Coral Problems

[ParkavenueReef]

3 weeks ago I had a severe case if ich that would not go away for anything. I tried all the reef safe meds, ( kick ich, rx-p, parasite gone, etc ) after having no luck with a med tank on my tangs i had no choice but to removed most of my live rock and coral and coppersafe my tanks due to being out of town for 3 days. After about 6 days I neutralized my copper to 0, and did heavy water changes, re-cycled my tank with more live rock and reef water. All levels are better than ever. since all of this my coral have not been opening up as normal, Green zoo's stay mostly closed, Ganipora does not extend as it should and star polyps don't come out like they used to. Yesterday i decided to by a XL leather that was extremely healthy and once installed in my tanks it as of now, has not opened up as it should either. I am running a protein skimmer, and UV sterilizer and doing weekly water changes to ensure top quality water. skimmer is going pretty crazy and water is crystal clear. I am running B-Ionic for calcium and alkalinity. One problem I am having is that my water is at 85 degrees and have been using ice bags and cool water changes to bring temps down. ALso running a box fan besides the tank that is showing to help temps down to the 80-82. Any help would be appreciated.. Thanks! :question: :question:

 

[fishman]

The copper is leaking out of your substate .Remove your corals right away you will have to replace all the substate .The sand or crushed coral is like a sponge .Next time remove corals and lower salitily.


http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/aquarium_fish_3.html

http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/aquarium_fish_4.html

Take a look at both of these sites on Hyposalinity therapy.
Hope this helps

 

[ParkavenueReef]

I check my levels daily for copper, It reads zero... If it is zero'ed out how can there still be copper in the system?

 

[fishman]

The amount of copper could be to small for your test kit to read .If there is any amount of copper it will damage the corals in your tank.Also check your PH.

 

[ParkavenueReef]

I had my levels checked at my local reef shop, all ph and others are in perfect check... copper should remove it self after a month correct? especially after running carbon and changing it weekly?

 

[fishman]

It should , but I'm out of suggections sorry I could not help.

 

[jhnrb]

one of the problems with using copper in a system is that it never removes itself, only through filtration and copper removing material will the copper be removed from the water collum only, however, there will still be residues in the system to some extent and it is not surprising that you cannot detect any with the test kit. i suspect the test kit is not a sientific grade/ or lab grade kit, and therefore only gives you a very general idea if copper is present. best way to explain this is if you test for nitrates and you read 20 ppm, you may very well be acturally 40 to 80. lots of variables in the tests kits available to us. it does not take much copper to affect corals and inverts. Fishman may just be right, dont know for sure, but only way is a complete tear down, through cleaning and restart. I know this is probably not an option at this point so lets assume copper levels are low enough to not affect the system charges, and that no copper is leaching back into the water collum, you will need to give your corals at least several months to bounce back from the disruption and to give your system time to again age properly. as long as you are not loosing your corals give it some time. do not add anything else at this point and give your system a change to recover from the medication. Since you said all water parameters were good i assume your ph, alkalinity, calcium, strotium, magnesium, iodine/iodide, minerals, and vitamins are all at satisfactory levels and temperature is between 76 and 82 (high temperatures can affect your corals and adjusting temperatures within correct parameters will still take corals a while to bounce back. 82 is the max. for short periods). if so you need to just give your system a chance to recover and that means your charges as well. sometimes it takes more than a couple of months. so for now continue to test and tweak. if something is out of adjustement correct it. be patient. if you start to loose any corals and everything appears to be ok, i would initially suspect leaching of copper back into the water collum. oh, and on the water changes make sure your salt water is seasoned not freshly made, mix and circulate for at least 72 hours, at tank temperature. freshly mixed salt water will affect your corals as described, and you must heavily aireate if you use ro or di water. hope something here helps and welcome to the forum.

 

[ParkavenueReef]

I greatly appreciate all the advise... someone on another forum mentioned something called cuprasorb? Anyone here of such a product? I will make frequent water changes and try to get the corals away from any residuals.. But I will wait a long while till i add any new inverts and probably will change out the substate this week... Thanks for all the suggestions..

 

[jhnrb]

I strongly recommend CupriSorb. it will change color as it pulls out any copper so you will be able to tell if it is working. once color is completely changed you can regenerate but it is affordable and i prefer new batch each time. you may want to try this product before you pull all your substrait out. a complete tear down would be last effort. you can run the cuprisorb as needed periodically if things indicate a need, and run it continuously for a while initially. good luck and keep us posted your charges will tell if copper was the problem by the way they react once you start using it. just follow manufacturers instructions for use.

 

[ParkavenueReef]

Its being overnighted so i will let you know tommarow nite what happens.. Thanks Again!