I Killed my brain!

[secondhand65]

OK All, I'm fairly new to this aquarium hobby, so please excuse my ignorance. First of all, I recently changed my water, and I added the salt (brand Instant Ocean) directly to my aquarium. It was only about 1/2 cup, but my Open Brain Coral was directly below it. Now it has completely sucked in, and lost most of it's color....Is it doomed? I'm hoping it will make a comeback, but don't want to risk my other corals in the tank if that one is sure to die.

Also, My water has become very cloudy the last day. Could that be from changing the Activated Carbon Media in my Canister Filter? All my levels (ie Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia, PH) are very low, so I don't know the first place to start.

Does anyone have any idea on a way to reduce the cloudiness (sp?) and give my brain coral a fighting comeback? Please help, I'm desperate!

Thanks in Advance,
Jim

[scout]

Wow, so much to say on your post. First if the brain dies it will not infect the other corals in your tank. I would make sure that all the salt residue is out of the brain. Leave the brain in the tank to see if it recovers.
Secondly as to the cloudy water we would need a little more to go on other than low nitrite, nitrate, ammonia and ph. Are you using test kits? Some of these parameters shouldn't be "low" but 0. Low ph also is not good.
BTW, should I assume that you now know not to add salt directly to the tank?

Mike

[Elmo18]

Errrr..... Welcome to this exciting....challenging hobby. WEll first off, I don't want to be a bit mad or anything but the bag does say not to directly add salt to the tank. At least my Instant Ocean doesn't.

How large is this tank? I would take the brain coral, and let water movement take any salt residue out. Do not take the brain coral out of the water when you do this. Just take him next to a powerhead (not too heavy flow) and let it have some water flow over its flesh.

I hope he makes it. I know if salt creep accidentally falls on my Montipora capricornis, that portion bleaches, and then recovers.

- Elmo

[Reeffantic]

I will not go into the mistake with the salt. It was a mistake I made as a novice too and it cost me a nice anenome. I will never happen again but here is a thought. This is a mistake I made when I was new to the hobby. I took the advice of GARF and followed their "bullet proof" reef recipe when it came to adding Calcium and related substances. Well, let me say this. Talk about a crock of S__T. My tank was full of SPS and LPS and their recipe over calcified and almost fried the whole thing. Incidentally, that was the last time I went to that site and talked with anyone from that idiotic place.

Okay, pro GARF people, come and get some if you dare. One thing is for sure though, you will end up bloody and I will be the one laughing. Anyway, the over calicification caused the water to become cloudy and the polyps of my corals stayed closed. I contacted GARF, told them the problem, and they asked me if I followed the "bullet proof" reef recipe. I said yes and their answer was, "we do not know then." Ha! I described the situation to a local LFS and they determined what the problem was immediately. I was instructed to do a massive water change to rid the majority of the excess calcium in the water. That was it: problem solved.

Okay, I feel better now, some pent up frustrations from that POS place. Anyway, does this situation apply to you by chance?

[Reefland]

Welcome to Reefland!

First of all let me say you've come to the right place.

Anytime you need to add salt to your water to perform a water change, you should pre-mix the water and let it sit for ~12 hours before adding it. What I do when doing a water change is use a 5 gallon bucket filled with RO/DI water and add the correct amount of salt to it to bring it up to match my tank, 1.025. While adding salt to the RO/DI water, I have a powerhead stirring and a heater heating the water; trying to get everything as close to the actual tank water as possible. Once I have the salinity and the temperature correct, I let the powerhead continue to run in the bucket for at least 12 hours and then proceed with my water change. Again this is my routine and regardless of how you go about it, make sure the water your adding is exactly the same as your tank before you add it.

In regards to the cloudy water, it could be a couple of things. I would tend to think it would be from the salt being added directly to the water or second guess, Reeffanatic's thought on your calcium precipitating. Does it look like little crystals floating around or just cloudy?

On your brain, hopefully it will make it but only time will tell. If you immediately "cleaned" it of the direct salt contact, it may just rebound.

Lastly, ask all the questions you have here. Everyone here is very helpful and willing to help with even the most simple questions. Just think, if you would have asked about adding the salt before you did it, you wouldn't be concerned with your brain (coral that is ).

Regards,
Scott Z.

[kevinpo]

One comment. When mixing water and salt for your water change always add the water first then the salt (slowly). If you have the salt in the bucket and then add the water you can precipitate out some of the ingredients due to the chemical reaction with the water.

HTH,
Kevin

[secondhand65]

Thanks for all the help guys! I will do another partial water change, and keep everyone posted on how things are turning out!

I appreciate everyone taking time out of your days, to help a newbie enthusiast!

Jim-