I have a 24g aquapod it has been setup for about 4 months. I recently made a post about high in well got those down with 10% water changes. Now my corals are not looking good at all they look like they are dying. What should I do or need to do to keep them alive if possible
First some questions:
How long have they looked like they were going to die? What corals are you talking about?(mushrooms? zoas? acropora?) How long have the corals been in the tank? What other predators do you have? What are the water parameters? Temp? Salinity? RO water? Type of salt? Type of lighting and how long do you leave it on?
Looking through other threads it doesn’t seem like you’re chemistry is too far off. Ideally it may be slightly different, but lots of people keep corals under similar conditions.(post your most recent results anyways) Perhaps other animals are bothering them, what other animals do you keep in the tank.
They have looked like that since the day after I noticed clown fish wasn’t breathing right. All levels are kh is at 11 and is 78.9 salt is 1.025 I always have salt levels there and calcium is right arond 400 I usually keep it between 400 - 440 I have 2 decent sized zoas bought from u. Then 4 zoa drags very small 2 mush drag and a Duncan and last one is candy cane then I have 2 clown fish and 1 other fish I can’t remember name of it got it from it store yellow and purple and I think that’s it
My spelling is all I’m typing on cell phone so if u don’t understand what I wrote let me know new phone still getting use to buttons
I also have a pipe coral and neon pineapple tree
Pseudochromis Diadema perhaps?
How long has the tank been running? Ducans and Candy Canes are LPS(Large Polyp Stony corals) and probably shouldn’t go into a real young tank.
Which of the corals seem to not look right and why they don’t seem to look right?
Chemistry seems to be fine. I personally would bring the temp up to 80, but there are others on the board that would disagree with me. Really you’re corals should live fine at that temp though 80 just gives you more of a buffer when you lose power in the winter as 77 is too low for many of the animals we keep.
Jon
Do you add any other foods besides the food for the fish? You may want to add a little Marine Snow or some other plankton food on occasion for the Pineapple Tree(aka Capnella similar to Kenya tree) as it relies on plankton feeding for a large percentage of it’s energy. I would only add a very small amount ~once a week though.
The tank usually is at 80 but with Water change and at night it drops just a little the normal everyday temp is 79-80. The zoas are closed and have been for 2 days the pineapple tree has shrunken to almost nothing and the candy canes color is off the tank just doesn’t look good since the spike in kh and up until now everything was perfect not dips or spikes what so ever in the 4 months I don’t know if I missed something or what I get all products from premium aquatics
Yes I do provide the tank with marine snow and the fish get frozen shrimp
Maybe that’s the problem I as putting small amounts every other day to every two days in pump area
I always do over feed I did that with freshwater too
Over feeding could be the problem for sure, but lets look at things in a little more detail. Pictures would be extremely helpful, but until I see pictures you’ll have to describe things in very specific detail.
Many things could cause the zoas to shrink up. There are probably more pests that hurt zoas then all other corals in the hobby combined. You can try reading up about dips such as a fresh water/iodine dip or using FW exit, but I would try to identify the problem first. Have you seen any snails or other critters crawling on the zoas? There may be an overall problem with the tank though as other corals are not happy. Let’s try to identify the problem before you start treating it. Pictures?
The Candy Canes could have slowly shifted there color due to different lighting in you’re tank. Often times corals will use different zoozanthele or change the amounts of florescent pigments in there tissue based on new lighting conditions. Do they still appear to be fleshy? Do they extend feeding tentacles at night time a couple hours after all the lights are shut off?(If you haven’t looked at your tank at night you are in for a treat, don’t panic when your animals look completely different and you see things you have never seen before.) Have any picture of what the Candy Canes look like?
Additionally where do you keep each of your corals in the tank? Which are on the sand, wedged between rocks, mounted on a frag rack…… How far below the lights? How far from what type of power heads. Also how often have you been moving them around? It may be good to move them to more appropriate lights/flow, but if you move them daily most corals will hardly grow.
Jon
No snails haven’t bothered them and I am always starring in my tank there is some crazy stuff that goes on in there. I know I have quite a few bristle worms I also noticed slimey stuff from the snail all over tank and I don’t think my clean up crew is doing their job sand seems dusty and so do rock I recently had dead spot in one area I came in spa and talked to u about I fixed that took out some rock I have most of corals close to sand but the majority sit in sand I have standard lighting I put bakpak 2 r+ on tank and upgrading return pump to 1200 maxi there was very little flow before I use one korilla 1 and 900 maxi on a wave maker timed at 1 min each. U still don’t know who u are talking to yet I’m there all the and 99% of what is in tank u recomended and was purchased at DPA
I use ro water yes I did happen to catch candy cane eating I thought that was pretty neat to watch… While I’m thinking about it there is lots of webbing flying in water with snail slime I don’t know if this is right but I noticed little transparent critters that kinda look like spiders could of just been me but wanted to put that in there
I purchased candy cane from dpa about 2-3 weeks ago
This is what makes people quit that’s a lot of money for all that coral just to die I was so mad today when I seen nothing was better but in fact worse then the thought of starting all over again so much time and money
Hey jon seen the post u have about large polyps they were very nice if I were ever to get my tank straightened out I would like to purchase one if still available
you need 3 things for this hobby.
- be willing to learn and eventually get better
2.expect stuff to grow over time slower than you wanted it to
3.spend more money than you expected or wanted to
but hang in thier it get better. and like me in a few months > years you will look at tank and say DARN THAT LOOK GREAT. it took me over 6 months to get tank up to par and now have a reef in my living room.
corals $$$$$$
lights $$$$$$
reef in living room PRICELESS
Ok so I moved the duncan pineApple tree to 10g qt with. Clown fish and the Duncan opened for the first time 3 days the color is not great but figured as long as it’s opening the color will shortly follow as for tree it will go limp then stand straight back up so still touch and to since that coral did so good I moved the rest of drags wait until tonite see if any change then will move rest and clean entire aquapod I’m thinking something may have died in my main tank causing all the problems just wAnt to say thanks agAin for all ur help
What about ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels?
What kind of lightind did you say you had?
The probem with this hobby is that nothing good ever happens fast, and that is why people bail on it too quickly. I have spent years looking at a coral that never seems to grow. Then you wake up one day (mine was Sunday) and you say “Holy Sh%t” the tanks looks awesome today. And you’re happy.
Then you see someone’s like Icy’s and you say “Sh%t, my tank looks like hell” and you’re sad. Then you go buy new coral and put it in and say “There, now my tank looks awesome again” and you feel better.
Then you wake up one morning to find your anemone stuck on a PH being rapidly ground to hamburger and you feel like crap again. it’s just a big cycle, you have to learn to accept the good with the bad, and do everything in your power to prevent or limit the bad. Just as long as you realize sometimes bad things happen to good reefs you’ll be fine.