Something Wrong

[reefrobber]

I've been having some very bad luck with my tank the past few months. Three months ago, I had an anenome die, and should have responded by doing frequent small percentage water changes to get it out of the system. Instead, About two months ago I added A rose anenome, elegance coral, and a kole tang, I have now decided that I will only add one creature every two months in order for it to acclimate correctly. One month ago, my kole tang started having some ulsurs on the side of his body and I quickly bought some medicene. I'm sure many of you have heard of the medicene for fish Melafix, and a fish slime restorant for fish. I used both, and for a week I had to turn off my protien skimmer or it would suck up the medicene I had added. As the week progressed, my tank started to becom a still pond, and I had an outbreak of red slime algae which almost totally destroyed my elegance coral. I quickly turned on my protien skimmer and used another medicene called red slime remover. This was just last week and today my kole tang died, and the elegance coral has one totally living colony left, which is growing lucky for me. I will post water parameters when I can, but I was wondering what might be the problem in your eyes, and what I should now do to fix it. Thankyou for your help.

 

[bigarn]

The water was probably "poisoned" from the death of the anemone. I'm NOT flameing you, we all make mistakes, but you should have done water changes and ran carbon immediately after it died. This probably had a great deal to do with the problems you're having now. Have you checked for ammonia and nitrites?

 

[bang guy]

Did you add Melafix to your display tank?

 

[reefrobber]

I understand that the anenome did poisin my tank, and that you are not flameing me, I should have done both of those things. Yes I did add the melafix to the display tank, because all I have is a display tank. Thanks for the help. What do you suggest I do now to heal my tank, and the elegance coral??? Now my anenome is closing up, because of the water parameters. I will check my water parameters asap. Thanks again.

 

[reefrobber]

How do you run carbon in a Back Pack protien skimmer? Thanks again.

 

[reefrobber]

Bump.

 

[sergeant]

That doesnt sound too good at all. Most of us keep a hospital tank to treat sick fish in cases like this one. The medication we get at the stores help treat sick fish but I dont think coral survives the meds because of the copper in it. It basically poisons the coral. I agree with bigarn with the water changes and the carbon. Good luck.

 

[reefrobber]

Thanks I will do both of these things. Any suggestions Bangguy? Thanks again.

 

[smarls]

Sorry about your losses that sucks.
On the elegance (and as a disclaimer, I have never had one) but I have read that they can be difficult, and have a habit of just dying...some form of "mysterious elegance disease" gets them...I think there have been some studies done it. So that may not be your fault.
The one thought I have on your situation is that you said your tank became a "still pond". I do not know if that was just a description, but perhaps some of your problem could have been a lack of current when your skimmer was turned off? If indeed there was not enough current, then the lack of current could have caused (i) a lack of gas exchange, thus the death of the tang, and (ii) the algae outbreak due to lack of flow, thus the suffocation of your elegance coral by algae. Just a thought, but if that is a possibility, you may want to add additional flow through power heads etc. I have a HOB skimmer, but as I travel a lot, I often have it turned off for a week at a time wihtout any bad effects (just in case it overflows and floods...I am a chicken about that). But I have quite a bit of flow from power heads that are inside the tank, maybe about 15 times tank capacity turnover an hour, and so I think this really helps the inhabitants when the power heads are turned off.
While you losses suck, I think I would take the chance to "restart" your system. Just get all your parameteres back in order over a slow period of time, and then try again. I may be slightly more selective about inhabitants, as both anemones and elegance corals can be "difficult", but that is your personal choice.
Don't let it get you down...we have all had bad things happen to our tanks, just make sure you learn from the experience.
HTH
Stewart

 

[reefrobber]

Thanks Stewart, I do have a powerhead, but I had forgotten to turn it on again because it was overflowing my tank when I did my topoff. The still pond was a description, but it looked like a scummy pond because of the algae growth. The anenome only closed up for about an hour after I did my water change, and now is full and open again thankfully. The elegance coral is damaged by the red slime algae, or cyanobacteria, but one colony has already regrown a small part that had died, and my frogspawn was unaffected. I am most definitely not adding any creature until I get my water back on track. When I do, I will take it more slowly with one creature every month or so. Though it is fortunate that my kole tang was the only thing that died, it's unfortunate that it did so. With all of the money and work I have invested in my tank, I am not quitting. Are there any healing methods to accelerate the regrowth of the elegance? Thanks again.

 

[reefrobber]

Bump.

 

[smarls]

You could try a "dip" in ro/di water with some form of antiseptic in there (Lugols / hydrogen peroxide or something like that).
Beth in the disease forum would be the best person to ask. I have dipped a sick coral once in 9 parts water, and 1 part Hydrogen peroxide for about 4 minutees, then washed it off, then pout it back in the tank, and I personally think it saved the coral...so if the elegance is sick, I would give it a try.
Stewart

 

[mbtulimaa]

I have a bac-pac setup and I have purchased some netting material from the local sewing store, it is really cheap. I cut it in a big square, put some carbon in the middle, bring the sides of the material up together and rubberband it together. This is the method that I use
amy

 

[reefrobber]

Thanks, but I still have a couple of questions. You use store bought hydrogen peroxide? How much water do you put it in, and how much of it do you add? And finally what does it do. And where do I put the carbon after I have netted it? Thanks again.

 

[smarls]

The carbon helps remove particles from the water column, including decaying material, toxic material etc. I use a method similar to Amy to run carbon, as I have a HOB skimmer as well.
The dip, it helps stop infections of corals. ie - you have one sick area of a coral, this can stop an infection spreading. There are a ton of products on the market, and I do not pretend to be knowledgeable about this, again you should ask Beth in the Disease forum, she is reallly good at this stuff.
When I did it, I used roDI water, warmed up to the tank temperature, about 9 parts water, 1 part HP - and yes I used the stuff I bought in the store. If I had more time, I probably would have bought some form of coral antiseptic, but I didn't and it worked.
If your elegance is recovering, and there are no signs of the infection spreading, then you are probably best just to leave things alone and let it recover.
HTH
Stewart

 

[reefrobber]

The red slime was very detrimental to it, and destroyed all but one colony which is opened and there are no further signs of infection, are there any chances it will fully recover, and if so how long should it take? I use Ro/ Di when I do a water change, and I am running carbon now. I am going to be doing another water change this weekend. Thanks again.

 

[oscardeuce]

The Kole may have had Hole in the head/lateral line disease, which from my reading is a sign of malnutrition. Add a good seaweed to their diet to prevent. Will Mirafix help this?