Who Gives A Fish Forums

Give all your LPS a good iodine dip, might just be a nasty infection that's taken hold.

I had a similar issue a few months back, LPS were the first to go down. I couldn't keep any alive for more than a week. Ended up being the start of a dinoflagellate outbreak. I'd recommend checking for bacterial issues, throw in a polyfilter to rule out heavy metals, and if that doesn't do the trick, I'd suspect some kind of bacterial or algae contamination.

I'm thinking it could be metal contamination. The new pump I got had a cast iron impeller, and when I took it apart, it was badly rusted. I'm starting to think this might have started after I installed the new pump. I did a 20% water change, but this time I used buckets instead of the pump, and I've noticed a slight improvement.

I'm curious about the dino outbreak you mentioned, could you explain that in more detail - what kind of symptoms did you notice before it happened, and how did you eventually resolve the issue.

GoldenFusion wrote: ↑Sat Dec 07, 2024 1:53 pm Hey all, I'm having some issues with my Lps. Over the past month or so, I've noticed they're receding, mainly on the hammers in one of my tanks. I've got another display and a frag tank on the same system, but it's just the hammers that are giving me trouble. They're not opening as much day by day, and now they're not opening at all. Same thing's happening with my Zoas - they stop opening, then just vanish. Any advice would be great, thanks.

Glad you found the culprit, that rusted impeller was likely the cause of all your troubles. I went through something similar, and it's crazy how often people overlook their pumps as the source of the issue.

Now that you've removed the rusted part, here's what I'd do next. Do a few larger-than-normal water changes over the next few weeks, that should help flush out any remaining metal residue. Before you do the water changes, make sure to stir up the sand bed and siphon the water from the display tank, not the sump. You don't want that metal residue lingering around for years.

Add some carbon to your filtration system, a couple of bags should do the trick. And spot feed some of those corals that are looking a bit weak. Just keep your fingers crossed and give it some time.

Thanks for the advice, I've bumped up the water changes to 20% weekly, really hoping to see some improvement, fingers crossed.

I've been in your shoes, had a tough time with my own tank. I managed to get rid of the algae issue for now. I'm crossing my fingers it stays that way. For you, I'm thinking it might be something similar, maybe bacteria or algae that's reached a toxic level. I wish you the best of luck, hopefully it's an easy fix.