Sps corals dying
- Thread starter Acanman
- Start date
Update?
Acanman
Member
The harlequin shrimp are doing their job. Looks like the stars are gone. Water parameters steady : ca-450,alk 11,mg-1600, salinity- 1.026, phosphates - 0.05.
The phosban reactor seems to be working. I havnt lost any sps corals in a while however i have lost some expensive lps pieces - a scoly and a meat coral
.
-i am retrofitting an led kit from StevesLeDs with the hopes of never losing another coral Again.
-i also increased feedings to every other day (used to be every third). More food and more fish poop.
-i recently alterered the aquascape significantly. Better circulation throughout the structure.
-i used to do 5 gal weekly changes. Bout a month ago i began using 10 gal.
In conclusion, no definitive answer as to why the bleaching sps or the dying LPS.
My best guess is the tank is overstocked with coral and i wasnt feeding enough. Hungary tank.
I will check back in a week
The phosban reactor seems to be working. I havnt lost any sps corals in a while however i have lost some expensive lps pieces - a scoly and a meat coral
. -i am retrofitting an led kit from StevesLeDs with the hopes of never losing another coral Again.
-i also increased feedings to every other day (used to be every third). More food and more fish poop.
-i recently alterered the aquascape significantly. Better circulation throughout the structure.
-i used to do 5 gal weekly changes. Bout a month ago i began using 10 gal.
In conclusion, no definitive answer as to why the bleaching sps or the dying LPS.
My best guess is the tank is overstocked with coral and i wasnt feeding enough. Hungary tank.
I will check back in a week
Last edited:
EagleEyes - good to see you posting on RS again ! 
sawcjack00
New Member
It was mentioned earlier in this thread - this looks like the work of Acro eating flat worms. If you haven't already, do some research on these. They are the bane of an SPS aquarium (well those and red bugs). Search A.E.F.W.
Acanman
Member
Dang i think your on to something. I removed about 20 lbs of rock to redo some of the scape. I left the rocks in a bucket in the garage. Next morning i noticed a couple sizable worms. Omg
Dang i think your on to something. I removed about 20 lbs of rock to redo some of the scape. I left the rocks in a bucket in the garage. Next morning i noticed a couple sizable worms. Omg
You sure those weren't bristle worms? I think adult flatworms are about 1cm.
Acropora Eating Flatworm (AEF) - Aquarium Coral Diseases
Melevsreef.com - AEFW | Acropora Eating Flatworms
Does that mean you have flat worms?
You know bristle worms aren't necessarily bad. They are detritus eaters. You just don't want to touch one and get bristles stuck in your skin. I can't stand to look at them, but some people love to have them in their tanks.
Acanman
Member
I def have bristleworms. Theres a way to test if you have the acro worms but i didnt have time tonight. Will try it tommorrow to see. Im having doubts i have them. Or maybe its hope lol. But i have some thriving acro colonies that are unaffected. And acro worms dont attack other kinds of corals and ive been suffering losses from the lps and zoa sectors over the last 3-6 months as well. I will put out the results tomm. Wish me luck
EagleEyes
Member
EagleEyes - good to see you posting on RS again !
It has been much, much too long for me. Thank you for always making me feel so welcome!
Acanman, hopefully this will all boil down to one thing and it will be fixed. My brother has been working hard to fix this old truck he was given, and his struggles are more or less just like yours. Just gotta keep positive.
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
Someone mentioned allelopathy (coral chemical warfare) in an earlier post, which is one of the first things I thought reading through your thread. Then this came out last week: Coral War Photos — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog, which is I thought I would share with you. Not invisible chemicals, but actual stinging tentacles that reach out to neighboring corals that cause damage.
I've lost a few sps corals from bleaching at the stem this past year as well, and so have done much reading on it. I found this website of links to have the most comprehensive list to help to figure out what might be going on: Coral Diseases and Parasites
One last link, older article, but found it also useful, "Old Tank Syndrome", does it really exist?: Feature Article: Old Tank Syndrome — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
Any updates? I know you are putting in LEDs, been following that thread also, but wasn't sure if you have been able to stop the loss.
I've lost a few sps corals from bleaching at the stem this past year as well, and so have done much reading on it. I found this website of links to have the most comprehensive list to help to figure out what might be going on: Coral Diseases and Parasites
One last link, older article, but found it also useful, "Old Tank Syndrome", does it really exist?: Feature Article: Old Tank Syndrome — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
Any updates? I know you are putting in LEDs, been following that thread also, but wasn't sure if you have been able to stop the loss.
Acanman
Member
Fantastic insight thanks so muchfor sharing. I did some testing for acropora eating flatworms but results were negative. As a precaution i dose daily a product made by Zeovit that claims to safely eradicaye sps eating flatworm.
Im under the very strong belief that this is indeed chemical warfare. I had way way way too many corals in the tank. Survival of the fittest. One by one they are killing eachother off. Still losing corals and havingthe sps bleacing.
I changed carbons from cpe to two little fishies activated carbon and gonna run it thru IM's new nano reactor in rear chamber. The new carbon claims to remove the chemical warfare agents that my tank might be filled with.
The leds are in and i ran them 100% last night for first time. Im really happy with them. Brilliant light. I hope the tank responds well to them.
Last edited: