causes of stn? base up

[jjoos99]

I am experiencing stn off and on for several months. My caps are looking almost dead, no color and some bleaching. I have one milli that has stn at the base. I also have acros doing the same thing. Not all of them but i would guess some are more prone to what ever is amiss. My salinity test out at 1.026, alk at 9.6. I have always thought that alk would be the main cause of stn but mine has stayed real steady. I have just one coral that has some tip issues but most have the stn issue on the base.
thanks
jeff

 

[mavjoy]

My tank just got hit by STN and it was pretty bad. Most of my prize SPS are all gone. I believe what triggered it was my low ALK and high CA. Most of them starts from the base up and then just spreads like wildfire. I'm not sure what stuff can stop it from spreading but good luck. Hopefully more peeps will chime in about this.

 

[sedor]

Could be a multitude of reasons. Nitrates could be too high, you could have a pest issue like flatworms, your Ca and Alk might bounce around too much on a daily basis, not enough flow etc etc. Maybe list out some specs about your system and we can go from there.

 

[jjoos99]

i dont think that I have a nitrate issue. I dont have any algae growth at all so I wouldnt think that that is the case. I have plenty of flow, 3 mp40s in a 180 gallon tank. I will check my ca but it has been high in the past 500+ My alk has stayed pretty constant lately at 9.6. I shut down my gfo the other day and it seemed to help until today. Do you think I should shut down my ca reactor or slow it down? mavjoy, sorry to hear about your losses. I hope that mine doesnt get this bad.
thanks for the advise.
Jeff

 

[Reefphile]

+1 on flatworms. I'm currently battling AEFW (had to take all acros out for 7 weeks to starve out the AEFWs). I had similar issues with slow stn at base and poor colors. AEFW will eat off the base to lay their eggs. Do you see small off-colored or white spots on the coral? If so, you may want to take out a couple of these acros and dip to see what falls off. A quick dip in Melafix, CoralRX, Revive, etc. should show flatworms if you have any.

 

[jjoos99]

I might believe the problem would be flat worms but I havent added any corals for a good 6months. also my caps and several millis are also being affected.
Jeff

 

[Addicted2Reef2]

Alk seems a little high to me. Some people like to keep it in the higher numbers myself i keep it around 7-7.5. Just my opinion though.