6 months into new SPS dominant tank, first STN. Should I be worried?

[2wheelsonly]

I have a lot of SPS frags/colonies in my 6 month old 300G build.

My alk/calc levels are stable and my nitrates and phosphates are undetectable thanks to probidio. I run a cal reactor to ensure calc demands are met and my apex doesn't let my temps fluctuate. My PH is 8.0 day and 7.8 night...again consistent params.

One of my favorite little colonies I purchased about 4 weeks ago started to STN on the bottom...I could see the flesh sorta "rotting" away leaving white skeleton. I took it out of the tank and fragged it down into smaller pieces in hopes I can save them "fingers crossed". I had it laying in the sandbed to acclimate to my LED lights; this potentially could have caused the issue as it was laying in the very spot I noticed the STN.

The only thing I added differently to my system is that I started using filter socks on Sunday in an effort to change them weekly.

If this were you, would you be concerned? Or is this just normal in SPS tanks? Maybe I have been having a lot of success with my sps growth and PE that I am shocked this happened but want to ensure I stay on top of a problem.

 

[Potatohead]

If it's only the one, I wouldn't be too concerned. Keeping SPS sometimes you'll just lose a coral for no apparent reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[shih87]

+1

IMHO....If STN happen on a new frag ad others doing fine, maybe don't do any big change for STN treatment; However, it is also quite often that new tank has a 6 to 12 months honeymoon period then things go down side, while other half, become even better since tank stabilized.

Keep us posted and good luck.

 

[thepotoo]

Wait - you had the frag laying directly on the sandbed? The sand is full of bacteria, I've never seen a frag spend any significant amount of time there (more than a day or so) are NOT lose tissue.

 

[BvN]

If your No3 and Po4 are for real 0.0 than that can be the issue. Even for SPS dominated tanks you're nitrate and phosphate should be measurable. I keep mine on 1 (nitrate) and 0.03 (phosphate)

 

[2wheelsonly]

Wait - you had the frag laying directly on the sandbed? The sand is full of bacteria, I've never seen a frag spend any significant amount of time there (more than a day or so) are NOT lose tissue.

Yeah was a mistake... Was a larger colony so I rested it on the sand. It was there for more than 4 days due to me having to go out of town for work without notice. Never had issues in the past doing this but I recently found out it was not a good idea.

 

[reefmutt]

laying on the sand sounds like the issue to me, as well..
however, undetectable n and p could play a roll in making the coral more susceptible to rtn/stn..