aefw, redbugs or somethign else, plz help getting frustrated.

[Vanquishxxxx]

ok so had a 75g sps tnak which did extremely well for about 2 years. had a leak. decided to downgrade to 30g plus 20g sump. tank has been up for about 6 months. have had corals in tank for about 5 months. i also have a duncan and hammer and a 4 year old clam in there. alone with 4 fish. all parameters are stable and good. i do dose and have been dosing same product for ever so i am very comfortable with it, brs. my phos are undetectable and nitrates r basically zero. like to have a little nitrates cause seemed to always make my corals pop in the other tank. lighting is 6/36w t5 fixure about 12 inches from tank. and flow is 2 mp10 set at about 70%. my question is this.. Some sps like my battle coral unknown, copps hoek, my stylos, and digitas are growing good. all my other ones like OA blueberry crumble, any milli, strawberry shortcake, upscale microlados, and montis, red dragon, rommels watermelon, and a blue stag, are all not growing at all like for months!, some are slowly dieing, but like i said these r small frags and are taking months to loose color and die. some still have great color, just have not grown even half a inch in almost 5 months. i am at a loss. could i have a pest?, i looked for bite marks such as the ones aefws leave, or red bugs at night and cant find anythign. i evev dipped some of these pieces in revive and nothing came off. i started dosing and still am dosing seachem a and b about 4 months ago, along with spot feeing oyster feast and reef chili, hasnt helped at all. im at a lose.

 

[Met3112]

aefw and redbugs only affect acropora species. '

Check and make sure your alk is stable. What does it mean that your parameters are all good? What specifically are they, how often do you test, what test kits do you use, what are the trends? Is your alk the same as it is at 12 pm on wend. as it is at 5 pm on friday, for example?

I can see redbugs with the naked eye but some may not be able to, use a magnifying glass. You can see them during the day also.

Use a turkey baster or powerhead to blow the frags and see if any flatworms come off. They may be very small white ovals or quite large. DO NOT baste too hard or you can blow the flesh right of the coral.

 

[Vanquishxxxx]

no trends, just no growth on all the mentioned sps, and some are slowly dieing over months. my parameters are stable as in everytime i check them, which since i have been having this problem are always the same.
temp is 79
salintiy is 1.025
calc is 420-450
alk i test prob 4-5 times a week cause i was checking for a spike. almsot always get 8.5+- .2 except after 5g water change jumps for a little bit (i thought this might be it but how do i stop that? )
mag is 1300-1350
phos-undetecatble
nitrates are 1-3
lights are 6 t5s' with two bulbs being ojn for 10 hours and 8 bulbs being on for 8.
i use salifert test kits, alk one was replaced about a month ago with same results. and salinity i use a refract. which i just calibrated.
temp is maintained by a rkl. i feed once or twice a day, my fish. and supplement what i mentioned in first post once a day. its a bare bottome tank with about 40lbs rock in sump and tank whcih were seeded by a few small peices of LR. i have a vertex in100 skimmer. which fill up really dark green like once a week. over kill for my tank but i like to feed and spot feed so it works out.

 

[Vanquishxxxx]

Any suggestions?

 

[Met3112]

A good picture of some of the corals that are giving you problems would help.

Redbugs can cause a coral to do nothing, although they typically lose their color while infested.

How is the polyp extension? Have you tried coral foods? Are your light bulbs old?
Is most of the rock in the sump without some sort of light?

 

[Vanquishxxxx]

hey met.i will get some photos later and put them up. as for the other questions. during the day there is none, at night normal fully exstended polyps for feeding. my bulbs are now about 3 months old. all ati bulbs. and the rock in my sump is lit for 10 hours at night because i have cheato and a few mangroves down there also. kinda like a sump/fuge.

 

[Vanquishxxxx]

oh and i spot feed my corals, oyster feast and reef chili about 3-4 times a week. and suppliment tank with seachem a and b and coral vitalizer.

 

[flamron]

Sounds like you have high nutrients to me. You feed fish 1-2 times daily, along with coral foods 3-4 times a week and your skimmer fills up in a week with dark skimmate.

What kind of water changes are you doing?

Pics will help as well.