HELP! DYING SOFT CORALS?!

[beaver]

hi all,

I bought 8 pieces of corals yesterday (3 leathers, 2 mushrooms and 3 zoos) and when I woke up this morning, the water was very cloudy and some of the mushrooms are dying...melted and bits are floating around. The leathers are droopy and waxy and the zoos are simply not opening. The place reeks! I've done partial water changes a few days ago and one yesterday, so the condition of the water shouldn't be that bad. PLEASE HELP! What should i do???

[prec]

i think u need to give us more specs of ur tank..

e.g: Ca, kH, pH, temp?

[diabolus]

hi all,

I bought 8 pieces of corals yesterday (3 leathers, 2 mushrooms and 3 zoos) and when I woke up this morning, the water was very cloudy and some of the mushrooms are dying...melted and bits are floating around. The leathers are droopy and waxy and the zoos are simply not opening. The place reeks! I've done partial water changes a few days ago and one yesterday, so the condition of the water shouldn't be that bad. PLEASE HELP! What should i do???

should be ur leather dats causing the damage.

they are one of the most toxic corals ard.

[Marineman]

Your temp may be too high.

[DeepBlue]

i think u need to give us more specs of ur tank..

e.g: Ca, kH, pH, temp?

He is right. Help pple to help you

[moxa]

Hi beaver,

You put new 8 corals at one shot into your main tank?

Something could have happen to your water parameter.

cheers

Moxa

[pegasus1010]

throw away those dead corals. then continue water change, throw a pack of carbon as well. then let us know the water parameters.

[shoelevy]

why add so many corals at one shot?

this should be your first sin

to repent..pls tell us your water parameters

[beaver]

why add so many corals at one shot?

this should be your first sin

to repent..pls tell us your water parameters

Thanks all! My tank specs are as follows:

3 x 2 x 2, about 80 gallons (ISO tank)

Lighting - MH and Actinic flouresecent

Water specs:

Ph - 8.2

CA - 410mg/L

Nitrate - 0.05

Phosphate - 0

dKH - 8

Temp - 26 - 29 (i dun have a chiller)

Specific Gravity - 1.023

My mushrooms are already wasting away....

The fella at the shop told me its OK to place all the corals at the same time, unlike fishes. Btw, the fishes are not affected (1 YT, 1 striped damsel, 1 maroon clown and a blue devil).

Thanks a bunch!

[Bandit]

Have you put in any additives in the last couple of days ... specifically iodine related?

have you had a temperature spike above 29??

It will not be due to the fact that you have added all the corals at once, and I doubt it would be the leather... do you have any other corals (LPS, SPS?) in the tank? If so, how are they going?

[Dotty1313]

Hi,

Did you check (or smell) for dead sponges or organism that comes with the corals? Especially the zoos and mushroom which tend to have sponges and other organism on them. May be due to dead sponges which spoil the water... leather and mushroom don't die out so suddenly unless the water parameter is really out.

For me, I would normally smell the coral before buying them... you'll not missed the smell - I would not buy any coral if it smell bad... even though it may looks good from the outside... much like buying durian

one way to do now is to check each piece of your corals for bad smell and throw out the bad ones...

my 1 cent advice... in my experience, putting in a large number of corals at one shot should not cause too much problem (provided they are in good condition)... I'm only worry about the water level increase when doing so...

Regards....

Dotty

[ciaolong]

yeah i am with Dotty1313 best to possible move to another tank or a qt tank the ones that are still alive and watch them and the water

[prec]

my best guess is that the mushies are wasting due to the MH lightings. may be too strong for them. try to place them in low current and shaded area..

as for now, try to get ur water quality up again. throw away all the dead corals. no point letting them rot in ur tank and foul other corals up too.

[beaver]

Hi,

Did you check (or smell) for dead sponges or organism that comes with the corals? Especially the zoos and mushroom which tend to have sponges and other organism on them. May be due to dead sponges which spoil the water... leather and mushroom don't die out so suddenly unless the water parameter is really out.

For me, I would normally smell the coral before buying them... you'll not missed the smell - I would not buy any coral if it smell bad... even though it may looks good from the outside... much like buying durian

one way to do now is to check each piece of your corals for bad smell and throw out the bad ones...

my 1 cent advice... in my experience, putting in a large number of corals at one shot should not cause too much problem (provided they are in good condition)... I'm only worry about the water level increase when doing so...

Regards....

Dotty

Thanks all for all the advice! I have done the following:

1) do a partial water change to reinstate the water quality

2) throw out all the smelly (& of course dying corals).

3) monitor the position of the coral, in relation to their lighting requirements.

All the corals which I bought are very healthy & i dun noe whether by putting all of them into the tank is the cause of the early demise. I feel so miserable..sigh..I do not add any other supplements to the tank. Talk about Murphy's Law...my MH bulb just burnt out, so need to get it replaced....

[Clownfish]

first time buying corals??

new tank with some fishes inside nitrate = 0.05 and phosphate = 0?

either u hav maintained ur water very well (which is unlikely of a beginner) or ur test kit is not rite or u did not cycle ur tank is not fully or not cycled properly...

wat i fear most is that ur tank is not properly cycled that explains y ur corals aint doing well...

test ur ammonia n nitrite

but then i could be wrong, ur mushroom cld be melting due to ur strong MH, ur leather is waxy as u dun hav enuff water circulation... ur zoos not opening up may be due to a piece of bad zoos that u hav purchased

[beaver]

first time buying corals??

new tank with some fishes inside nitrate = 0.05 and phosphate = 0?

either u hav maintained ur water very well (which is unlikely of a beginner) or ur test kit is not rite or u did not cycle ur tank is not fully or not cycled properly...

wat i fear most is that ur tank is not properly cycled that explains y ur corals aint doing well...

test ur ammonia n nitrite

but then i could be wrong, ur mushroom cld be melting due to ur strong MH, ur leather is waxy as u dun hav enuff water circulation... ur zoos not opening up may be due to a piece of bad zoos that u hav purchased

Hi Clownfish,

In fact the tank has been up and running for 3 years, so I dun think its the NTS. I am unable to vouch for the accuracy of the measurements of the water parameters, but I dun think its way off.

I've kept leathers, zoos and mushrooms b4 without much problem, so I think it must be something wrong in the tank. It is really fustrating at the rate they died off. There is also sufficient current for the leather (an additional pump). I will just wait and see, I guess. Thank you so much!

[kareen]

from the way you describe it -> 8 pieces of corals ok when bought and overnight in your tank, all become dying..... give me a strong feeling that it is a wrong water parameters or extremely high temperature that caused the death of corals. I personally have always bought plenty of corals and put them in my tank at one go without much problem especially those that you bought are hardy leather and mushroom.

[gothia]

Temp - 26 - 29 (i dun have a chiller)

you are running MH and your temp is 26 to 29? pretty impossible..cos when i was running T5 without chiller is already 29.5 to 30 already..

temp cannot fluctuate too often (best to keep it constant)..it is not good for your corals..

i guess the best way is that you buy a ac cooling fan...at least not so hot..

also..did u acclimatise ur corals before putting them in?

as per what the reefer says above, remove the dead corals asap..do alot of water change and throw in chemi-pur (or carbon)

just my 0.02 cents worth!

[Clownfish]

if that's the case, cld be some unhealthy LS that u've gotten...

increase ur water circulations... leathers n zoos need that...

and try shady areas n sandbed level for ur mushrooms next time... hope this helps

I've kept leathers, zoos and mushrooms b4 without much problem,

r these corals still ok in ur tank or r they affected by the new LS?

[beaver]

if that's the case, cld be some unhealthy LS that u've gotten...

increase ur water circulations... leathers n zoos need that...

and try shady areas n sandbed level for ur mushrooms next time... hope this helps

r these corals still ok in ur tank or r they affected by the new LS?

I have done the water changes and carbon replacement and keeping my fingers crossed. I think the corals are stablised. Unfortunately, the mushrooms are gone...still deeply mystified. The zoos are opening up a little...so see how it goes. Thanks a lot to all!