Treating with Vitamin C

[crazy_reefing]

I started adding the Vitamin C this past Saturday night. Of course, it's too early to see a lot of improvement but I used to get a cup of skimmate in about 3 days. Now, since I've been adding the Vitamin C I am getting a full cup ever day and my water is really clear!

[Pufferpunk]

Hmmm... someone on another forum mentioned that this could be the "poor man's ozone". Sounds like you need a bigger cup!

[PaintGuru]

So people are shooting for 50ppm in most cases, as discussed in the article?

[Pufferpunk]

Yes, that is what I aim for.

[Pufferpunk]

It looks like I'm not the 1st:
http://www.livingreefs.com/forums/sa...vitamin-c.html

I highlighted a few things that stood out, pertaining to most of our common problems with zoas:

-Beneficial to most corals on which we have tried C. Corals appear to open more and look more vibrant. Although one could easily construe this as subjective, the impression of others who looked at the tanks over a period of time were positive in this regard.

I am definately finding this to be true, with my already healthy corals!

-Enhances colors in fishes and in corals, especially when used long-term.


-Prevents, to a large degree, bacterial infections from spreading rapidly and becoming sores on the body of fishes, or affecting corals to to a degree that they start to "melt", or liquefy, or taking on a toothpaste appearance, as some hobbyists call it.

What Vitamin C, combined with water directed at the infected areas, does is prevent the spreading of the bacterial infection and promote the healing of the coral and or the fishes.

This fact has been related by many hobbyists. To clarify this further: when bacterial infections spread on a coral, the polyp tissue starts to disintegrate (turns whitish like a toothpaste like material), or a brown type sludge emanates from the coral polyp. Both are signs of bacterial infection.


Statements in bold, are the exact decsripton of what has been happening to my zoanthids for many years.

[Ratkiller]

Puffer, can you clear this up for me. I have read the article you mentioned about dosing amounts. For the Therapeutic method: to start with 5ppm, and a 66g system it came to 330 miligrams(mL). So you have said you dose once in the morning and once at night. Do you suggest I dose 330mL twice a day... or split it 165mL and 165mL...or just 330mL once in the morning?

[Pufferpunk]

According to thatr most recent article, dosing is only good for 8 hours, so I was correct to be dosing 2x/day. I would dose for 5ppm 2x/day for starters.

[RoyalEnchntrss]

Thats so weird because mine went and hid the other day too. I hope thats all it is!

Originally posted by Pufferpunk
Just spoke to an anemone expert & she says it's probably just going to split soon, that's all. If there was to be any problems with my long-term dosing of the C, the clams would be showing some kind of stress too. They've never looked better!

[Pufferpunk]

Mine came out today & looks great--nice, fat tentacles. I can't tell if it split or not.

[RoyalEnchntrss]

Now do you think thats from the nourishment of the vitamin c? and what do you do with it once it does spilt? can you leave them both in the tank?

[Pufferpunk]

My anemone expert friend said mine is getting crowded where it is & just might split. I can't tell if it has or not. Nothing to do w/the C.

[Pufferpunk]

Found some more info to support my theory on dosing 2x/day:

"Some hobbyists use the required dosage twice a day, not just once. They add two equal dosages per day and report faster and better results. What I mean here is that if the tank requires, for example 2000 mg to bring it up to the desired C concentration, these hobbyists had 2000 mg twice a day.

This extends the amount of time that the animals are exposed to chemically potent Vitamin C activity by two and has, based on personal findings and their reports, given better results.
In essence what they are doing is treating their aquariums two times a day, adding the same dosage as needed to achieve the desired concentration and doing so twice a day as indicated.

This can be done because the active life of Vitamin C in an aquarium is only about 8 hours."

[jdellman]

I have some before and after shots, although the before shots are from early October, and the after shots are from tonight. I have been dosing 2000 mg in the morning and 2000 mg at night, except I have missed a few dosings here and there. I have been dosing since about 12/17, so about 3 weeks. I have photos of 5-

Number 1 before -


Number 1 after -


Number 2 before -


Number 2 after-


Number 3 before-


Number 3 after-


Number 4 before -


Number 4 after -


Number 5 before -


Number 5 after-


I'm sure some of the diference is due to growth, but I believe that some of the difference is also due to the vitamin C, so I am going to continue dosing. Also note the difference in the rics, they are also much bigger now.

[Pufferpunk]

Darn, I wish you had taken more recent "before" pics. Thanks & keep snapping those pics!

[jdellman]

I have some pictures from 12/19, but didn't know how much they would help since I started a day or two earlier. I also have a bunch of shots of zoas from early October and a bunch from tonight, but since I have moved a bunch of corals around, they are kind of hard to match up. I will post them if people think they will help. Let me know.

[Pufferpunk]

I think what everyone needs to do now, is just take lots of "before" pics. Especially of sick corals! Then every month take an "after" pic. If you are notice big improvements in your sick ccorals before then, take progression pics & note the dates.

Everyone can help with this study.

[cr8signs]

I have been dosing for 5 days. Well, I counted this morning. On one colony I have about 100 polyps,
all but 2 are open, and I can finally see not just green but some fine
hairy tentacles popping out. The other colony all of the polyps are now open, no tentacles yet, but they are opening up enough to see the color. I have a 100 gal tank (total water in system), I am now dosing 500 mg every 4 hours or so.
My anemone, is now larger than a basketball, with long fat tentacles. It seems to like it. Before it was doing well also, but tentacles were thinner, slightly shorter and more like the size of a volleyball. Hairy mushrooms? Not really sure yet. They are letting out purply/maroon yuck. Not good. However, I am going to treat them as I did when I saved my bleached anemone, and feed them meat(silversides and mysis) if they will take it. two did last night.
Any nay sayers, please let me know your pros and cons, or experiences with mushrooms.
pufferpunk, I have taken photos before and after, but I am too stupid to figure out how to compress them to 50k, I will keep trying

[PaintGuru]

I wonder if an easier way to dose this would be to just add it to the top off water. I can't see why it would break down just sitting in water, but I'm not sure.

[Pufferpunk]

My anemoone just came out of hiding yesterday & his tentacles are fatter too.

[mnestroy]

Speaking about anemones since treating with Vit C my LTA has gotten HUUGE, plus i havent fed him in 2-3 weeks, I definitely need to upgrade my 40breeder he takes up more than a 1/3rd of my tank

I just put that green colony of zoos in my tank 4 days ago so far they are looking great! (not bad pics for a camera phone)

[TexasTodd]

Ditto what Paintguru said....will it break down over time in RO/DI topoff water?

It sure sounds like it's helping to keep the water cleaner somehow in addition to direct health benefits.

Todd

[PaintGuru]

Originally posted by TexasTodd
Ditto what Paintguru said....will it break down over time in RO/DI topoff water?

It sure sounds like it's helping to keep the water cleaner somehow in addition to direct health benefits.

Todd

Todd, I just got to thinking...orange juice is mostly water and the vitamin C does fine in there. Also, many supplements for the aquarium (liquid) have vitamin C in it, so apparently they feel it is fine in that form.

However, HERE is an interesting link on Vitamin C:

http://www.dietitian.com/vitaminc.html

Notice it says Vit C is destroyed at temperatures above 70F, so perhaps we may not want to put it into top off water unless it is below 70F.

[madadi]

well today i tried the buffered form of vitamin C and i love it. seems like i can add unlimited amounts to the tank. i add it directly to the main tank. mix some in a cup with food. its vitamin C and sodium. the sodium is in place of the extra hydrogen ion that made it acidic. ill check in after 2 weeks or so. the ORP still drops like crazy so thats good new. its still an affective antioxidant just like the regular acidic vitamin C

[sellout007]

I took Puffer's advice and decided to add some vitamin C to my tank last week and figured I would share an interesting result.

I had a purple tang that had developed Ich and had been trying to treat it with a natural Ich treatment, to no avail it wouldn't go away. Tried that for about 3 weeks. Stopped dosing that about 4 days before I started the Vitamin C, and as of today, The purple tang is showing no visable signs of Ich.

Coincidence? Who knows.

I was dosing 500mg for approximately 60g of water. I have also noticed a nice increase in skimmate production.

[Pufferpunk]

After reading that new article, I do not think this is a coincidence at all. I have started dosing my tank with a baby burrfish in it that has some spots on him now. I'm hoping for the same results as you.