All coral bleaching! Bummed and fed up!

M

mhayes462

Guest
I put a lot of work into keeping my tank nice and water clean. It's always been nice and all the coral have done really well. Now everything is bleaching and all my hard work is going down the drain. I was getting a light dusting of cyano on the glass every few days, so I figured it was time to change my purigen and cpe. The purigen had been used before and regenerated. In just a couple of days of changing them I noticed my coral losing color. Then noticed that they were bleaching badly. I yanked the purigen and bought a new bag to put in. I did a water change and am running carbon. I also added some dechlorinator. EVERYTHING is bleaching. All my fish and inverts are doing fine though. I have fish, shrimp, starfish, craps, snails and Xenia that are all doing fine. Even my mushrooms look bleached. Besides giving up, what do I do? Mainly, what the hell caused this?! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Mike Hayes
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
What type of carbon are you running?
If you're getting cyano, something is off. Cyano is bacteria. The most common culprits are over feeding and lack of flow.
What are your nitrates and phosphate levels? What test kit? How old? What about alkalinity?
FWIW, I'm not a fan of recharging purigen. It's not that expensive, just get new. A lot of people I know have ruined tanks reusing purigen :-(
Can you post some before and after pics?
What lighting do you have?
 
M

mhayes462

Guest
The carbon was added only after the bleaching started because I was afraid the purigen released bleach into my tank. I don't have cyano in the tank, I was just getting a dusting on the glass every couple of days that I had to clean. I just assumed it was cyano. I read somewhere that when that happens its a good indicator to change the CPE. My amm, nitrites, nitrates are 0. Phosphate is undetectable. Alk is 7.5dkh. My tank has been almost perfect until I changed the Chemi Pure Elite and purigen.
Mike Hayes
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
I'm with BTLDreef.....Curious as to the carbon brand and definitely just replace the Purigen instead of recharging.....I read a thread awhile ago about recharging that stuff......Also mentioned was lighting.....Any change in that department.....Have you tried good old fashion water changes as well......
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
It could have been the Purigen.
Cyano, regardless of where it is, needs to be addressed. You may only be seeing it on the glass because it's not an issue and you have it under control, but it's something to watch. Regardless, it's not the issue at hand right now.
I'm going to say that it very well could be your dKH. Every time mine goes below 9, my corals start to look terrible.
Before and after pics could really help determine what's going on.
Lighting? It could be too much for what you have
 
M

mhayes462

Guest
I'm not totally sure if it was cyano. I started to have to clean my glass every couple of days because of a dusting. I read somewhere that that is a good indication that it's time to change the cpe. Now that I did change both, the dusting has not come back after 5 days. Someone suggested I may have taken too much nutrients out of the water because of the change and I also have chaeto and vodka dose with mb7. Also, they seem to be bleached from light. The coral that are shaded are doing the best. I have an acan rock that one end is partially shaded by the toadstool when it is opened up and it is not as bleached as the other end. But there has been no change in my lights or light schedule. I also read that I could have taken so much out of the water that it made the light much stronger to the coral. Does that sound right? Don't know why the carbon matters when I did not run it before everything went south. I only added it when the coral started bleaching to help pull out any possible contaminants.
Mike Hayes
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
I questioned the brand if carbon because Kent had a huge recall on their carbon, it destroyed quite a few tanks. Wanted to rule that out.
I don't think you pulled too much out too quickly. I think there was still bleach in the purigen. That stressed your corals and then the light was able to harm them. I'd cut back on lighting, do a large water change and change carbon again as this bag may have depleted after pulling out the excess bleach. Chemi pure isn't that expensive in the grand picture, so it's worth the $20 or so.
I'd also turn the lights off for a day or two, then go to a reduced lighting schedule and work your way back up.
My thought is that the corals got stressed, possibly expelled some of their zooxanthallae and then couldn't protect themselves from the intense lighting like they once could.
What size tank, what type of lighting?
 
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