A few of my SPS

[Myka]

How's the progress Greg?

 

[Eastone]

I was asking about biopellets because I thought you used them and I was wondering if there may be excess bacteria load in the tank from using biopellets or some other source of carbon dosing. Any other carbon dosing you do? "Random" RTN has recently been suspected to be linked to bacteria. As in, over time there may slowly become an abundance of bad bacteria in the tank in relation to good bacteria to the point where colonies become overwhelmed and start to RTN. I know there have been some people that have been speculating whether carbon dosing for good bacteria also increases bad bacteria population. Dosing some good bacteria (without carbon dosing) theoretically may help. I like the Prodibio products. This is all speculation and theory right now, not a lot of evidence yet, but I think it's worth a shot for you, and I don't think there would be any downside to trying.

I fully agree with you. It's why full carbon-bacteria based systems [Zeovit, FM and Prodibio for example] involve dosing bacteria regularly alongside, I suspect the accellerated bacteria growth allows for rapidly developed monoculures, so a regular bacteria dose is necessary to counteract it.

 

[tripdad]

Any better news? I really hope things are on the upswing.

 

[Oldude]

RTN has stopped

RTN has stopped

Thanks everyone for your well wishes and concern.
The bleeding has stopped and dead stuff taken out and some new corals added. There were a few factors - a virus/bacterial infection of some sort and on top of that I discovered I had a blocked inlet hose on my ca doser and hadn't been testing so the the level dropped to 260 which allowed the alk to get up to 16.5 DKH. YIKES!!! Even though I already knew this it is another lesson learned - Don't get lazy & always keep up on water tests at least every 2 weeks even when you think everything is fine.
I also found the cure for my mojano infestation - raccoon butterflies are making short work of them. They also eat LPS and nip at sps but it has been worth it. I believe I will be able to catch them with a fish trap baited with a mojano rock so I am happy. I took most of my LPS out of the display so they don't eat it all. Once they are finished with the mojanos they will be kept in the sump until I need them again.

 

[SPS911]

Wow, that's good news. I didn't think any fish ate the Mojanos. I'll have to let my buddy know about that

 

[markalot]

Glad you found the issues Greg, I was really worried. Looking forward to new pictures once everything recovers!

 

[reefmutt]

Good to hear Greg!
I'm glad it was an identifiable issue, for the most part..
Hope to see new, healthy coral shots in the near future!

 

[tripdad]

Glad things are on the rebound and you got the damage stopped. I am sure we all learn/re-learn every day in this hobby. Best of luck from here on.

 

[mhucasey]

Lordy, 16.5:sad2:
I usually regularly check the outlets of the Calcium and Alk losers but I admit Ive been lax lately. You have given me inspiration to get back to good habits.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Excellent news.

 

[watchguy123]

Glad things are turning around. Amazing how frustrating and fragile our reefs are. As best I know, no one has really described either the variety of bacteria or the numbers of bacteria floating in our water column.

And it seems, no matter how meticulous one is, there is always something that we somehow miss in checking. Darn.

Well so glad things are on the mend. I truly feel your pain

 

[cFloor]

Good to hear that the stn has stopped. While upgrading to my current tank, I had my all spike up to 13.5 I believe. The corals were stressed and there was very small areas of stn but I didn't lose anything. Good luck going forward, I'm sure it'll look absolutely amazing in no time.

 

[Quiverfull]

How did you treat the infection? Did you use an antibiotic?

 

[Oldude]

Wow, that's good news. I didn't think any fish ate the Mojanos. I'll have to let my buddy know about that

Yes the raccoon butterflies are very effective but as stated they also eat corals so one needs to be careful.

 

[Oldude]

Glad you found the issues Greg, I was really worried. Looking forward to new pictures once everything recovers!

Good to hear Greg!
I'm glad it was an identifiable issue, for the most part..
Hope to see new, healthy coral shots in the near future!

Glad things are on the rebound and you got the damage stopped. I am sure we all learn/re-learn every day in this hobby. Best of luck from here on.

Lordy, 16.5:sad2:
I usually regularly check the outlets of the Calcium and Alk losers but I admit Ive been lax lately. You have given me inspiration to get back to good habits.

Excellent news.

Glad things are turning around. Amazing how frustrating and fragile our reefs are. As best I know, no one has really described either the variety of bacteria or the numbers of bacteria floating in our water column.

And it seems, no matter how meticulous one is, there is always something that we somehow miss in checking. Darn.

Well so glad things are on the mend. I truly feel your pain

Good to hear that the stn has stopped. While upgrading to my current tank, I had my all spike up to 13.5 I believe. The corals were stressed and there was very small areas of stn but I didn't lose anything. Good luck going forward, I'm sure it'll look absolutely amazing in no time.

Thanks for all your continued support & well wishes, much appreciated. Things are looking much better and some color is coming back on most pieces that lived through the ordeal. I picked up some new pieces to replace the dead that appear to have some potential. Updated pix will follow in the near future.

 

[Oldude]

How did you treat the infection? Did you use an antibiotic?

No I just let nature run it's course and then took out the dead pieces which helped slow the RTN down. RTN spread coral to coral if they were really close and if they were touching --- forget about it. Long painful process but I believe the worst is behind me.

 

[biggles]

Really pleased to see you back Greg, hope to see lots of updates now the worst is over mate. All of your mates here were gutted for you but you already know that :beer:

 

[Myka]

I'm glad you're making a bounce back and all is not lost. Hey, you made room for new ones!

 

[glaukos]

+1:thumbsup:

 

[Oldude]

Really pleased to see you back Greg, hope to see lots of updates now the worst is over mate. All of your mates here were gutted for you but you already know that :beer:

Thanks Andrew - I should have some pix in the near future.

I'm glad you're making a bounce back and all is not lost. Hey, you made room for new ones!

Thanks Mindy - Unfortunately I lost some nice mature colonies but yeah adding new stuff always gets me pumped.

+1:thumbsup:

Thanks Mike - I always appreciate your support.