EMERGENCY. My tank is seems to be dying!

[racsoh]

Hi Everyone, my heart is broken. My tank that has been doing great all of the sudden seems to be going down hill. All my parameters are in check, yesterday I did a large (50%) water change and I planning on doing another one tomorrow. The only new introduction that I made was a Red Fromia starfish which looks like got caught in one of the power heads and its pretty banged up. I've include some before pictures and a video of how is looking now. I'm pretty devastated and about to give up.

Any help is greatly appreciated it. I really don't know what to do.

 

[TX_REEF]

the tank doesn't look like it's dying to me. Why 50% water changes? That seems like it would intentionally reduce stability of the system. Red Fromia starfish are not toxic to my knowledge, so I'd look to the large water change as the catalyst if inhabitants are unhappy.

 

[Lavey29]

Have you done a recent ICP test? What are the current parameters? Have you checked for rusty parts? Have you checked your dosing caibration?

 

[LPS Bum]

I’ve seen plenty of dying tanks. That doesn’t look like one.

I assume you did a huge water change because your starfish got chopped up by a power head? If so, you may have altered the water parameters too quickly. Best to do a series of medium sized water changes a few days apart. Run carbon, make sure temp, salinity, alk and calcium are on point. Your corals should recover.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Can you elaborate "tank is dying"? I feel like this is a game where we have to compare the 2 pictures and find the 10 differences lol

 

[racsoh]

Can you elaborate "tank is dying"? I feel like this is a game where we have to compare the 2 pictures and find the 10 differences lol

Thanks everyone for the fast response.
I don't have my parameter numbers with me now right now since I'm at work. But I asked my wife to take a video to see how the tank is doing, since for last few days the hammers and torches have retracted and some of them are completelyclose.

If you compare the images from 2 weeks ago versus the video my wife just took today, there seems something going on with the tank. As I mentioned, it has been like that for the last 3 days.

The 50% water change was the only thing that came to mind to try to balance whatever is going on.

I was dosing all-for-reef 25ml through 24h period.

Today I get home early, I'll test everything and post my values.

 

[KrisReef]

Can you elaborate "tank is dying"? I feel like this is a game where we have to compare the 2 pictures and find the 10 differences lol

Ditto - and I’m confident that I can’t win this one.

@tbrown has a winning track record…

 

[timmyrules]

Ummmm your tank looks beautiful

 

[strep]

the tank doesn't look like it's dying to me. Why 50% water changes? That seems like it would intentionally reduce stability of the system. Red Fromia starfish are not toxic to my knowledge, so I'd look to the large water change as the catalyst if inhabitants are unhappy.

True.

 

[TX_REEF]

Ummmm your tank looks beautiful

right? if that's a dying tank, then my tank is a full on junkyard

 

[timmyrules]

right? if that's a dying tank, then my tank is a full on junkyard

lol yeah, so is mine!

 

[Lavey29]

Thanks everyone for the fast response.
I don't have my parameter numbers with me now right now since I'm at work. But I asked my wife to take a video to see how the tank is doing, since for last few days the hammers and torches have retracted and some of them are completelyclose.

If you compare the images from 2 weeks ago versus the video my wife just took today, there seems something going on with the tank. As I mentioned, it has been like that for the last 3 days.

The 50% water change was the only thing that came to mind to try to balance whatever is going on.

I was dosing all-for-reef 25ml through 24h period.

Today I get home early, I'll test everything and post my values.

Anything dying in the tank even a big snail has the potential to irritate corals. Like previously mentioned if you run some carbon and do average size weekly water changes the corals should respond. Anytime my LPS look irritated I run a big bag of carbon. Having leather corals close by can cause irritation occasionally but not often. If you haven't done a recent ICP test then I suggest twice a year.

 

[racsoh]

Guys, as mentioned above, the pictures in my initial post are from 2 weeks ago.

These images are how everything looks just now.

All hammers and torches are retracted, and some completely closed up, I'm afraid I lose a few.

I just tested, and all the parameters are on check. However, I just found out that my sality is on the floor, 1.016 specific gravity.

I bought the saltwater water from the store on Saturday, and I did my 10 gallons water change as usual, and as mentioned above, is when the issue started - last time I tested before today was on Saturday before the water change.

In my stressed response thinking that was something else, guess where I bought the water yesterday...on the same freaking store and changed 15 gallons.

I tested with a Hanna Salinity Checker, a Webest Salinity tester, and a Refractometer and all results were similar.

I'm mixing 5 gallons myself now at 1.023 and to perform yet another water change tomorrow.

I'm out of ideas.

 

[racsoh]

lol yeah, so is mine!

Please see the pictures I just posted. Thanks

 

[racsoh]

right? if that's a dying tank, then my tank is a full on junkyard

Please see the pictures I just posted and you'll see the difference.

 

[TX_REEF]

I notice the polyp recession in the new photos.

I still stand by my original statement: 50% water change is generally not advisable, because you are effectively reducing the water nutrient levels by 50% in an extremely short time span, effectively shocking all the organisms in your tank. Unless you have dangerous contaminants that you are trying to remove rapidly, I would strongly advise smaller water changes.

 

[racsoh]

I notice the polyp recession in the new photos.

I still stand by my original statement: 50% water change is generally not advisable, because you are effectively reducing the water nutrient levels by 50% in an extremely short time span, effectively shocking all the organisms in your tank. Unless you have dangerous contaminants that you are trying to remove rapidly, I would strongly advise smaller water changes.

I appreciate and thank you for the advice. Unfortunately, I believe it is too late.

Do you think that doing a 5 gallon water change tomorrow with the correct salinity will have a positive effect on the tank?

 

[TX_REEF]

I appreciate and thank you for the advice. Unfortunately, I believe it is too late.

Do you think that doing a 5 gallon water change tomorrow with the correct salinity will have a positive effect on the tank?

certainly. but again, go slow. I'm glad you didn't try to raise it up to 1.026 from 1.016 all at once, because that would be yet another sudden shock.

Once you have this under control, you may want to consider exclusively mixing your own saltwater with ro/di at home, because it sounds like your LFS is not super reliable. Sorry this happened to you.

 

[KrisReef]

Yup, these corals look stressed. Rapidly changing things is not always going to fix the issue.

The real thing that needs to happen is to properly identify the source or the issue so that we can treat the source going forward.

Here at home, I just found that when I was working on the tank yesterday I dislodged my calcium reactor drip hose. The garage is high in Alk and looking wet. The tank MEASURED alk is down to 7.0, target had been steady at 8.0dkH for month/months since I emptied a CO2 canister and had a dip back then.

So for me, I measured where I am at, and will move towards where I want to be over the next week or so. No drastic bump back to 8.0, 7 is ok, just not where I want to keep stability at 8.0. I'm going to add a gallon or two (drip) over the next hour of salt water with elevated ALk and when that is done, remove a gallon of tank water to keep salinity stable and measure where the alk moved to. Repeat until done over the next few days.

We need parameter history, dosing history, to considered these elements.

Age of tank, water movement, skimmer fuge, or ???? equipment and methods of maintaining water parameters.

I'm out to handle my own disater here at home. SOrry, tanks are challenging some times, but stay calm and Reef on?

 

[Dom]

Yup, these corals look stressed. Rapidly changing things is not always going to fix the issue.

The real thing that needs to happen is to properly identify the source or the issue so that we can treat the source going forward.

Here at home, I just found that when I was working on the tank yesterday I dislodged my calcium reactor drip hose. The garage is high in Alk and looking wet. The tank MEASURED alk is down to 7.0, target had been steady at 8.0dkH for month/months since I emptied a CO2 canister and had a dip back then.

So for me, I measured where I am at, and will move towards where I want to be over the next week or so. No drastic bump back to 8.0, 7 is ok, just not where I want to keep stability at 8.0. I'm going to add a gallon or two (drip) over the next hour of salt water with elevated ALk and when that is done, remove a gallon of tank water to keep salinity stable and measure where the alk moved to. Repeat until done over the next few days.

We need parameter history, dosing history, to considered these elements.

Age of tank, water movement, skimmer fuge, or ???? equipment and methods of maintaining water parameters.

I'm out to handle my own disater here at home. SOrry, tanks are challenging some times, but stay calm and Reef on?

Won't the low salinity limit the ceiling on some of the parameters? I mean, is is possible to have a calcium north of 400 with salinity at 1.016?