My Frogspawn Died

[Eleven11]

Ok so I recently decided to setup one of the fluval edge tanks. Everything has been going well until last week.

I currently have about 10 lbs of live rock from an established tank, 5lbs of Live sand and some chaeto that I'd in the tank itself. I left the stock hob filter and (replaced all media it originally came with in favor of poly pads and purigen). I have koralia 1 for flow.

I started with 2 clown fish. The added a blueberry gorgonia, orange sponge and the frogspawn, all of which were small frags. They did for a week. All had good polyp extensions and seemed quite healthy. Last Sunday I added 2 new frags (a two headed Duncan and acan frag). Since adding these corals I noticed the frogspawn bit extending as much. And it's slowly been getting worse. I check my parameters and got the following....

Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
Ph - 8
Salinity - .028

I did a water change anyway assuming the salinity was too high and brought it down to .025.

It didn't help and now the frogspawn is gone. I didn't have the luxury of putting it into a quarantine tank so I has forced go painfully watch it go.

Now I'm noticing that the gorgonia isn't opening up and the acan is not looking good either. Its strange as the Duncan and sponge are wide open and doing really well.

I not dosing anything so could that be the problem? I've only fed the corals phyotofeast twice daily. The tank temperature is 79 degrees.

Also I noticed weird stringy strand of what looks like sand grains throughout the tank and there has been a bit of cyano growth that I assume is from the lights being left on for too long.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Eleven11]

Sorry for all the typos. The reefs app won't let me edit posts.


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[guarda]

1.028 is high already. 6 gallons is very small. A little bit of evaporation and you can easily get to salinity levels that will wreak havoc on your corals.

 

[Eleven11]

right. that's why I did the water change...

 

[guarda]

no need for water change. just add some ro/di water to bring the salinity down, slowly. hope you get it under control.

 

[eddie1272]

Also, imo, phytofeast twice a day is not necessary for those corals, especially in such a small tank. That stuff will quickly contaminate that size tank.

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[Dre]

What is the pH before the lights go off? And are you dosing anything?

 

[Eleven11]

Yeah with this size tank there isn't much room for adding water to affect the salinity.

I agree that phytofeast twice daily is too much. I reduced it to once daily.

Im not dosing anything right now.



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[tentacles]

the blueberry gorg is EXTREMELY difficult to keep. I'd consider moving it to a more stable environment.

 

[Eleven11]

the blueberry gorg is EXTREMELY difficult to keep. I'd consider moving it to a more table environment.

Yeah I know. I was very optimistic because all the polyps were fully extended and the wife fell in love with it. At $10 a frag, I figured I would give it a shot.

 

[daisy]

imo, doing a water change with RODI water that is the right salinity and temperature is never a bad idea, particularly considering that part of your problem may be too high a nutrient load considering how often you were feeding.

agreed that bringing the salinity down is important - it's probably too late to say this, but a little slowly is a good idea.

In terms of the blueberry, I opted not to get one when my good friend who is an expert reefer failed to keep his alive. It's just too tough unless you live at work and hand-feed it cyclopeez all day long (and even then, I'm not sure it would survive).

How is everything doing now?

 

[Eleven11]

The frogspawn is dead, and the gorgonia is gone. Now it looks like the acan is having issues. I can't figure out what's going on. The Duncan and sponge are very healthy. I can't figure out what's going on.


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[Eleven11]

So the new theory is that the lights might have been too strong as well as the ph not high enough. I tried to remedy both so here's to hoping the tank can get back on it's feet!

 

[masterswimmer]

How long has this tank been running?

swimmer

 

[Master Shake]

first off blueberry gorgonians and sponges are very hard to take care of and should not be put in a new tank even if started with lr and live sand from a pre existing tank. the fluva edges are small and meant for fresh water not salt and let alone reef. What type of lighting do you have on the tank? is is reef suitable? If not that can do it. 2 clowns depending on size can actually be a lot of fish for that tank. You said that you were feeding it phyto feast twice a day, depending on how much you add twice a day that is a lot of feeding. Also why would you not dose anything, i noticed on your tank paramaters you did not list or test for alkalinity one of the most important things you can dose/test in a salt and reef tank. also phosphate is a good thing to test for. is the tank constantly 79 degrees or did you check it once and say that it was 79 degrees? for temp stability you have to record the temp every hour all day long to get an acurate idea for what temp your tank is max and min or if it is in fact constant all day long.

 

[masterswimmer]

first off blueberry gorgonians and sponges are very hard to take care of and should not be put in a new tank even if started with lr and live sand from a pre existing tank. the fluva edges are small and meant for fresh water not salt and let alone reef. What type of lighting do you have on the tank? is is reef suitable? If not that can do it. 2 clowns depending on size can actually be a lot of fish for that tank. You said that you were feeding it phyto feast twice a day, depending on how much you add twice a day that is a lot of feeding. Also why would you not dose anything, i noticed on your tank paramaters you did not list or test for alkalinity one of the most important things you can dose/test in a salt and reef tank. also phosphate is a good thing to test for. is the tank constantly 79 degrees or did you check it once and say that it was 79 degrees? for temp stability you have to record the temp every hour all day long to get an acurate idea for what temp your tank is max and min or if it is in fact constant all day long.

Exceptional post. Very nicely put :thrash:

Russ

 

[GROSSR]

I lost my Frogspawn and Hammer within the last 10 days due to heat. My daughter was watching the tank and didn't notice it went to 92 degree. The Frogspawn and hammer died over the next few days. Fish, Polyps and GSP all survived. I feel your pain.