What's wrong with my corals, snails and starfish

[KathyC]

Ok, thanks.
Not sure what the temp is by you, but even 10 minutes is enough time for a small bag of water to get a nasty chill. I would definitely invest in a cooler bag - at a minimum - to keep your purchases warm. They say all of the cold air we're getting now is coming down from Canada, I can't imagine that it's much warmer up there right now!

If these snails are corals are dying so quickly, something must seriously be wrong in your tank.

You mentioned that 2 different LFS's checked your parameters - did they do ALL of the parameters? And they got identical readings?

There may be something in your tank that is not being tested for that could be causing this issue - does your LFS carry Poly-Pads? They are meant to go in the sump - or somewhere you have high water flowing through them and they change color according to whatever it is they are removing from the water. They are probably the best idea for now.
Obviously I would not try and add any other living creatures until you get this solved.

Will you be able to post a FTS for us?
Does this tank have a skimmer on it? Any other filtration devices? If so, what kind?

 

[reddevil329]

Thanks Kathy. I just bought a poly pad. I hope it will tell me about my water problems. I will try it out tonight.

All my fishes are very shy.

I have got a deltec mce-300 skimmer and a marineland c-360 canister as my filter.

Both of my LFS tests are

pH- 8.3/8.4
Nitrate-5/10
Nitrite-0/0
Ammonia-0/0
Copper-0/0
Phosphate-0/0.2
KH-8/9
Calcium-400/410

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

This mystical magical "floating box" is this a styrofoam box?

 

[reddevil329]

no its not a styrofoam box. I bought the hang on plastic box from my lfs. Its just a normal clear plastic box that has a hook for you tank.

 

[Arati]

I know that verry high magnesium will stun or kill inverts verry quickly. not sure how it effects corals.

 

[reddevil329]

I know copper or mag will kill them. But I have got two cleaner shrimps in my tank for 3 months and they are all doing perfectly fine. That's why I am founding it so weird.

 

[DJYoshi]

the params look like they're within reason... maybe try to lower the nitrate a little bit and are you talking straight 5ppm? I've notice when I've added lps or sps into my tank and my calcium levels were low that it took them a few days to fully open up.... I try to keep my cal up around 450 at all times. what was the result of your Poly-Pad use? Also how long have you had the canister filter before you've rinsed it out? Canisters can be nitrate factories.. I started out with a fluval canister and I rinsed the foam, ceramic balls, phosphate bag & carbon bags on a bi-weekly basis. it's crazy how much nastiness comes out of there.

 

[Alex]

Having the test results that he does I can't see that his Magnesium would be that far off from the norm. We are looking at many factors, yet the cause seems to be eluding us. Temp can play a very important part as kathy stated, and this seems like a logical answer. At the same time the nitrates seem to have a big difference between one stores results and the other. Still many reefers have results as high and maintain their livestock.

Would it be possible that the LFS has high quality water and your water is the cause?
Could it be possible that the livestock is already at an impaired health before leaving the LFS?
Was the tank ever treated with any medications?
Is the tank setup in a location which provides access to something getting in the tank?

Seems like a mystery, however a water change should get rid of bad water if that's the case. If all the other questions are good then try a water change.

 

[reddevil329]

I placed a poly pad in my filter for a week now. There is no colour change on it at all. No copper or heavy metals i suppose?

One of my friend told me that I don't need a canister filter in a reef tank. Should I remove mine?

I brought my water to a lfs again this week and it showed that my mg is 600. She checked it twice with two different test kit(elso and something else) but my cal and ak level r both steady. 420 and 8kh. I have added mag in hoping to bring it back up. My phosphate-0, copper-0, all other readings r perfect.

All snails and corals r dying in my tank in one/two days. What else can I do now. If there r something so toxic that can kill em in 2 days, why r my shrimps, fishes doing well?

i have done a 40% water change.
Please help.

 

[fishman1069]

Wow This is def a mystery. You want to get that mag up to around 1300-1400. Its way low at 600. I dont know if that would cause all the death tho! Bring it up slowly using Kent Tech-M

 

[Arati]

how can water with 600mag hold 420ca 8kh alk?

are you sure these items were in good health when you purchased them?

 

[InfernoST]

Good point.

 

[reddevil329]

i double check my mag today. It is still 600. and my calcium is 420 and kh is 8.

 

[InfernoST]

What is your PH? Are you dosing anything?

 

[fishman1069]

I really dont see how your magnesium is soooo low?!!? What test kit are you using?

 

[reddevil329]

i am using the red sea test lab mag test kit.

 

[InfernoST]

How long do you have that kit and what is the expiration date? What you can do is mix up one gallon of saltwater then test that, if your mag is still that low you need a new test kit.

 

[fishman1069]

+1 Its gotta be a bad test kit. There is no way your holding your alk and calcium and have a mag that low. Without Magnesium, your calcium woul bond with cabonate ions and precipate out of the water. You would see califacation on your glass and sand and your readings would be alot lower. Theres no way your readings can be correct, if not on the mag then on the alk n calc