Tank in a downward spiral, need some help

[CoreyT355]

Added a post with an image and video from the microscope. Not sure if this is dinos or not. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/help-iding-what-i-think-are-dinos-not-sure.865961/

 

[MnFish1]

Hi all, I'll try to not ramble on, but my tank has been in a downward spiral for 3 or 4 weeks now, and I am really struggling to find out what to do here.

Tank is a Fluval Evo 13.5, running since 7-25-2021. Light is a Fluval Marine LED 3.0, Sicce Syncra Silent 1.0, AI Nero 3, InTank Chamber 1 media basket with poly pad, and marine pure gems. No carbon or chemipure.

Params as of today:
Temp: 77.9
Salinity: 1.06
Ammonia: 0.2, typically it has been 0.0, this is new.
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 6 (it's definitely not a 2 or a 5 on the color chart, so I am guessing here a bit)
Ph: 8.2
Calcium: 420 (this was higher last week at 450)
Magnesium: 1400 (higher last week at 1480)
Alkalinity: 9 dKH
Phosphate: 0.04

Livestock:
3 Astraea Turbo Snails
2 Margarita Snails
1 Fighting Conch
Bicolor Blenny
2 Clownfish

Corals:
Hammer
Acan
2 zoa frags, and some clove polyps on also on one of the frags

So the issue I'm having here is that the snails, not the conch so much, were moving around a ton in the tank early on. They went in first and were cleaning the tank really well.4 weeks ago, the margaritas just stopped moving. They are not dead. I thought they were, grabbed them with the tongs, and they popped out right away to see what's up. At this time the turbos were still fine. Two weeks after that the turbos started slowing down as well. They also exhibit what I think is weird behavior where they like stretch out hanging off the side of the glass. They also seem to fall off the rocks a ton. I have to pick them up multiple times a day now. My corals are dying slowly. The hammer is doing the best out of the bunch, but is not as full and open as it used to be. My zoas do not open ever, and the cloves are open maybe an hour in the daytime. The acan is sometimes full looking, other times it is deflated, and looks skeletal to me. It never puts it's tentacles out to eat anymore.

This whole time the fish have been fine. The blenny had a fight with some flukes over a month ago. I used Seachem Metroplex and Focus, and a freshwater dip really killed them off. This whole time everything else was still going fine. Corals out and appearing to be happy. Snails doing fine as well.

When I was done with the metroplex, I tested, nitrates were at 10, so I did a 40% water change, and put in Chemipure Elite. That water change I also did with Instant Ocean Reef Crystals for the first time. I was using premixed Seapro and Nutri Seawater before. The next day everything started to go downhill. Within 24 hours I had brown all over my rocks near the pump return, specifically that side, nothing on the far side of the tank yet. I did the test with a paper towel to see if it was dinos. Assuming I did it right, it was not, and still isn't now.

Testing the water after the Chemipure in showed phosphates at 0 and nitrate went from 10 to 5. Nothing else changed parameter wise. I freaked out, asked on Facebook, took out the Chemipure after 3 or 4 days on the advice I got there.

Since then I have not done any water changes, as both my LFSs have suggested getting nitrates back up, closer to 10, and phosphates around 0.03.

I also found out last week my pH tanked from 8.0 to 7.8. I got AquaVitro Balancefrom an LFS suggestion, and have had the pH back up at 8.2 for about a week now. I'm trying to hit 8.3, but I wanted to bring it up slowly, and certainly not overdose and screw things up worse.

Right now my tank is getting lot's of algae, some green now too though not hair algae from what I can see. I assume this is at least in some part due to the CUC not being active. I honestly have no idea what to do anymore. My LFS said the zoas are not dead after seeing a picture. They are there, like closed up buds, but I have not seen any of them open in weeks. The hammer is more closed up the past couple of days as I have been bringing the pH back up as well.

I'm not sure if I should do a water change, if so small or large, or if I should get the premix stuff back in there. Are the corals all toast, except maybe the hammer, and I should toss them and let the tank recover and stabilize? Not sure if adding in a couple more snails might help. Adding anything living right now seems like a very bad idea, but something needs to eat this algae. I'm hoping some of you on here can give me some direction.

I attached some pics of the corals and tank. The one with the green was right after I fed AB+ (I have not done that this week as things got worse), and just shows what the tank looked like before everything went haywaire. Second pic is now, with the white turned up to show the algae and distressed corals. Last pic shows the acan, with what looks like a dead/dying polyp in there.

Happy to answer anything I can, or get pics of anything if needed. Thanks for reading my rambling post.

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With everything that was done - I think its going to be nearly impossible to piece it all together into an easy package. But - IMHO - 1 - youre kind of chasing your tail - and doing too many things at once. i.e. a pH drop from 8 to 7.8 is not 'tanking'. It can vary that much depending on time of day - and lighting. 2). adding buffer and changing the pH from 7.8 to 8.2 IS a big change - and may be partly responsible for some of the changes you're seeing. 3). I am assuming you did not add metroplex to the display? Though its said 'not to affect a 'fully cycled aquarium' - it does slow down new growth. (maybe why your ammonia jumped. 4). The water change with new salt (40%) is possibly too much - I do not know all of the parameters of the old and the new - but - since things started 'going haywire' the next day - my guess is thats the culprit (also assume your salinity is 1.026 not 1.06).

None of this is meant as criticism. I would suggest going forward - Do a couple days of 15% water changes. Your nitrates will come back up. Verify that your ammonia is NOT still going up. and 'wait'. Don't add more chemicals, buffer, etc. unless something is going wrong (way wrong).

I recently had an episode in my 140 gallon tank - which was doing great - where an (unnamed) controller doser decided to completely dose everything (1 liter of CaCL and a liter of Na Carbonate). The calcium was too high to measure and the alkalinity was 22. several corals were dead within a day. The rest seemed 'ok' but not good. The fish were ok. I did a 40% water change - the alkalinity dropped to 15 - now over several weeks - everything that was fine - is fine - and some of the coral I thought were 'dead' - are back to nearly normal.