Catastrophe!

Frag off the healthy part ASAP! Better to have be safe and have 2 small frags vs. 1 large dead one. I have no idea what's going on with the stars....sounds strange. Maybe their sick from whatever is going on....?
 
DaveWF said:
Now, to top everything off, my brittle starts decided to have an orgy and are "polluting" the tank. Like ALL of them are doing it. WTH???
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This is the sign of tank crash... the stars are stressed to the point where they feel like they are dieing so they are spawning to "continue the species" Have you checked for stray voltage? If it was a parameter issue and you did a large water change the condition would have gotten better very quickly... if it's still continuing something else is going on. I would recommend getting a holding tank set with HOB carbon filter & airstone up with nothing in it and start moving over your fish and livestock. If they recover in the holding tank you can rule it's some sort of environmental reason in your tank.
 
I think that probably also explains the worms. They are trying to avoid the poison or irritant. There probably isn't any more than you always had.
 
poidog said:
This is the sign of tank crash... the stars are stressed to the point where they feel like they are dieing so they are spawning to "continue the species" Have you checked for stray voltage? If it was a parameter issue and you did a large water change the condition would have gotten better very quickly... if it's still continuing something else is going on. I would recommend getting a holding tank set with HOB carbon filter & airstone up with nothing in it and start moving over your fish and livestock. If they recover in the holding tank you can rule it's some sort of environmental reason in your tank.
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I have no other tank, filters, whatever and no room/permission to get more). What I have is what I have.

FWIW, I've seen the brittle stars do that before when my tank was doing just fine.

Oh, and Walt, the GARF Purple Bonsai is doing just fine so far ;)
 
Dave, do you have anyplace that you could re-home your fish and coral? Hopefully more wc's will help. If it persists, I'd start thinking about a 100% wc and rinsing the sand (if you can re-home your inhabitants). Hopefully it doesn't get to such an extreme measure. Fingers crossed for you !
 
DaveWF said:
I've been dosing almost 1 capful of Purple Up per day. Obviously need to dial that back a bit. I've also been adding Ms. Wages Pickling Lime to my ATO, but admittedly, have forgotten to add it the last few times I've topped off my ATO reservoir.
PH was done with a drop & compare test. I rinsed and checked it again with the same results.
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Are you using the Ms. Wages Pickling Lime as Kalk? I never heard of that brand before. Has it worked OK for you in the past?
 
Jason R said:
Are you using the Ms. Wages Pickling Lime as Kalk? I never heard of that brand before. Has it worked OK for you in the past?
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Yes, with no ill effects that I've been aware of.
I did pick up a large bottle of official Kalkwasser at the raffle that I had for sale here. I'm thinking, assuming I make it through this ok, that I may switch over.
 
Some creatures breed under times of severe stress because they know they might not make it. Clams are one example. Have you checked for stray voltage? Any cleaning products used in or around tank? Carpet changed or sources of dust released in the house lately?

EDIT: I should have refreshed the thread before responding. Poidog said almost exactly what I said :D
 
poidog said:
Trust me, I have seen this happen when stars are overly stressed... tank moves, crashes, etc.
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I'm certainly not saying that that is not the case, simply that I've seen them do this before when everything was fine so that is not the ONLY reason they spawn like that. Also, FWIW, they've all gone back into hiding. It really only lasted maybe 30 minutes or so.
 
Just did another visual check of the tank. Couple of SPS frags are bleaching/RTNing/whatever, but on the plus side, the fish look fine! Like "back to normal" fine. No heavy breathing, swimming naturally, etc.
Still have another 5 gallon water change planned tonight after it's done mixing up. That will bring it up to a 50% water change today.
 
DaveWF said:
Just did another visual check of the tank. Couple of SPS frags are bleaching/RTNing/whatever, but on the plus side, the fish look fine! Like "back to normal" fine. No heavy breathing, swimming naturally, etc.
Still have another 5 gallon water change planned tonight after it's done mixing up. That will bring it up to a 50% water change today.
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I've never believed that incremental water changes equate to one large water change. Since the new water gets blended into the old water you are pulling out slightly diluted old water with each water change. If you do have a toxin in your water it is getting slowly diluted by small water changes but I don't think it will put as much of a dent into the problem as a 50% at once water change.
 
Jason R said:
I've never believed that incremental water changes equate to one large water change. Since the new water gets blended into the old water you are pulling out slightly diluted old water with each water change. If you do have a toxin in your water it is getting slowly diluted by small water changes but I don't think it will put as much of a dent into the problem as a 50% at once water change.
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I had never considered that. Unfortunately, I can only make up 5 gallons at a time because I have nothing bigger then a 5 gallon bucket. Looks like I may be staging some water buckets later...

Sent from my awesome phone using TapaTalk
 
Jason R said:
I've never believed that incremental water changes equate to one large water change. Since the new water gets blended into the old water you are pulling out slightly diluted old water with each water change. If you do have a toxin in your water it is getting slowly diluted by small water changes but I don't think it will put as much of a dent into the problem as a 50% at once water change.
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This is true
 
DaveWF said:
so that is not the ONLY reason they spawn like that.
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I never said only, but it is a good indication that something is wrong. In this case, something is wrong. I wish you luck. Definitely check for that voltage. If everything is plugged into a GFCI, that should pop if there is a stray anywhere.
 
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