there it goes
 

I have a 120 gallon, several year-old mostly fish and live rock system which I was beginning to populate with some hardy species of soft corals. This included 2 pink mushroom corals that were doing well for about 6 months and split to a number of about 12 total. I added a couple of other propogated green mushrooms on the other side of the tank from a friend's system that were doing well and splitting. I also have about a 2" size toadstool and some "devil finger" leathers that are also about 2-3". A few weeks back my mushrooms started to sag and shrivel, the pink ones especially. Now the green ones are following suit, and the devil fingers don't look so hot. I checked the water parameters with zero ammonia and nitrite and 20ppm of nitrate which is par for the tank. I supplement with iodine, calcium/Mg/Strontium and amino acids. To summarize, everything has been status quo or better in terms of water quality/tank conditions, but with these shrooms shriveling up I can tell things just are off. I started to think it was just a failed experiment into the world of corals until I noticed my purple pseudo missing today (read: dead) and my Eblei angel breathing a zillionX/min and on death's door. This morning, my flagfin is dead. Water parameters still checked out. I haven't targeted the cause of the coral decline, but given the lack of changing conditions and their previous health and prolification, I suspect some kind of allelopathy. QUESTION: Could the fish be affected by some type of soft coral chemical warfare to this degree? Some of the tank inhabitants appear to be unaffected, including cleaner inverts(snails and hermits), shrimps, and a galaxea coral which I acquired a year ago and appears well(I realize this is a actually a pretty delicate stony coral). I figured some of these other organisms would be the canary for water quality issues. In the meantime, on a friend's advice I have started to run large amounts of carbon today in an effort to pull out any toxins that may be in the water. Should I remove the remaining mushrooms? Incidentally, the pink shrooms were very close, and several actually growing on the stalk, of the toadstool-they seemed to almost have an "affinity" for it-before dying. Any advice into this dilemma is greatly appreciated.

I once had a bottle of amino acids that went bad. It killed most of my corals. Does your amino supplement have to be refrigerated? Stay away from supplements that have to be refrigerated. I would only supplement with calcium and magnesium and a general trace supplement which has iodine and strontium. Right now I would do a series of water changes to remove whatever is bothering your system. Good luck.

Hey Scott - Scott here.

You mentioned adding some snails to me, and I wonder about flukes causing problems with your fish. Can flukes be hitch-hikers on snails? (question for somebody on RC who'd know....)

Check these out:
[url]http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1253578&highlight=gill+flukes+hitchhike[/url]

[url]http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...hreadid=1287174[/url]

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I think it very unlikely that a chemical released by mushrooms or other coral killed the fish, except perhaps ammonia as a mushroom or something else died and decomposed.

Maybe the ammonia kit is not working, and something triggered coral deaths that in turn killed fish. Copper, for example.

How do you top off for evaporation?

Check your Alkalinity....I will bet it is real low. Alkalintiy has a big effect on mushrooms shrinking....

could it be the snails?
 

The only other thing that has changed in my tank recently is I put about 50 new self-harvested caribbean snails( USVI) which are alive and well in the tank. These were placed about mid December. Could they be the culprit or vector for some malicious parasite. There is nothing visible on the fish that I can identify whatsoever except for the respiratory distress and then quick demise. Perhaps the invert/mushroom issue is only temporally related and not directly related?

Top off is done as needed with 3-stage RO filtered tap water, as it has been for years. To that I alternatively add alkalinity supplement or calcium/Mg/Strontium supplement. I will check my alkalinity again. It has been good. Abscence of ammonia verified by several kits including Salifert...+ not all inhabitants affected. Thanks for replies!

Any dinoflagellate problem? They often poison the water.

Are dinoflagellates the pea soup water or the brown slime on the glass? Either way...I have clear water and clear glass(easily kept clean with the magnet).

Seems to me like things started to go bad when you added your friends corals.

I would get them out and do as big of a water changer that you can handle. And hope for the best.

Sorry for your troubles. :(

Any more fish looking sick? Any changes at all? (bump too) :)

This is a question for some RC experts (ie - somebody who's experienced this before):

Can his fish problem be from a hitchhiker on wild-caught snails?

My theory is that the coral issue is separate from the fish problem, and only coincidental in time. Anybody else have any ideas??