All inverts are dying... What should I do?

[AliKat]

All of my coral, polyps, and anemone are dying or have died. The fish seem to be fine. Any guess what's wrong?

Some people at ReefCentral said to test for copper, but I don't have a copper test.

Other than doing a water change and running carbon, is there anything I can do?

[Victor626nj]

do you have a brown algea thats stringy and has bubbles all over it it cold be dinofladgealates

[Dakota9]

Well, I'd start a WC immediately! Carbon can wait until after you finish the water change. Get to work.....

[AliKat]

Water change will have to wait until tomorrow because I have no RO/DI water. :-(

Or is it worth just mixing with tap water?

[Victor626nj]

no no tap water

[Dakota9]

dinofladgealates probably wouldn't cause immediate mass destruction like that.... something probably happened to the water chemistry, maybe something fell in the tank.

[Victor626nj]

welll the nem dying could have done it too

[AliKat]

Oops, should have said this has happened over the past couple of days, and all of the water params are fine, even ammonia.

Really strange.

[Dakota9]

So true! But we'd need to know a whole lot more about your set up before we could begin to hypothisize whats gone wrong

[Dakota9]

Stand bare foot beside the tank and stick your finger in the tank, see if its because of a sever voltage leak.


I know this sounds like a joke, but didn't mean for it to

[AliKat]

Should give you more details... I have a 55 tall with a light fixture that has one mH bulb and two actinics. Sump with chaeto and protein skimmer.

Am replacing mH bulb tomorrow, although I really don't think that's the issue. Could be wrong, though.

The coral that's going bad (or has died) is colt coral, xenia, and goniopora. Frogspawn and polyps are also looking bad, and I don't see any of my nems. Not sure if they are shrunken into the live rock or have died.

[AliKat]

So there's nothing I can do tonight? Like I said, can do water change first thing tomorrow. Don't have access to RO/DI water tonight. The store I get it at is closed.

[Victor626nj]

was your tank used when you bought it and if it wasnt have you ever put any medication in your system..if no then its not copper

[Dakota9]

Have you been dosing anything to the tank that you could have accidentally add too much of? This could have happened up to a week ago. Think back.

[Dakota9]

When was your last water change

[AliKat]

Originally Posted by Victor626nj

was your tank used when you bought it and if it wasnt have you ever put any medication in your system..if no then its not copper

It was used. The only medication I have ever used was Rid Ich. That was just for a few days and was months ago.

[Barbara]

You could get the water at Wal-mart (if you have a TDS meter - I have my suspicions about the Wal-mart here in Woodstock.....) or at any grocery or store that has the filtered water, provided you have your own salt to mix it. Water change is critical; the sooner the better.

Dakota, it's funny you mention that. My brother was over at my house this weekend and I was digging around in the tank, arranging the powerhead. Then I reached up and messed with the lights, then I unplugged the pumps so I could feed. My brother said "don't you worry about getting electrocuted messing around with all that stuff?" I said no, that I would think the fish would suffer first, and that would be a clue for me not to stick my hand in the tank. We had this big discussion about the fish not being grounded, while I was grounded. I wonder what is the general thought (or actual science) related to that theory (the theory that the fish aren't grounded)? What do you think?

[AliKat]

Originally Posted by Dakota9

Have you been dosing anything to the tank that you could have accidentally add too much of? This could have happened up to a week ago. Think back.

The only things I've been dosing are calcium, iodine, strontium, coral accel, and phytoplankton. If anything, I haven't been adding enough. Not as much as I usually do.

The last water change I did was just over a week ago.

[DannyBradley]

Ali, did you lose one coral first or did they all start declining at the same time? It's important to establish what caused the water quality to decline so that you can make sure it doesn't happen again.

[Dakota9]

Fish do "feel" voltage, but i know mine were not affected the last voltage leak I had, although my xenia bit the dust. A servere voltage leak will cause the fish to dart and corals to "melt".