tank trouble

[TikiDan]

I am at a loss here, all of my SPS are browning out and some are starting to bleach. LPS is melting away and both of my clams are dead. I checked all my levels with salifert test kits and it was stable so to double check I took a water sample to Aquatic central and his test show everything is perfect.

What could be causing my problem?

[sulcata1619]

I know you say your levels are perfect but it would help to state what they are. what did you test for?

[TikiDan]

My first thought was phosphates but AC's test showed it .005ppm

Temp : 77ËšF
PH : 7.9
SG : 1.024
nitrate : none
nitrite : none
Calcium : 430
DKH : 13

these were the #'s I got from Aquatic central

[sulcata1619]

alk is on the verge of being too high. do you know your magnesium levels? Has your alk always been that high or is it just recent. my alk went from a steady 8.0 up to 9.0 and most of my lps didn't like it and also my softies.

[northbay-reefer]

Your Alk is very high, this mean that your corals stop using Alk because it was stressed so alk doesn't get used up, but you probably kept adding alk right ?

What was your normal Alk reading ? was it lower ?

Since everything in your tank is stressing out then this mean something is out of whack in your whole system. Stop adding anything to the tank, skim like crazy and add more carbons, use a phosphate removal if you have it. Do an emergency water change too.

[TikiDan]

just changed 30 gallons of water, I haven't added alk to my tank in a month.
on the test kit (tropic of marin) it said it should be between 8 and 12

[jtarmitage]

Have you checked for Copper? Sounds kinda like a heavy metal issue. Possibly something is rusting in the tank.

[northbay-reefer]

Jtarmitage that could be a possibility.

Tiki Also have you buy any live rocks or dry rocks from anyone lately ? becarefull when buying live or dried rocks from other people since you don't know what they use in their tank. Live rocks also absorb metals like coper if it was used in a live rock fish only tank.

[TikiDan]

The only rock that I bought was from AC

[nashorn]

You might want to put some carbon in your sump in case it's a toxin.

[TikiDan]

I added chemi pure from AC and it seems to have cleared the water pretty good but I am not sure if some of my acros will make it.

[jtarmitage]

Keep doing water changes every other day or so for the next week as well so that if anything is in the water it will get diluted down.

[northbay-reefer]

Tiki if anypart of your acro is alive, frag it now so the infection doesn't spread. Once corals start bleaching or RTNing its spead fast like an infection so cut the good part and save it.

I second the waterchange dilusion.

[TikiDan]

Well, after 50 gallons of water and some TLC, I think i might be ok.

The only coral right now that is bleaching is my purple stag so I will frag that right
now. Thanks for all the input.

[nashorn]

If your ever in the city you can come by and pickup some free frags when your tank is ready. Or I can frag and leave at AC for you
Wayland

[TikiDan]

that is so generous. thank you so much. Give me another couple weeks and I will definitely take you up on that.

[clayspst]

nashorn that is what this hobby is about. good stuff

[TikiDan]

This is the purple stag I lost

[huskyrider]

keep in mind things like air fresheners, incents,smellies that flaot contain metals that can settle and poison a tank and are nearly impossile to detect and are rarely thought of as a reason for metal poisoning it's not always obvious.

[TikiDan]

Since I have pictures, I guess I can post shots of others I lost

[TikiDan]

[TikiDan]

here is the other clam

[TikiDan]

You can see my big clam on the right side of the tank

My kitten posed next to it for size comparison.

He was getting big

[TikiDan]

And this one is just cute

[TikiDan]