All corals are dying! Fish are fine

Discussion in 'ASAP' started by reefFry, Oct 26, 2011.

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  1. reefFry

    reefFry Plankton

    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2011
    Messages:
    5
    Hello,
    I need some serious help. I purchased a 125gal reef setup about five months ago and it had healthy fish and softies doing really well. Unfortunately the move killed everything. I allowed the tank to cycle until the parameters came back good and started adding livestock. First hermit crabs, horseshoe crabs and fish. All did well. Then I added corals. They died. I rechecked parameters and added a few more frags. They died. I checked the parameters again, fished out anything that even looked dead, though my water was good and my fish growing like weeds. Waited a week, added a few more corals. They all died. Finally, I went into a LFS and asked for unkillable corals. I came back with seven frags. Added them to my tank and they started to open, then closed up and now look like they are declining, ready to die! Fish are still great, parameters are good! I am so upset since I only wanted a SW aquarium to have coral!
    125 gal, with 2 red sea canisters, 250lbs live rock.
    Parameters:
    Spec. Gravity: 1.024 (was at 1.026 but LFS said to lower it as I am using a hydrometer and if it was off I could have too high of a salinity. Lowered the spec. gravity slowly over three days, been at this level for 24 hours, no improvement)
    Temp: 79 degrees
    pH: 8.2
    Ammonia, Nitrite, Phosphate: 0 ppm
    Nitrates: 5 ppm
    Ca: 460 ppm
    kH: 179 ppm

    I have two blue jaw triggers, sixline wrasse, coral beauty angel, two yellow tail damsels, purple firefish goby, percula clown, lawnmower blenny, two engineer gobies. I have about five or so blue legged hermit crabs, and three baby horseshoe crabs.

    The corals are a zoa colony that hasn't opened since I added it, another zoa frag that only partially opened and then closed for good. Two softies I don't know the names of that are droopy and closed and three hard corals that have bleached out and revealed their skeletons. They all still have some color but not much left. :cry2:

    Please help. I tried researching why this keeps happening but haven't found anything that addresses every coral dying while the fish seem perfectly fine!
     
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  3. wastemanagement

    wastemanagement Eyelash Blennie

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    Sep 9, 2007
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    Location:
    Quebec City
    Are the crabs still alive? if not perhaps copper could be your problem.
    I would also recommed verifiying your nitrates considering your fish load your test could be off.

    Do you run a skimmer? and what sort of lightsand lighting period are you running
     
  4. Kristiavi

    Kristiavi Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Location:
    Jacksonville, Fl
    The only thing i could think of is the lights? Are the bulbs bad or not strong enough to maintain corals??
     
  5. Foreverfishy

    Foreverfishy Purple Spiny Lobster

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    Erie, PA
    In order to answer that question members here on the foum will need to know what type of lighs are run. for example, T5HO, LED's, MH?
     
  6. Kristiavi

    Kristiavi Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Kinda what I was asking him lol =]
     
  7. MajesticCoral

    MajesticCoral Fire Worm

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 2011
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    Location:
    California
    I have corals and my salinity is 1.026 and my temp is set to 79-80 and they seem to do fine even with the moderate t5 lighting of blue/white

    Are you doing any kind of dosing and how often do you feed them and what do you give them
     
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  9. Foreverfishy

    Foreverfishy Purple Spiny Lobster

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    Location:
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    Exactly, when he responded to your post, he veered away from your question. I wanted to re-ask a question that was already asked lol :)
     
  10. wastemanagement

    wastemanagement Eyelash Blennie

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    Location:
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    OP has only posted once or am I missing something here ????

    Also I would be surprised if it was bad bulbs or not enough light as the Op stated that the corals were loosing color and were white ie:bleaching ., maybe more likly RTN
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2011
  11. Kristiavi

    Kristiavi Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Location:
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    I think im missing something too lol
     
  12. mm2002

    mm2002 Feather Duster

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    Location:
    Palm Beach Florida
    I think you guys asked too many questions and scared him away. All he wanted was a simple answer.:)