Vicki's 40b

[vickiwilson]

The rock in the 20 is infested with flatworms an has majanos running rampant.  I started out with all new rock to cure these issues.  I got a few new pieces of live rock when i started up the tank, maybe i should go get a few more bits and put them in the sump. 

[vickiwilson]

I was thinking it could be the glue i used to seal the plumbing, maybe it's leaching something into the tank that i can't test for?  everything as new, sand, rock, equipment..  it can't be the plastic i used for the overflow or the silicone because i used exactly the same type on the 20 with no issues.

I'm going to mix some salt tonight, only half a gallon from the new bag i opened and run tests on it, this only started up again since i opened that new bag; although the other 2 tanks look fine using the same salt.

[lazylivin]

Okay I can understand that. I had similar issues when starting with dry rock on my current system. Dry rock seems to take forever to be stable enough for hard corals.

[vickiwilson]

I've moved the sps that looks bad but looks like it will recover out and back into the 3 g, and strangely the acan's and my little pink finger leather don't seem fussed about whatever's happening at all so I moved the large green devils hand into the 40.  It'll be pissed but its come back from much worse and is super hardy.  I still have 1 more colony to move and then I'll just keep an eye on it for a while.  If its not affecting water quality (ammonia/nitrate) which right now it isn't I think I'll go ahead and move my fish when I get a spare few hours.  They might help stabilize things with their magic poop. 

So far nothing has died, just looks annoyed so I'm hoping everything will come back in a week or so. 

[vickiwilson]

Okay, nitrate is a little high, it's under 20ppm but I'd rather it was lower than 10 but everything else is good.  I'm not going to try to worry too much about the tank, I'll do another WC add some prime and wait until things pick up. 

[Jon in SW Ohio]

The next time you purchase salt try ESV B-Ionic Seawater System and a digital scale. If you are even a little OCD about water parameters being the exact same every time you make a batch of water, you will love this salt. I've never had happy corals with Reef Crystals unless I was fanatical about dosing and constantly "fixing" my water and even then was never impressed. After a few years using ESV I refuse to use anything else and have never had an unhappy coral with it.

It's not the cheapest salt out there, but makes such a huge difference in my experience that I can't recommend it enough.

[vickiwilson]

Thnks for the recommendation, I'll check it out next time I need salt.

It's funny, I've never had an issue with corals until I started this new tank, now. Have issues with almost everything.  Luckily my big devils hand doesn't seem bother by this issue at all.

[vickiwilson]

In an effort to keep moving this tank forward i've bought 2 pj cardinals which are in QT right now. I've had some die off but i've been testing the whole time and honestly parameters look good, so its either an unknown contaminate that is the issue or something i'm not testing for like trace elements.

I've decided for now to just see how things go, keep an eye on parameters and take out anything that dies off completely.  I'm going to wait until after i've added the cardinals before i move my other 3 over since they're more aggressive.  I'm also thinking of adding more leathers to the tank and making leather corals the main focus, they're hardy and the two i have haven't been bothered in the slightest by this recent issue.  Acans also haven't even twitched and look great.

No photos until things start to pick up and look better, hopefully the monticap will regain it's colour (which does look like it's happening) and i can move it back from the 3 g, the hammer looks like it needs more tlc, it's withdrawn but still has colour so i'm hopeful it will recover and then it'll be moved back over.

Teething issues of having a new tank i guess. 

[Kenn]

Good luck to you. It sounds like you are doing everything you could possibly do.

[vickiwilson]

Thanks!  It's baffling.  This is the second round of strange coral die off/coral irritation in as many months, i guess it's just the tank settling in so there's not really a lot for me to do other than monitor it and let it settle.

[vickiwilson]

Some before and after photos of the tank and some corals

Most recent fts before the issue, nice healthy corals all growning.



Side shot showing the hammer, 20 + heads i think



Red monti cap during the issue (it looked worse but i didn't have the heart to photograph it)



and this morning looking like it's recovering and getting colour back, i did have to break off the edges which had completely bleached



and now for the kicker... the large hammer

during it's worst, spewing it's guts i think



and today in the 3g qt. It's hard to see but it's withdrawn but no longer spewing.  I think i can see flesh still, like i said it's hard to tell, but until it is just a bare skeleton it gets to stay.



It looks like the 2 large duncan heads might be done for but the 3 baby heads it has grown since it's been with me are putting out tentacles so i think that will make it.

I don't have a fts from today as the lights weren't on before i left for work.

[vickiwilson]

Since it's been a bit doom and gloom around this thread lately i thought maybe some photos of my happy corals would brighten it up a bit.



(ignore the half dead twig in the background)


Looking much better


Fluffy and happy!  The devils hand it almost finished shedding and will fluff up in a few days i think.


The war coral is still stuck in the 20g, i'll have to chip it off the big rock when i tear that tank down.

[bbtm64]

Looking good!

[delta1190]

i don't see the zoas i loved did they go bye bye ?

[vickiwilson]

They're still in the 20 on the rock.  That tank will be up for while yet with all the issues the 40 has had, my fish still live in there.

[Delerium]

Wow that's beautiful! I'm impressed <3

[vickiwilson]

Thanks!  It'll look better once things settle down and stop freaking out on me . Oh and once it has fish in too. 

[vickiwilson]

The 20G is gone.  I tore it down tonight and moved my 3 fish int the 40G.  The 2 pj cardinals have been in there about a month and are doing great.  So far everyone is getting along fine, no aggression; but I'll have to keep an eye on Lizzy and Bingley once they get settled.

I managed to save a large chunk of my war coral and its in the 3G with the green poci and the red Monti cap.  They'll stay In There while they're being de-wormed. 

The bicolor hammer sadly didn't make it, about 5 of the 30 heads showed signs of coming back but it just didn't pull through.  Maybe in the new year once I'm ready to start adding new corals to the tank I'll be on the hunt for a new one.  I loved that coral too

The tank on the while is aging ups and downs.  The fish are fine and the water chemistry is fine but the corals that are left just don't seem happy.  I'm hoping now that i've moved another bulb over the tank that things will pick up but who knows.  This could end up a fish only tank if I can't figure out the problem.  Oddly the zoas I have seem to be doing fine, making new heads and everything, just everything else is annoyed. 

When the lights come on tomorrow I'll take some photos of the whole fishy gang in their new home. 

[vickiwilson]

Finally getting back on track! 

[delta1190]

Looks great Vicki keep up the good work !

[vickiwilson]

Sad day in my house, I went out for maybe half an hour and when I got back I found Lizzy on the floor by the tank.  The tank has a glass lifted but there's a gap that runs along the back and I guess she was flipping around at the surface of the water like she did and flipped too much.  I feel bad that I wasn't here to pick her back up and pop her back in the tank, if only I hadn't gone out. 

[delta1190]

you will find Lizzy 2 someday even it wont be Lizzy but it will be good to

[vickiwilson]

Nope, she was irreplaceable.  Bingley will miss her too.

[vickiwilson]

I'm fed up with this tank, i was almost ready to throw in the towel and tear down the whole thing yesterday.  It's going through another round of mysterious bleaching and death.  I checked everything known to reefing and man yesterday and everything is stable and normal and i was at a loss.  However, looking at how this tank has been since set up i have noticed it goes through periodic cycles of being fine and then death.  I think the sump tub might be leaching toxins into the water, it's the only real explanation i can come up with.  So i've got new water cooking ta home, i'm taking a half day (i hope) from work and going to find a replacement sump tank.  It should be an easy switch out of the tub and the new tank once the sump is empty.

If a new sump doesn't alleviate the problem i'm done. 

My 20 g rigged piece of junk, pest infested tank of horror was more successful than this thing!  I knew without a doubt that whatever i put in that tank would live, this 40 g is a tank of death, not only has it killed over 80% of my coral population i also lost a beloved fish.

I still have sps sitting in a 3 g and they're thriving and doing much better without any filtration and with hardly any flow.  I can't put them in the 40g, i just know that if i do they'll die.  If the issue is not resolved with a tank change then i will have some sps to sell, i'm getting sick of my kitchen bench being taken up with the small tank, i'd like to use my coffee maker at some point in the future and it is currently blocked by a tank that was meant to be temporary.

[delta1190]

Vicki somebody told me that the purigen and chemipure in the sump if it's left in there too long release toxins I don't know how long yours is been in there but I would pull them out first and check on that and see what happens just my thoughts