Corals & Anemones Dying...help?

[GillJoy]

All of my soft corals and anemones are dying off. It started a couple months ago with a Xenia "melting" and then my toadstool started looking weary. It died 2 weeks ago and then my Devil's Hand Leather is starting to look "bleached' and is shrinking. Two of my 3 anemones are completely gone now with the 3rd on the brink. The anemones took the turn quickly and went from okay to gone in a week.

All of my fish are in great shape and happy.

Although I struggled with Nitrate being a little high (40 PPM for over a year) it is now FINALLY coming down (at 20 PPM). The only thing that changed in my system was the salt going from Oceanic (only used a 150 gal bucket as it made the calcium levels high) then Tropic Marin (used for over 600 gallons) and then just switched to Kent Sea Salt to "try it out" per the suggestion of my LFS.

Right now, PH is 8.2, Calc at 500, Nitrate at 20 ppm, Nitrite is 0, Ammonia is 0.

For food, I was giving the anemones some frozen mysis shrimp and then adding the concentrated forms of Kent ChromaMax and Phytomax 1-2x per week, alternating between the 2. I also dosed the tank with PurpleUP 1x every 2 weeks.

Sorry for the length but wanted to be thorough. Any suggestions/thoughts are greatly appreciated.

[bitis316]

To many nitrates to start....water changes......Every other day or so until 0-below 5

[bitis316]

Do you have a sump.....Bio balls???? If so try live rock in your sump....Try not to have bioballs...Use new filter media everytime....They build up nitrates if you don't...Then try some Dick boyd's chemipure...It's like god made. I sware.....I use 8 full containers in a 1000gallon display at a resterant downtown...and two in every tank i own....I change them out every three months...Rinsing them weekly.........

[gflat65]

First off, what is your alk? That is likely the single most forgotten killer... Many times, the calcium and alk will run opposite (one high and one low) if not balanced, but not always.

What kind of anemones? How do they die (describe the process-may not help, but you never know...)?

Over what period of time did you do all of the different salt attempts? How much of each one (~gallons of each over the duration) and for how long? Nitrates are still a little high, but you could be shocking everything from changing salts so much. You might possibly have gotten some bad salt too.

Do you use RO/DI for WC water and top off? If so, how old are the filters? I lost a number of corals a few years back due to an RO issue. Something ate a whole in the membrane and it flushed the filtered out crap from 6 months of use into my WC water. Everytime I did a WC, it got worse and worse... Changed the filters and everythign corrected itself in a few weeks. My anemones (GBTA's) multiplied from two to eigth due to the stress instead of dying.

[Ken668]

How long do you let your freshly mixed salt sit before performing a water change? Some brands tend to mix and stabilize quicker than others. I typically recommend at least a good 12 hours of agitation and aeration before performing the water change (24h preferred). Although IO has never given me a problem with only a couple hours time.

I've hear a couple horror stories about tanks crashing when switching To & From Tropic Marin salt. After those couple posts, I've made an effort to steer clear of that brand.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

[Hormigaquatica]

Check you dKH for sure. I would also suggest looking at your phosphate levels if you havent already. How is the algae growth in the tank- if its pretty rapid that may be a sign of excessive nutrients which can also have an effect (esp. on the anemones).

I would be concerned with toxins in the water as well, since it sounds like things have made a turn for the worse relativly quickly. Is it possible that anything could have gotten into the water? Windexing the glass, air spray, lysol, any cleaners at all on or around the tank? Ive even seen scented candles and plug-ins, as well as heavy smoking, in the same room as a tank or its equipment lead to fast crashes similar to what youre describing. All just thoughts to go over...

Just to be safe, keep up on your water changes, and I would suggest running a Poly Filter in there to remove any potentially harmful toxins that have built up.

Check your temperature as well- make sure its stable within 2 degrees or so all day and night.

Good luck with it...

[GillJoy]

Holy smokes! GREAT feedback. thank you. Here's what I CAN tell you based on your input:

1) I switched from bio balls to LR when I started having the Nitrate problem (about a year ago).
2) Just tested the Alk level and it's measureing Norm to High (using a Red Sea kit). I also tested the Phosphate and it looks like it's at 1.0 or a little above (using a Nutrifin kit).
3) The anemones WERE all bubble anemones: 1 green which split about a year ago and a rose. The rose was quite large and is now down to a golf ball size. They just started getting smaller and smaller until the past week when when they completely disappeared (except what's left of the rose).
4) Switched from Oceanic to Tropic Marin a year ago. Used that for a year and then started with the Kent a month ago (after the toadstool died off). I was running tank changes with RO/DI H2O of 20% 1x per month for 10 of the last 12 months and then every other week for the past 2 months. The RO/DI unit & filters are only 8 months old.
5) Once I add the salt to the RO/DI (35 gallons), I run a submersible pump for at least 12 hours before executing a change.
6) Algae was growing at a fairly rapid rate a few months ago but has certainly calmed down a bit.
7) No cleaning products have been remotely near the tank.
8) Temp is stable.

I have been using PURA PhosLock for over 6 months but it hasn't completely removed traces of phosphates (as per my testing tonight). Might need a change. I will try the ChemiPure.

Another thing to consider is that I DID, in fact, lose a good quantity of my cleaning crew (at least 20 ceruth snails and about 6 turbo snails along with a good amount of small hermits) over the past year as well. There are about 5 small hermits and 4 turbos working overtime in there and I have been meaning to replenish the crew. For a 150 gal FOWLR tank, I'm sure what is in there is not doing a great job. I also think the Nitrate spikes have been due to a lot of snail carcasses tainting the water.

Bring it on! I would like to remedy this so I don't get to the point of frustration and interest loss. Thank you all again for your valuable input.

[kau_cinta_ku]

"2)I also tested the Phosphate and it looks like it's at 1.0 or a little above (using a Nutrifin kit)."

right there is your prob. 1.0 of phosphates is a killer for corals. as for your nitrates yes a little high but mine run at around 40ppm and all my corals are very healthy, growing fast and great color.

[GillJoy]

Would you recommend a Phos-reactor vs. some chemical filtration? Any chemical filtration or quantities that you would recommend to wipe this problem out?

[Hormigaquatica]

heavy water changes from a phosphate free source, and maybe a PO reactor would help you out with that. Youre right, that value is about 10x what I would consider safe.

[xian3000]

Do you dose calcium often? Too much calcium can literally "melt" corals as you put it.

[GillJoy]

I used to dose with the 2 part Bi-Ionic Buffer/Calc system but that was when I was using the Oceanic and realized that my calc levels were around 500. At that time I switched to Tropic Marin salt to get the calc down to 420-450 and seldom used the 2-part system (used only the buffer component). I rarely use either now as the PH is stable. Even when I was using the Oceanic salt, the corals were thriving.

[GillJoy]

Here's an update: after 2 weeks, 4 water changes, a Tropical Science Phosphate Filter (2-day treatment) and installing a PhosBan Reactor with PhosBan media, I have brought the phosphates from 1.0+ to 0.0. Nitrates have also dipped to 10 ppm (from 40 ppm).

Going to wait it out another week or so and then begin to add new inverts and anemones.