HELP - tank occupants seem on an all time low

[ashima]

HI,

God knows what has happened...all of a sudden, all the corals seem to be sulking. The frogspawn is out but not happily, the brain corals are ok at night but during the day they are kind of twisted, the hammerhead is just not coming out and the flowerpot is also not fully there. The star polyp went thru the same thing but has recovered and seems normal but I just don't know what's troubling the rest. The water parameters are superb and we have been doing regular water changes also. Temp is also just fine. Anyone has any clue as to what we can do or are we missing something.

I personally feel this happened when we introduced a red branchy looking coral. I looked up the web and I can't seem to get a name for it. It's not fire coral and it's not even a leather. I wonder if it some kind of plant / weed? Am attaching so pics of the red thing, the hammerhead and the mushroom coral.

Please let me have your views.
Thanks much

 

[Myteemouse]

your"HEAMMERHEAD" looks like a candy cane to me!

DID the star polyps do this AFTER you added the "RED THING"

 

[tike]

They are looking a little stressed. When you say water is superb, what does that mean? Throw out some numbers for us. Have you changed bulbs lately? Is there ANYTHING you have done/added lately besides the red thingy? It looks like some type of red algae to me but i am ht sure.

 

[tike]

Adam.....you're waayyyy too fast!:badgrin::badgrin::lol::lol:

 

[returnofsid]

I'd also ask what you mean by "superb." Describe your tank, in as much detail, with all equipment used. Do you have an RO/DI unit? Also, what do you test for? What kits do you use? What are your parameters? Describe your tank maintenance schedule. What, if any, additives are you putting in the tank? What lighting do you have? Has lighting changed at all lately? Any new additions at all, other than the red branchy thing...lol? Looks like a macro algae to me. What kind of flow are the effected corals receiving? What fish or other inverts do you have in this tank? How close are these corals to one another?

For now, I would suggest doing a large water change and running carbon, to remove any alleopathic toxins or other toxins that could be in the water.

We need results for the following:

Ammonia
Nitrates
Phosphates
Ph
Salinity

Your problems could be stemming from too much flow on those particular corals to high nitrates or phosphates. Could also be caused by alleopathy, coral warfare. Even if the effected corals aren't touching, or even near one another, coral warfare can kill corals at a distance IN THE OCEAN, so they surely can in our little water boxes. Running carbon will help with this.

 

[returnofsid]

Also, how long has this tank been set up...how long have these corals been in this tank?

 

[ashima]

ok here goes.
90 gallon tank, one year old, 2X 150W metal halides (changed bulbs 3 months ago), skimmer, RO, chiller ( temp maintained at 25 C )
Nitrite,Nitrate, Ammonia, Phosphate all read zero. salinity 33 ppt sp gravity 1.025 and ph 8.4

The power heads and filter specs will post tomorrow - close to midnight right now.
Fish : 1 yellow tang, 1 blue tang, 1 wrasse, 1 clown percula, 1 bi-color angel, 1 dwarf lion ( died few days ago...could he be the one causing all this?!?!) 1 fox face and one more angel, i forget the name now.

We also have a red knobbed starfish... i know, i know...we should'nt have that but we got it in excitement only to realize it does not belong here. He did gulp doen the clam though but has not yet shown any indications of attacking anything else.

Yes this whole thing seems to have triggerd as soon as that reddy was introduced to the water.

it's so sad to see them this way. Please help. My husband who is quite clued up with all this is also at his wits end trying to figure out what the hell happened.

 

[ashima]

oh btw...my husband has lately seen red hairy worms coming out in the night. They are not flat. We have also spotted an earthworm looking worm and a thing that looked like a slug ( we did not put it in) but when it moved, it sped....so a high speed slug like thing also.

We put purple up around two weeks ago. And yeah i feel some of the corals are a bit close to each other. Daytime they all behave but who knows whats happening in the dark...will move them apart.

 

[returnofsid]

It does seem all your parameters are good, though I'd highly suspect the accuracy of your test kits. The reason I say this is because your tank is overloaded with too many fish. Because of this, you should be getting nitrate or phosphate readings.

Since this all seems to have started with the introduction of the "red thingy," I'd recommend removing it to see if things get better. Also, if the red thingy is the problem, filtering with carbon might alleviate that...might not be enough though.

Typically, if problems start shortly after making a change or introduction, that change or introduction should be the first suspicion.

 

[ashima]

hmmm... the test kit is API's saltwater and reef test kits. The skimmer is huge ( much bigger than what we would need - I'll tell you the specs later) so maybe it's managing the load well? could that be the case? It's collecting jet black junk. I have not seen it this black ever in this one year.

 

[returnofsid]

I would suggest getting a different test or having a second test done by an LFS to verify your test kits. Typically, Salifert or Elos are very accurate hobbyist test kits.

Your skimmer might just be keeping things clean, which would be good.

I would still suggest removing the "red thingy" just to see if things improve. If things do improve, it'd sure be worth IDing it to see what you actually have and why it might be causing these issues.