Gorgonian troubles

[D12monkey]

Originally Posted by EvilTwin

I figured the size and additional volume probably made the tank cool faster.

This is a common misconception. Water is one of the most stable elements known to man. It actually can reatain its temperature better then most other stuff. The more volume of water that you have the more stable and the slower a change in temperature will occur. You HEX tank had a lower total volume hence the higher temperature it ran at (due to the heat from you lighting and other equipment) I can almost gaurantee that it also ran colder than your current tank. The Temperature swing will be greater in a tank with lower volume of water then one with a higher volume.

[EvilTwin]

At the suggestion of a member on another board, I gave the gorg a dip in Seachem ReefDip. I'm not sure if this will do any good at this point but it can't hurt to try.

In addition, I suspect something really drastic happened when I did the water change. I had never done a large water change like that before, except maybe when I moved tanks and added more new water. Since doing the water change, my xenia has been rather wilted and the feathery like extensions on the polyps are nearly gone. Three of my Trochus snails have died off. These were pretty good sized snails, too. This morning I found a pile of hermits all voraceously eating away at the flesh of one of them. My bicolor pseudo even got a few bites in. Also, my finger leather seems prone to withdrawing it's polyps much more frequently and the extension doesn't look as good. In fact, the things doing the best appear to be the anemone twins and the clowns are playing with them on occasion. No hosting yet.

So that's where we stand. Last night I did add a buffer to bring the ph back up a little and see if that helps. My tank always ran high with the PH and I think the water change really dropped it and shocked everything. We shall see.

[FragOutpost]

What was the ph and temperature of the water change water? Quick changes in ph and temp can be very stressful to reef inverts. I have performed plenty of large 50% water changes before with minimal problems. Just need to ensure that ph, temp, and alk are reasonably close.