My tank is dying and I don’t know why!!! I’m frustrated and sad, please help!

[Neoalchemist]

Dinos and cyano do not kill coral. That is not your issue with coral death.

I have to argue with you on this. Ostreopsis dinoflagellate absolutely will kill everything in a tank including fish. They produce a strong toxin and can and will attach themselves to a coral until it dies. All dinoflagellate species produce a toxin when they grow too large of a population but some are more toxic than others.
Fresh carbon changed ever few days is an absolute must when you even suspect the possibility of dinos.
For referance, here are my tanks numbers when ostreopsis took over my tank last year.
Alk/ 7.7 (Salifert)
Cal/ 430 (Salifert)
Mag/ 1400 (Red Sea, this kit proved unreliable probably more like 1300)
No3/ 2 (salifert)
Po4/ .03 (hanna ulr) actually testing back and forth 0.00 to 0.03

 

[CoralReefer1019]

get a Hanna checker and test your phosphates, make sure your using good quality test kits

start getting your salinity right 1.025-1.026

start using gfo if your phosphates are high, you have to use a good test kit because the algae will suck the phosphates and have a false reading

start dosing Vibrant

 

[Neoalchemist]

That is not exactly what I meant. Some people are very happy with even higher phosphate concentrations although with more than .15 ppm it starts to get quite high. It is rather the extremely low concentrations that are really bad.

Me too in the '90s, but slowly I started to understand what it really means that under coral reef concentrations coral growth usually is phosphate limited.

Here and here two scientific articles about phosphate concentrations in coral skeletons.

N : P ratios of 5 : 1 to 10 : 1 come close to my results with fertilization trials. The optimum concentrations in tank water may be different because minimum concentrations where corals are still able to take up nutrients are quite close together for phosphate, ammonia and nitrate. Some corals need at least around 0.02 ppm phosphate and 0.04 ppm nitrate or maybe 0.01 ppm or less total ammonia for a net uptake of these nutrients, but this may differ a bit between species. This means very low concentrations of N-compounds are sufficient to fulfill corals needs but phosphate should be present at detectable concentrations to make sure it is enough.

In my experience the symptoms of N and P starvation are different.

N deficiency makes the corals get quite pale but otherwise they stay healthy and soon regain color when they get more N compounds.

With phosphate starvation corals quite early show tissue necrosis with or without further symptoms. This seems to depend a bit whether N is available as ammonia or nitrate. Bleaching and tissue necrosis from the tips and exposed parts only occurs when corals have to use nitrate as N source. With ammonia as N nutrient the corals otherwise usually look quite good in color and may even open up quite good but show tissue necrosis from the base.

 

[Cassian]

A little update for everyone! I did a waterchanges last night which seemed to help a bit. New sand is ordered and on its way.

 

[keithfish1]

hey everyone,
So first off, I’ve been battling this for about 2-3 months now. I’ve tried almost everything imaginable. I’m losing my favorite corals now and I’m quite honestly frustrated and ready to quit corals all together. I love my corals so so much, please help me get my tank back on track so I can enjoy reefing again!! Here is what’s been going on:
A few months ago, all of my sps started dying almost over night. They spit out their guts then went RTN. I’ve since tried adding a few cheap pieces after making some changes, but they still perish within a week. But now every coral that dies immediately is covered by this odd greenish brown algae. I brush it off with a toothbrush, and the next day the coral is covered again. The coral will look fine while the algae is covering it for a few days, then the polyps retract and it dies. For a month this went on and only sps died. Now my hammers are dying and I just lost my gold hammer within 24 hrs. It had 5 heads and they all just melted away. Other hammers are showing tissue recession around the rim and retracted polyps. Not all of my lps look bad though. Several lps look great and my soft corals seem to be doing well. I also have 3 anemones that are thriving. Now, within the last month, This bright red algae/bacteria has been covering my sand bed. I stir it up, but it comes back within a day or two. It also has air bubble underneath it.

No major changes that I know of have been made. I thought my filter socks getting washed in detergent could have been the cause, but that was 3 months ago. And I have since done multiple waterchanges and changed the filters.

What I have tried so far:
Par meter to test lights
A better RO/DI system
Triton metal detox
Waterchanges upon waterchanges (this seems to help for a few days, then everything goes back to chaos)
Checked for nicked wires (need to check with voltmeter for stray voltage still)
Checked for critters eating corals
Ran carbon twice

I am quite honestly out of ideas to try. Please help me if you can.

Parameters: (have been stable for the past 3 months. No swings)

Salinity: 1.023
Ph: 8
Nitrate: 5
Phosphate: 0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Cal: 400
Alk: 8 (haven’t checked lately. Will update tomorrow)
Mag: 1500
TDS: 0-1 (for RODI water)

Note: I have a black volcanic sand. I don’t know if this could cause a problem but I thought I would make a note since it is different from what others have.

#reefsquad

This is the red algae stuff on the sand. Will get better pic in morning.

Hammer with skeleton showing

Acan that lost a head. Has some algae on dead skeleton

My last sps that is alive. You can see the brown algae and the living polyps underneath.

Haven't checked alkalinity lately and 0 nitrate and phosphate is the biggest area of concern.
The corals might simply be starving. Light acclimation might be an issue. So many variables to consider. I would test alkalinity every day and keep stable the best you can. Get a par meter and make sure your lights are not bleaching your coral. All coral need some phosphate and nitrate. Chemistry Lights and Flow should be the main focus.

 

[Mgex]

From what I've been reading and researching, seems like your phos is way to low. You want some phos in your tank for nutrients for the corals, or else they'll slowly melt away as you're describing. Also the algae you're describing sound like red cyano, and poss a dino, which would also indicate extremely low nutrients for the corals you have. Are you running any GFO, phosguard or anything like that?? May just be striping out to many nutrients for them to live, and it just took time for them to get that low. But i'm sure others with more exp will chime in. Just a thought!!

+1 on red cyano and i agree you've likely stripped all the nutrients out of the water over time
Maybe dose coral food ?
Hopeully someone else will chime in that knows more

 

[edolan]

I believe that I went through something very similar to you. I had something growing in the sand bed which I thought was an algae but now believe to be Dino's. I started to fight this by doing more water changes. I have always had low NO3 and PO4 but there was "algae" in my tank so I persisted. This didn't get rid of the "algae" but now my coral started to not look good. Within a few weeks I lost most of my sps and my lps was receding. I couldn't figure out what was killing my corals. Had a toxin gotten in my tank? Electrical short? Did I get a bad salt mix? I finally had the realization that sometimes 0 means 0 and that 0 phosphate and nitrate is not good in a reef tank. I am currently dosing both back into the tank and everything that survived is making a comeback. In my obsessiveness to have a "clean tank" I was responsible for starving my coral. If your tank was able to keep coral alive before I would go slow on any changes until you are sure that NO3 and PO4 are detectable. I started dosing slowly but my tank has been completely sucking up the phospate. Now I am dosing enough phosphate to bring my tank up to .05 and it is all gone in about 6 hours. Currently the corals look great and the stuff in the sand bed seems to have diminished or at least hasn't got any worse. I hope this helps.

 

[Cassian]

Thank you all for your replies and advice!! I am going to start bringing up my nutrients and alk. I also called CaribSea and they are going to replace my sand bed with white aragonite sand!

 

[Ferlando]

Salinity is quite low and mag a bit high
I would get a second opinion by taking a water sample to a trusted LFS and have them test water for you and compare with your readings. I believe Salinity is the culprit.
Black sand not the most favorable although it looks nice.
I assume you’re using RO and not tap water?

hey everyone,
So first off, I’ve been battling this for about 2-3 months now. I’ve tried almost everything imaginable. I’m losing my favorite corals now and I’m quite honestly frustrated and ready to quit corals all together. I love my corals so so much, please help me get my tank back on track so I can enjoy reefing again!! Here is what’s been going on:
A few months ago, all of my sps started dying almost over night. They spit out their guts then went RTN. I’ve since tried adding a few cheap pieces after making some changes, but they still perish within a week. But now every coral that dies immediately is covered by this odd greenish brown algae. I brush it off with a toothbrush, and the next day the coral is covered again. The coral will look fine while the algae is covering it for a few days, then the polyps retract and it dies. For a month this went on and only sps died. Now my hammers are dying and I just lost my gold hammer within 24 hrs. It had 5 heads and they all just melted away. Other hammers are showing tissue recession around the rim and retracted polyps. Not all of my lps look bad though. Several lps look great and my soft corals seem to be doing well. I also have 3 anemones that are thriving. Now, within the last month, This bright red algae/bacteria has been covering my sand bed. I stir it up, but it comes back within a day or two. It also has air bubble underneath it.

No major changes that I know of have been made. I thought my filter socks getting washed in detergent could have been the cause, but that was 3 months ago. And I have since done multiple waterchanges and changed the filters.

What I have tried so far:
Par meter to test lights
A better RO/DI system
Triton metal detox
Waterchanges upon waterchanges (this seems to help for a few days, then everything goes back to chaos)
Checked for nicked wires (need to check with voltmeter for stray voltage still)
Checked for critters eating corals
Ran carbon twice

I am quite honestly out of ideas to try. Please help me if you can.

Parameters: (have been stable for the past 3 months. No swings)

Salinity: 1.023
Ph: 8
Nitrate: 5
Phosphate: 0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Cal: 400
Alk: 8 (haven’t checked lately. Will update tomorrow)
Mag: 1500
TDS: 0-1 (for RODI water)

Note: I have a black volcanic sand. I don’t know if this could cause a problem but I thought I would make a note since it is different from what others have.

#reefsquad

This is the red algae stuff on the sand. Will get better pic in morning.

Hammer with skeleton showing

Acan that lost a head. Has some algae on dead skeleton

My last sps that is alive. You can see the brown algae and the living polyps underneath.

I would definitely try chemiclean. Follow the instructions. I only used 1/2 the recommended dose I had the same problem. Make Sure you increase aeration and take all gfo and carbon out. I turned my mp40 up all the way and let it run constantly for about a day. Of course it blows sand everywhere and some corals get covered with sand or moved around but all the green and red slime went away. I even fed the fish during the treatment. Afterwards do a 20% water change and rinse filter pads and clean the filter.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I would definitely try chemiclean. Follow the instructions. I only used 1/2 the recommended dose I had the same problem. Make Sure you increase aeration and take all gfo and carbon out. I turned my mp40 up all the way and let it run constantly for about a day. Of course it blows sand everywhere and some corals get covered with sand or moved around but all the green and red slime went away. I even fed the fish during the treatment. Afterwards do a 20% water change and rinse filter pads and clean the filter.

Corals are stressed already- you don't want to blow sand on them and stress them out further. Additionally - ChemiClean is for cyano - Not Dino. Dino too has to be addressed and I would first give Peroxide a shot and fish withy Chemiclean

 

[Cassian]

Corals are stressed already- you don't want to blow sand on them and stress them out further. Additionally - ChemiClean is for cyano - Not Dino. Dino too has to be addressed and I would first give Peroxide a shot and fish withy Chemiclean

Thanks for the info! Im trying a triton test and changing out the sand first, then I’ll look into the peroxide.

 

[guysmiley]

I will try uping my salinity, but would my low salinity be killing my coral? Everyone I have known has kept it at my levels and I have kept it that way for years. Would it kill all of a sudden?

the goal is to replicate nsw natural sea water conditions so yea your salinity is low, 1.025 or 1.026 is optimum , the detergent if it got into your tank will have smashed a decent chunk of your beneficial bacteria so id be looking at that too. could be why your having bacterial blooms , I wash my hands well with fresh water! but wearing proper shoulder length gloves is the way to go . personally i would be doing a couple of large water changes testing the parameters of your salt mix before adding it to the system , some salt mixes arnt balanced properly, have a good stir up in your display with alot of syphoning off the sand bed and rocks where the nasty stuf is , you could also try the wooden air stone treatment ''Bubble scrubbing""

 

[Cassian]

the goal is to replicate nsw natural sea water conditions so yea your salinity is low, 1.025 or 1.026 is optimum , the detergent if it got into your tank will have smashed a decent chunk of your beneficial bacteria so id be looking at that too. could be why your having bacterial blooms , I wash my hands well with fresh water! but wearing proper shoulder length gloves is the way to go . personally i would be doing a couple of large water changes testing the parameters of your salt mix before adding it to the system , some salt mixes arnt balanced properly, have a good stir up in your display with alot of syphoning off the sand bed and rocks where the nasty stuf is , you could also try the wooden air stone treatment ''Bubble scrubbing""

Thanks!

 

[THillPSU]

Yes I am using RO. I agree my mag is high but I’ve never been able to get it down. Also, my salinity is low? I may have typed that number wrong. It’s close to 35ppt. What do you recommend keeping salinity at?

I thought 35ppt equated to around 1.026?

 

[Cassian]

I thought 35ppt equated to around 1.026?

I’m not sure. I always measure it in the 1.023 form

 

[Sltloser]

Have you checked the impeller magnet on your skimmer/return pump/any other pumps present? I can't remember how many times a swollen impeller magnet leaching heavy metals into an aquarium had been a problem (I worked in and out of fish stores for 10 years). Also stray voltage is another thing to check, stick your hand in the water and touch the ground. If you get shocked you'll know something is wrong ;-)

 

[TheOldSalt]

This probably won't be much help, but:
The red slime grows best when "good" algae can't. If your tank is full of red slime, then there is a major environmental flaw in the tank.
Remember, corals depend on the algae inside them. If you have red slime all over the place, then your corals are probably starving.

Here's what I would do:

1-- a massive water change, or several smaller ones within a short time, say a week to ten days.
2-- increase water flow within the tank. Red slime loves insufficient flow, and good algae needs more.
3-- let some white light in the tank.
4-- get some coral dip and dip your corals. You very possibly picked up something nasty which is infecting them.
5-- put the fish in another tank for awhile until things heal. The heavy fish load is not helping.

Be sure to check the other things mentioned by the other guys. Any of them could be the culprit. Get some long rubber gloves. The slightest trace of Dawn soap on your hands can cause all the problems you are having.

 

[Cassian]

Have you checked the impeller magnet on your skimmer/return pump/any other pumps present? I can't remember how many times a swollen impeller magnet leaching heavy metals into an aquarium had been a problem (I worked in and out of fish stores for 10 years). Also stray voltage is another thing to check, stick your hand in the water and touch the ground. If you get shocked you'll know something is wrong ;-)

Thank you! Yes I have checked for both magnets and stray voltage.

 

[Cassian]

This probably won't be much help, but:
The red slime grows best when "good" algae can't. If your tank is full of red slime, then there is a major environmental flaw in the tank.
Remember, corals depend on the algae inside them. If you have red slime all over the place, then your corals are probably starving.

Here's what I would do:

1-- a massive water change, or several smaller ones within a short time, say a week to ten days.
2-- increase water flow within the tank. Red slime loves insufficient flow, and good algae needs more.
3-- let some white light in the tank.
4-- get some coral dip and dip your corals. You very possibly picked up something nasty which is infecting them.
5-- put the fish in another tank for awhile until things heal. The heavy fish load is not helping.

Be sure to check the other things mentioned by the other guys. Any of them could be the culprit. Get some long rubber gloves. The slightest trace of Dawn soap on your hands can cause all the problems you are having.

Thank you!

 

[MamaP]

Hey there. Sorry to hear about your tank troubles! That's scary stuff! Just spitballin' here, but did you read this article here on R2R? Might be connected to your troubles...
A disease is wiping out Caribbean corals. Coming soon to a reef tank near you?