Calling all reefgeeks

[jhawk]

Been helping my buddy get his tank straight but I'm missing something

All his fish keep getting ick and all but 2 corals are diying.His zoa and Xenia are doing great.I took his Goniopora that was not opening in his tank and put in mine and after 2 hour it was fully open.All his test read perfect so what I'm I missing only thing I can think of is that the tap water is causing the troulbe.I have him changing over to RO water but can seem to find anything..

 

[jrthomas40]

how long has the tank been set up??

 

[jhawk]

Almost a year.

 

[notsonoob]

Is it well water or city?
I'm sure that he is getting the chlorine out, but maybe there are some residual heavy metals in the water?

 

[jhawk]

Originally Posted by NOTSONOOB
Is it well water or city?
I'm sure that he is getting the chlorine out, but maybe there are some residual heavy metals in the water?
It's city water and we can't drink because it taste so bad.I was thinking about maybe the tap water having metals in it but I'm still learning all this stuff only been reading for 2 years and a year having a saltwater tank

 

[grumpygils]

Originally Posted by jhawk
Been helping my buddy get his tank straight but I'm missing something

All his fish keep getting ick and all but 2 corals are diying.His zoa and Xenia are doing great.I took his Goniopora that was not opening in his tank and put in mine and after 2 hour it was fully open.All his test read perfect so what I'm I missing only thing I can think of is that the tap water is causing the troulbe.I have him changing over to RO water but can seem to find anything..
Parameters? Whacky alk and Ph? Lighting? DSB? Details?
mc

 

[wattsupdoc]

You cant drink the water, but you want his fish/corals to live in it?

Do a series of large water changes with RO water. Run carbon religiously, remove the fish to hypo them and let the tank run fallow for 4 weeks minimum. He didnt ever use copper or any "reef safe" med did he? QT all new additions after the hypo/fallow treatment.

 

[jhawk]

Originally Posted by wattsupdoc
You cant drink the water, but you want his fish/corals to live in it?

Do a series of large water changes with RO water. Run carbon religiously, remove the fish to hypo them and let the tank run fallow for 4 weeks minimum. He didnt ever use copper or any "reef safe" med did he? QT all new additions after the hypo/fallow treatment.
No I don't want his fish to live in it I told him to change over to RO WATER.All fish have been thru hypo,kick ick and has to do it again because it came back before he was done treating his tank.Has never used copper.After the first battle with ick he has started a QT

 

[jhawk]

Originally Posted by grumpygils
Parameters? Whacky alk and Ph? Lighting? DSB? Details?
mc
Parameters are perfect thats what has me at a loss.4 watts a gallon pc about a 1/4 inch of sand Has added a fuge plus right know is putting on a UV to see if that help with the ick

 

[murph145]

it would work best if you could actually post all parameters of the tank they cant be perfect if everything is dying... fish can get ick in good water but corals dont die becuz of ick so sumthing else has to be wrong... ick is caused by stress in fish usually caused by being newly added or poor water conditions... check the following and see if anything stands out....
amonia
nitrates
nitrites
ph
phosphates
calcium
alkalinity
magnesium
temperature swings
salinity using a refractometer
is there any excess algae growing?? any stray voltage?? sumthing is up

 

[peef]

My vote is with the tap water for sure.

 

[grumpygils]

Originally Posted by peef
My vote is with the tap water for sure.
I say tap water, Just ask Steve Weis about that.
Mc

 

[jhawk]

Phosphates are real low temp stay the same all day and salinity using a refractometer is 1.025 I can't test for any stray voltage and there no algae growing?? I'm thinking tap water because I can put his stuff in my tank and it does great or he takes them to LFS and they do good but when it gets back in his tank it looks bad fast

 

[nycbob]

did u say u put his flowerpot into ur tank? i wouldnt do it without qt since his tank has icks.

 

[jhawk]

Yeah I did but it took hours kept changing water out of his bag till I felt like I had all my water in the bag took about 5 gallons out of my tank to do it.Just made it a water change nite plus that day there was no sign of ick it's came back right after I got his coral so I'm praying that I don't get it

 

[ibew]

Originally Posted by murph145
it would work best if you could actually post all parameters of the tank they cant be perfect if everything is dying... fish can get ick in good water but corals dont die becuz of ick so sumthing else has to be wrong... ick is caused by stress in fish usually caused by being newly added or poor water conditions... check the following and see if anything stands out....
amonia
nitrates
nitrites
ph
phosphates
calcium
alkalinity
magnesium
temperature swings
salinity using a refractometer
is there any excess algae growing?? any stray voltage?? sumthing is up

I agree with murph your not testing for something that is causing this since you said he is using tap water copper could be a problem to for anyone to trouble shoot this problem need accurate readings from everything lisited above make sure you use quality test kits and if you have a reading from phosphates at all you have a problem you said you own a reef to as you know and everyone that owns a reef knows that all parimeters must be at 0 and cal and alk must be maintained at propper levels for a reef to thrive and even then you may loose a coral for some reason

 

[jhawk]

I'm out of copper test it will be awhile before I can order some the LFS said no sign of copper.Told him to sign up for AWT because I trust them more then anybody with my water test

 

[coral keeper]

Im thinking its the tap water too. If you dont drink it why is he putting it in his reef tank?

Can you give us a stock list? What size tank is it?

 

[coral keeper]

Originally Posted by jhawk
I'm out of copper test it will be awhile before I can order some the LFS said no sign of copper.Told him to sign up for AWT because I trust them more then anybody with my water test
Can you plz say the water parms. You just keep on saying its good. Like this.
amonia blah
nitrates blah
nitrites blah
ph blah
phosphates blah
calcium blah
alkalinity blah
magnesium blah
copper blah
temperature swings blah
salinity using a refractometer blah

 

[ibew]

Originally Posted by jhawk
I'm out of copper test it will be awhile before I can order some the LFS said no sign of copper.Told him to sign up for AWT because I trust them more then anybody with my water test
I do think salfiert test kits are one of the best test kits out there but since the price is so high for them I just get them for alk, cal , mag, ph, iodine, phosphate, strot, all of your major reef tests as far as nitrite, nitrate, amon, they have been at zero for some time so after establishing a reef for a good period of time I don't even check them anymore so I recommend getting anykind to check them but always have them around just in case. Just because I do this doesn't mean it is the right or wrong just what I do