Primeval Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 I recently purchased a large number of coral frags. This was my first time having corals so I shouldnt have ordered them all at once but I wanted to save on shipping and I was sure my parameters in my 10gal would be sufficient for the addition. Aparently either my tank was not old enough to handle this bio-load or something. All of my coral frags died or are dying. I added: 3 zooanthid frags 1 mushroom frag 1 red coco worm cabbage leather bali devil finger leather the devil finger died first, the zoos stopped opening, the mushroom was being swept off the rock by my current and my cabbage turned white and nasty. The worm still came out and I actually saw it on my glass eating algae at one point. but it stopped coming out and I havent seen it in 2 weeks. The only thing remaining is some small heads where zoos were and some white slime in the shape of a cabbage leather. The coco worm is about 9inchs long(its cacoon like thing). my amonia and nitrates are high and remain high even after water changes. I am not sure what I did to these corals since I keep a close tab on my water parameters. I kept my iodine at about 6, sg at 1.25, and my calcium at 440. Anyone know what could have happened to them? Should I remove all the frags or is there hope for them to return if I improve the water quality alot? Link to comment
Case Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 what where the parms before you put the corals in the tank Link to comment
EtOH_is_good Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 imo, the only hope now is to keep doing multiple water changes after removing the dead stuff, until the lr is able to keep up with the nitrites. if your sig is correct, you should of been able to handle the bioload, esp if the lr is of quality. however, i'd also recommend a few more pounds of lr. as case asked, what where the nitrates before adding the new inhabitants. how about the lights? has the shroom found a low flow area to live in? i also think that your sg should be 1.025 not 1.25 Link to comment
Primeval Posted September 20, 2004 Author Share Posted September 20, 2004 yes, i meant 1.025. And to answer your questions, my params were almost perfect. My nitrite may have been a little high at times since my tank is still new (started at end of june) but not any higher than 5. And the LR is fiji and was fully cured on purchase. I am thinking about taking out all the frags and removing the dead #### and giving the rocks that they were growing on and what may be left on the rock (dead coral base) a lugols dip for about 15 minutes in hopes of maybe saving something. These frags were kinda pricey and I hate watching them in the condition they are in. But if it is going to hurt my tanks overall production, Ill remove them completely Link to comment
Primeval Posted September 20, 2004 Author Share Posted September 20, 2004 by the way, i got rid of the damsel Link to comment
EtOH_is_good Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 definately, cut or scrape away the dead tissue. i think your shroom and polyps could handle the horrible water, but don't know about the others. are your hermits taking care of the dead stuff or are they hiding? it's very important to get rid of the dead stuff because it'll lead directly to ammonia and nitrites. Link to comment
Primeval Posted September 20, 2004 Author Share Posted September 20, 2004 my snails and hermits are worthless. the shroom is completely gone. there is just a small spot where you can tell something used to be growing there. I am more concerned about the leathers and zoos growing back one day. And is my coco worm ever going to come out again or is it dead? I know the day before it stopped coming out altogether, it was about 6 inches out of the cacoon. It was big and black looking and puffy with the pink-like crown at the end and it was kinda looking around in the middle of the night. Then i never saw it again Link to comment
Primeval Posted September 20, 2004 Author Share Posted September 20, 2004 and to answer your questions earlier, the mushroom was placed in a low light low flow area by me when i bought it but it still died and peeled off the rock. and my lights are generally only on about 8hrs a day or my tank starts to look like pea-soup. and I use R/O water Link to comment
Somtinfishy Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 What brand testing kits are you using? I hear Salifert are the best. My husband and I have 3 calcium tests- each one manufactured by a different company. I wanted to see if we could get the same result with all three. Guess what? Absolutely not! We each did the tests by ourselves and compared our results-they were the same. All three tests tested differently- Can you believe it! One test on my calcium was 600, one 375, and the other 440. I'd like to believe the 440:.), but I don't know, so I am ditching all three brands (Red Sea, Nutrafin, and SeaTest) and I am buying Salifert as recommended by the boards. So maybe your test kits aren't helping you out like me??? Just a thought. Good luck! Link to comment
Primeval Posted September 20, 2004 Author Share Posted September 20, 2004 these tests came from my LFS Link to comment
Alx510 Posted September 21, 2004 Share Posted September 21, 2004 Originally posted by Primeval my amonia and nitrates are high and remain high even after water changes. I am not sure what I did to these corals since I keep a close tab on my water parameters. I kept my iodine at about 6, sg at 1.25, and my calcium at 440. Anyone know what could have happened to them? Should I remove all the frags or is there hope for them to return if I improve the water quality alot? Ammonia is poison man. if you're tank is cycled and your ammonia is high it means you have something producing alot of waste in there (possibly something dead and decaying?) Nitrite is pretty bad too. check around for anything that may have crawled under a rock and died and control your feeding to help keep waste down, and do a series of water changes to help get rid of all the waste you already have Link to comment
Primeval Posted September 21, 2004 Author Share Posted September 21, 2004 I think I may have lost a snail or 2. They are pretty big and I generally only see about 3-4 of them at a time. And I have 9 of them. check the coral and nano gallerys for my recent posts of my coral purgatory Link to comment
Alx510 Posted September 22, 2004 Share Posted September 22, 2004 what kinda lighting you got? Link to comment
Primeval Posted September 22, 2004 Author Share Posted September 22, 2004 PC- current USA satellite with 2 40W bulbs. 1 daylight and 1 ac. Link to comment
cjl Posted September 22, 2004 Share Posted September 22, 2004 Your coco worm is dead---- get all dead and half dead things out of the tank and start over. Take it slow, start from the bottom up Link to comment
Primeval Posted September 23, 2004 Author Share Posted September 23, 2004 190 bucks gone Link to comment
holyherbiness Posted September 23, 2004 Share Posted September 23, 2004 live and learn happens to all of us Link to comment
Primeval Posted September 23, 2004 Author Share Posted September 23, 2004 added 2 more lbs of live rock in there to help filter Link to comment
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