WHY is every coral dying...?????

[Basssa]

Dear All...

Well, I am continuing to fight a losing battle. Since I have returned from a vacation in EARLY Aug., I have had nothing but problems with my Coral. Let me elucidate...firstly, I have finger leather, Galaxea, pagoda, colt, Bubble and various mushrooms. My "tank sitter" was given explicit directions, and the only thing I cant think of is that she introduced some toxin to the tank. BUT my FISH look great!!!

I have a 75/Skimmer/aragonite bottom/plenty of water flow/440w VHO. Temp at 80-81. Nitate is less than 10ppm, Ph 8.0, Calc is greater than 500 mg/l, Ammonia nill, I have a nitrate sponge in use for about 10 days now, it was rather high before that ( which I thought was the problem). There is an odd film on the top of the tank which I cannot skim, and seems persistent. I have done probably %100 water change over the course of the last two weeks.
Can the coral be salinity poisoned? It is a bit high, near 1.024.
The phosphates are also a bit high near 1 0.8-1.0 mg/l.
I have added some of that "Black Powder" product recently, but have stopped, since I saw NO improvement...could that be the top slime residue?
My poor Galaxea I think is too far gone now to recover, it looks atrophied (sp?), and sunken within itself terribly, the Pagoda is not extending out of its plate. The Finger has brown/black crust growing on it. The bubble is barely extended, and the colt is 1/4 its normal size. I have plenty more red slime algae all over the live rock these days, in an effort I have lit the tank more hours, by the way.

ANY IDEAS??? Should I pull out the Nit. sponge, and put in some act.carbon? I use a tap water filter, I have been for a year... I dont think the ater has changed THAT drastically in a month.

HELP PLEASE!!!
MANY MANY THANKS.. .feel free to personal e-mail at [email protected]

 

[esmithiii]

If anything, your salinity is TOO LOW! Salinity in the vicinity of most coral reefs is near 1.0265 SG.

Is your skimmer functioning well? Is it pulling out allot of gunk, little? How are your nitrites?

What is the Black Powder product you mentioned?

How long were you on vacation?

E

 

[davelin315]

Your pH is low, although my tank is at 1.0235 SG and I have never had any problems with anything in it. I would suggest addressing your pH, though, it is a tiny bit low, but pH can have a big impact on corals.

 

[howie099]

Do you use any additives in your tank? Nitrate is bad for corals if it gets out of hand. How high was it before you added the sponge? I would try to get the PH up a bit also get ride of the Phosphates. Reading from my Red Sea Phosphate test kit a reading of higher than .03 ppm is bad for the coarls they could loose there zooxanthellae which would kill them.

 

[monkeyboy]

I agree with 2poor2reef, abnormally high calcium levels combined with low pH spell out in big letters LOW DKH. I would test this and you may need to add some serious reef builder or just buffer. What kind of skimmer do you have? Some skimmers have an overflow accessory that you can slide over the pump if it's a hang on(which i would assume it is because you wouldn't have that slick if you had a sump). Low oxygen levels combined w/ low pH would make for some unhappy corals.

 

[Mouse]

Im with monkey man, calcium precipitation.

 

[Jeff Hood]

The slick on your water surface could also be a large part of your problem. This effectivly suffocates your tank. try to direct the surface flow to better rid this to your surface skimmer down to the sump to be skimmed off by your Skimmer. ( did I say skim enough)

this will improve the oxigen in your tank and help your critters.

Jeff

 

[2poor2reef]

If your calcium is that high and your ph is that low you should check your alkalinity immediately. Chances are that it is critically low. Bring your alk slowly up to natural sea water with a good quality buffer like Seachem's Marine Buffer. Also bring your salinity up to natural salt water (slowly). Low alk/ph can certainly kill off your corals. My opinion.

 

[Mike02]

i read that the black powder can cause a cyno-bacteria bloom. Theres alot of other bad things about it but maybe someone here can tell you. I once asked a question about black powder and got most all negative responses so i never bought any.

 

[gka]

Basssa,
May be a long shot but here is a thread about a pump failing and polluting the water. The pump caused a film on the water like you describe.
http://www.reefs.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=27&t=000076

 

[plankton123]

Basssa,

I agree. You didn't mention your Alk level, so it's suspect.

Also, as mentioned, your phosphate level is well out of the normal range. You should probably check the phosphate level of the water you use as make-up water as well as what you use for your salt mix. Secondly, you didn't mention what you feed your fish...maybe too much. Thirdly, are you sure you're not missing any fish? It is also possible (and almost always happens when you go on vacation) that an organism dies and you are not there to remove it before it pollutes the tank. Lastly, how efficient is your skimmer and do you have any hermit crabs? The skimmer should/hermit crabs should be able to control the fish (assuming it is not too large relative to tank).

Good luck. Sorry, to hear of your trouble.

Scott