What the....

[crewdawg1981]

Alright... no clue (partly because I dont have a full compliment of test kits) what is going on here.

The tank has done this twice now, two weeks apart, but it seems as if the softies in my tank (a few shrooms, favia, trumpet, and wall hammer) look terrible and mad. The Favia actually looks like its dying in an acidic bath (random areas of deterioration with white tissue stringing out). The mushrooms are the big green ones, and right now they all look shriveled. Meanwhile... most of my SPS looks as happy as can be (aside from a stylo and a my basketball sized pink BN) with polyps out and good color.

I cant think of any changes to the tank that have happened in the last few weeks. No additions or subtractions aside from a bluespot four weeks ago and a shoal of 11 chromis that my bartlett quickly made a solitary specimen (he's working this last little guy too). The chromis were all gone within a few days for the most part.

This first crash-like scenario happened for the first time two weeks ago. I came home and the tank looked a little cloudy and had the same scenario as above. I did a 30 gallon water change and changed out the carbon. Everything started lookin great/better shortly after. I didnt know what happened, but it seemed to have been resolved, so I figured erything was good.... right?

Did another water change last weekend and everything has been lookin good. No fish deaths... no other changes...

Looked at my tank this morning and... same deal as above. Favia is looking a bit worse maybe. I didnt have a water change ready so... thats brewing now.

Now, I dont have an ammonia test, which I suspect given the symptoms, but I dont know where it would have come from in the first place. Alk is definitely low at 7, but... my alk typically runs low. Calcium is 370, pH is 8.22, temp is ~78, and Sp. Gr is 1.0026.

Thoughts?

 

[crewdawg1981]

I should probably also mention that the fish are all acting normal, same for the inverts. No funny aromas either...

 

[raz0945]

Try testing your fresh made salt water, you may have hit a pocket of ALK or some other chemicals that have not been well mixed. I had this happen about 2 yrs ago, my ALK went from 9+ to 16+dKH and I had kept doing water changes which make matters worse. if you don't have the tests kits take your water to a LFS and ask them to test it until you can get the right testing materials. I lost a lot of corals because I did not act fast enough. Good Luck with it! Holley

 

[crewdawg1981]

Hey Holley! Great suggestion. I did just check after you mentioned it. Came out ~9.7-10.0 dkh after a few tests.

Sux... further investigation is showing that a few other SPS colonies are losing some tissue. Some of my larger colonies are still polyp'd out and colored up.... softies, LPS, Zoas and birdsnest are pissed...

Wishing I had gotten those 50 gallon drums a few months ago rather than putting it off... (only have the one 32 gallon brute that I now have to fill up again).

Now I'm starting to wonder if the cleaners cleaned in that room now. The last time it happened the day after their visit... JUST LIKE THIS TIME. Same inexplicable madness... Stand/glass doesnt look cleaned though...

 

[kirkwood]

Crewdawg1981;862153 wrote: Hey Holley! Great suggestion. I did just check after you mentioned it. Came out ~9.7-10.0 dkh after a few tests.

Sux... further investigation is showing that a few other SPS colonies are losing some tissue. Some of my larger colonies are still polyp'd out and colored up.... softies, LPS, Zoas and birdsnest are pissed...

Wishing I had gotten those 50 gallon drums a few months ago rather than putting it off... (only have the one 32 gallon brute that I now have to fill up again).

Now I'm starting to wonder if the cleaners cleaned in that room now. The last time it happened the day after their visit... JUST LIKE THIS TIME. Same inexplicable madness... Stand/glass doesnt look cleaned though...

Good catch with the cleaners. Do you know what kind of aerosol cleaners they may be spraying in that room? Don't you have fans running in the back of your canopy that would blown airborne chemicals directly over your water?

As for the water change, given your total water volume I can't imagine any problems with parameters no matter how high the mix in parameters are.

And since you are talking about pissed shrooms then this has gotta be something outside normal aquarium realm. Next time cleaning people come maybe turn off the fans just to play it safe.