Sps corals dying

[Acanman]

Thanks for the story. Every case study helps

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

I did a major 50% water change a month ago and did some major cleaning. Added my saltwater to the tank and three days later all SPS died. Added scoop or two of salt to raise my salinity in my ro/do salt water then added to tank and did not let it mix for a few hours and I think I burned my Monticello cap, covering of worm rock and birds nest. Tested water perametrs and all within normal limits except salinity 1.033. Day later back to 1.026. Just added today some test birds nest to make sure everything is ok.

Really had some good growth on all SPS. Good luck finding solution. Tagging along

Bjason, with sps a 50% water change is too drastic. Any noticeable change in alk, calc, ph, etc., is enough to cause stress and bleaching. Swings in Alk seems to be the most common cause of problems.

Acanman, a fellow reefer once told me that he always has more problems when his corals get big because of the chemical warfare, the bigger the coral, the more toxins they release. Also, if your tank is getting overgrown, maybe you need to consider altering your maintenance routine, more water changes, more carbon, more additives, etc. I hope you figure it out because your corals are beautiful. Good luck.

 

[Choff]

Acan, how much flow do you have? Are you over 50x?

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[Acanman]

Wow i never thought about the fact some of the corals are getting really big. And the tank is prolly overstocked. Chemical warfare. I am not sure what kind of flow i have exactly. I use two MP10s on lagoon mode mostly that rev up to 90%. I think signs point toward me needing a bigger tank. Maybe santa will send me a 650s

 

[brian70809]

I was having a similar problem.. Turns out my test kits were not testing as accurately as I needed.. so I switched to another brand. I currently am using the Red Sea Reef Foundation Pro kit. It seems to be a lot more accurate and my fish store is having better luck with them. It's what they are now using to test for Ca, KH, and Mg...

 

[PSU4ME]

I would question your MG test......if i read correctly, it was at 1600 before and after your big water changes? i would have to question that considering the new mix "should" have been 1200-1350 depending on the salt mix.

 

[Acanman]

I use RSM mg test kit. I will try another

 

[Acanman]

I would question your MG test......if i read correctly, it was at 1600 before and after your big water changes? i would have to question that considering the new mix "should" have been 1200-1350 depending on the salt mix.

My mg reads at 1500 with the salifert and red sea test kits. Its been this high for like 3 months. Ive done 5 and 10 gallon water changes each week. I switched to the basic instant ocean salt mix. Not sure how to get it down to the 1200s

 

[Corailline]

I would for sure double check test results against another kit.
Have you looked at night for any inverts possibly feeding at the base. If you look in the middle of the night what inverts are out ie: Stomatella, Asternia stars, Amphipods.

I would be inclined to think flow as well but I do not think you would see such a drastic change so quickly.

Have you disturbed the sand bed recently?

Beautiful corals, I sure hope you find the root cause.

 

[Acanman]

I would for sure double check test results against another kit.
Have you looked at night for any inverts possibly feeding at the base. If you look in the middle of the night what inverts are out ie: Stomatella, Asternia stars, Amphipods.

I would be inclined to think flow as well but I do not think you would see such a drastic change so quickly.

Have you disturbed the sand bed recently?

Beautiful corals, I sure hope you find the root cause.

Those are very thoughtful suggestions! I will most certainly spy at night to see if there is a "boogy monster" eating up my acros. I may move my mp10s little closer to surface maybe the current is smacking them around a little too much. I recently got a digital phosphate reader and showed a reading of (0.2). Im installing a phosban reactor tommorrow so hopefully i can eliminate that issue. I will post to this thread how it turns out. Thanks again for reading and trying to help

 

[Acanman]

Im thinking of using biopellets instead of gfo in the reactor. Any thought or experiences?

 

[Acanman]

Ok so i found this mini-starfish looking thing stuck to the base of this bleaching red planet acro. I also calibrated my refractometer for the first time and discovered water salinity is at 1.028. And my new digital phosphate checker showed a reading of 0.15. Im ordering a better nitrate test kit(lamotte) so we will see what that turns up. Up until now the API test kits showed "zero" readings for nitrate and phosphate but the color and corresponding color charts are too vague and obviously not reliable. Any conclusions or thoughts would be hugely appreciated. Merry Christmas to all!

 

[Choff]

Merry Christmas to you.


I am currently running bio pellets instead of GFO. I just started using it about 2 months ago and now that it is "cycled" the last few weeks my tank has never looked better, but I have reservations. They can play havoc with your ALK. I have had a couple of my SPS get RTN and STN recently and while not confirmed those have been linked to rapid changes in ALK. Mine did some crazy swings a few weeks back and still runs on the high side, but at least is holding steady now. I am dual testing it 2 and 3x a week with Red Sea and Hannah.

I am redoing my sump and I am conflicted if I want to continue to use it or not.

 

[Acanman]

Thats great info i really appreciate it! Just wondering what alk levels you are dealing with. My calc stays steady around 450 And alk around 10. I use an auto doser that gives equal doses four times daily. Yeah i cant decide whether to use gfo or the pellets in my reactor. Im leaning toward gfo and maintaining a strong cleanup crew and increasing to 10 gallon from 5 for weekly water change. Good luck with your alk issue. Id like to find out how it turns out and maybe a pic of your setup.

 

[kbobling]

I'm following this thread with interest as I have had high Mg levels ( >1600) for a few weeks. I performed a few 10-20% water changes and the Mg is coming down ~ 1500.
Current water parameters: NH3, NO2, all NO3 at 0. Phosphate: undetectable. SG: 1.026. Temp: 78. Alk: 9 dKH, Ca: 450 and Mg: 1520.
I have read conflicting information on this site and others on the web that elevated Mg is not a big problem, so I am wondering why you see your coral's dead related to water chemistry. Seems the problem is location specific, at the base of the coral. If the water was the problem wouldn't the coral be damaged uniformly. I have heard of uniform bleaching due to heat or sharp changes in alk, is your auto dosing working properly. BTW, I use instant ocean reef crystals with RO, and have been titrating up to 9-10dKH with RS Foundation B to help my SPS.

Here is the link in the Reef Chemistry Forum addressing in part high Mg. Best of luck.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/reef-chemistry-forum/76436-ca-kh-not-budging-2.html

 

[Acanman]

That is very interesting and thank you for joining. This makes sense that it can be very likely the issue is NOT water chemistry related. Another member suggested I camp out one night and spy on the tank. And go figure the first night I noticed some tiny white star fishes lurchin at the base of the dying coral. Not sure if it was a coincidence. I purchased a couple harlequin shrimp so hopefully no more starfish.

There could be the chance it could be lighting/placement. I do not know how to address that other than not returning an acro to a location another has died.

Yeah i havnt been able to get mg down and its been 4 months. I used 3 diff kits and same readings. I will be installing a cad reactor in rear chamber and running gfo. And increasing from 5 to 10 gallon weekly water change--just in case chemistry is the problem.

My API kit read zero for everything. A member told me thats BS. So i got a hanna digital checker for phosphates. Sure enough i got reading of 0.15. I have a lamotte nitrate testkit in the mail to see what the real nitrate reading will be.

I will keep posting any news. Thanks!

 

[kbobling]

Best of luck, hope it works out. You bring up another interesting point, to what confidence do we trust the API kits? I always, in fact I can't remember a reading other than zero for my normal parameters. I also bought a Hanna digital checker for phosphates.

 

[Acanman]

My Lamotte nitrate test kit came yesterday. Pretty disappointed with it. For an $80 test kit that only tests nitrates I was pretty bummed that the lowest detection reading was 1.1 ppm. And just like API i found myself squinting, desperatly trying to decifer between super ligh shades of pink and purple. Garbage. I sent it back and ordered a Red Sea nitrate tester for half the price and it detects up to 0.25ppm.

In the last week I redid some rockscape and installed a CAD reactor in the left chamber with phosban. My phosphates are at 0.06. Striving for zero.

I introduced a pair of harlequin shrimp to eradicate the mini starfish that are riddled all over the tank. Just in case they are damaging any acros. I noticed a bunch of them hanging out at the base of a couple sps during a midnight stakeout.
Keep yall posted.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Thanks for sharing, been enjoying the read...

 

[EagleEyes]

Mind if I camp out? I'm enjoying the read and interested to see if the stars were responsible. Your pictures are a +1 too haha