Reef woes

[Bree]

We are novice "reefers", having had our 110 gallon tank for about 9 months. From the beginning we had great luck with any corals we introduced into our tank, but no luck with fish. Lately, our corals started looking pale and withered when we noticed our temperature had increased from our usual 78 degrees to 84 degrees. We adjusted our temperature, but are wondering if our sad corals could be attributed to this...maybe our fish fatalities as well?
We recently had a blue tang and 2 green cromuses (sp?) die, in the past have lost 4 or 5 clowns, as well as a butterfly fish. Our water quality always checks out perfect.
Any suggestions at all would be appreciated.

[niloc16]

i had the same problems in the beginning with lost fish. still never figured it out, i guessed but never for sure. what are your latest tank parameters? was there any sign of disease on the fish? nitrates? how much flow in your tank? what type of filtration? let me know and i do my best to help you

[Bree]

Thank you for responding!

First, there was some disease on some of our earlier fish fatalities (ich), we cleared that up with medication - waited the recommended amount of time before purchasing more. Our fish fatlalities since then have been for no apparent reason that I could see.

We are running 4 double t-5 strips, 50/50 ten thousand K/actinic. Aqua clear 500 filter, and a good quality protein skimmer. 2 large power heads and 2 smaller ones.

Our anemone is doing well, as is our bubble coral, brain and toadstool corals. Our devils claw (which looked so good for so long) is now yellow and withered, our tree coral is all but dead and our finger coral and slipper coral are so pale as to be almost white.

Thanks again for your help

[Beverly]

Bree,

If corals are suffering, you need to find out what your alkalinity, calcium, magnesium and pH levels are. Don't know why these chemistry components are important? Here's a link from Christy's great Reference Library to help you understand testing and adjusting the chemistry in your reef .....

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php

HTH :) And happy reading :)

[niloc16]

if treated for ich with meds, that may be killing your corals. most meds have copper which will kill your corals. what type of med did you use. if you use a sponge filter in your aqua clear you have to rinse it clean at minimum once a week. im not 100% but research to see if your t5's are sufficient enough for the corals. i'm not sure because i've never used t 5's but i'm sure they are insufficient for your anemone.

[Bree]

Hi Beverly

We just had all of those suggestions re' water quality checked out today and all proved to be fine. Appreciate the link though!

Niloc 16 - thanks for the tips re' the ich medication. I don't remember which type of med' it was as I used it about 6 or 7 months ago...my corals have all started looking grim within the past week or two. Is it it possible the med' would start causing harm after all this time? We will start rinsing out the sponge filter - I didn't know that. In regards to the anenome, he has been the healthiest creature in my tank since we started adding critters!

[dirtyreefer]

if treated for ich with meds, that may be killing your corals.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Never treat your tank with meds if you have corals, or even plan on keeping corals or inverts as they will die. Even if you did a 100% water change, the meds (or copper) gets absorbed into rock and sand which might be almost impossible to get rid of unless you redo your tank.

[niloc16]

the copper never leaves the tank. and yes it could start to effect your corals now because it may becoming toxic in the tank. you can buy copper test kits, expensive though, try at your LFS and see if they'll check for you. thats good about the anemone. also if your filter cartridge has sponge/carbon pads replace once a month. you can buy poly filters that will assist in removing some metals, you put it in filter. hope this helps