rapid corraline die off???? HELP

[bengeeee]

Help guys. My beautiful corraline algae seems to be dying off rapidly and turning white/disappearing. Could i have a creature that is eating it? Lack of calcium? What would cause such a rapid die off.

Ben

 

[Kensn]

That would be 2 reasons. Also a change in lighting or other water parameters. Do you have an urchin? Have you tested Calcium level?

 

[reedman]

Did you change you lights (new MHs)? It could be bleaching

How are your water parameters (Ca, Alk, temp)

You may have an urchin munching on it

 

[Kensn]

Wow freaky.....

 

[reedman]

you type too fast...and yes, very freaky

 

[Kensn]

As fast as the 2 fingers I type with will let me....

 

[bengeeee]

i dont have a calcium test kit but i have never added calc either so it could be that. No urchin here... i did try that red slime remover stuff though.

Ben

p.s. I will test water parameters and post up

 

[Kensn]

I would say, unless you do very frequent water changes, that the cacium is low in the tank. The coraline used it to grow, and now does not have enough to sustain it. I would suggest getting a calcium test kit and seeing where the level is at.

 

[Elmo18]

Low alkalinity will cause coralline algae to die off as well....

- Ilham

 

[Krish]

That is bizzare to have it die off like that, but it could be like Ken said, not nough calcium to sustain it. I had it growing nicely in my old setup and only added 2 teaspoons of liquid calcium a day. Not the best way to do it, but wasn't really interested in a calcium reactor at the time. Hope you get everything sorted out and can get some color back. I don't know how good the stuff is, but my friend from the LFS used some stuff called purple up to boost his coralline growth when it was low. He said he saw a difference when he added it, but that's another story(LOL). Your best bet would be though to check your calcium levels and see if that is your problem.

 

[snobanker]

Have you tested your uchin? Or changed you water parameters? maybe you have lighting that is eating it....jk

I have had that happen a little too. I just usually had a low calc level. It always seems to recover fine

 

[jeremys78]

Have you tested your uchin?

LOL!
I found mine to be good at reading, but horrible at math...
(J/K)

 

[Wayupnorth]

When I changed my bulbs from Coralvue 15K to Geisemann 14k my coralline that was covering my back wall turned first a white color and then green. It didn't effect it on my rock though. I am pretty sure it was green coralline cause it was still really hard and had to be scraped off. It is now slowly starting to turn back to purple.

 

[My2heartboys]

LOL!
I found mine to be good at reading, but horrible at math...
(J/K)

Whoa---didn't know we were supposed to test them. Guess I will have DH the math teacher run him through the local schools standards tests. )


That would be one sure way to get my own room--------with rubber walls. )

Anne

 

[bengeeee]

Ok guys. Now i have another problem. My blue linkia star fish is all but dead.

I ran some tests and came back with everything being normal except ph.

I had some trouble pinning the color down but if i read it correctly its up around 8.8.

Also my bubble coral is looking kind of sad today where as yesterday it was fine.

Any ideas guys?

Also, what can i do to lower ph?

Ben

 

[reedman]

Water changes will bring down the PH.

If you are up at 8.8 (give or take 0.2 if you are matching colors) then that would certainly affect your fish & inverts. Bring it down slowly over a few days. You are at least 0.5 too high.

If this was a rapid change in PH then the bleaching could be from that. I would monitor that pretty closely for a while. You really don't want swings in the PH. Are you dosing Kalk? Did you put in a large amount of Alk supplement? Something drove up the PH or you have a bad test (you might want to take a sample to the LFS to have it tested to rule out the test kit).

 

[My2heartboys]

Ok guys. Now i have another problem. My blue linkia star fish is all but dead.

I ran some tests and came back with everything being normal except ph.

I had some trouble pinning the color down but if i read it correctly its up around 8.8.

Also my bubble coral is looking kind of sad today where as yesterday it was fine.

Any ideas guys?

Also, what can i do to lower ph?

Ben

I'm just a beginner Ben, so please excuse this question if it sounds rude. Please know that that is not my intention.

When was the last water change done and how much compared to how big your tank is? Do you have a quarrenteen tank, if so I would move the starfish to that for easier observation.

Just a couple of thoughts that may or may not be worth anything. The one thing I have picked up through doing all of this is when things start to go sour and you can't pin the reason down--go back to your basics. Test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, pH, dKH, SG, and if all else fails--do a massive water change.

I know that even with supplementation-water will still need to be changed from time to time. What I was told is that things in the tank will tell you by the fact that they start looking sad or I would add irratible.

Anne