Coral problems

L

lemmy

Guest
Without going into too much detail I will try to give info that should lead you to an answer.
I bought an old used 120 gallon tank with a Berlin sump ( built in protein skimmer). I replaced the "hair curler" (bio balls) media with live rock. It is just over 2 years old. There is a pretty good amount of sediment on the bottom left for the non oxygen bacteria to survive and the live rock above for the oxygen bacteria.
Inside the tank my mushroom corals are doing great and all different type of sponges are popping up everywhere. My orange ricordea just split again but my green one disappeared. My zoo's are shrinking. my big colt or Kenya tree coral just passed away. my green donut coral (closed brain?) is slowly shrinking and my torch coral and candy coral are shrinking as well. I have not had any luck keeping Galaxcia or SPS. However, my first SPS is doing fine but any others I have added live for a few months but then die one by one. All my fish are doing fine. I still have my cucumber slug since I started.
I have an old purple "lobster" who is doing just fine for about a year and a half now. I used to have 5 peppermint and 2 cleaner shrimp but they disappeared after I treated for red slime.
So before going into too much detail can anybody tell me what might be going wrong. All my readings for nitrates, calcium, PH, phosphates, KH, GH, etc. are all within acceptable levels. I mix my own salt with my own R/O water.
I have the Berlin skimmer running as well as a Sea Clone 100 running 24/7. Right now the Sea Clone is working better than the other possibly due to the fact that my air stones don't seem to be producing small enough bubbles. Plus I have a UV filter as well.
I have heard that there comes a time that you need to clean out the sump because of too much bacteria. I can supply pictures and more info as needed.
Thank you in advance for your reply.
 
loopy101

loopy101

Member
Hi there and welcome to the boards! what kind of lights do you have? and how old are the bulbs?
how long ago has it been since you treated for redslime? and what did you use?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

Welcome!
+1 on the above concerning lights, old bulbs cause problems...Do you run carbon?...coral sends out chemicals that they use to fight other corals. SPS and Kenya trees fight, to keep them in the same tank you need to neutralize the chemicals they shoot at each other.
 
L

lemmy

Guest
Originally Posted by loopy101
http:///forum/post/3140408
Hi there and welcome to the boards! what kind of lights do you have? and how old are the bulbs?
how long ago has it been since you treated for redslime? and what did you use?
I have 2 250 W DE Metal Halide bulbs. I change them once a year. A 15.000K XM on the left side that is due to be changed next month and a Ushio 20.000K on the right side in Dec. I treated for red slime with Chemiclean (I might have used Red Sea slime remover once, about 6 months ago) a few months back and did a good water change afterward. I did notice that all my cleaner and peppermint shrimp disappeared shortly after that and my urchin died too. Since that the red slime has has been under control with only a few spots appearing that I remove with a turkey baster.
 
L

lemmy

Guest
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3140421

Welcome!
+1 on the above concerning lights, old bulbs cause problems...Do you run carbon?...coral sends out chemicals that they use to fight other corals. SPS and Kenya trees fight, to keep them in the same tank you need to neutralize the chemicals they shoot at each other.
I saw something real cool when I first added the Kenya. I saw these thread like strings come out of it. They would then open up, like a ladder cut in half. He was mounted on a disk that I kept on the sand bed away from other corals.
I put about a pound of carbon in after the red slime treatment. About a month ago I put Kent nitrate sponge in a PhosBan Reactor 150.
Another thing of note is that I have a purple lobster and coral banded shrimp that have survived through all of this despite my other shrimp losses.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Lemmy
http:///forum/post/3144145
I saw something real cool when I first added the Kenya. I saw these thread like strings come out of it. They would then open up, like a ladder cut in half. He was mounted on a disk that I kept on the sand bed away from other corals.
I put about a pound of carbon in after the red slime treatment. About a month ago I put Kent nitrate sponge in a PhosBan Reactor 150.
Another thing of note is that I have a purple lobster and coral banded shrimp that have survived through all of this despite my other shrimp losses.

Coral banded shrimp will kill other shrimp. You will have to change the carbon once a month, for it to remain useful.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
If that's the before, I too would like to know what it looks like now. Obviously you were doing something right! Somehow I think we're all going to get stumped on this one

My gut feeling is that it was to do with the chemical you added to get rid of the red slime, especially if your parameters are good. I instantly thought lighting, but that seems to be okay....
 
cherylann

cherylann

Member
Get rid if the purple lobster, he loves to eat your shrimp. If you have detritus
in any part of your system get rid of that as well with a turkey baster and a good water change. Check temperature and salinity as well as pH. Tanks can go through a old tank syndrome, which is either myth or fact. What ever you do make small changes at a time and you will eventully get there, once again patience. And good luck, send PIC's
 
L

lemmy

Guest
Thanks for the compliments! The tank still looks about the same minus the Kenya Tree. I moved my Donut (or Scolymia) to my 24 gallon tank and they seem to be recovering. I put a few branches of the kenya tree in my 12 gallon and it seems to be hanging on.
I tried to get rid of the lobster. I set traps and he was too smart. I would have to take apart my whole take to get him out. Basically I prong feed him some frozen krill once a day. I figure if he's full he won't kill anything. So far so good. After all they are SUPPOSED to be scavengers.
Thanks for the suggestion for carbon. I checked and it was an old phosphate remover pouch and a Chem-pure pouch. I removed both and added a pound and a half of carbon.
I have heard of old tank syndrome and that was one of my concerns. I believe the cause was too much beneficial bacteria but never heard of a cure or a guideline for the problem.
Thanks again everybody for your suggestions. I will try to get more pics up soon.
 
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