Zoa long term problem. Need help.

[lazy turtle]

I use T5 bulbs and they put our a surprising high par. Given your tank likely isn't more than 12-15" tall this should be the first thing you check.

When i have 3 Ati bulbs last year they look like this. And with no changes ( now i know it was a parasite or contaminants) they start to shrink and dissapear .

 

[lazy turtle]

Right now 20+ in the net

 

[lazy turtle]

Right now 20+ in the net

Today i throw out 31 starfishe's

 

[Aqua Man]

How old are the bulbs in your fixture?

My 4 bulb T5 are 9 inches above the water line. King Midas sit at 20 inches from the light. it’s an older fixture and does not have dimmer.

 

[lazy turtle]

How old are the bulbs in your fixture?

I think 4 months. When this problems start to go, i was changed my bulbs. I have the same older fixture without dimm. My lamp is 5 inches above the Water surface. I can't go higher becouse od my frame for lamp.

 

[lazy turtle]

Soon i must buy i Salt. I want to keep my parametrers in check only with water changes. What salt did you reccomend ? I was thinking about fauna marin( kh 8,5), Tropic Marin classic (kh 9). Now i use Tropic Marin Pro reef but it have to low dkh for my uses.

 

[lazy turtle]

Now aiptasja start to spread

 

[lazy turtle]

Problem is still there. Nitrate work a little but not much. Asterina starfish the same. Little effects but not much.

 

[lazy turtle]

I now sure they have parasite or nitrate ale low. Lord of the ring after dip get 2 times bigger.

 

[lazy turtle]

Some of them look 100% better with dosing No3 and Po4. Today po4 0.018 No3 ( update in the evening )

 

[lazy turtle]

Not every zoas are in better condition ? Problem is still there . Someone can help ?

 

[Aqua Man]

It’s going to take time for them to recover. Keep water parameters stable. Catch as many starfish as you can. I catch 2 or 3 a day in my tank.
How’s your N and P? Did your N stay up or did it drop off again? N and P is food for coral. Yours were starving. It’s going to take time. Remember, nothing good happens fast in reefing.

 

[lazy turtle]

Keep water parameters stable

That is why i want to buy a salt with kh 8,5 to keep stable parameters.With Tropic marin pro reef after water change my Kh drop down a little and i see it stress out corals.

Did your N stay up or did it drop off again

I did test 30 min ago and No3 is around 2,5 ppm

 

[lazy turtle]

Catch as many starfish as you can

I catch it up daily.

 

[lazy turtle]

Remember, nothing good happens fast in reefing.

Okay. I understand

 

[lazy turtle]

It’s going to take time for them to recover. Keep water parameters stable. Catch as many starfish as you can. I catch 2 or 3 a day in my tank.
How’s your N and P? Did your N stay up or did it drop off again? N and P is food for coral. Yours were starving. It’s going to take time. Remember, nothing good happens fast in reefing.

I have great hypotesis. Is this possible that separate polyps take chemical warfare against each other ?

 

[KellyCorals]

Something that comes to my mind is you might have toxins in the water. This happened to me after a bad Dino algae outbreak, it killed almost half of my zoas and also made them shrink down to nothing. You said you had a recent algae outbreak but I’m not sure what kind you had. What seemed to slowly fix them was adding chemipure carbon bags (2 bags rated for 50 gallons each) and them letting them go for a month and then changing them one at a time again after they had absorbed the toxins the Dino algae released. At least this has been my experience. I also raised my nutrients by over feeding until nitrates and phosphates were detectable. My zoas are slowly coming back.
Only bad things happen fast in reefing.

 

[lazy turtle]

said you had a recent algae outbreak but I’m not sure what kind you had

Before i have brown algae without bubbles so i doubt is was dino. Now i have film algae on my tank background.

I also raised my nutrients by over feeding until nitrates and phosphates were detectable. My zoas are slowly coming back.

I dose nutreins from the Ati Nutrition N and P so i can controll it what i want without eny other problems.
Mine slowly coming back but opposie some of them get worse and worse, shrink more than before. For example most of my king midas zoas get twice big and normals size but without growth, but opposite the smaller one get shrink to nothing to size half of pinhead

 

[lazy turtle]

I put in triton GAC in my tank. My coral react immideatly after 10 min. I don't know it is good or bad. Some get close and some stay the same. We will see.

 

[lazy turtle]

You said you had a recent algae outbreak but I’m not sure what kind you had

It was definitely not cyjano or dino. They stay the same in the night and day only grow not cut back.But still possible that algae has got toxins.