Acro/Mille issues

[scottwhitson]

Ok so we are having issues with our Acros and Milles and even some birdsnests they are slowly RTNing mostly from the base up and show no polyp extension at all. The tank was setup just about a year ago with rock that was dry to prevent pests from being introduced. Parameters have been steady via a calcium reactor - ALK 9.3 CAL 420 MAG 1350 Nitates undetectable Phospates .02 temp 78 PH 8.1-8.2. Montipora and LPS such as a meat coral, chalices, Duncan, hammer ricordia all look great. No nuisance algae that could be masking nutrient levels. We are really at a loss of what could possibly be the issue. Any ideas?

 

[Nanighan]

Do you have a DSB? Maybe slowly releasing toxins. Check flow also. What I normally like to do at first sign of trouble is change at least 30%-50% of the water to see if it stops the stn.

 

[scottwhitson]

Sand bed is only 1-2 inches deep so I don't think it could be releasing toxins. I have two MP60 and two Tunze 6255 running on the tank varying the flow from 30-100 percent along with the sump return it is a 600 Gallon tank and the sand and LPS are getting blown around pretty good so I don't think the flow would be causing the issues that I am seeing. I am in the process of adding a couple of more Tunze 6205's on seasweeps for even more random flow.

 

[Decadence]

Do you have anything in the water column which could be leaching heavy metals? Look for anything with a magnet holding something to the glass which could be rusting. Open up pumps and look for swollen magnets driving them.

Have you made any semi-recent changes to lighting? Are you carbon dosing?

 

[scottwhitson]

I haven't checked my skimmer pump or my vortechs for rusting I will do that. I am not carbon dosing and no change in lighting. My MH bulbs are approaching the one year mark so I am thinking of changing them and trying that.

 

[scottwhitson]

Does anyone think I could be starving the Acros and milles but still have LPS doing ok? I would think if it was a toxin or a heavy metal issue the LPS as well as snails and copepods would be affected as well. We don't have any algae growing to speak of and only have to scrape the glass about once a week and then it is just a thin film. Also we have very little if any coralline algae.

 

[scottwhitson]

Well still not much changing with the tank we have lost 90% of our Acros and milles the and the ones that are alive look terrible and are receding from various spots. We haven't lost a montipora or any other coral. Birdsnest, Acros and Milles seem to be the only thing affected. The tank has had a cloudy look to it like a bacteria bloom for a long time we we purchased a UV sterilizer and just got it hooked up two days ago so maybe that will help. Does anyone have any other ideas?

 

[ajcanale]

Maybe you have a bad test kit and one of your levels is way off. If alk or calcium the cloudiness could be precipitated calcium carbonate. If you lost mostly everything that fast there has to be something way off, and considering you aren't losing all coral it is unlikely to be any contaminant. I would start checking for consistency with alk, then calcium, then magnesium. Also check your method for testing SG ensuring that device is properly calibrated.

 

[saltyair]

A few things to look at. Could be a pest I would inspect at night and maybe dip to see what comes off.
how are you exporting nutrients? Bio pellets? Are you using gfo? Carbon?
what type of salt are you using?
are you sure the cal reactor is keeping stable alk ?
have you tried feeding your corals amino acids or other types of food?
My guess would be alk swings

 

[Albert184445]

Are you using activated carbon? I was having some issues with some off my sps for a few weeks not having very good polyp extension and and cloudy water after running some carbon just one day sps looked much better. Mayby some of you soft corals are letting out some toxins

 

[vette.tech]

I second checking sg, I seem to always forget to check periodically and because of dosing 2 part my sg goes up, of course if I would check periodically I wouldn't have to wait until something is wrong to check. Make sure to use calibration fluid for refractometer

 

[scottwhitson]

I have had my parameters including SG checked with two local reefers and a LFS and they test within the same range as the ones I use. The corals aren't showing the typical death that I have seen from ALK swings meaning they aren't uniformly receding from the base up or top down just spotty recession sometimes half way up a branch. All of these corals were in our previous tank and went through 8 weeks of weekly dippings in Bayer to eliminate any chance of pests. We have had red bugs and AEFW in the past so I know what to look for there. I am upping the amount of feedings to try and get some detectable nitrates in the tank and see if that helps. The UV sterilizer has made a large improvement in the clarity of the water possibly that will help as well. Has anyone here suffered from a bacteria that was killing their SPS?

 

[Aqualund]

Just asking, but how are you keeping 8.1-8.2 PH with Calcium reactor? Only time I could accomplish that was with very large water volume.

I ask, because on my smaller tanks I've had to forgo the calcium reactor and reduced PH to maximize polyp extension on my milli's....well this after I got rid of AEFW...which I denied I had for months because I couldn't see them.

 

[scottwhitson]

There is 700+ gallons of water on this system (600 gallon display)

 

[Av8bluewater]

Try cutting off some frags well into the good skin. Reglue to frag disk get the super glue to cover the cut areas.
This is one of those mysterious things people debate over. I don't think anyone knows for sure what the exact cause is.

Out of curiosity. .. Are you normally a water changer/ sand/sump/rock vacuumer type person?

 

[scottwhitson]

We do pretty religious water changes but no vacuuming of any kind yet. Water changes are small in scale but around 60 gallons a month.

 

[saltyair]

Yes I went through some sort of brown jelly and it did effect a few sps - mainly a large meteor shower that I had grown to 8 inches by 10 inches
I actually blame the redcyano rx it through something out of wack

 

[jda]

Are your lights putting out the right spectrum for those deeper water species?

 

[scottwhitson]

Same lights that I used on the previous tank with the same frags in it. 400W XM 20k with T5 supplementing it. The corals aren't bleaching or browning out before the recession of tissue. I am pretty sure it has to be a toxin or a bacteria just not sure which or if we are in the right path to fix it. Maybe the tank wasn't mature enough for SPS as all the rock was dead when we started but it had been a year with water and bottled bacteria in it we used Brightwells Microbacter7 and fish food to cycle the tank.

 

[knukles55]

I say pics or it didnt happen lol no but seriously a picture could help figure out what might be going on in the tank. I had a similar story to yours in my old tank all my other corals did great except my acros and mili when I took a closer look at night I had goten........red bugs........... needless to say I never buy any coral without dipping it in bayer