Nano tanker Nick Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I have a 40 breeder set up ever grow 2040 at 60%, mp10, psk150 skimmer, heater ect ect. But recently my green acro died, my duncans died and my xenia is slowly getting smaller and deteriorating. my green star polyp is fully extended and looks great, my zoanthids are all closed but don't seem to be shrinking. Water parameters are as follows: salinity-1.024 ammonia- 0 nitrites-0 nitrates-between 20 and 40 on api test kit ph 7.8 I do a 5 gallon waterchange once a week and make sure the salinity and temperature are the same before i change and I change I do it all from sump so nothing gets stirred up. What is causing my problems here? The tank is almost 3 months old now. I waited a little ever a month and 20 days before I put a cuc in and a coral. and everything was doing fine until this past week. Any and all tips and suggestions would be appreciated. Link to comment
xzeror Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 nitrates are high, up the amount you change a week to 10-15 gallons. Get those nitrates down. Link to comment
Nano tanker Nick Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 nitrates are high, up the amount you change a week to 10-15 gallons. Get those nitrates down. You think that's all that's wrong? I have had tanks in the past with worse water and I have never killed a duncan or xenia. There isn't anything else it could be? Link to comment
Roshan8768 Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Yes, nitrates are most likely the cause unless you changed something else recently. In any case bringing them down will only help the situation Link to comment
Nano tanker Nick Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 Yes, nitrates are most likely the cause unless you changed something else recently. In any case bringing them down will only help the situation Alright thanks. Just from the looks of how the fish is acting. I think he is going to be a goner... Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 meh... those nitrates wouldn't kill fish so I would look for another cause for the fish death. They may affect LPS though. Do you know your alk/ca/mg? Link to comment
Nano tanker Nick Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 meh... those nitrates wouldn't kill fish so I would look for another cause for the fish death. They may affect LPS though. Do you know your alk/ca/mg? I don't know those three. I'll try and take a water sample to the lfs tomorrow to see if they will test it for me. Do you think it is too low or too high? I was also thinking maybe it was the light that killed the corals? Like too strong and just bleached and killed them. But that shouldn't affect the fish. Link to comment
xzeror Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 heater malfunction? Stray voltage or cooking the fish? Whats your temp at? Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I don't know those three. I'll try and take a water sample to the lfs tomorrow to see if they will test it for me. Do you think it is too low or too high? I was also thinking maybe it was the light that killed the corals? Like too strong and just bleached and killed them. But that shouldn't affect the fish. If you didn't acclimate, it could bleach them but bleaching should be apparent. Did they die slowly or very quickly? All at once? Do you dose anything? What is the fish acting like? How long have you had the fish? Link to comment
Nano tanker Nick Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 heater malfunction? Stray voltage or cooking the fish? Whats your temp at? I have checked for stray voltage. Water temp has been at 80 degrees for the duration of the tanks life. The fish has since died. I ordered a refractameter and a red sea alk/calcium/magnesium test kit too. so I'll try to figure all this out. Thanks for the replies everyone. Link to comment
markalot Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 How many fish and, when were they added? Link to comment
Nano tanker Nick Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 If you didn't acclimate, it could bleach them but bleaching should be apparent. Did they die slowly or very quickly? All at once? Do you dose anything? What is the fish acting like? How long have you had the fish? I acclimated the corals and the fish. The acro went in 2 days, and the duncan was a very slow like 2 week tissue rotting away. I don't dose anything. I ordered the magnesium, calcium, and alk red sea test kits yesterday. The fish just like panting almost and just swam near the bottom just kinda looked incoherent. then died this morning. How many fish and, when were they added? Just one royal gramma. He was in the system for about a week and a half. He was dripped for about 30-45 minutes on a 45 drops per minute drip. Link to comment
markalot Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Any chance copper was used in this tank? Link to comment
Nano tanker Nick Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 Any chance copper was used in this tank? Not to my knowledge. I did all the drilling, plumbing ect.. and I never used copper on anything. You can see the build in my signature. It's possible something could have come off my hands when reaching into the tank or sump to do something. But still my green star polyp has full polyp extension and is very healthy looking. If it was a heavy metal in the tank it would have affected everything wouldn't it? Link to comment
markalot Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 What kind of silicon, if any, did you use? Tank was cycled a week ago and then fish added, it might not have been ready and you are experiencing another cycle? There's a break between Aug 11 and a week ago. Did you continue to add small amounts of ammonia to keep the bacteria alive? I'm shooting in the dark here, just trying to come up with ideas. Link to comment
Nano tanker Nick Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 What kind of silicon, if any, did you use? Tank was cycled a week ago and then fish added, it might not have been ready and you are experiencing another cycle? There's a break between Aug 11 and a week ago. Did you continue to add small amounts of ammonia to keep the bacteria alive? I'm shooting in the dark here, just trying to come up with ideas. Man you are on it. I like it. Just a clear silicone I had left over from a tank I had in the past. Which did fine, never had any problems. Thats's exactly what I am thinking is another small cycle. Whenever I added the arco and zoas is the day I plugged the skimmer up. and maybe that took all the bacteria trying to stabilize things out. The guy at the shop also said the skimmer might also be too big for the tank. But I think you hit the nail on the head with another cycle. Link to comment
xXReeferXx Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Can you test again? If it is another cycle something should show up spiked Link to comment
Nano tanker Nick Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 Can you test again? If it is another cycle something should show up spiked Just tested again. Ammonia-0, nitrites-0, nitrates-20. Nitrates have gone down since last night. I did about a 3 gallon waterchange last night. I did notice algea on the rocks that wasn't there yesterday though. The inverts and green stay polyps are the only things that are still going good. zoas have been closed for about 5 days now. Link to comment
xXReeferXx Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 That's interesting that the fish and only certain species of corals usually inverts are one of the first to go Link to comment
xXReeferXx Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 And also what kind of fish? If it is a slow mover or like a om dweller you my friend might have a worm Edit: royal grammas are crevice dwellers right? Link to comment
Nano tanker Nick Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 And also what kind of fish? If it is a slow mover or like a om dweller you my friend might have a worm Edit: royal grammas are crevice dwellers right? Yes, The frags I purchased were all on plugs, so there would have been no place for a worm to hide. I started with all dry rock so it couldn't have come from there. Link to comment
xXReeferXx Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Did you use live sand? I'm just throwing things out sorry if I sound like I know everything Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Did you do a large water change at the end of the cycle? I would make sure to do that before you try more fish/coral to get the nitrates down. Test kit's are not super accurate so it's possible they are higher. I have a Salifert, Red Sea, and a API kit and they all give me different readings, not just Nitrate but any of their test kits. I doubt we truly know the values with hobby grade kits so I just go for stability. Link to comment
xXReeferXx Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Well Xenia wouldn't(shouldn't unless severely being weakened by something) be killed by nitrates...that's why it is so strange Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Yeah, I was more talking about getting the Nitrates down since the OP added an acro. I figured they probably want some SPS in the future. Xenia is kind of in its own category. Some people can grow it like crazy and for others it withers and dies. I have nitrates but I can't grow it for shit. It grew well in my 1st tank but not since then. Xenia does poorly in higher temps though... so it may have withered from the tank being at 80 + the stress of being moved and not even be related to why the other corals perished. It also ships poorly and subject to dieing from things like prazi-pro. Personally, I have never found it to be very hardy. I once nicked a small chunk of it when I was cleaning and that whole stock/head withered away over night. Link to comment
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