Please help! all my corals are dying!!!

[cmolio2]

I haven't had any problems in the past 3 months with my 10 gal. reef tank. it is 8 months old. i have a 40 watt 1/2 and 1/2 pc on it and my coral growth has been exceptional up until about 3 days ago when all my corals began to bleach out and retract inside their skeletons. I have one blue/green ricordea mushroom, a montipora digi., galaxea coral, and tons of zooanthids. My water conditions are as follows:

Temp.- 75F
Ammonia-Near 0
Nitrite- Near 0
Nitrate-near 0
Calcium- 350ppm
Alkalinity-6
Ph- 8.2
Spec. Gravity- 1.025


PLEASE help me out. The montipora digi. that i have is a very rare color and i haven't seen any like it anywhere, so it is sort of irreplaceable.
Thank you in advance for any information you can contribute.

[elephen]

I assume you do regular water changes with RODI water? Any suppliments you might be adding too?

[MHannon]

more calcium? 400-450 ppm.

[cyberpanther]

As elephen pointed out above, are you using tap water or RO/DI? About 5 years ago I had a similar problem on my 75 and finally attributed it to using tap water after testing my water and finding 550 PPM. I have since started a larger tank and no longer have the 75 set up, just the 90 gallon (the 75 will be soon though), but ALWAYS use RO/DI on everything (salt mix, top off, etc). Who knows you very well may be using RO/DI, but just a heads up if you are not.

[Micki]

RO/DI for sure and more Calcium and the temp seems a little low to me. I keep mine between 79-82.

[29GallonReefer]

one more thing, does'nt a galaxea coral have extremely long sweeper tentalces.

[cyberpanther]

Very good catch 29GallonReefer . Actually I would think they may be able to touch just about everything in a 10 gallon, if the coral was big enough (and for a 10 gallon I wouldn't think it would need to be all that big since they have such long sweepers).

[cmolio2]

The galaxea is only about an inch across. I do use RO/DI water. The galaxea has been retracted for about 2 weeks now and he was the first to get all weird on me.

[cmolio2]

I supplement with Kent products. Strontium, molybdenium, calcium,Trace elements, Iodine, and i buffer th ph regularly.
I have recently had a red slime outbreak and i have for the most part taken care of it. Has anyone ever used Algae Magic by Weiss Organics. It has worked great (I think), but is it toxic at all to corals. It says that it is ok for corals but i dont know if thats true.

[yessongs]

The sweeper tentacles come out when the lights are off. IMO, thats a poor choice for a 10g tank, you should Consider removing it.

[cmolio2]

I have checked at night with the lights out and the coral has not come out at all for 2 weeks.It is bone white(down to the skeleton).

[jdieck]

Originally posted by cmolio2
I I have recently had a red slime outbreak and i have for the most part taken care of it. Has anyone ever used Algae Magic by Weiss Organics. It has worked great (I think), but is it toxic at all to corals. It says that it is ok for corals but i dont know if thats true.

How long ago did you trated the tank? Did you make a water change after the treatment?

[baja_01]

I would say its all those additives your using. Only add the ones you can test for.

Most trace elements are already many times higher than normal in the salt mix. Adding unknown amounts may have brought those to toxic levels.

I dont have a clue about alge magic, but why did you add it?

I would suggest several large water changes and running some good carbon.

[alten78]

as mentioned earlier the temp does seem a little low

When you listed the ammonia/nitrate/nitrite you say "near" 0...its either 0 or its not, kinda like saying you're a little pregnant.

At what point in your dosing did you notice the retracting/bleaching? It might be in your best interest to keep a log of everything done to the tank, would help pinpoint exactly what is going on and why.

Again as mentioned, some major water changes and carbon may be in order.

[menace]

I would think its all those additives being added. how often do you do water changes. I would ditch the additives and do some consecutive w/c to dilute whats in there.

[CitCat21]

Iodine can be toxic if overdosed.
As said i would run carbon and do frequent water changes.

[NeilPearson]

Originally posted by CitCat21
Iodine can be toxic if overdosed.
As said i would run carbon and do frequent water changes.

So can Strontium

molybdenium ... not sure what that is even for but I doubt a lot is good.

Trace elements ... which means what exactly? Probably more strontium and iodine and who knows what else

I agree way too many additives. The only things you should add should be calcium and an alk buffer.... kalk can take care of both of these. With baking soda or a calcium additive if they start to get unbalanced with each other.

Maybe dose magnesium too if you have measured it and it is low.

Get the calcium up over 400 and the alkalinity around 8. These are low. I'm guessing everything you don't test for is high. Corals use so little of the other elements, if you do water changes you will never have to dose these.

The only other thing I would check is phosphates... make sure they are zero.
Other than that, you are probably poisoning the corals.

[onefin]

I keep my Alkalinity @12 or kh, your's is at 6?, just a though.