are these guys dead?

[VeriasCurat]

Quick question....and I pray they're not dead.
I made a silly mistake which I think leaked a pollutant into my tank. I have since done 50%water changes over the course of 3 days. My branching hammer is beginning to open up after a few days shut but my zoas seemy to give up on life. Any suggestions to bring them back?
Before:

http://i.imgur.com/orfnJMe.jpg
After:
http://i.imgur.com/fG0Kxz1.jpg


I'm rrally really hoping they're not dead because I love the look of zoas and would love to make a garden of them eventually. Someone help please :(

I'm currently at work on my cell phone but when I get home I'll do my water tests and get you guys those numbers

[blitz49]

Sorry to hear this happened, and only thing I would suggest, you have already done it. Maybe more water changes? May I ask what pollutant was leaked?

[VeriasCurat]

Sorry to hear this happened, and only thing I would suggest, you have already done it. Maybe more water changes? May I ask what pollutant was leaked?

I recently saw a post about diy on cope pod hotels as I bought a mandarin gob . Using gutter guard to sculpt a hotel of sorts...not thinking about it I used a metal gutter guard which I think leached into the water. What it leached I'm not sure but everything in the tank except for my fish is ticked. My peppermint seems fine as well as my clowns...but ALL of my snails are behaving very very oddly and my corals refuse to open up.

Even the chunk of sponge attached to the zoa has now lost all it's color so I think it's dead..I'm considering just lulling if from my tank.

[VeriasCurat]

I think I'm just going to pull them out and call it a day. They've been closed up for a week now and completely lost color. Idk what else to do.

[remiball]

Give them time, they still have structure. If they were completely dead they would just melt away.

[VeriasCurat]

Give them time, they still have structure. If they were completely dead they would just melt away.


Alright. Is there anything I can dip them in or a supplement that will help?

[remiball]

Alright. Is there anything I can dip them in or a supplement that will help?

Revive has always worked for me. It smells like an industrial cleaner but does a great job.

[MUCHO REEF]

Sorry to hear this my friend. When did this happen....and how long after you added the hotel did they begin to retract?

What size is your tank?

Please state all your paremeters.

How much and how many WC gave you performed?

In my opinion, please do not dip them. Dips are great when appropriate. They are always stressful albeit some more or less then others. Revive is a prep/cleaner/conditioner. It has absolutely no medicinal properties and I wouldn't use it now. You need to focus on the water column.

Your polyps are reacting to possible leeching metals and anything else that was added and you have to get it out and anything else which leeches from what you did. WCs won't remove it all.....you need to get a poly filter.....there's one I saw on Marine Depot. Use it accordingly and it will remove all those toxins.

Keep running your skimmer if you have one.

Your polyps are not dead as the reefer stated above....but they will perish soon if you don't act. Polyp death is denoted by a foul smell, wilting and descentigration, flaking and detachment. Your polyps are still full bodied.

How old is your tank? Is all of your rock cured?

Do not encourage your polyps to expand right now. Run half your photo period with actinics only for a few days and slowly reintroduce them to a full PP When they perk up.

FINALLY....if you haven't already....please remove that hotel. You can't trust everything you see and read on the net. Good luck.

MUCHO REEF


PS...when things are better.....I'd remove all of that sponge. It will continue to grow and choke off your polyps.

[remiball]

Sorry to hear this my friend. When did this happen....and how long after you added the hotel did they begin to retract?

What size is your tank?

Please state all your paremeters.

How much and how many WC gave you performed?

In my opinion, please do not dip them. Dips are great when appropriate. They are always stressful albeit some more or less then others. Revive is a prep/cleaner/conditioner. It has absolutely no medicinal properties and I wouldn't use it now. You need to focus on the water column.

Your polyps are reacting to possible leeching metals and anything else that was added and you have to get it out and anything else which leeches from what you did. WCs won't remove it all.....you need to get a poly filter.....there's one I saw on Marine Depot. Use it accordingly and it will remove all those toxins.

Keep running your skimmer if you have one.

Your polyps are not dead as the reefer stated above....but they will perish soon if you don't act. Polyp death is denoted by a foul smell, wilting and descentigration, flaking and detachment. Your polyps are still full bodied.

How old is your tank? Is all of your rock cured?

Do not encourage your polyps to expand right now. Run half your photo period with actinics only for a few days and slowly reintroduce them to a full PP When they perk up.

FINALLY....if you haven't already....please remove that hotel. You can't trust everything you see and read on the net. Good luck.

MUCHO REEF


PS...when things are better.....I'd remove all of that sponge. It will continue to grow and choke off your polyps.

It looks like Mucho Reef has much more experience than I do. Please follow his advise.

[VeriasCurat]

Sorry to hear this my friend. When did this happen....and how long after you added the hotel did t....polyps.

hello there and thank you for the response! Definitely good info!

The hotel was only in there for maybe a couple days before I noticed my turbo snail acting funny. Then I looked around in the tank and EVERYTHING was acting crazy. At that point I did a 6 gallon water change (29 gallon tank to Answer your question )..all I had on hand at that time.

The next day I drove to my LFS as she premixed saltwater for super cheap for me and it's easier then my own Rodi system at the moment and bought 10 gallons. When I got home I did another 5 gallon change, then another 5 gallon change the next day. So overall, 50% of the volume of the tank in 3 fays.

I currently have a hob filter running on the tank with a carbon and poly filter in it. The poly material haven't changed color but I may replace them for new.

The tank is still fairly New at almost a couple months with my levels being fairly stable minus high MG but my LFS told me that the salt she uses runs high mg at first. Parameters as of 4/16 are as follow...

Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: ~20
Nitrite: 0
Alk: 10.6 dkh
Temp:79
Salinity: 1.025
Ph: 7.8-8.4 (have a pinpoint tester en route bought last week)
Mg: 1600 ppm
Ca: 480 ppm

Those are all the tests I have now...the kh, mg, and ca are done with a red Sea kit while the rest are am api liquid kit.

Lighting on the tank is dual bulb t5 with a 10k and actinic blue on for maybe 8-10 hours a day and off at night.

http://i.imgur.com/eVFKyG5.jpg

Picture from this morning...looks to me like some are disintegrating? If I lose some but not the whole colony I'll be ecstatic.

[kissman]

I would say that the tank beings started around 3/19/15 that your tank is not balanced enough to support corals yet. I also am not sure about the 30w 10k bulb and the Actinic Blue bulb you are running is enough light. Are you still suing tap water? What are your phosphate levels? I was looking at this thread

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2489845

[MUCHO REEF]

It looks like Mucho Reef has much more experience than I do. Please follow his advise.

Not really....I would just listen to everyone's advice and choose what he or she is comfortable with. I meant no disrespect with my long reply. Just an opinion is all. Much respect.

Mooch

Double post request has been made. Sorry.

[VeriasCurat]

I would say that the tank beings started around 3/19/15 that your tank is not balanced enough to support corals yet. I also am not sure about the 30w 10k bulb and the Actinic Blue bulb you are running is enough light. Are you still suing tap water? What are your phosphate levels? I was looking at this thread

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2489845
My first logged test was from 3/15 and it was up before that.

No I am not using tap water. Tap water was used to set up and cycle and have used rodi since. The tank cycled.in 10 days with all live rock and sand. And after doing research I put a branched hammer in and it was fine, then purple shrooms and they were fine, then the zoa, then pollutant and now everything is ticked. I can upload my full log of tests for yah but the levels have been stable since 2 weeks into the tank lol


Edit: even right now the hammer is rebounding and seems to be doing well same with mushrooms.
As far as lighting goes, I will agree with you I need more and will be picking up a second dual bulb with same bulbs I have.

[MUCHO REEF]

I'm inclined to agree which is why I ask about the age of your tank as those rocks look very new/fresh. Possible new tank syndrome as well.....plus your trates are too high.

MUCHO REEF

[VeriasCurat]

I'm inclined to agree which is why I ask about the age of your tank as those rocks look very new/fresh. Possible new tank syndrome as well.....plus your trates are too high.

MUCHO REEF



The nitrates refuse to drop. After 30 gallons of water changes they haven't changed. Everything was in happy and content long before though. That's why I don't think age is a problem. They were all there and happy until the cope pod hotel.

I'm also going to say I've done a ton of research on nitrates and have seen people running successful tanks with 40...and some not even testing for it.

I missed the phosphate question...I need a better test for it because the apiiquid doesn't go low enough but it's somewhere between 0 and .25....but again, I've seen people running great tanks with detectable phosphate.

[m0nkie]

The nitrates refuse to drop. After 30 gallons of water changes they haven't changed. Everything was in happy and content long before though. That's why I don't think age is a problem. They were all there and happy until the cope pod hotel.


Looks like you started this tank last month. I think your issue is the tank being a too new. how are your inverts doing? and your hammer coral?

FIY: my tank has been running ~50ppm of nitrate for a good year before I carbon dosed to lower it. zoas were growing like weeds. those radioactive dragon eyes you have are super easy zoas.

and I also used a metal gutter guard in my tank for a good 2 months before replacing it with a plastic one. They are the black Home Depot metal gutter guards. I even saw rust on part of it. But it didn't cause any damage to my corals.

But if you suspect it's leeching metal, you can put in poly filter and carbon pack, do a few water changes. hope for the best..

pod colonies are very easy to make. just put some rock pebbles in a fine mesh and zip tie it closed. toss it into the sump refugium. Your 30gal is going to have a hard time sustaining a mandarin

[blitz49]

Have you tested for copper? Maybe the gutter guard had copper in it. Would need to run carbon and water changes to remove it. Or you could put your zoa in quarantine tank if you have one. And do testing on display tank until leeched metals are removed.

[VeriasCurat]

Looks like you started this tank last month. I think your issue is the tank being a too new. how are your inverts doing? and your hammer coral?

FIY: my tank has been running ~50ppm of nitrate for a good year before I carbon dosed to lower it. zoas were growing like weeds. those radioactive dragon eyes you have are super easy zoas.

and I also used a metal gutter guard in my tank for a good 2 months before replacing it with a plastic one. They are the black Home Depot metal gutter guards. I even saw rust on part of it. But it didn't cause any damage to my corals.

But if you suspect it's leeching metal, you can put in poly filter and carbon pack, do a few water changes. hope for the best..

pod colonies are very easy to make. just put some rock pebbles in a fine mesh and zip tie it closed. toss it into the sump refugium. Your 30gal is going to have a hard time sustaining a mandarin

My hammer is doing good. or he was until **** hit the fan. He was happy and expanding and at one point looked like he was about to start splitting. The tanks been up for about 6 weeks now as stated before my first test was 3/15 and it was up before that. My inverts are doing good or again, were. my turbo snail acting weird clued me In on something being wrong. My peppermint shrimp is super happy...hermit crab is happy..my snails are the ones acting weird.

I have 2 false percs and the mandarin and they're all happy. The tank has been seeded with tons of pods and I'm buying a refugium this weekend. The mandarin does also partake of frozen mysis which I have began direct feeding as well.


I have not tested it for Copper yet...though that is a good idea. I'll have to grab a test kit for it. I don't have a qt yet but I will be getting a second tank for this purpose very soon.


Edit: it is worth noting that the hammer is beginning to brighten up, I noticed that before I went to work this morning.

[MUCHO REEF]

Make you use a good source of granulated activated carbon.

Mooch

[Scubareefman]

I would use a razor and slice as much of the sponge off and discard asap. It can cuase major problems for other live stock when distressed or dying correct?
Also do not take the zoa's out unless they start to melt imo. Most polyps will bounce back if not with a bit of die off that u will need to slice away. Use rubber gloves when fragging them.
Water changes fix just about everything, but your tank is still not mature IMO. Give it time and consider finding a home for those LPS.
Don't get down on yourself. You give a dang about the animals and that shows your a good reefer, but all great tanks take time. It's the one aspect of the hobby that's the hardest to deal with, the waiting and day dreaming of how stuff will be...with time. I am guilty of pushing this to the bare minimum every time. :)

Cheers
Tom

[VeriasCurat]

I would use a razor and slice as much of the sponge off and discard asap. It can cuase major problems for other live stock when distressed or dyinme. :)

Cheers
Tom

Minus the zoas everything in the tank is beginning to perk up. The mushrooms are beginning to be happy, the hammer is almost back to Normal, and everything seems good. Just waiting on the zoas :)

[VeriasCurat]

I'm inclined to agree which is why I ask about the age of your tank as those rocks look very new/fresh. Possible new tank syndrome as well.....plus your trates are too high.

MUCHO REEF

finally got my pH monitor..pH is sitting at 7.91..i'm assuming i need to bring this up. I have a pH buffer that raises pH and alk? should I use it?

no improvement on the zoa's as well..but everything else is looking much much better.

[kissman]

Point a power head toward the surface enough to cause turbulence on the surface that might bring it up. But 7.9 is fine.

[reefwars]

finally got my pH monitor..pH is sitting at 7.91..i'm assuming i need to bring this up. I have a pH buffer that raises pH and alk? should I use it?

no improvement on the zoa's as well..but everything else is looking much much better.

Ph over a 24hr period will have a high and a low , the high is at your peak photoperiod and the low usually during off hours when photosynthesis isn't happening , find outmwhat your low and your high is.

There are other ways to raise ph without using ph buffers

[Spadg84]

something similiar to this happened to some of my zoas in the past but i left the rock, about a month later after they looked completely dead and gone i noticed a couple tiny sized zoas, same type... maybe youll get lucky and have some left over as well ??