things are shrinking help.

[fishguy007]

things are shrinking

i have a 30 gallon reef tank..... i have noticed recently that some of the corals will slowly stop opening. or they seem to be disenegrating. my whole patch of xenia dissenegrated. my leathers are shrinking. some polyps have dissenegrated.

what could be the problem

[Rbacchiega]

How close are all the corals to one another....a FTS would be nice. Maybe some stinging going on?

[fishguy007]

they are not close at all.

what is a fts? all new to the hobby.

[Rbacchiega]

Full Tank Shot

Depending on what kind of corals are in the tank, there might be some stinging going on at night that you're not aware of....

[fishguy007]

could it be that i have not been doing water changes. i posted another link a few mins ago?\

[fishguy007]

i have a 30 gallon aquarium. saltwater reef

are water changes needed? i have not been doing any as I am new to the hobby and the pet store told me that they were not needed. they told me just to top up the evaporated water with fresh water and i would be fine.

my question is are:
- water changes needed in my tank?\

- what will happen if i dont do them?

-and when should i be doing them and how much each time.

[Rbacchiega]

yes, waterchanges are importat...I answered why in your other topic

[fishguy007]

so could this be the problem as to why things are shrinking?

[fishdaddy3]

the best way to tell is to test your water parameters.

[PoonTang]

so could this be the problem as to why things are shrinking?

My best guess would be "yes". Waterchanges are the first place we look when things are not right with our tanks.

[christyf5]

Hows your salinity?

[fishguy007]

salinity is 1.025 about maybe 1.026

[christyf5]

How old is your tank?
What is in it (fish/corals)?
What are your ammonia levels? Nitrate?
Are you running carbon?

[fishguy007]

tank is about 6 months. ammonia and everything is fine.

just a few leathers and such and a few fish .,

[christyf5]

Start running some carbon and do a 10 or 20% water change to start. Match temperature and salinity. Do this every week or every 2 weeks (I do 10% weekly on my tank).

Imagine living in a small space with 5 other people and never opening a window. Thats been their life for the last 6 months. They'd probly like a breath of fresh water :wink:

[fishguy007]

perfect. will do

so the water that i am adding. i will prime it and should i make the salinity of that water 1.025 as well.

[PoonTang]

No need to prime it if you are using RODI water (which you should be). Match the salinity to your tank ( 1.025) and temp too.

[Rbacchiega]

you bet. Usually what I do is make up the water the night before. Have a heater in there and a power head as well. Get the temp etc the same as your display tank and then the next day you're good to go.

[fishguy007]

i actually wanna drop the salinity to 1.020. most pet stores sell the fish at this salinity

[PoonTang]

Nope. leave it at 1.025. Drip acclimate any new things you bring home.

[christyf5]

Fish tanks are kept at low salinity because it is more likely that fish won't develop disease because many parasites can't tolerate low salinities. They also do it to save on salt (in my opinion). However, corals do not tolerate lower salinities. I would keep it no lower than 1.023 or 1.022 if you're really that interested in lowering the salinity. There is nothing wrong with 1.025

Yes use prime (careful with that stuff, never overdose) and match the salinity and temperature to the water in your tank and do a water change.

[fishguy007]

everyone says overdose and prime can hurt
what is wrong with that stuff?

what does it do? what can overdose do

[christyf5]

I have no idea but it melted some mushrooms and leathers quite nicely. Hmm much like your situation. Hows your prime dosing been lately??

[fishguy007]

hmmmm. i also have crushed coral on the bottom of the tank..

should i get rid of this and use sand?.

[christyf5]

nah crushed coral is fine. not ideal but if you want to leave it its not a big deal

[fishguy007]

just the crushed coral is getting green and dirty.

[christyf5]

yeah thats usually why people don't use it. it collects a lot of detritus. you could replace it with sand if you wanted, or use a siphon hose on it to suck up the crud in between and mix it up a little to get to the white sides of the rubble :biggrin:

[fishguy007]

ah what a learning experience... my wife pured prime in the tank like it was gold.

[christyf5]

yep that would do it. I'd recommend doing a minimum 25% water change to start with, do this this week and next. And take that bottle away from her, there are instructions on the back for dosing. Stick to them or reefing for you is going to be sad and expensive.

[pangking]

yep that would do it. I'd recommend doing a minimum 25% water change to start with, do this this week and next. And take that bottle away from her, there are instructions on the back for dosing. Stick to them or reefing for you is going to be sad and expensive.

What is 'prime' by the way?

[christyf5]

its a secret mix of 11 herbs and spices :razz:

I have no idea, I would imagine its some sort of chemical mix that reduces chlorine and chloramine to something inert as well as ammonia and nitrate. Their website says its a "proprietary aqueous solution of complexed hydrosulfite salts". Which basically means they're not gonan tell us. However something in it is a coral killer in high doses.

[Rbacchiega]

It's super concentrated. I don't think people realize that a capful is good for 50 gallons, whereas Hagen's version (Aquaplus I think it's called) is a capful for every 10 gallons.

[fishguy007]

here are some pics of the tank if anyone can tell me whats wrong. did the 20 % water change. its a bit cloudy now after the water change. is that normal..

u can see how some of the corals are shriveled and not at their best.

please help. whats wtrong

what should i do.

[christyf5]

Whats wrong is that your corals are dying/sloughing tisse, and your tank is probably trying to cycle again because of the increased ammonia? Have you checked all your parameters??

[fishguy007]

there is no ammonia in the tank. i have the ammonia alert card and i check everything over and over. all good

are the corals dead? or they gonna come back??

[christyf5]

only time will tell. I'd do another 20% water change on Saturday. run some carbon in a filterbag. then the waiting game begins. I don't know what that pic of the coral on the sandbed is but the leather might recover, they can sometimes be cranky bu then perk up.:biggrin:

[fishguy007]

so is it becuase i never did a water change since september when i set the tank up that is causing this?

[Jack]

Yes. You got bad advice about not doing water changes.

[fishguy007]

so this change should bring things back

[Jack]

It will help the corals.

What happens is the tanks chemistry changes over time and elements important to corals get exausted. A water change helps replenish these elements and removes waste from the tank.

[fishguy007]

you have some pics of your tank jack? a link....

so if i do a 10 pervent water change every two weeks. will that be ok?

[Jack]

I put a couple new threads in the pictures forum recently.

Everyone does water changes differently, like; weekly, every two weeks, monthly, ect. Every tank is different, every hobbiest is different. You'll have to find out what works for you (time and effort wise) and what works for your tank (health of corals and fish) That's it.

Christy is right; do larger and more frequent water changes now, to get your tanks corals back healthy, and after that - figure out what water change schedule works for you.

[fishguy007]

there are additives like iodide calcium amino acids. marine reef essentials.

do i need any of these. and do i need to add any of these?

[Rbacchiega]

Usually when you do a water change those minerals are replaced when you add the salt. Only when your tank is stocked full of corals etc will you need to add anything depending on your readings. For now, just keep with regular water changes.

[0sprey]

here are some pics of the tank if anyone can tell me whats wrong. did the 20 % water change. its a bit cloudy now after the water change. is that normal..

u can see how some of the corals are shriveled and not at their best.

please help. whats wtrong

what should i do.
You made sure to keep the new water mixing with a heater and powerheads in it for 24 hours so it would be oxygenated, thoroughly mixed and matched in temperature, right?
Thought I'd better ask...

[Jack]

PS - Whatever fish store you were going to - stop. Find a new one.

[christyf5]

ps - whatever fish store you were going to - stop. Find a new one.

+1

[fishguy007]

perfect thanks. things look a bit better.

im going to mix some water tonight and do another water change.

i really do not like the look of the crushed coral being brown with algae. but it is probably dump to take it out now as i will mess up the system right?