I’d stop throwing cash at the reef tank and just chill out and let it mature. Especially if you’re also paying someone to care for the tank. You going in and dumping stuff in behind their back could open up a litany of other problems