Core 7? Never again

[ReefCowboy]

I have a 3 year old sps tank, which was doing extremely well. Was dosing Bionic Ca/Alk/Mg. Decided to switch to Triton's Core 7 "other methods" and in a few weeks corals took a big dive to worse.

Monitored alk closely after the switch and slowly brought it down from 8.6 to 8.0 dkh. All parts were being dosed equally and I folowed the intructions as required.

Out of around 35 colonies, some of which ive had for many years, lost about 20.
As I noticed polyps not opening, loss of colors among other issues, I checked all other variables and everything remained the same as when the tank was thriving.

That was a big lesson for not changing things when It is all doing well.
From now on, back to basic dosing, proven methods, 10% water changes bi-weekly with a good salt.

Today hooked up the old dosing containers, and did a large water change. Will do another one tomorrow and keep stress off the tank. Hoping to get the remaining colonies to bounce back to what they were!

 

[karimwassef]

but what actually happened?

 

[ReefCowboy]

Polyps retracted, then slow bleaching of the tips of the acros. I figured bleaching tips, high alk..checked alk with a second test kit, and it confirmed 8.3dkh which is on point as always.

Slowly colonies lost color, some also developed stn bottoms. Nitrates are a steady 1-5ppm, as always. Lighting remained the same as when they were thriving. I have no pests, and the tank has two wrasses that inspect them anyways for an easy meal if any.

Im so fed up with the loss that I dont care to send a sample to Triton, as I know it will come back with issues. My RO membranes read 0.0 ppm and I use the same salt, Tropic Marin Pro.
Fish are fat and healthy. I have no doubt the new supplements are the problem

 

[karimwassef]

ok. if we're all trying to learn from your misfortune, we need to understand what drove the loss.

If your alk did not spike, and your polyps retracted, then slow bleaching tips... what are you thinking happened?

 

[bertoni]

I hope your corals recover! I'm sorry to hear about the problems.

I suspect that at least one of the solutions is a mix of various trace elements. I'd be cautious with the trace elements solutions. It'd be strange if the calcium and alkalinity solutions were causing trouble, but certainly not impossible.

 

[Alfrareef]

Sorry for your loss. Back in the past I've gone thru similar situation but with AF drops. At the time I really didn't found the root cause for the bleaching mainly because I was so sad and hungry I didn't investigate deeply.
Hope you can find what's happen so we all can learn with it.

 

[ReefCowboy]

ok. if we're all trying to learn from your misfortune, we need to understand what drove the loss.

If your alk did not spike, and your polyps retracted, then slow bleaching tips... what are you thinking happened?

Im scratching my head still. With the triton dosing system, all we can do is follow the alk level and hope all other params fall into place. I feel one if the components must have been off.

I hope your corals recover! I'm sorry to hear about the problems.

I suspect that at least one of the solutions is a mix of various trace elements. I'd be cautious with the trace elements solutions. It'd be strange if the calcium and alkalinity solutions were causing trouble, but certainly not impossible.

Thank you Bertoni. Yes, I will not mess with trace elements again. I certainly think something in my water is way off for the sps.

Sorry for your loss. Back in the past I've gone thru similar situation but with AF drops. At the time I really didn't found the root cause for the bleaching mainly because I was so sad and hungry I didn't investigate deeply.
Hope you can find what's happen so we all can learn with it.

Agree alfareef. I tried some of the AF drops maybe 6 months ago and didnt like the results either. With the Core 7 however, the bad reaction was almost immediate. I was very cautious to keep the tank stable during the new dosing implementation.

Here is the tank before the start when corals were doing fine


<a href="http://s1253.photobucket.com/user/Carlosjayme1/media/20170831_221516_zpssybsxrah.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh583/Carlosjayme1/20170831_221516_zpssybsxrah.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20170831_221516_zpssybsxrah.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s1253.photobucket.com/user/Carlosjayme1/media/20170831_221534_zpsjqeopnsi.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/hh583/Carlosjayme1/20170831_221534_zpsjqeopnsi.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20170831_221534_zpsjqeopnsi.jpg"/></a>

 

[karimwassef]

What was the impact on other inverts? Clam? Shrimp? Snails? Crabs?

Any change in coralline?

 

[ReefCowboy]

What was the impact on other inverts? Clam? Shrimp? Snails? Crabs?

Any change in coralline?

The clam did feel it a bit I think. Mantle wasnt as open as normal, and it moved a bit. After the large water change yesterday it now looks more like as usual.
Coralline remained the same, nothing I can see different

 

[bertoni]

You could consider running some fresh activated carbon. It will help remove trace metals that have bound to organics.

 

[ReefCowboy]

You could consider running some fresh activated carbon. It will help remove trace metals that have bound to organics.

Agreed. I did two large water changes yesterday and some corals already look much better with polyps out.
I'm going to run fresh carbon today. I think the tank will bounce back