What is the difference

[Koda2007]

In need of serious help, please refer to first post

During the above post I tested all water params all were fine. Took water to LFS he tested, all fine. So I was given this hardy acro which the LFS had grown from a 3in stick.

This is the coral 10 days later

I have been out tonight and got new test kits

Ph 8.2
dkh 9
Temp 26c
sg 1.025
Amm 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10ppm
Phophate 0 ( deff 0 with D&D kit )
Calcium 450
Mg 1400
Placed new TMC v2 skimmer on awell as the deltec mce600 as not sure if deltec is running at optium level

Lighting has been reduced to 7 hours 300w MH with a further hour of 110w of T5 aqaublue+
Coral was placed on floor of reef
I have 40 times turnover but none of it is direct flow. As you can see the end appear to be bleaching and algae taking over.

I know that there are differences but this a Euphyllia that has grown 2 new heads over the last month.

I am at a total loss.

May I wish everyone on this forum a very happy christma and all the best for the new year.

 

[CATALYST]

Have you tried disinfectant? Like reef dip or something? Is anybody crawling on it or chewing on it? Is it by some other coral that's bugging it? I had a poccilopora by a leather and it wasn't happy.

 

[framerguy]

The second acro photo looked very much like tissue necrosis. Since it's taken 10 days it's probably STN. I believe TN is caused by bacteria but am not sure, I don't know if anyone really knows. You could try fragging the living parts and quarantine them after a coral dip. Sorry I couldn't be more help. I had a beautiful acro that started RTN and tried the fragging trick and quarantine but it was to late for mine. Save what you can now.

 

[prow]

huummm do you softies/leathers in there with the sps. also what macros do you have. i am thinking chemical warfare either from softies or your macros.

 

[cheeks69]

Coral was placed on floor of reef

This was a wise decision and should've been done when first introduced, from the photos it appears the tips are bleaching. Are you using carbon ? Do you use a filter sock ? What are the dimensions of your tank ?

Nitrate reductor ( large one )

Could you elaborate ? Is this a denitrator ?

 

[reefman420]

In ure pic it looks like their is aleather directly behind it,From my exspeirence,sps wont tolerate being close to leathers.I have all my leathers on the lower end of the tank,And my sps up top of the rock work,Now i dont have a bunch ,pink poci,green stag,scripps stag,blue milli,but they are all doing great....I hope u figure out whats wrong

 

[Koda2007]

Thanks for the replies

Prow and cheeks69. I have some softies in my reef but no leathers. the photo was taken of the LFS display tank from which he gave me the coral. As stated I have seen this coral grow from a stick in a tank with leathers ect.
I was given it as he thought it would be extremely hardy for me.
The coral was placed in my reef directly on the floor as mentioned as soon as I got it.
This is a link to my nitrate reductor mine is the 1000 unit



I do use carbon and anything that can induce nitrates in my reef are rinsed with R/O water every couple of days. The reef is 120g (uk ) 48x24x24in.

If it is STN can it remain in stasis in tank as everytime I add a SPS to my reef I get the same problem.

 

[mps9506]

My thoughts are that the nitrates are the issue here. Any ideas on what the water params are of the tank it came from?
I'm sure you will get it figured out

 

[Koda2007]

Thanks mps9506

The nitrate in the LFS are zero, I mentioned earlier that he is the only LFS that constantly read zero for nitrates.
My reef has constantly had nitrates of between 5-10ppm for the last 6 months and more before that until I got the nitrate reductor. It is not overtocked, regular water changes, definately not over fed. Masive amounts of live rock. It just seems that my nitrates run naturally at 5-10ppm.

 

[mps9506]

Thanks mps9506

The nitrate in the LFS are zero, I mentioned earlier that he is the only LFS that constantly read zero for nitrates.
My reef has constantly had nitrates of between 5-10ppm for the last 6 months and more before that until I got the nitrate reductor. It is not overtocked, regular water changes, definately not over fed. Masive amounts of live rock. It just seems that my nitrates run naturally at 5-10ppm.

Seeing as those seem to be the main differences in your system and his system, I'm inclined to say the nitrates maybe the culprit... Maybe wait and see how the nitrate reductor affects your system before adding more Acros? I know many have kept acros with water with similar nitrate levels, but I still suspect that maybe the main issue here.
I'm kind of surprised you lost the monti's as well since I've had pretty decent success with them surviving in less than ideal water condition (not really growing or colorful, but alive nonetheless).

 

[cheeks69]

I have a hard time seeing how nitrate levels of 5-10 ppm would cause bleaching of the tips on the SPS corals. I've had nitrates in the 20's with SPS corals and although they weren't very colorful they did grow and were healthy.

Koda your link doesn't work but denitrators can be difficult to use and can had an impact on your ph and bacterial levels can fluctuate dramatically ! What are you using to maintain your ph since your using a calcium reactor and denitrator ?

 

[prow]

i go with the softies as the root cause. well not really the root. most bleaching is caused by bacteria. if your softies slimed up or anything and the slime ended up on the acro, or the acro just got irritated by it, the acro would secret its slim. bacteria feed on it and cause the bleaching(more to it but its chemical stuff, to much to post). the acro could have grown fine with flow keeping the irritating slime away. as they grow and alter the flow patterns maybe now the slime gets trapped. the slime could also be the cause of the elevated nitrates.

 

[Koda2007]

Cheeks69 Thanks for the reply. The aqua medic nitrate reductor uses bacto balls in a large container. The flow into the unit is controld via a dosing pump. You need to get low flow to bacto ball as by the time the flow gets to the bottom of the unit it is virtually oxygen free. You need to feed this unit every day with Deminar powder. As far as am aware it is meant to have no impact on Ph as Sulphur denitrators do. I do agree that it may have an affect on bacteria levels.
I do not usually have a problem with Ph as I do weekly 10% water changes and sometimes 15%. If I do have probs I normally use salifert ph buffer or Ph + dkh buffer.

Thanks everyone for the advice over the last few months and hope you all have a wonderful christmas.