My corals all look bad all the sudden???

[enomadra]

Tank – 55 gallon
Ammonia – 0
Nitrate – less than .03
Ph – 8.1
Calcium 430ppm
440-Watts PC light (4- 10K and 4 - Antic 03)
Air driven Protein Skimmer
Temp - 80.6
I am not sure what has happened. I started dripping Kalk 1 week ago and started with 1tbsp per gallon then move it up to 1.5 per gallon on the 4th day, dripping at a 1 drop per second rate. But for 3 days now both my Goniopora have been closed up or barely open, my frogspawn is not opening as much as usual and all my button polyps are all staying closed. The bubble coral, zoo’s, mushrooms, long tentacle plate coral, candy can coral look OK. I have not added any new chemicals other than the Kalk (which is done at night/lights off). The only new creature is a Sea pen which still comes out during the day then burros himself in the sand bed at night. I have been feeding 2 cubes of frozen brine shrimp to the fish and coral each day. The fish seem fine (Small Hippo Tang, Clown, Yellow Gobie, 6 Line, and a Coral Beauty) I am at a loss??? What should I look for to help fix this issue?

 

[enomadra]

I just got home and mesured the Ph and Alk They are
Ph - 8.3
Alk - 8

 

[enomadra]

well every day I use 2 cubes of brine shrimp in the tank for the fish and I see the corals getting some too so I guess I am feeding everyone daily. I also do plankton twice a week.

 

[enomadra]

OH sorry I just did the nitrites and they are at - 0

 

[mr. tuna]

do you have any trace elements??
iodine, calcium...??

 

[enomadra]

If you mean do I add any trace elements the answer is no. I do regular water changes and that has been working fine.
I am going to get some pic and post them, of the corals with issues that is.

 

[dburr]

When do you check PH and when do you drip?
Drip at night, and check PH before lights come on and check again before lights turn off. Lets see how much swing you get.

 

[enomadra]

Here is the frogspawn, it is usually so big I can't see the hariy mushrooms.

 

[enomadra]

Here is the yellow Goniopora, it usually takes up the whole top side of the tank.

 

[enomadra]

Here is the purple Goniopora, it is doing better but looked like the yellow one yesterday.

 

[enomadra]

Here are the orange polyps they have been mostly closed

 

[enomadra]

Here are some more. These ones I glued to this rock, they started as only two.

 

[enomadra]

I would love to find out what has caused this to happen. One because I don't want it to happen again, and two because it looks like it is only affecting certian coarls

 

[enomadra]

Originally posted by dburr
When do you check PH and when do you drip?
Drip at night, and check PH before lights come on and check again before lights turn off. Lets see how much swing you get.
As a result of the events I have stopped dripping Kalk. I am now using liquid Calcium from SeaChem.

 

[enomadra]

Originally posted by Kip4130
i would be interested in your pH swings too
you started dripping kalk... is the drip line exiting the container above the precipitation level
The container sits on the canopy, it is a 2.25 gallon rubbermaid jug.
have you noticed any precipitation on rocks or glass... or more around heaters and pumps?

Not sure what you mean by this :thinking:
are your bulbs old?

The bulbs are 2 months old
do you run a GFCI?

NO
how much is your temp swinging?
My temp goes from 79.6 to 81

 

[enomadra]

Do you have a link to the site that you read this at???
if so can you send it to me?
enomadra@comcast.net

 

[enomadra]

I just did some reading on the Sea Pens and I found out some neat stuff.
1. they usually don't live past 1 year if that.
2. they light up if you pet them:thinking:
3. they are usually the ones to lose the fight to other corals for chemicals and food.
I dont think that my Sea Pen could have moved over night and stung my frogspawn, and two Gonipora. I think the only way it could be affecting anything in the tank is if it touched it, which it is not, unless it is expelling some kind of toxic substance. But I did not read anywhere that it does that, other than to sting things that it catches.
:thinking: I may try to pet mine some time to see if it will light up for me.

 

[enomadra]

Anyone else have any idea as to why only certian coral in the tank would be affected and not others?
I'm still looking for suggestions.
Thanks,

 

[dburr]

Well, you still havn't given a PH reading. It's good (IMO) that you stopped dripping. Your corals MAY return to health just as fast as they got sick. I say this because we'll never no what your PH was up to. So we may never know if that was a cause.
have you noticed any precipitation on rocks or glass... or more around heaters and pumps?
This would be a white hard film near where you drip. It's a calcium build up.