Corals keep dying in tank

fishy7

fishy7

Active Member
I have a 215 with 280lbs of LR that has been up and running for 1 1/2 years with no major issues until now. Over the past 2 months I have my xenia, mushroom and zoo's dying.
My xenia dies but not all just some.... pretty much melts away.
Mushrooms just some not all but the ones in the tank now are just not fully opened.
Hammer: Only a couple of the branches do not open all the way but the rest are fine.
Zoo's and polyps. Same thing only a few do not open, while the rest do.
History lesson:
Water Changes every 21 days 50 gallons
Water quality as of 05/12
Temp 79
Sg 1.025
PH 8.0
Trates 3
Trites 0
Ammonia 0
Alk 8
Mag 1500
Ca 400
Inhabitants:
1 pair of GSM's
1 6line
7 Chromis
1 purple (juvi)
2 cleaner
5 pepps
1 fire
4 emeralds
150 hermits
1 red reef lobster
Feeding the tank:
I feed 3 cubes every other day and rotate with the following:
mysis
cyclops
marine cousine
emerald entre
blood worms
squidd
plankton
Corals:
Well I really did not feed them anything until I started having an issue. For the past month I have been feeding DT's 2x's per week 3 cap fulls and cyclops from time to time.
Thanks for any help and insight to my issue...

Any one recommend a suggestion.... I am feeling it may be a feeding issue.
 
grumpygils

grumpygils

Active Member
Originally Posted by FISHY7
I have a 215 with 280lbs of LR that has been up and running for 1 1/2 years with no major issues until now. Over the past 2 months I have my xenia, mushroom and zoo's dying.
My xenia dies but not all just some.... pretty much melts away.
Mushrooms just some not all but the ones in the tank now are just not fully opened.
Hammer: Only a couple of the branches do not open all the way but the rest are fine.
Zoo's and polyps. Same thing only a few do not open, while the rest do.
History lesson:
Water Changes every 21 days 50 gallons
Water quality as of 05/12
Temp 79
Sg 1.025
PH 8.0
Trates 3
Trites 0
Ammonia 0
Alk 8
Mag 1500
Ca 400
Inhabitants:
1 pair of GSM's
1 6line
7 Chromis
1 purple (juvi)
2 cleaner
5 pepps
1 fire
4 emeralds
150 hermits
1 red reef lobster
Feeding the tank:
I feed 3 cubes every other day and rotate with the following:
mysis
cyclops
marine cousine
emerald entre
blood worms
squidd
plankton
Corals:
Well I really did not feed them anything until I started having an issue. For the past month I have been feeding DT's 2x's per week 3 cap fulls and cyclops from time to time.
Thanks for any help and insight to my issue...

Any one recommend a suggestion.... I am feeling it may be a feeding issue.

Light bulb time?
 
grumpygils

grumpygils

Active Member
Originally Posted by FISHY7
Replaced on Feb 3rd 2007.
Isn't that pretty near when the problem started?
Mc
 
fishy7

fishy7

Active Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Ever treat that tank with copper?
No plus I do not have any issues with inverts dying.
 
m0nk

m0nk

Active Member
Personally, I would start changing the water more frequently, and less at a time. 20% isn't bad but if that's the only water change for 21 days, then maybe switch to 10%-15% every other week. While your original plan may have been good for a FOWLR tank, there are vital nutrients in most salt mixes for coral that your fish wouldn't care about. Doing a water change more frequently will help replenish those nutrients. You may also want to start dosing with supplements; iodine and strontium to start (the Kent products here on swf.com are what I use). Watch your calcium too, perhaps checking right before and after your next water change and if it's below 400 you may want to dose it up to 450 after.
Another thought is that perhaps you have a hitchhiker that eats/damages coral? With that much live rock it/they could have been living there without you ever seeing it/them until adding your coral.
 
fishy7

fishy7

Active Member
Originally Posted by cyclops
What type of lighting do you have and how long do you run them?
I have the coralife pro 72" 3 150w hqi 4 96w pc
PC come on at 1PM and go off at 11pm
MH come on at 2pm and go off at 10pm
I have moonlights that follow the lunar cycle which run from 11 pm 4 AM
Problem did start around the same time... now I did buy some screens and layered them and removed one each week for 4 weeks.
 
fishy7

fishy7

Active Member
Originally Posted by m0nk
Personally, I would start changing the water more frequently, and less at a time. 20% isn't bad but if that's the only water change for 21 days, then maybe switch to 10%-15% every other week. While your original plan may have been good for a FOWLR tank, there are vital nutrients in most salt mixes for coral that your fish wouldn't care about. Doing a water change more frequently will help replenish those nutrients. You may also want to start dosing with supplements; iodine and strontium to start (the Kent products here on swf.com are what I use). Watch your calcium too, perhaps checking right before and after your next water change and if it's below 400 you may want to dose it up to 450 after.
Another thought is that perhaps you have a hitchhiker that eats/damages coral? With that much live rock it/they could have been living there without you ever seeing it/them until adding your coral.
Great suggestion on water changes. I will bump to 14 days 15% until I get more stable. The hitchhiker theory.... I have not added anything to my tank for about 9 months and it was pepps. The zoos/polyps are about 1 year/hammer 1.5 years and xenia 1 year. I did have a time where I had so much xenia that I could not keep it under control then it all died..... with in weeks except for 4 stalks then it all came back and then died again....
 
maxalmon

maxalmon

Active Member
Did you put the square piece of glass back over the MH's when you replaced the light bulbs, it has to removed on this fixture when replacing the bulbs. It's a UV filtering glass and HAS to be used or the UV will damage the corals.
 
fishy7

fishy7

Active Member
Originally Posted by maxalmon
Did you put the square piece of glass back over the MH's when you replaced the light bulbs, it has to removed on this fixture when replacing the bulbs. It's a UV filtering glass and HAS to be used or the UV will damage the corals.
When I moved the glass to access to bulb, it just slides like a drawer and was never fully removed.
Keep the suggestions a coming.....
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
Xenia will go into coral warefare with neighboring Xenia, so that is why it died and came back. The toxins it releases are not good, do you run a lot of activated carbon?
 
fishy7

fishy7

Active Member
Originally Posted by Farslayer
Xenia will go into coral warefare with neighboring Xenia, so that is why it died and came back. The toxins it releases are not good, do you run a lot of activated carbon?
No, I do not run carbon but once a month for 3 days. I guess I need to start running more.
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
If you have leathers and softies, you need to run carbon 24x7. I've run it for a decade now with no problems. I've seen Xenia colonies die off like that before and I can almost guarantee that the carbon will fix it by taking the toxins out of the water.
 
fishy7

fishy7

Active Member
perfect. Thanks for all the help. Xenia had over run my tank and now very little....Appreciate the help!
 
bacchus_fl

bacchus_fl

Member
Carbon will also remove your essential elements so you need to be replacing them at least once a week if you continually run carbon. Most people including the manufactures suggest only using it for 3 or 4 days in a row.
Water changes sound like the best resolution right now. Not sure how your fish are reacting but if a loose screw or some small piece of metal fell in the tank you could have some problems. I would also check you pumps for any loose wires, electricity could also cause your issue.
Good Luck!
 
fishy7

fishy7

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bacchus_FL
Carbon will also remove your essential elements so you need to be replacing them at least once a week if you continually run carbon. Most people including the manufactures suggest only using it for 3 or 4 days in a row.
Water changes sound like the best resolution right now. Not sure how your fish are reacting but if a loose screw or some small piece of metal fell in the tank you could have some problems. I would also check you pumps for any loose wires, electricity could also cause your issue.
Good Luck!
The fish are happy as can be, clowns just laid a very large batch of eggs and the others seem to be ok. Nothing abnormal.
All my pumps are external. The heater is the only thing in the water so..I will give it a good check to make sure there are no issues...
Thanks for the idea.
 
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