dKH Advice... corals starting to look stressed

[MikeyZO]

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, heres the situation. I've noticed over the past couple days that my hammers look a bit stressed, the polyps not extending fully out, and even a few heads not really coming out at all. Even a frag that I have that is totally away from the mother colony looks stressed. But everything else looked fine.

Today I noticed that some of my zoas now arent opening fully and one of my frogspawn heads that was open this morning is now closed up. So, time to do a water test. Heres my results:

Temp - 77 F
Salinity - 34ppm via refractometer
pH - 8.3 using AP test kit
amonia - 0 using AP test kit
nitrite - 0 using AP test kit
nitrate - 15 - 20 using AP test kit (yes, I know I need a better test kit, and I know 20 seems a bit high but thats where its always been since it cycled and I've never had a problem)
PO4 - .05 - ELOS test kit (also recently tested via a Hanna Meter)
Ca - 490 - Salifert kit
Mg - 1200 - Salifert kit (a little low, I can dose some)

But here's what threw me totally off. I recently picked up an ELOS KH test kit and I used it for the first time today. I got a dKH of 16!!! "Well," I thought. "Heres my problem... but let me double check it as it has never been that high."
So a second test via the ELOS kit yeilded a result of dKH of 15. Hmm... lets tripple check it. So I pulled out my AP dKH test kit and got a reading of... 10!!! Could they both really be off that much? Ok... so I started digging through my stuff and came up with a (albeit old) Salifert dKH test kit and retested it again... and got a reading of 8!!!!!!!!!!

WTF!!!!!

Now I dont know which to believe, I dont know if I should raise, lower, or keep steady my hardness, and on top of, I'm not sure if this is the cause of my stressed corals!!

Any advice???

 

[ecvernon]

wow what a situation. i would find a friend with a test kit to verify again. and also what i do if i ever have a doubt about any thing is do a water change. ..water changes solve a lot of my problems.

 

[MikeyZO]

wow what a situation. i would find a friend with a test kit to verify again. and also what i do if i ever have a doubt about any thing is do a water change. ..water changes solve a lot of my problems.

Agreed, but I actually did one 2 days ago, right after all this started. I figured the same thing.

 

[meschaefer]

you said that the Salifert test kit is old, how old?

 

[grundig5]

You know the new Elos reagents for kH are 1/2 as concentrated? IE each drop is .5 dkH...just a quick thought.

 

[MikeyZO]

wiat... what?
Ok... ya know... I was wondering... The directions said each drop is 1 dKH but then there was some little insert that LOOKED like it said each drop was 0,5 which I assume means .5 but I figured that had to be a mistake if the full directions guide said 1 dKH

So then that would mean my dKH is around 8ish and all the test kits then pretty much coincide. Ok so that makes sense. And 8 isnt that bad, so why are my corals all stressed!? Damn it!!!

And Im not sure how old the salifert kit is.

 

[grundig5]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1420318

Sorry about your corals...has anything changed recently in the tank (new equipment or livestock additions or losses)? Any nuisance algae? I almost always consider some type of bug when nothing else stands out...

 

[MikeyZO]

Nothing new since before it started. No algae. I added a couple frags but that was after I noticed it cuz I had already committed to buying them.

 

[jackson6745]

Mikey just do a large water change. If you can't figure out what the problem is, dilute it.

 

[fernandokng]

Yup. Elos goofed with their instructions. I was having the same issues with the dKH before.

 

[MikeyZO]

Blech!!!

Ok so all my parameters seem to be pretty much in check then... so what the hell is causing my LPS to be stressed!? And its not all my LPS... just those mentioned. My candy canes, acans and favia all seem to be fine, as well as all my other softies. I guess Imma have to do another wc and hope it helps.

*sigh* I dont mind problems in which you know the cause and/or solution, but to not know altogether is annoying as hell.

 

[NYPDFrogman]

could be fish or a crab picking at them
had a gorilla crab that picked at my LPS and zoos even ate a RBTA

 

[ecvernon]

look like you may have to do a night watch under moonlights to see who pops out. if it is not obvious
i once had a mantis shrimp who only came out after lights out

 

[MikeyZO]

So today my frogspawn was totally closed up as well as half my hammer colony. I did another water change and my frogspawn has opened up about half way, but my hammers still dont look good. In fact there is some slime coming from the mouths of 2 heads.

I looked all last night for anything that might be picking on it when the lights were off... I used a small flashlight with red celophane over it. I didnt see anything unusual.

Does anyone else have any ideas?

 

[meschaefer]

Its been hot the last few days, what has your tank temp been?

 

[daaznmofo]

whats the jelly disease called? found on torches and such? could it be that?

 

[MikeyZO]

Its been hot the last few days, what has your tank temp been?

stays pretty much at 77 F

 

[MikeyZO]

Do you think dipping the entire colony in Lugol's solution would help?

 

[meschaefer]

stays pretty much at 77 F

Are you sure..... how do you control temp fluctuations in the tank.

IME euphylia sp. are sensitive to temp fluctuations

 

[MikeyZO]

you asked what the temp was. I can only give what the thermometer says. I'm sure its possible there are fluctuations through the tank, but I wouldnt know how to read them. And there's been hotter days before, and I havent had a problem in the past. And there is pretty good flow near where these corals are so its not like the water is just sitting there being influenced by some other force. So... I dunno :splitspin