purple gorgonian problems

[shutterfish]

Hi- I am new to salt water and purchased a 28 gallon tank already setup from someone local who had everything in this tank together for over a year. I have a 250 watt metal halide on this setup and everything is looking really good and the water parameters are all checking out- phosphate, ammonia, everything (checked weekly at the reef store in town and myself).

I am having two problems right now- i am getting some algae growth- not a lot, but it it the brown algae and it has covered my purple gorgonian. Now, when I first got the tank 3 weeks ago, it was a hot week and my tank was at 81 degrees in the evenings. My gorgonian shed its skin but then just looked phenomenal. It had its polyps out the whole time and still has all its polyps out and looks very happy- except now it is covered in brown algae.

How do I get rid of the algae on this? It is in an area with water flow and it is soaking up the light, and again, ALL of its polyps are out. I just need to get rid of this algae- i dont know if it will kill it or not.

I also have a little bit of yellow/gold algae starting to grow in spots on my rock. I only have 2 little clowns in this tank and I do not feed very much (half frozen cube every other day). I have attached pics of the gorgonian with a flash and the rock algae without a flash. The gorgonian looks a little worse than it actually is because of the flash.

I will go to the fish store tomorrow to see what I can do and get another water test... I have been doing 7 gallon water changes every weekend since I got the aquarium.

Thanks!
Andrew

I found a similar thread about the molting I saw, but didnt see anything about algae: http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f1...ing-14246.html

[jenglish]

I would get a turkey baster or eye dropper and try to blow off the algae with gentle bursts of water. It should not be on there very securely.

[tdwyatt]

This is usually a sign that these gorgonians are not getting enough current to keep this autotroph clear of epiphytic algae. The shedding is a mechanism that Gorgonians use to keep their photosynthetic surfaces free of such algae. Gorgonians such as this are often found flourishing in fairly strong current (enough to make the fronds move a bit, circa 30cm/sec or more of laminar flow). You may need to move this specimen to a better location (or provide more quality current).

Just curious, how large is the tank, and how long has the Gorgonian been in its present location?

[shutterfish]

thanks for the responses.

The gorgonian is in a current- its arms are constantly swaying. I have a powerhead aiming right near it plus the skimmer returns right over the top of it. I will, however, be getting a second powerhead to run current along the back of my tank because there is flow there but very minimal and i am getting a buildup of a little brown algae on the sand there. I also just put a phosphate treatment in the topfin filter yesterday (along with some carbon) just to try and get everything down to close to zero.

I need to go get a baster so I will try that removal method and post the results of that. ALL the polyps are out- it seems so happy, minus this darn brown goo I'll see if the baster works. And I'll see if the added flow of the new powerhead (arrives tomorrow) and this phosphate treatment will help.

Any other advice would be wonderful as I am new at this and am trying my best to keep everything under control!

Thanks again so much for your advice and I will let you know if these suggestions help. THANKS!

Andrew

[shutterfish]

Oh, as for the length of time and placement... I have attached a picture for you to see. It is a 28 gallon tank with a seaclone 150 skimmer, topfin 30 filter and a powerhead 201 for current (thats the one you see near the middle pointed toward the gorgonian). I purchased this all together from someone who has has this setup for over a year. He used to have a huge tank and an anemone died and everything in this tank survived that death (which was only 20% of what he had). So, the gorgonian he says is over a year old and survived that anemone death. All the equipment is what was set up for the past year.

I got the tank just shy of a month ago and have been doing water changes every weekend (7 gallon changes). The gorgonian has been in this spot the whole time and it is very similar to the spot it was in before, though I have it a little closer to the tank wall than he did. I am also running a 250 watt 20k halide bulb 9 hours a day and he had it set for 8 hours a day.

Hope this helps!

Thanks
Andrew

[shutterfish]

well, the gorgonian seems to be taking matters into its own hands and is molting again. Beautiful purple is replacing the nasty skin. I have added the koralia 1 powerhead to the center of the tank and moved the old powerhead to the side of the tank to increase flow in the back of the tank. I am buying another koralia 1 to replace the old powerhead and then i should have excellent flow all over.

One additional thing... my ammonia is up to like .75 or so... I am doing water changes every week. I dont know what else I could possibly do to keep the ammonia down- what could possibly be happening? I have had a 'slow' snail who keeps falling off the glass and needs help getting back up, etc... so i just tossed it thinking that MAY be a cause for it.. but otherwise, I dont know what could be producing ammonia. All my other levels are PERFECT. Sigh... this isn't easy stuff...

[tdwyatt]

What are you using for the test kit for the ammonia? Check it also to see if it is in date. Try making some fresh ASW at 35 PPT salinity with fresh RO/DI or ome bought Distilled water , circulate it for 24 hours in a clean barrel or other non-reactive container with a power head, then test the new solution for ammonia away from the tank.

Just curious, how old is your rock, and how do you feed the tank?

[shutterfish]

hi tdwyatt- what is fresh ASW? I had the test done at the local pet store- BUT- they kind of forgot about me and I wonder if the test ran too long? I will do my own ammonia test tonight but the kit I got from the guy I bought it from has little yellow discs that you put a bit of water into a dish and then put ammonia reagent and let it sit a half hour. I will do a test tonight on my own and see what I com up with.

The rock is at LEAST a year old- all of it. It came from the 150ish gallon tank (along with all these other corals and such) that survived the anemone death and has been stable- the whole system- for a year. I DID pull a little disc with big zoa's off a rock a couple of weeks ago and wonder if i ripped some apart potentially? Maybe I have a few dead zoa's in the tank?

He was feeding the tank only a tiny amount. He was using a phytoplankton enriched frozen coral food and said he only fed the tank 1/2 cube a week. I had started feeding every other day half a cube, but was told I need to feed daily, so recently I have been feeding half a cube every other day and some OMEGA ONE small pellets that the fish store said i should be feeding daily- yesterday I fed some pellets to various corals, plus four or five for each clown fish. I am not going to feed today.

My feeder shrimp molted today for the second time in 3 weeks. Does that signify anything? I added a little bit of kent marine iodine before each water change- just a 1/4 cap full. After reading his instructions I realize I may have mistook that for the invertebrate food. I dunno- would overuse of iodine cause this problem? That could be it...

Sorry I am brand new at this and I am trying to figure it all out and be as careful as possible... but I know there will be mistakes along the way. The ammonia is the only problem right now- everything else is golden

[shutterfish]

how do i know if rock is dying?

[jenglish]

Originally Posted by shutterfish

how do i know if rock is dying?

The rock itself can't die, it is live only in the sense it is covered and pnentrated by life.

Phytoplankton is sort of like pouring phosphates into your tank. there are some special critters that benefit from them but for your basic reeftank they are un-needed. I would back off the daily feedings of coral food.


You shrimp's molting can be linked to excess iodine. iodine has a toxic level and shrimp will bind it in their shell and ditch it as a way to deal with it (inverts ablity to excrete toxins is not like verts, this is tied to copper toxicity in inverts and their inability to change salinity as fast, but I digress)

My guess is the ammonia is the result of suddenly increasing the food you are putting in and the bacteria in your rock cannot keep up.

[shutterfish]

thanks- I will back off the food and go back to a semi-starvation diet - it seemed to work for the previous owner. I am planning on adding some rock (not live yet) to the tank soon and hopefully that will support more live rock growth and more absorption. I'll do my weekly water changes for a couple more weeks to get the ammonia levels down and see where I get. Thanks for the heads up on the shrimp- that is probably the problem. I'll back off on everything and try and figure out a good balance. I would rather have slower growing corals that are just a little hungry than faster growing ones that are subject to high ammonia...

[jenglish]

I found the balance for mine after awhile was actually feeding every 2-3 days but backing off on my water changes from 20% a week to 20% every 2--3 weeks. Every tank is different and it takes a bit of tinkering to find the balance for your system.

[shutterfish]

excellent thanks! Do you mind if i PM you with a few feeding questions?

[jenglish]

You can PM me any question but you may get more response in thread where others see it as well.

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by shutterfish

what is fresh ASW?

Artificial SeaWater... by making some fresh at the normal salinity oif seawater (35 PPT) nd allowing it to circulate for 24 hours in a clean container, you should have a relatively ammonia-free sample. Some brands of salt mix contain small amounts of ammonia; the circulation is to both equilibrate any effects of CO2 as well as to minimize the effect of small amounts of ammonia in the formulation of the salt.
[quote=shutterfish;1599290] I had the test done at the local pet store- BUT- they kind of forgot about me and I wonder if the test ran too long? I will do my own ammonia test tonight but the kit I got from the guy I bought it from has little yellow discs that you put a bit of water into a dish and then put ammonia reagent and let it sit a half hour. I will do a test tonight on my own and see what I com up with. {/quote]buy a decent kit of your own, one like Salifert that is within date. I normally do not keep an ammonia test kit, but it would be good for you since you appear to be having an issue with ammonia.

Originally Posted by shutterfish

The rock is at LEAST a year old- all of it. It came from the 150ish gallon tank (along with all these other corals and such) that survived the anemone death and has been stable- the whole system- for a year. I DID pull a little disc with big zoa's off a rock a couple of weeks ago and wonder if i ripped some apart potentially? Maybe I have a few dead zoa's in the tank?

I doubt that the rock is a source of ammonia for the system, I think that it is more likely an issue with the sudden increase in feeding or a possible issue with moving the rock or sand bed.
BTW, why are you using phytoplankton?

Originally Posted by shutterfish

My feeder shrimp molted today for the second time in 3 weeks. Does that signify anything? I added a little bit of kent marine iodine before each water change- just a 1/4 cap full. After reading his instructions I realize I may have mistook that for the invertebrate food. I dunno- would overuse of iodine cause this problem? That could be it...

As already mentioned, STOP THE IODINE! If you continue your water changes on a regular q-2-week schedule, the crustaceans will get all the iodine they need at appropriate dose levels from the salt mix you use to make your ASW for the water change.

Originally Posted by shutterfish

Sorry I am brand new at this and I am trying to figure it all out and be as careful as possible... but I know there will be mistakes along the way. The ammonia is the only problem right now- everything else is golden

Never apologize for searching for the best way to care for the creatures in your care. We all are learning about the best way to care for them, and sometimes what might be hot today turns out to be incorrect tomorrow; it is the conjecture of not knowing something for sure yesterday. I think that you'll find that most folks here want what is best for the wards of our care.

Good luck, and Welcome to TRT.