Samnaz's 20L (upgrading to IM Nuvo Black 30L)

[Lula_Mae]

52 minutes ago, samnaz said:

I believe it is sea chem brand Iodide, but I'm not sure as I have put it in a eye dropper bottle. 

 

The reason I suspected low Iodine is because everything else in the tank is doing great, all my corals look perfectly healthy. If it was Alk or PH or something, I suspect the corals wouldn't be doing so well. So that leads me to believe whatever it is/was is bad enough to kill two crustaceans yet it has no effect on corals or snails. 

 

I will run some tests tonight. Gotta dust off the old test kits. 

 

A fellow MI reefer, awesome! Nice to meet you.

 

In my eyes you don't suck, unless you're constantly killing livestock due to negligence.

Well, not my negligence but UPS's....

[burtbollinger]

are you regularly testing Alk?  Youve got quite a nice haul of LPS...

 

I ran a massive LPS tank for a few years, neglected ALk. (didnt know any better)  and watched it all die out....

 

I ask because you mention only testing nitrates...and i dont see your alk parameters anywhere.

[samnaz]

CRAP. My brand new Octospawn is falling apart rapidly. At this rate it could be gone by tomorrow morning. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I'm more frustrated and worried about my tank than I've ever been. This sucks. Someone please confirm this is NOT brown jelly disease....

 

 

 

[burtbollinger]

not brown jelly, but I'm concerned about your alk. levels.  I'm worried youre somewhere in the 6 range...instead of closer to 8.

 

I'd recommend a NEW and good alk test kit ASAP...make sure you are in range and if not, bring it up SLOWLY.

 

You'd need to raise but definitely not spike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[samnaz]

1 minute ago, burtbollinger said:

not brown jelly, but I'm concerned about your alk. levels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Testing now....

[burtbollinger]

also, no dosing that iodine.  hard to say what caused the livestock to die, but on that front what's done is done.

 

make sure your alk is in order...bump up SLOWLY...and in the meantime, make sure your flow isnt causing microtears or anything.

 

now that you are the owner of an LPS tank, testing Alk @ 3 times a week is a must for a while.

[burtbollinger]

just spitballing....we've talked flow and alk, but also...if you just set up that Nanobox Quad, you could be blasting the hell out of those corals with too much light.

 

On the Nanobox, I'd be starting with blues @ 70 and the whites at 25 max....if your whites are bumped into the mid 30's or 40s, you could be having major problems.  (I seriously damaged light hungry SPS at 33 whites)

 

finally, if everything else in the tank is OK and the alk is coming back @ +7...then it could be that the coral was damaged in shipping, and is just now dying.  

[samnaz]

7.5 dkH. Going to test again just to be sure.

[burtbollinger]

Just now, samnaz said:

7.5 dkH. Going to test again just to be sure.

that should be ok...ok enough not to cause what youre seeing.

 

verify your not using overcranked nanobox...then perhaps assume that the coral revieved an injury during shipping....it happens from time to time.

 

keep an eye on it...dont give up just yet.  

[samnaz]

4 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

that should be ok...ok enough not to cause what youre seeing.

 

verify your not using overcranked nanobox...then perhaps assume that the coral revieved an injury during shipping....it happens from time to time.

 

keep an eye on it...dont give up just yet.  

Haven't set up the Nanobox yet. I'm still using the Current Orbit Pro. Blue 100%, white 18% max (still acclimating 6 new Euphyllia frags, I'm slowly increasing the whites to the usual 30%).

[burtbollinger]

6 minutes ago, samnaz said:

Haven't set up the Nanobox yet. I'm still using the Current Orbit Pro. Blue 100%, white 18% max (still acclimating 6 new Euphyllia frags, I'm slowly increasing the whites to the usual 30%).

Check it in the AM and see if it's any better.  If it exudes any brown, best plan to possibly toss. 

 

post pics.

 

 

EDIT: no chance a torch stung it, right?

[samnaz]

40 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

Check it in the AM and see if it's any better.  If it exudes any brown, best plan to possibly toss. 

 

post pics.

 

 

EDIT: no chance a torch stung it, right?

Seems pretty unlikely, but I suppose it's possible... the octo is at least 7 inches from the torch. I've never seen sweepers from the torch except when I've fed it, which I rarely do.

 

i just made a batch of SW, what's the soonest I can use it? I always wait a few days but this is urgent. It's 7 gals with a 1000gph powerhead. Say I put another powerhead in, would the SW be ready sooner?

[samnaz]

Every other day for the past week I have added 2 drops of Iodide. WTF WAS I THINKING. It's been so long since I dosed Iodide, I used to do 3 drops ONCE a week. 

 

I've added 8 drops this week. 

[samnaz]

Here are some photos I took 2 days ago (this was one day after adding it to the tank).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[burtbollinger]

I'd toss that iodine in the trash.  I dose CA, Alk and that's it.  I wouldn't even think to ever dose iodine.

 

That said, tbh all of your LPS look a bit stunted.  That why I posted originally. 

 

Do a 20% water change and relax.  I don't think there's anything urgent going on.  It will work itself out.  Don't bounce from one thing to another.  Can't be certain there is any issue at all with your parameters

 

it could have been simply torn and was dying during shipping and it took a few days manifest.  That's my guess.

 

keep observing and reporting.  

[Lula_Mae]

If it's Lugol's iodine, you could try a dip on that octospawn.  1-2 drops Lugol's in a cup or so of tank water (adjust ratio accordingly if you need a larger volume for a bigger coral) for 3-5 minutes.  You could try it a couple days in a row, then I'd either do lights out for a day or stick the coral in a shady spot to give it some time to recover.  It may be too damaged to recover, but it's worth a shot.

[samnaz]

Can't do a water change until I'm home from work later tonight. The octospawn will be too far gone by then. I know there is nothing I can do at this point.

 

One of the two heads is just about completely gone. The other is still mostly alive but I don't have high hopes for it's survival. 

 

Photo from right before I left for work earlier today:

 

 

 

8 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

If it's Lugol's iodine, you could try a dip on that octospawn.  1-2 drops Lugol's in a cup or so of tank water (adjust ratio accordingly if you need a larger volume for a bigger coral) for 3-5 minutes.  You could try it a couple days in a row, then I'd either do lights out for a day or stick the coral in a shady spot to give it some time to recover.  It may be too damaged to recover, but it's worth a shot.

 

I was trying to avoid touching/moving it at all because more stress is the last thing it needed.... But tbh it's so bad now I suppose I might as well give it a try. I'll look into it. It likely won't survive either way.

 

Any idea where I can get Lugol's iodine (that isn't online)? 

[Lula_Mae]

1 hour ago, samnaz said:

Can't do a water change until I'm home from work later tonight. The octospawn will be too far gone by then. I know there is nothing I can do at this point.

 

One of the two heads is just about completely gone. The other is still mostly alive but I don't have high hopes for it's survival. 

 

Photo from right before I left for work earlier today:

 

 

 

 

I was trying to avoid touching/moving it at all because more stress is the last thing it needed.... But tbh it's so bad now I suppose I might as well give it a try. I'll look into it. It likely won't survive either way.

 

Any idea where I can get Lugol's iodine (that isn't online)? 

Some LFS might carry it.  I'm not sure if you can use regular drug store iodine or not, I think some people have.  What was it you were dosing?  You could read up on it and see if it works in a pinch.

[samnaz]

I pulled the octospawn. The dead parts had fallen off on to the sand bed and a ricordea near it. Now the ricordia is half dead, pulled it from the tank too.

 

Did a 7 gal water change, vacuumed the contaminated part of the sand bed. So far so good.

 

I've had this tank for a year, never lost a coral. I obviously knew it would happen eventually but it was still a bit upsetting. What's done is done....

 

Thanks for your help @burtbollinger and @Lula_Mae

[mitten_reef]

7 hours ago, samnaz said:

I pulled the octospawn. The dead parts had fallen off on to the sand bed and a ricordia near it. Now the ricordia is half dead, pulled it from the tank too.

 

Did a 7 gal water change, vacuumed the contaminated part of the sand bed. So far so good.

 

I've had this tank for a year, never lost a coral. I obviously knew it would happen eventually but it was still a bit upsetting. What's done is done....

 

Thanks for your help burtbollinger and Lula_Mae. (how do I tag people...?)

@samnaz you tag them by adding @ in front of their name.  Sorry about the octospawn, doubly sad about ricordea. 

[schgr.cube]

Damn, sorry to see that happen...it was a very pretty octo. I hope this is just a blip, and you can go back to not losing any coral!

[yungKitten]

@schgr.cube I'm diggin the new avatar.

[schgr.cube]

12 minutes ago, yungKitten said:

@schgr.cube I'm diggin the new avatar.

thanks! I made the icon a little bit ago, but just threw this together. I wish I had one as cool as yours + your signature.

[burtbollinger]

how are the rest of the LPS?  Again, I really think this octo was torn in shipping or somehow damaged when it was added to tank....and what you witnessed was a slow dying that progressed until it was visible.

 

That said...Unless it went downhill a lot further and you noticed this, I might have kept the single head remaining head in the tank and hoped for a slow recovery.

 

A gut level vibe (could be wrong) that I get with you is that you react fast and move fast...no offense or anything, I understand the urge...but just slow down a bit, nothing good happens fast.  Let's say that head you tossed was gonna recover....if you could stand to look at it any longer, it might have looked bad for a while longer before you saw improvement.  

I also would not have pulled the ricordea unless it was dead-dead.

 

not a big deal...it happens.  this is also why I make sure that most LPS I buy are the branching variety...rare that I put a wall type LPS in my tank anymore....as its no fun when they go south.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[samnaz]

27 minutes ago, burtbollinger said:

how are the rest of the LPS?  Again, I really think this octo was torn in shipping or somehow damaged when it was added to tank....and what you witnessed was a slow dying that progressed until it was visible.

 

That said...Unless it went downhill a lot further and you noticed this, I might have kept the single head remaining head in the tank and hoped for a slow recovery.

 

A gut level vibe (could be wrong) that I get with you is that you react fast and move fast...no offense or anything, I understand the urge...but just slow down a bit, nothing good happens fast.  Let's say that head you tossed was gonna recover....if you could stand to look at it any longer, it might have looked bad for a while longer before you saw improvement.  

I also would not have pulled the ricordea unless it was dead-dead.

 

not a big deal...it happens.  this is also why I make sure that most LPS I buy are the branching variety...rare that I put a wall type LPS in my tank anymore....as its no fun when they go south.

 

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I put the ricordea back in the tank after removing the rotting flesh stuck to it and examinng it.

 

the octo was falling apart and dying. When I got home from work the second head was half gone. You think it's possible it would have suddenly stopped dying? Not likely. And it didn't seem like a good idea to leave it rotting in the tank. 

 

Your assumption about me acting fast and jumping from one thing to another is certainly not accurate. This was one instance in which I acted fast, it was dying fast. I think I made the right call here. Thanks though.