Things are DYING. :( No idea what is going on- at a loss.

[Newreeflady]

Something is really bad. The chemistry seems fine (alk, ca, and mg are in range) and I've been doing water changes, running carbon, etc... but the only things that are doing OK are the fungia and, of course, the fish. The clowns are still laying eggs (have a batch right now.)

First thing to go was the goniopora- Before this the chemistry was off (very very very high calcium, and low alk.) So, I thought this spawned it, but I fixed it and figured the coral was so sensitive that it was just not going to recover from this:(

Caps (established, but recently moved) have bleached out and are now looking dead. This was not tissue recession.

The newly added cyphastrea is having STN.

The newly added scroll coral is not extending it's polyps well.

The newly added montastrea is not extending polyps at all.

The newly added Fungia appears well.

A yellow leather that I got a while ago came in with one small portion of the edge that appeared white. This peeled and I continued to blow off this edge with a baster. This did not receed further for a while, but around the time things started turning bad this was starting to spread. I have just moved this coral to a 2.5g tank this week. This is not a seasoned tank. I put some rock from the main tank in here (bad idea if there was some disease??) and before transferring I dipped in Lugols.

I am at a loss. I just changed 3g of water a few mins ago and am making more. I am so sad watching things die.

Angela

[mdntrdr]

What are Amonia,Nitrite,Nitrate,Phos. levels?

[kfisc]

Not to throw out obvious questions you've already considered, but it seems you're primarily describing corals that are new, moved, or very difficult to start with. How are your established corals doing? And if fine, what about the source of the new corals- LFS, online- being suspect? What if it's just the congruence of things that have nothing to do with tank conditions- being moved, new corals, etc?

[Lightsluvr]

Not to throw out obvious questions you've already considered, but it seems you're primarily describing corals that are new, moved, or very difficult to start with. How are your established corals doing? And if fine, what about the source of the new corals- LFS, online- being suspect? What if it's just the congruence of things that have nothing to do with tank conditions- being moved, new corals, etc?

That would be my first guess... there was too much, too soon and the system couldn't handle it.

Your entire water volume is probably less than 20 gallons, and things can go bad quickly. In addition, the coral you mentioned are some of the most difficult to keep, even under ideal conditions. There are darn few people who have success with goniopora...

Did you have any estanblished coral? Are they doing well? As suggested in the first post, start at the beginning with your tests and rule out ammonia, nitrite and nitrates.

Good luck.

LL

[asl4me76]

Angela, you say that your parameters are in check. However, we are given little information. We know that it is not a "seasoned" tank ... so here are my questions.

When was the last time you tested your parameters?
What are your parameters? Ie, NO3, PO4, NO2, Amm, Mg, Ca, SG and Alk levels?
For your water changes are you using water you produced or water you got from a LFS (If it is the latter, I would check the SG in it).
What is your temp sitting at? What range does your temp go to?

Next major question is - how long has this tank been going for?

[Frick-n-Frags]

montis definitely dont like low alk. even ez ones like digitata will bleach.

i used to watch my Monti d's and when the brown started turning orange, or the green ->yellow, i knew alk was too low.

[username in use]

you said your alk was low, did you perhaps bring it up to fast? That could cause some of these symptoms.