my first loss

[russ-iv]

lost an ORA green birdsnest. I'm actually puzzled by the loss though, maybe someone else can chime in. I had a BTA that was getting picked on by a skunk cleaner in the corner of my tank in the back. I did the "relocation program" thing after a week of observing.... enough was enough.
so i moved my rockwork, and that BTA was intent on staying there. so i pointed a power head at it since it was at the base of my arch that is connected with acrylic rods. (eg: it would be easier to make him uncomfortable than disassembly in a 3 ft depth tank). The sand is anoxic at 2-3 inches depth. there is even a hard crust on the top layer and bubbles forming underneath.
well during the sand storm of making it uncomfortable, he let go and i relocated him. corals all piped out that night.
the next morning, everything looked like it was sulking. my aveleopora and torch told me i should die in a fire while they sunk in their skeleton and for the first time i saw few polyps on my birdsnest.
i was like "ok, your pissed. i get it. but you will come around".
i come back from work, and my birdsnest frag is half white and the lps told me they wanted a divorce.

so being the loving other half that i am i did a 100 gallon water change.

before i did the change i had these parameters.
78 degree temp
1.024 salinity
0 phos (api and salifert)
0 nitrate (api and red sea)
0 nitrite (api)
1480 mag (red sea)
9 dkh (api)
8.3 ph (little high. i usually have 7.9-8.0) api and lab
460 calcium (api)

so i was like wtf

0 copper (lab)
0 lead (lab)
iron ( i forgot. was just traceable from lab)

i took a voltmeter to my tank and found my eheim heater had a 2v stray in the sump... 0.1v in the display. i yanked it since.

i had a friend at uga test at his lab but im wondering if i had hydrogen sulfide.

can a sandstorm cause RTN and corals to die that easy?

reason i ask is because my torch isnt looking too hot.
i chucked another ora birdsnest in there and he is kicking it like nothing happened.

anyway. im sure you can understand my frustration being that my parameters arent out of whack.

hell coralline algae is invading!

 

[camellia]

You tell a cute story!

Did you relocate any of the corals? Too much light, to fast maybe? Did your corals get blasted with sand also?

I'm stumped about the sand, "hard crust on top & bubbles under"?

 

[russ-iv]

Camellia;1036716 wrote: You tell a cute story!

Did you relocate any of the corals? Too much light, to fast maybe? Did your corals get blasted with sand also?

I'm stumped about the sand, "hard crust on top & bubbles under"?

lol was just giving perspective.

anyway if you dont touch your sandbed for a bit, some crusting will occur on the top. a type of fusion happens when the sand stays put for a month or so. the bubbles underneath (from my experience) are colonied of anoxic bacteria. similar to a dsb. however i let it go being that there was nothing to clean. (until recently)

i relocated the torch to a lower light area. same flow.

alveopora went to a dead corner. (he was already recovering) that alveopora is pretty stout.

the coral lighting im not sure would be the problem. issue is all receded at the same time. that is a dead giveaway water is whack. lighting. one coral would have an issue. others may follow or whatever but not all at the same time.

 

[bcavalli]

Just a few thoughts: I was curious if you accumulated and tested your water samples after the issues started? I was thinking that when your sand bed was disturbed and since it was encrusted, you may have released too many built up organics into your water column.

How long has your system been finished with cycling? It took my system about six months before I could keep any birdsnest alive long term.

 

[russ-iv]

Bcavalli;1036757 wrote: Just a few thoughts: I was curious if you accumulated and tested your water samples after the issues started? I was thinking that when your sand bed was disturbed and since it was encrusted, you may have released too many built up organics into your water column.

How long has your system been finished with cycling? It took my system about six months before I could keep any birdsnest alive long term.

i spoke too soon on that second bird's nest frag i added. he was RTN the same way. and my alveopora is still ticked at me.

been about a month since cycled. but before you go on the pro route of "its a new tank" without any backing it does have gas bubbles forming under that sand.

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and coralline

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also the tank is lightly stocked with 3 fish and a shrimp with 300 gallons. Not like you can really swing parameters hard unless something big happened.

so ill chalk this up as a learning experience when leaving sand beds alone and not cleaning them/aerating them regularly. however i will probably treat it like a dsb from now on and only aerate tiny sections at a time.

i am almost 100% convinced whatever i churned up in that sand made everyone except the fish scream for a new aquarist.

plan of action is to observe for a week and then do another 100+ gallon water change

 

[russ-iv]

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more bubbles of goodness. the diatoms didnt come out until the sand was stirred. also note the diatom locations and the bubbles vs the molested cleaner spots lacking bubbles