Girlfriend broke up with me and I'm barely able to dress myself and get out of bed, let alone take care of my reef tank. Sadly, my dragonet and red head goby died in the meantime. When it rains it pours.

Woke up to find my sea urchin, Yuri, completely bare of spines. He hadn't moved from the spot I left him in last night. I picked him up and he was still alive, but I'm assuming he was near death. I put him in a bowl and in the freezer to humanely euthanize him. On top of that, Flynn, my neon goby is on his way out as well. He's fine last night, but this morning he was laying on his side on the bottom of the tank. I took him out and put him in a catch cup that I have hanging from the side of the tank. I don't think he has long to live. My Echinophyllia sp. has lost a lot of color as well. Such a bummer of a day.

I believe the problems are high nitrogen levels and a sudden drop of salinity last week. I need to do a water change today.I most likely I should have done one yesterday.

RIP Yuri & Flynn :(

Came home to find Yuri, my Variegated sea urchin, in the corner of the tank, not moving, surrounded by its spines. I reached in to touch him and move him to see if he was still alive and he is, but barely. Losing more and more spines as the day goes on. I'm running tests right now to see what's going on with the parameters. So far it's clear that nitrates are up. From reading, it sounds like the nitrate spike and the salinity drop I had last week could be to blame. Really bummed :/ Yuri was my first inhabitant and he's always looked so healthy.

I think the problem was that the water I used for my last water changed had night fully settled because it was so freshly mixed. And the salinity was off to begin with.