I can even kill Mushrooms

OK... BEFORE I purchased my first corals, I had been working with my local SW fish shop and asking lots of questions... but I am apparently not asking the right ones. So I am trying to figure out what I need to check next.

Situation: I purchased Lavendar mushrooms and Green Flourescent Mushrooms and neither are looking very healthy about a week in.

75 Gallon Reef Tank; 2 Saddleback Clowns;1 Saltwater Catfish; 1 six lined wrasse;1 yellow tang; 1 blue tang

1 1200 GHP powerhead;1 Koralia 1; 1 Koralia 4

Wet Dry filter with sponges and Activated carbon and Bio Balls; Live rock (probably 50 lbs); Live Sand (2 inches); Protein Skimmer

T5 nova extreme 8X54 lights which I run blues for 10 hours and whites 8 hours and moonlight at night

Temperature - 78 to 81
PH 8.4
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0

I am using AB every day
I have been dosing with Iodine every three days
I am feeding photoplankton every 3 days (and normal fish feeding)

Last 10% water change was 2 weeks ago.

I am keeping them closer to the bottom of the tank (it seems like the lavendars were trying to move there anyway.

Basically the F. Mushrooms don't open very much and the lavendar seems pale...

What tests am I missing? What do I need to add to the water? Don't yell at me please I really thought I was asking the right questions at the store.....

 

What are your calcium, magnesium, alk, and iodine levels? If you are dosing for something, you need to be testing for it! Specially with the iodine, as if the level gets off even a little bit, it becomes lethal! While doing regular water changes, there should be absolutely no reason to be dosing it.
Honestly, FWIW, with those corals you do not need to be dosing anything.
I would completely stop all dosing until you get the proper test kits according for what exactly you are dosing

 

What Packleader said. Rarely, if ever, should you dose iodine. It can be fatal to many many things in your tank, if at improper levels. Try simply doing 10% water changes once per week, and see if that improves anything. What brand salt are you using?

And a couple more pounds of liverock wouldn't hurt 50 pounds in a 75 is kind of iffy.

 

Rats... I knew I was going to get yelled at for that :-[

Thanks though for the feedback.

As far as the Live rock.... I was assuming that whatever the live rock didn't handle the bioballs would? (not trying to get into the bio-ball debate... but that's what I thought).

Ok... will stop dosing... only added a little since sunday. I will also get the tests for Calcium and Magnesium....

Could the issue be with calcium and magnesium? or are there other things I should be testing (while I am at the store... might as well keep spending money... it seems like every time I think I have bought the last expensive thing.... there's one more expensive thing!)

 

Oh... and I am using instant ocean salt...

 

Ha ha, no not yelling. Just putting an emphasis on
With mushrooms, the ca/alk would not really be too important. While its good to keep proper levels, that is mostly going to be used by LPS/SPS and inverts.
I would get the API reef master kit. It will include ca, alk, po4 tests in it. All you would then need is the MG and iodine test kits. MG is readily available, but you may need to order the iodine kit. And I would just be a little more leary while at the LFS. Sounds like they are very quick to sell you at least some form of expensive additive when you walk in, regardless of whether or not you need it.

 

Thanks again!

Yeah the Iodine was my fault... I read the back of the bottle and it seemed to make sense (it was Kent marine brand). I just ordered the tests from a local store I found close to my work... so I should be able to pick those up today.

If you had these two corals not really thriving... what would you look at the culprit being? Magnesium?

 

Iodine can kill faster than you can do a water change to fix those levels. Iodine is a trace element in our tanks and it doesn't take much to get it into a red zone. I susapect that is what is killing your tank. Inverts and soft corals seem to be more susceptible to iodine poisoning than those with hard skeletons. Think about it this way, even on iodine bottles for human use, it clearly states it is poisonous, with skull and crossbones, if not used properly. It is no different for our delicate pets in a glass box. As the saying goes "if you dose it, you better test it."

 

Nah, Mg is a catalyst for the the Alk and Ca solution. Well they are all linked to another, but when they are out of whack, you will see the others fall out of solution and will precipitate in the tank.

 

Yep :-[

I am hoping I can pick up the test today.... however, to be honest... I haven't seen the corals or fish turning for the worse since I added it... so maybe I caught this mistake in time. I hope so anyway....