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tannerd
02/05/2010, 10:05 PM
What would make an acan, scolymia and wellsophilia release their flesh from its skeleton??
(let me add all within a week of eachother) Also, my large table top acro is dying and my hammer is dead. My two chalice frags are defleshing, my platygyra is dead, my monti cap and my encrusting montipora are dying. My large goniapora conlony is completely dead also.
But all of my mushrooms: Fuzzy, RIcordia, florida, yuma, scarlet red discosomas and big spotted mushrooms are doing great they actually seem to be growing. But that's not all that's doing fine, my torch is good, derosa clams fine, my palys are doing great and reproducing, my zoanthids are growing, I have two small colonies of acros and three frags that are doing fine too.

What we don't understand is how is it effecting so many different types of coral but not all of each species it kills.

Water parameters were perfect, so I wasn't testing as often, it had probably been 3 weeks since i had tested last and below is what it test now.

salinity 1.025 (Refractometer)
temp always 76.5 (Probe)
PH reading from freshly calibrated probe is 8.25 (Neptune Systems)
PH 8.8 (api)
nitrite 0 (api)
ammonia 0 (api)
nitrate 15 this is the first time it has been over 0 (api)
calcium 400 (salifert)
magnesium 1200 this is the first time it has been below 1300 (salifert)
phosphate 0 (api)
DKH 8.8 (salifert)

My tank is 90 gallons with a 40 gallon fuge
i do 25 gallon a week water changes with tropic marin salt
i have already started to dose my mag to get it back up to 1300

and about the ph probe when i first installed it about two weeks ago the probe read 8.7-8.8
i didnt know if it was correct or not so i bought some calibration solution and followed the instructions and calibrated the probe. after calibration it read 7.7 so i started to dose my tank with buffer and now it reads what is shown above. Is there any oppinion about which result to trust more? My API PH test kit which is reading 8.8, or my newly calibrated Neptune systems PH probe which is reading 8.25?

so if you have any ideas or solutions please pass them my way because im tired of watching my beautiful reef die and i cant seem to figure out why.

shroutk3
02/05/2010, 10:47 PM
I would suspect the buffer you added. That ph seems wacky. What calibration fluid did you use (the ph of it)? I've always been told not to chase ph. as long as its stable its good. changing it that drastically could have done some damage, but I'm no expert.

Did you change anything else?

tektite
02/05/2010, 10:49 PM
Before I got my elegance I was reading about potential problems, and one was polyp bailout. Low magnesium was the most common cause. 1200 is pretty low - that may be a contributing factor.

Hopefully others can help more.

mndfreeze
02/05/2010, 11:05 PM
Normal troubleshooting methods say whatever changes were made near or around the time the problem started are most likely the cause.

Beyond those obvious ones though, maybe your mushrooms (or another species) decided they wanted to go to war and started plastering your water with "kill all other coral" poison.

tannerd
02/05/2010, 11:08 PM
The calibration solution i used is Pinpoint by american marine inc and i used the 4.0 and 10.0 and i didnt find an expiration date on them but i will try recalibrating themi used seachem marine buffer i started dosing three days ago i diluted 5 teaspoons of buffer is some di and then poured it in the fuge the first second and third day which is today, i did that before i did my api test or i wouldnt have dosed it today i just trusted my probe was correct

tannerd
02/05/2010, 11:12 PM
Also, I need to add about a month ago I purchased a 55 gallon FOWLR tank for the live rock then i placed a few pieces of it in my tank. Now I just thought that maybe the lady i purchased this from might have been dosing with copper or some other type of medication because there were no inverts or corals in the tank. Could any of the copper still been present in the live rock when i put it in my tank? We also found a 8" fireworm about 1 week ago, which we also believe came from those rocks, but have since removed him. (we are keeping him hostage on our kitchen couner in a small plastic container, its not to bad for him i do a water change in it and feed him crill. lol!)

Also, there were no previous signs of bad health. i.e. the scolymia seemed to be in perfect health and within 12 hours it had completely released all of its still colorful and healthy looking flesh from its skeleton. our acans released completely from their skeleton but are still alive, colorful and have tenicals out unattached floating around in my frag tank. They have been like that in my frag tank for over a week.

Texxxx
02/05/2010, 11:33 PM
Calibrate your ph probe with 7.0 & 10.0. 4.0 is for calibrating for freshwater tanks.

Yes the copper could still be in the rock. That could very easy be the problem.

FTexas
02/06/2010, 12:14 PM
bump

Playa-1
02/06/2010, 02:30 PM
How much of a pH and temp swing are you getting?
How long has this tank been established?
Are you running Carbon?
What are you dosing to maintain alk and Ca?
Have you had your water tested by a third party to verify your results?
Are you dosing anything else?
How often are you using a buffer?

FTexas
02/07/2010, 12:48 PM
bump for a friend

tannerd
02/07/2010, 01:07 PM
according to my probe my PH was 7.9 and i dosed buffer over a three or four day period and raised it to 8.25 that is the only time i have dosed buffer. i never dosed it before because on my api test kit it always read about 8.3. and i think my probe is correct i had a friend test my ph for me with a salifert test kit and its results were the same as my probe reads. so the PH has been at 8.25 for the last two or three days i dont know of it changing other than that.
and my temp stays between 76 and 77 all the time

i am running two bags of carbon two bags of nitrate sponge and one bag of purigen someone suggested i try to pull out any impurities

this tank has been up and running for about one year

i use reef builder and advantage calcium for my alk and Ca

tannerd
02/07/2010, 03:12 PM
bump

tannerd
02/08/2010, 09:53 AM
bump