Any idea of what is happening to my brain ?

Sunshine

Sunshine

Reef enthusiast
He started this 3 days ago. Sorry, pics aren't that great.

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Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
PH 7.8
Phosphates .5
Calcium turned purple at 36 drops, never did turn blue
KH 4 drops
Salinity 1.026
 
go get new test kits i think yours are bad. 4dkh for alk is real bad and that could be a big problem. i would take a water sample to the lfs and have them check cal,mag,alk. your numbers are just way to far off to be right oe you havw a huge chemical imbalance
 
I agree with James on either bad test kits or faulty testing. What brand test kits do you use and what brand salt?
If you used an API test kit for calcium and it took 36 drops to turn purple, your calcium is around 720 ppm. No salt tests that high out of the box. Do you use any supplements?
 
It's an API test. It's only a few months old. I mix Seachem and Kent salt. Mostly Seachem. I dose Iodine, coral Vite and Strontium & Molybdenum.
 
Kent and Seachem both has calcium in the 500-540 range. Have you looked at the ingredients for Coral Vite? The 3rd on the list is calcium! I still think it's a testing error tho. Coral Vite isn't a strong enough solution to raise youer calcium by that much.

Since you are dosing iodine, strontium and molybdenum, what are their current levels? You are aware you should not dosing anything you don't test for...correct?
 
I do have Calcium as a supplement. But, since the calcium was so high, I don't dose that one. I was using Oceanic Salt, never had any problems. Than when the store switched to Kent, my corals don't look as good as they use to. So, I bought the Seachem to mix with the Kent. My corals seemed to quit growing since I changed from Oceanic. I will quit supplementing cause no, I don't test for that stuff. And on an algae thread I asked if having too much coraline means something is wrong. Someone said with all the coraline I have, something is out of whack. I feel my tank is going downhill. It's depressing me :(
 
Just a suggestion:

I never touch the fleshy parts. It irritates them and can cause further receding of soft tissues. Pick them up from underneath so you are only touching the bone part of the skeleton.

Do 3 water changes this week. 15% each time. Do one - wait a few days - do another - wait a few days - and another. It just needs stable water parameters. Water changes will get the alk back inline and introduce fresh trace elements that all your corals need.

And stop dosing. No calcium dosers - no pH buffers - nuthin' . Just do some 15% water changes to get the parameters back inline and then keep after them on a weekly basis.

Oh, and Kent salt SUCKS IMO. Switch back to Oceanic or try a new one. I switched from Oceanic to Kent and then to Red Sea Coral Pro. The Oceanic was always low on alk and pH. The Kent was HORRIBLE and I started losing tissue on my corals. But all my corals looked great after just a couple water changes using Red Sea Coral Pro.
 
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Huh that's interesting on the Kent salt. That's one of the brands I've used for the last several years, and I've never had any issues with it.
 
Rcpilot said:
Just a suggestion:

I never touch the fleshy parts. It irritates them and can cause further receding of soft tissues. Pick them up from underneath so you are only touching the bone part of the skeleton.

Do 3 water changes this week. 15% each time. Do one - wait a few days - do another - wait a few days - and another. It just needs stable water parameters. Water changes will get the alk back inline and introduce fresh trace elements that all your corals need.

And stop dosing. No calcium dosers - no pH buffers - nuthin' . Just do some 15% water changes to get the parameters back inline and then keep after them on a weekly basis.

Oh, and Kent salt SUCKS IMO. Switch back to Oceanic or try a new one. I switched from Oceanic to Kent and then to Red Sea Coral Pro. The Oceanic was always low on alk and pH. The Kent was HORRIBLE and I started losing tissue on my corals. But all my corals looked great after just a couple water changes using Red Sea Coral Pro.
Click to expand...

Good advise on the not touching the flesh. I had neon yellow on my fingers when I did that. I'm not going to use the Kent anymore. I'll finish out the Seachem than go back to Oceanic. All my parameters were good until I started switching salt. Do you think the Brain will heal itself ?
 
It WILL heal itself. I'm 100% sure of it.

The more you screw with it - the worse it'll get. Don't try to medicate it or dose anything in the tank. If you like Oceanic salt and your tank did good - then switch back to it and do at least 3 water changes this week. 15% water change each time.

Next week - do 2 water changes 10% of the tank volume.

3rd week - go back to 1 water change per week. 10% -- 15%
 
OK, I have my tote filled with water, but no salt yet cause I was debating on using the rest of the Kent or not. But, will just put the Seachem in it. I still have about 1/3 bucket left of the Kent. I'll get the Seachem in it now and change it tomorrow and Tuesday and Thursday. Than twice next week.
Thanks RC
 
Sunshine said:
Someone said with all the coraline I have, something is out of whack. I feel my tank is going downhill. It's depressing me :(
Click to expand...


that is wrong coraline does not mean things are out of wack at least as i know. it is usually a good sign that the tank is on a good path to being healthy
 
In my experience from my kalk overdose, the brains like yours are very sensitive to pH and alkalinity changes.

Of all the stuff that died in my tank, I lost 100% of my lobos -- five different corals. Wiped out, across the board, pretty much overnight. None of my other corals reacted that badly to the alk and pH swings -- even my SPS corals survived the kalk overdose.

I don't know why, but those brains just do not tolerate water parameters being off at all. Like others said, I'd double check your alkalinity. If your test kit is right, and it is that low, it's luckily a pretty straightforward problem to fix.
 
I just bought that test kit a few months ago, guess it could be bad. I'll take my water into a LFS. Couldn't have that kind of bad luck that the salt and test kit would be bad, could I ? lol I did notice the PH was lower than normal. It comes out of my tap at 9. Does the PH matter what time of day you take it ? I did my testing late last night. I've got my salt mixed. All Seachem. I have an aerator and pump in there. I've been having trouble with the salt mixing in the tote also. I did have another brain that was bleaching, I moved it some what under a shelf and it got all it's color back now. I love the brains, but don't think they love my tank.

Geeeeez when it rains, it pours.
 
You really need to test your PH a 2 different times. Test right before your lights come on to get the low PH.Then test again just as the lights are turned off to get the high.
Unless your running a refugium on a reverse photo-period then the PH is gonna drop a little bit during the night.
With your ALK kit showing 4 drops,you've got a bad kit.If it was really that low,every thing in your tank would be dead.
Which Seachem salt are you using? If its the reef salt,then its good.If its the marine,its made basically for FO tanks and is not designed to hold the parameters of a reef tank.
 
It is the Reef salt. I just tested it again with only the blue lights on, it still the same as last night. I also tested the tote just now. It had a little left over salt mix from before, I filled it up last weekend and just added the Seachem a few hours ago. It tested at 8.8 PH
 
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