hermit crabs are dieing

seba

Need help guys, my 60 gal tank has been up for close to a year now, all of a sudden my herit crabs are not moving at all, they are staying in one spot for 6 days now.
checked levels
nitrite, ph, and amonia is perfect
nitrate is around 10 --did a water change a few days ago and has not moved from 10, plan to do another 10% water change today.
the only strange thing is that my calcium is very high around 600. I have not dosed with calcium for over a week now and levels are still the same. (could this be the prob?)

I have about 70lbs of live rock, 3 fish; 2 clown and small Yellow Tang.
and some corals(hammer head, torch, clams)

please help.

Kellsindell

600 is extreme. What are you dosing, how often, how are you dosing it, and are you checking right after you dose?

seba

I have been dosing with puple up and my calcium level were always around 500 but now I dose with "brightwell aquatics concentrated calcium" it was ok for a good while, checked 2-3 week, last week I checked before a water change and it showed around 600 that is when I stoped dosing I checked 3 days later -->no change 6 days later no change even after a water change. Checking with Api test kit that is 5 months old.

Kellsindell

First off, you don't really want your Calcium to get over 480ppm. I keep many SPS and don't have it that high.

How big of a water change did you do? When i overdosed i had to do about a 15% before i saw any changes in Ca.

seba

I do a 10% water change every week 60 gal tank so 6 gal.
now before i noticed the problem with the calcium i have not changed the water for 2 weeks. maybee that is the problem, not sure, plan to do another water change today and re-check the levels.

Kellsindell

sounds good. let us know what all lvls are, alk, SG, ca, no3, po4, mag please.

okiemavis

High levels of calcium can drive down alkalinity and pH, so make sure you check those levels immediately. What else are you dosing? Certain other elements can drive your Ca up (such as strontium or magnesium). The best rule is don't ever dose what you're not testing for...

A few small water changes should help; obviously not too much at one time, but water changes will be the best way to get your tank straight.

seba

Tested calcium today and went down to 580, did not get a chance to do a water change today, will do that tomorow.
"okiemavis" Calcium is the only thing that i dose my tank other they pytoplanton and zooluplankton (not sure about the spelling) should I dose with anything else?

onefish2fish

calcium, magnesium and alk all go hand and hand. if one is low or high it will most likely effect the others. i HIGHLY recommend testing and dosing for all three.
and Purple Up in my opionion is just over priced alk, but use whatever works for you.

Kellsindell

Onefish is quite right, but since you don't have but soft corals you don't really need to dose anything unless it becomes low. regular water changes will take care of the needs of any trace materials required to keep the corals healthy.