Host of Odd Issues

[Whys]

Okay, I'm taking a much needed break today from non-stop programming, my wife is 8 months pregnant, and I still need to paint the baby room. Needless to say, my tank has received minimal attention. But more troubling then that is the oddity of issues its having.

It is true that I did not do a water change for 2 months. But I have extremely low bioload in a 50g system, and when I run the numbers, they don't explain much. I haven't added anything new in months, with the exception of a replacement MH bulb a couple weeks ago. Since then, my heliopora has been improving, but much else seems in slow decline.

First, one of my margarite snails become lethargic and stopped eating. It's a margarite and I've had it for over 6 months, so didn't think much about it. But I've also noticed my Frogspawn starting to languish and thought the new bulb might help it too. Instead, I've since moved it lower in the tank as I think the extra light may have made things worse. Then I realized I hadn't seen my court-jester in a couple of days. He was healthy and eating for 8 months, but now had a concave underbelly and would only come out when the pump was off. His fins looked good and he seemed to be finding food, but not making an effort to eat. Then the other day I found my Zebra herm out of his shell and missing a claw. He may have had a bad run in with my brittle-star and lost the claw to save his life. I coxed him back into his shell and he quickly got as far away from the star as he could. I fed the star, as I knew it was hungry, but found the Zebra's empty shell near the star the next day anyway. And yesterday, my court-jester went completely missing. Once again, the star was looking fat and guilty. So the star is doing great, but what is going on?

Here is what is doing well: amphipods, bristle-worms, mushrooms, blue-leg herm, yellow-tip herm, red-scarlet herm, sexy shrimp, emerald crab, red-stripped goby, and of course, the brittle-star.

Here is what is struggling: frog-spawn and purple heliopora.

Here is the body count: margarite snail, zebra herm, and court-jester goby.

Here are the numbers:

salinity: 1.025
ph: ~8.2
nitrate: <10
alk: ~2.5 (before 25% waterchange yesterday)
calc: ~375 (before waterchange)
mg: ~1300 (as of 2 months ago, haven't remeasured)

Other variables:

- haven't been running carbon for a few weeks.
- been running skimmerless for about a week (need to check impeller).
- used FWE (by the book) about 3 months ago.
- used mag buffer about 2 months ago to bring mg from 1065 to 1300 (think all the carbon used while FWE dosing stole all the mag).

About the only other things of note is some black algae that has been gowing thru its phases on some new liverock I added about 5 months ago, and a small bit of green algae on the sandbed. The frog-spawn could start improving soon, but is almost certain to lose another polyp before it does.

So is this just a run of bad luck, or is there a systemic problem here? I might buy a copper tester just for the heck of it, but most of my inverts seem healthy. I know this is a long one, but any thoughts? Thanks.

[Ohiomom]

Don't have much to add..but congrats for the baby and hope all goes well for the delivery and both mom and baby come through happy and healthy..course you figure in there too some where..;)

[Toddrtrex]

IMO, there is so much that makes of salt water that we don't/can't test for that can cause issues. I really think a series of water changes would really pick things up.

I know that a couple of months ago after my back surgeries that I couldn't do my regular water changes. Even though all my test kits showed that everything was were it should be, something was off. I was able to get some help and did a series of water changes. It was like night and day with the improvement.

[Whys]

But Todd is right. :)

I did the waterchange only yesterday and already I'm seeing polyp extension on my heliopora again. The new bulb has been helping its color, but the polyps didn't extend until I did the waterchange. My numbers weren't that far off, but it can certainly tell the difference.

Still disappointed about the jester tho. I'm 90% sure it's gone with only 10% clue as to why.

[ginger7286]

Yep I agree with Todd water changes are needed. There are so many trace elements that are used up by the livestock that need to ge replenished. Feed the BS weekly. That's what I do and they avoid my other inhabitants.

[seapug]

Yes, Todd is right, as usual.
While you're at it, pull the skimmer out, give it a good cleaning and start running it again.

I've been through the whole baby thing (and still doing it). I miss the days of being able to tinker with my tank all weekend long, but it's forced me to make some improvements/upgrades to the system that have made it healthier overall and easier to maintain.

Now is the time to do it, so paint the baby room and tell your wife you need to spend a couple weekends getting your tank running properly before the baby comes.