Chyendra Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 All of a sudden one of my candycane heads stoped opening up and began to receed back into the skelton.. it didn't "puff out" at all for a few days and now you can actually see the skelton pokeing through the flesh, and little pieces are comming off. the only thing that happened before this is that i had just done a water change, but the SG, and temp were the same same as the tank. I had the lfs test my tank water when it began to look sick but my water is fine 0 amm, trites, trates, ph 8.1 but the DKH was a little low he said 5 i think.... could that be the problem... i've tried to slowly start doseing Seachem Reef Carbonate, but I'm not sure the low dkh is the problem. This is one of my oldest corals and it's never had a problem before, and this had come up VERY suddenly. I haven't tested phosphate yet, though i use R/O water. any ideas? This is so stressful, i don't want to lose my oldest coral! Link to comment
Korbin Posted September 21, 2004 Share Posted September 21, 2004 How are your other corals doing? The only thing I can think of is high calcium. Maybe the low kH number is indicative of severely high calcium driving the kH down. IME, super high calcium will kill off corals pretty quickly. I'd suggest doing a salifert calcium test. Also - I believe I read that a dkH around 6 is low enough that corals are no longer able to get carbonates from the water to build their skeletons. A dkH of 5 might actually cause the coral trouble, not only growing, but also dealing with daily metabolism. That's not based on fact - just some thoughts. So test your calcium - adjust as necessary. And buffer up that dkH with some baking soda mixed in DI water. Also check out your water change procedure - is there anywhere that contaminants could have gotten into your water? Maybe run some carbon if you're not already. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted September 21, 2004 Author Share Posted September 21, 2004 All my other corals seem fine, and are acting normal. My calcuim test kit is Hagen and last time i tested (a few weeks ago) It was really high. About 600 i think. I wasn't sure if the was the right value of it the test kit was wronge, but i'll deffiantly go get a salifert brand as soon as i can. Oceanic sea salt naturaly has high calcium levels, but I should hope not that high! I used to dose a calcuim supplement when i had IO salt but now i only add my carbonate buffer to my top-off water (seachem reef carbonate) I'm sure theres nothing in my mixing bucket, and I just moved and left my carbon back at home, so I'll pick some more up soon as well. I never hurts to run carbon, i shouldn't have forgot it. Thank you for the imput... the second head (bottem one) Is begining to look better. It's more puffed out but still isn't opening up or having it's tenacles out at all. The top one has stopped receeding... but it still doesn't look good.... anyway it could make a full recovering? It makes me so sad to see it half dieing.... Link to comment
Chyendra Posted September 22, 2004 Author Share Posted September 22, 2004 The candy cane is looking way better today! last night the bottem one had it's tenacles out and the top one looked like it had a few little tenacle tips wanting to be out. Today the top one looks more puffed out and happy even though some flesh is still rough looking by one of it's mouths. I'll keep you all posted on how it's doing... I've continued to dose my dkh buffer, and i did a small water change a few days ago so i think the calcium may be down to normal levels now... thanks for the reply! Link to comment
Korbin Posted September 22, 2004 Share Posted September 22, 2004 Thats great. I just thought - I heard its bad to do a water change with freshly-mixed saltwater. You should let it sit for 24 hours before adding it to the tank to let ammonia and stuff dissipate out. Maybe that had something to do with it. I still suspect the calcium though. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted September 23, 2004 Author Share Posted September 23, 2004 hmmm ammonia in freshly mixed saltwater? i've never heard that... but i think I will defiantly premix my saltwater from now on... just in case... Link to comment
Cyclo Posted September 23, 2004 Share Posted September 23, 2004 I haven't heard of ammonia either, but I think there can be chlorine. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted September 24, 2004 Author Share Posted September 24, 2004 *laughs* I sure hope there isn't chlorine in my R/O water but yes, IF you use tap, there might be chlorine and that will dissipate over night if left to stand. Link to comment
qualudethunder Posted September 24, 2004 Share Posted September 24, 2004 I would definatley let your mixes sit overnight. I run airstones for at least an hour or two as well. It takes a little time for all of the salt to mix properly and for all the levels to even out. It may not happen every time, but once in a while you may get that "shocker" if you mix and change too soon. Plus your sg may change slightly as it fully mixes. I have noticed changes in sg from the time I mix to the next day when I do the wc. This way you can fix the problem before its in your tank. I'm sure there are other levels that may change slightly overnight that you just cant see unless you test. Link to comment
gregb Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Use KENT buffer if possible it is more refined. Keep your ph at around 8.2-3 cal 450 sg 1.025 dKH 11-13 top up with kalkweisser 3 heap Tsp / 3lt make sure youuse the clear liquid not the cloudy at the bottom. If that coral starts to go cut some of the healthy flesh off and stick it into a small hole in your LR it might take . Good luck. A letter from Australia. Link to comment
typrboi Posted September 30, 2004 Share Posted September 30, 2004 my candy went through the same problem a couple days ago... the sg was @ 1.023... i brought the sg back up and it seemed to get alot better. Link to comment
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