Blasto coral shriveled in the past hour

[aerotiy]

So title says all.. just an hour ago this coral was completely open and colorful and has gradually turned into this. Every other coral is open and inhabitants looks normal.

 

coral has been in tank a little over 2 weeks

[SaltyBuddha]

I see a cleaner shrimp in the background. That guy could have irritated the coral. Mine used to do it all the time. 

[aerotiy]

4 minutes ago, SaltyBuddha said:

I see a cleaner shrimp in the background. That guy could have irritated the coral. Mine used to do it all the time. 

I hope that’s what it is, just strange this is the first time in 2 weeks that it’s been that irritated to close so much. Only time I see it that way is when lights are off. Maybe I worry too much

[SaltyBuddha]

Just now, aerotiy said:

I hope that’s what it is, just strange this is the first time in 2 weeks that it’s been that irritated to close so much. Only time I see it that way is when lights are off. Maybe I worry too much

Yeah I would just keep an eye on it. If it stays like that for a day or gets worse, then I would worry. Corals get irritated and close up sometimes. 

 

If it happens after any specific changes, new chemical filtration or water changes, then you may have a problem.

[aerotiy]

4 minutes ago, SaltyBuddha said:

If it happens after any specific changes, new chemical filtration or water changes, then you may have a problem.

I began dosing magnesium today after a test yesterday showed a crazy low level of only 1000 ppm. I have no idea why it got so low when the other day it was 1240. Calcium/alk tested at 380/9.8 which I know is low on the calcium end. I’ve been putting a little bit of 2 part in as well.

[SaltyBuddha]

Dosing takes a lot of calculations and should only be required with mature tanks with a lot of corals. Most tanks should only need water changes to get what they need. I'm guessing here, but your tank looks new from the above pictures.

 

I would guess your dosing is the cause of the shrivelles blasto.

 

Your low calcium/mg and high alk are not normal either. All three of these elements are dependent on each other. A change in one will change the other and so forth. Dosing must only be done after testing every day. If not twice a day.

 

I would stop dosing immediately and check parameters of the saltwater you use for water changes.

[aerotiy]

I’ve been checking these three params every five days and keeping a log; have only dosed a small amount of calcium a single time when it looked like it needed it. The parameters have been within the recommended ranges until the tests yesterday.

 

I’ll test my next batch of saltwater as well and see where it’s at

[SaltyBuddha]

3 hours ago, aerotiy said:

I’ve been checking these three params every five days and keeping a log; have only dosed a small amount of calcium a single time when it looked like it needed it. The parameters have been within the recommended ranges until the tests yesterday.

 

I’ll test my next batch of saltwater as well and see where it’s at

That's good. Don't dose unless you monitor parameters every day for a week. I am no expert on it but know it can really mess things up. 

 

Do you mix your own or get it from the store?

[aerotiy]

18 minutes ago, SaltyBuddha said:

That's good. Don't dose unless you monitor parameters every day for a week. I am no expert on it but know it can really mess things up. 

 

Do you mix your own or get it from the store?

Omg now my Purple Firefish which has been in my tank for 2+ months is dying I think. It’s in the corner of the tank breathing heavily and not moving. I did an emergency water change but nothing.

 

I mix my own saltwater.. I don’t know why the firefish is dying I looked up if it was possible to overdose mag and found nothing! Very upsetting  

 

edit: I found that mag would have to be considerably high to cause issues and I didn’t put that much of the ions supplement in there

[Clown79]

When dosing, you want to replenish what the corals have used. 

 

The best method to determine this is.

 

Test newly mixed salt water

Test right after a water change

Test everyday after that

 

When you increase ca your alk drops and vice versa. It's best using 2 part dosers to keep it balanced.

 

Corals often close up for no known reason or something irritated it. Another thing to watch for is parameter fluctuations.

[aerotiy]

1 minute ago, Clown79 said:

When dosing, you want to replenish what the corals have used. 

 

The best method to determine this is.

 

Test newly mixed salt water

Test right after a water change

Test everyday after that

 

When you increase ca your alk drops and vice versa. It's best using 2 part dosers to keep it balanced.

 

Corals often close up for no known reason or something irritated it. Another thing to watch for is parameter fluctuations.

I'm going to do that first thing tomorrow. My firefish officially kicked the bucket but clownfish seems normal as ever. Think this could be related or it was just one of those things?

[SaltyBuddha]

Really sorry to hear that. I just lost my first critter as well.

 

Well, I would say the blasto closing up could have been an early sign now that the firefish left us.

 

Have you tested all the other parameters? Ammonia?

Have you done anything else out if the norm recently?

[aerotiy]

3 minutes ago, SaltyBuddha said:

Really sorry to hear that. I just lost my first critter as well.

 

Well, I would say the blasto closing up could have been an early sign now that the firefish left us.

 

Have you tested all the other parameters? Ammonia?

Have you done anything else out if the norm recently?

Woke up this morning and the blasto looks worse. I began testing my water and there is indeed a small amount of ammonia in the water, no idea where it came from. I added prime already and I am unfortunately out of RO/DI so I am about to run out to the LFS to pick some up and do a large water change. What would you say is the largest safe % to change? The weird thing is that the Duncan Coral is open and looks good as ever, shrimp, snails, clown, and neon goby are also looking ok.

[SaltyBuddha]

Good call on the prime. If you match salinity and temp, I would do a 50% water change.

 

Some fish or corals might be more sensitive to it if they are not as healthy to begin with. You can do an iodine dip on the blasto as well if you want to help it recover.

 

Did you add any new fish recently to change the bioload on the tank? What is the size of the tank? Could be some snails died. Ive heard nerites can cause ammonia spikes when they die.

[aerotiy]

I have coral rx can I use that to help it or pick up some iodine while I’m at LFS? The last thing that I added was a neon goby and that was 18 days ago. I will count the snails when I’m home to see, I have 4 ceriths and 4 nerites. It’s an Evo 13.5 gallon with about 11 gallons after rock and sand are accounted for

[SaltyBuddha]

Coral RX will only irritate it more. That dip is for removing parasites and unwanted pests. Grab some iodine if you can. I would test the water from the LFS just to be safe. You never know.

 

That bioload seems fine to me. Maxed out maybe but fine. Did you stir up the sand bed at all?

[aerotiy]

Water is almost ready so fingers crossed this will help turn things around  I don’t stir the sand myself but I’ve seen the ceriths at it. I counted all 4 nerites and 2 ceriths but the other 2 are probably buried in the sand. Now that I think about it I haven’t seen my hermit this morning, but I did see him last night.

[jahnje]

how much ammonia, and with what test kit? 

[aerotiy]

It was 0.25 using an API kit

[jahnje]

21 hours ago, aerotiy said:

It was 0.25 using an API kit

.25 on an api test kit is pretty high for an extended period of time.  That's enough to do some more sensitive fish in.  I'd put in 1.3 ml of Prime at least every other day until all the ammonia goes back down to 0, or as close as your api test kit can show.  The prime will only encapsulate it for 48 hours at most, which should give your bio filter time to consume it.  If you still show NH4 now, then you either have a large producer, or something killed off your bio filter.  You can also dump in some seachem stability just incase.   

 

ps. basically if your nh4 stays high, you're just going to have to live cycle it. 

[aerotiy]

I’ve accounted everyone in the tank nothing seems to have died. Do you think my removing the protein skimmer would have removed some beneficial bacteria? I took it out because I couldn’t tune it right and I’ve put it back in since all this happened. I can’t think of what else has changed except my adding some magnesium supplement.

[jahnje]

9 minutes ago, aerotiy said:

I’ve accounted everyone in the tank nothing seems to have died. Do you think my removing the protein skimmer would have removed some beneficial bacteria? I took it out because I couldn’t tune it right and I’ve put it back in since all this happened. I can’t think of what else has changed except my adding some magnesium supplement.

I'm not familiar with the effect skimmers have on ammonia levels.  I'd think generally there going to affect nitrate levels more.  I'd honestly watch your ammonia, because you DO have a problem there.  And not mess with too much else in any drastic way.  Prime and Stability are your friends right now.  Keep your fish safe, and add some more bacteria to handle the overload of ammonia.  Your other levels are not going to kill anybody, so going slow on those and bringing them back into line over time is your best bet.  You can do that with varying sizes of water changes.  But i'd check your ammonia level in that too.  Others who have more experience in those things can speak to the best methods to accomplish it.  Also check your nitrite levels just too see.  

Edited November 18, 2017 by jahnje
typos

[JcSH2o]

8 minutes ago, aerotiy said:

I’ve accounted everyone in the tank nothing seems to have died. Do you think my removing the protein skimmer would have removed some beneficial bacteria? I took it out because I couldn’t tune it right and I’ve put it back in since all this happened. I can’t think of what else has changed except my adding some magnesium supplement.

I would venture to guess that while a skimmer does not remove ammonia, it does remove organic compounds before they have a chance to breakdown into ammonia. 

Your BB would have populated in accordance to this, and removing this export ability from the system may have caused the spike in ammonia while the BB grew to support the load increase. 

Just a rookie, just my thoughts. Cheers

[aerotiy]

Today’s ammonia reading and blasto pic. Is it a goner at this point?  other corals and fish looking ok. I put more prime and quick start in this morning.

[jahnje]

Keep the Prime steady, and you'll probably be fine.  You don't want to over do it either.  Some of my corals didn't like having a large amount of prime put in with them.  Fish wise, sometimes ammonia issues can cause problems a few days later, but just keep an eye on them.   Did you have any nitrite? I read your ammonia as over .25. Is it still climbing?