Cant sit back and let my corals die

[MIKE NY]

if your seeing more than the usual amount of asteria and mini brittles that you seen before it's a sure sign of excess nutraints...they are reproducing because they getting more to eat...

 

[duke62]

I only feed once a day and very minimal

 

[Tonyscoots84]

Did u get ur mag back up?

 

[SPotter]

Duke....I feel your pain as I have gone thru total sps loss twice in the last 6 months. I tested everything...first I thought my tank was too clean, then I thought my lights were too intense, then I thought I had a bacterial infection and so and so on. I do know that I started having problems after I started using zeobak which I noticed you are adding. After my first wipe out, I waited 2 months before putting any new corals back. I stopped dosing anything that couldnt be tested with a kit. I had a couple of corals that survived and they bounced back showing better color and signs of growth. So I started adding some corals again. Started with birdsnest and it did great, then stylo, then some acros. Everything was doing great and then I started adding zeobak again along with some other zeovit products. Since my tank is not aimed at being ULNS I only dosed about 25% of the suggested amount figuring I would start out slow and build from there. Well within two weeks it started again but this time things declined faster. Now I am in no way blaming the zeovit products but I have looked for a common thread between my two crashes and both times it happened shortly after adding zeobak. I am pretty much starting over right now and this time I am sticking to my original thesis of not dosing anything that cant be tested for and want to keep it simple. Part of me wants to give up on sps and just do softies and lps. How long have you been using zeobak for?

 

[duke62]

This is my hell right now these are just 3 corals i could get out easily and frag. I have 10 more like these. One is a joe the coral colony,a oregon tort and a beautiful green stag. Things are getting worse not better. I have been using zeobak for 8 months or so. I havent dosed anything in 2 or 3 weeks now and not helping any. My karls candle light im taking out tomorrow and fragging up which is really going to break my heart when i do it. Got it as a 1" frag and is now 5x5 colony. But if i can save pieces its better then losing the whole piece

 

[sunny]

Check your magnesium levels. Low mag leads to low calcium and high alk. The high alk caused STN (tips burning). Once it starts, hard to stop.

I have seen it in my tank. Mag was 800 , Ca dropped to 330 and ALK was at 14. Go figure..

I never check for mg. Started testing and dosing. Now mag is at 1400 and ALK and Cal have been stable.

Sunny

 

[duke62]

no my alk is 7.7 to 8.3 constantly. i did have low mag like 1150 though. its is now 1350

 

[jackson6745]

Duke did your problems correlate with a new bucket of salt? Did you try a different salt through all the water changes? Just thinking if the salt was contaminated some how, water changes wouldn't help unless you changed to a different batch of salt.

 

[duke62]

on my 3rd bucket since the STN began

 

[MO~IDOL]

duke what salt are you using? did u ever test the new water mix?

 

[duke62]

I'm using reef crystals. I have only checked for nitrates and alk. I was thinking of trying eurythamyacin to try and kill off any bacteria that could be causing this if it is a bacteria infection

 

[ecvernon]

This is so messed up. I feel for you man. I know you probably checked already but have you checked for some type of contaminate or something that is in your tank water that is not supposed to be there. Like rusted parts in your return pump or something in your sump that may have been over looked(have small children?)

I wish your fix was something simple. I hope everything bounces back

 

[MO~IDOL]

I'm using reef crystals. I have only checked for nitrates and alk. I was thinking of trying eurythamyacin to try and kill off any bacteria that could be causing this if it is a bacteria infection

I use same salt i've tested few times alk 10-11 cal 420-430 mag 1200. a big water change may not be a good thing unless the pars match closely.

check out this link it may help
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1287118

btw my #s never match the list above link.

quote from Randy Holmes-Farley "manufacturers change their recipes and raw material suppliers frequently and without notice. The data can be obsolete even before it is posted. For example, I've been told by one of the biggest names on Billy's list that they recently adjusted their levels of some things in his test substantially".

 

[duke62]

I have checked everything in my tank. Checked all the pumps, put polypad in for 48 hours,checked all parameters over and over again,stopped dosing everything i can but i did just start microbacter7 and mag,changed so much water in the past 4 weeks,dipped alot of acros looking for pests and nothing next step is maybe using the eurythamyacin and get a shrimp to eat these stars that are taking up residents. I even just bought a new ro/di just in case that has something to do with it. As of right now im out of ideas besides removing all the water and rinsing down my rocks.

 

[FaviaFreak]

maybe take a break from dipping and doing all those water changes, it could be causing more stress on the corals and doing more harm than good right now

 

[MO~IDOL]

agree with faviafreak leave the tank alone check the pars each week dose if needed.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

Have u checked ur pumps for rust. Jusa thought

 

[duke62]

read my last post

 

[prattreef]

maybe take a break from dipping and doing all those water changes, it could be causing more stress on the corals and doing more harm than good right now

Agreed. I said this a few weeks ago.

 

[duke62]

well when i was doing nothing for the first 2 or 3 weeks it was still STNing. I decided to get aggressive with the fight when more and more corals were going. Thats why the title is i cant sit back and let my corals die. Now im trying to fight instead of sitting back but its still not working