What is wrong with my corals? Pics

[giambi4343]

all of my corals have been dying lately. i have had a zoa colony for over a year then all of the sudden, it decides to close up. all of my zoa colonies that close up, never open up again then slowly diminish away. its seems to move from one colony to another. i have already lost my whole torch colony and a few other zoa colonies. i have just started using RO water about 3 weeks ago. and since then, i have topped off the tank over 5 times and have done a 20% water change. i am using MH, water temp is 82, all water parameters are fine exept phosphates that are at 5 ppm. i already have phosban running right now. please help me. idk what else to do.

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[29reef]

Check for zoanthid eating predators, start changing your water once a week. Check phosphate, calcium, alkalinity, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, salinity(via refractometer) and pH. Weekly or more often. I would try to keep your water temp as low as possible, sense you didn't mention you had a chiller try running you MH for only 6 hours and try to make it start as late as possible sense Durring the summer the days are warmer. I also suggest you run carbon in addition to the gfo that your using aleady. I don't see any coraline growth in your photos so maybe the calcium is low maybe your alkalinity swings causing pH to he affected; I'd also venture that nitrates are high. Maybe even specific gravity is a little funky like on the low side. The corals look to be suffering from improper water conditions from the sound of your post. Spend the next few months getting things stable and in an ideal range. Fwiw here's a good baseline for your tests on what you should shoot for. Calcium: 400-450, alkalinity 9-11dkh(keep this stable), phosphate: .05 or lower, ammonia: 0ppm, nitrate 0ppm, nitrate >15ppm, pH: 8.2, Salinity 1.025-1.026 Good luck.

[Circesfire]

Your temperature is a little high, I try not to let mine get above 80, or I notice that some of the corals start closing up. I usually shoot for around 78-79. Also, you may want to post your water parameters as opposed to just saying that they are fine. Do you run carbon? If you have several zoanthid colonies they may be suffering from chemical warfare.

[Dave Harms]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15377532#post15377532 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by giambi4343
... all water parameters are fine exept phosphates that are at 5 ppm.

Do more water changes. I am having a similar problem right now myself. I am slowing winning the battle with lots of water changes.

[giambi4343]

how often should i do water changes? i just did one about 3 days ago.

here are all my parameters...
i am runiing carbon all the time
calcium- 500 ppm its always been high but i could never lower it
CHardiness- 8-9
phosphates- i got it lowered to 2 ppm
nitrates- 0
ph- 8.4
nitrites- 0
ammonia- .25

Salinity- 1.024 i just put more salt into the wet-dry to raise the salinity.

i dont have a chiller but i have had a small fan blowing across the top of my tank.
the zoa colonies are not touching eachother at all so no chemical warfare

any other help woild be great

[giambi4343]

and for some reason, of all things my clams are doing great. also my shrooms and my CHALICE is doing good. it doesnt make sence. just the zoas and a few lps are dying off

[giambi4343]

bump

[Gwynhidwy]

Maybe its the ammonia?

[byrdman81]

You shouldnt have ammonia at all. Are you running a wet/dry instead of a skimmer? Calcium is high it should fall on its own if you arent dosing anything. How often do you change your carbon? How old are your MH?

[Discustopia]

Yeah, the ammonia is odd....
typically a sign of recent death, or inadequate LR .

You can do 20%/day to catch up quick on water changes.
Are any lights more than a year old?

If PH was measured early in the day it's high, if measured late in the day or after the lights have been on for more than a few hours it's fine.

[giambi4343]

actually my lights are a little more than a year old. i am getting new ones being delivered to me on tuesday. many people told me that the age of the lights wont make corals die. is this true? if age does make the corals die, than i think i may have found my problem.

[giambi4343]

i also have a protien skimmer running in my wet dry filter. it is doing a pretty good job actually.

i dont have a refuge but i have a ball of chaeto in the corner of my tank for pod growth.

[NexDog]

Phosphate at 2ppm is enough to kill a whole bunch of corals.

[IndyReefMan]

What are you using to measure Phosphate? Are you sure that it is 2? That is extremely high.

[Imzadi]

and it says 'lowered to 2' Phosphates... down from what?

[giambi4343]

they were at 5ppm yesterday! it was from me not using RO for so long. now i am just on RO so it shouldnt come back.

also, would the age of the lights effect the corals at all?

[just dave]

Is it your RO unit?

[giambi4343]

no it is a brand new unit. it has been going on even before i introduced the unit. i thought using RO would help.

[giambi4343]

bump on the question " would older MH cause the corals to start dying off"

[njdevilsfan]

no maybe fade
i think its your phospahtes
courious bout your fish
do you have any tangs or angels

[Gwynhidwy]

I really think you need to address the ammonia problem more than the lights or the phosphates. Yes old lights and high phosphates can cause problems, but 0.25 ammonia reading is high enough to kill fish, and definitely high enough to stress and/or kill invertebrates. The phosphates aren't helping, but anytime you have ANY ammonia reading in a populated tank, it needs to be addressed ASAP!

[giambi4343]

ok all the inverts and fish seem ok. ill do another water change tomorrow to fix that ammonia.

[TrojanScott]

Agreed, probabaly your phosphates. Water temp at 82 had nothing to do with it, and is fine.