Birdsnest and Stylo die off

[williamjhitchcock]

Had this tank set up almost 2 years now and suddenly lost my bird nest. Now 2 weeks later both of my Stylo's are dying off in the same pattern. Its odd they are dying first in the areas of the coral that get the least amount of light. The the whole thing seems to be going. All other SPS, LPS and softies are doing great. What do you guys think? I haven't changed anything in the tank in months.

80 degrees
ALK 9.5
Calcium 420
Mag 1500
PH 8.5-8.15

everything else is basically undetectable

 

[williamjhitchcock]

Also the zoanthids around it were closing too.

 

[sixpackgarage]

ph 8.5 is high and a swing from 8.15-8.5 is pretty extreme. Also how stable is alk? Sure nothing is eating the corals?

 

[1MP3R1AL]

Phosphate and nitrate 0?
That's more than likely your problem.

the sps are dying in the least amount of light because they aren't getting enough light in that area.

LEDs?

 

[williamjhitchcock]

Sorry typo. ph swings between 8.05 - 8.15 not 8.5 lol

I do have the LED lights I am attaching some pictures.

And before the tang police call. That tang is missing an pectoral fin and has half of his other one missing (so he does not swim well). I nursed him back to health from another reefer and after that he never grew no matter how much I feed him. So that's why hes in that small of a tank.

I only have 2 fish maybe I need to bump of the feeding of the corals too?

 

[1MP3R1AL]

Maybe it's the photo but I don't see any fish let alone a tang in that tank.
Anyway, I would feed more. Watch phos, ALK and nitrate levels, and observe how the tank reacts. Since your ALK is 9.5, I would say you can raise your phos and nitrate a little without issues. If you ALK was low around 7 I'd say you would be ok with a 0 reading.

Give it a shot. Report back.

 

[JAustin]

Yellow tang left lower rock structure. ^ try a second look.

 

[williamjhitchcock]

LOL good spot on the tang. Since he is injured and cannot swim well & he likes to stay in his cave. I'm going to bump up the feeding. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[nyxx]

Yeah alk swings can definitely cause issues. How much flow are they getting?

 

[williamjhitchcock]

My alk is really steady. I had the flow higher but lowered it when my coral started dying.

 

[williamjhitchcock]

Update: The die off have come to a stop since I've been feeding more the last few days. I look through some photos and it seems my softies have all been shrinking away over the last 2 months so I'm leaning towards no enough nutrients in the tank. I'm guessing the corals were getting weak from lack of nutrition and I had a light change in the alk level that pushed them over the top. I think I'll through a few more fish in there to keep the nutrients up. Everyone else seems to have a lot more fish than me.

 

[gus6464]

Why are you running 80 deg? That's kinda hot?

 

[Scorpius]

Why are you running 80 deg? That's kinda hot?

78-80 degrees is pretty standard in most tanks.

 

[williamjhitchcock]

I had the temp up to 80 to speed up my coral growth. That bird nest I had started as a tiny frag and grew to a foot wide in the 2 years I had it. Think I'll turn down my temp to 78 just to be on the safe side.

 

[Scubajoe1]

low nutrients

low nutrients

I had the temp up to 80 to speed up my coral growth. That bird nest I had started as a tiny frag and grew to a foot wide in the 2 years I had it. Think I'll turn down my temp to 78 just to be on the safe side.

Hey there. Are you running a GFO reactor? I would buy SPS and after a day in my tank the bonsai coral polyps would also go in and for other SPS I would see some new tips but the tissue would never cover it. I knew SPS like really low phosphates but my GFO reactor was pulling out too much and I was often getting 0 ppb readings with hanna phosphorus checker. I removed it a couple weeks ago and have been feeding lots to get a readable phosphate level. Finally after two weeks am getting 0.01 ppm (4 ppb) but if anything these tests will read high (dirty vial, micro bubbles, particulates etc) so I may still be at 0 but removing the GFO reactor was the right move. Here are a few happy SPS now.

 

[Scubajoe1]

78-80 degrees is pretty standard in most tanks.

Agree on the temperature is fine. My tank runs 78.5-79.1

 

[plyle02]

Hey there. Are you running a GFO reactor? I would buy SPS and after a day in my tank the bonsai coral polyps would also go in and for other SPS I would see some new tips but the tissue would never cover it. I knew SPS like really low phosphates but my GFO reactor was pulling out too much and I was often getting 0 ppb readings with hanna phosphorus checker. I removed it a couple weeks ago and have been feeding lots to get a readable phosphate level. Finally after two weeks am getting 0.01 ppm (4 ppb) but if anything these tests will read high (dirty vial, micro bubbles, particulates etc) so I may still be at 0 but removing the GFO reactor was the right move. Here are a few happy SPS now.

That 3rd pic though What looks to me as a humilis is amazing, what a beautiful specimen, congrats!!!

 

[plyle02]

OOPS....
2nd pic...

 

[Scubajoe1]

OOPS....
2nd pic...

Thanks. It was just sitting on top of a rock and noticed today it has grown and connected onto another rock. Guess that's where it is going to be staying.