Ok, this has got me ready to pull my hair out. I have been keeping SPS for 5 years and never had problems keeping them before now! (expcept for a dino outbreak 1.5 years ago that wiped out nearly everything in less than a week)
I completely tore my tank down and started over from scratch. my freshly redone 75 gallon DT has been setting here, quietly maturing for the last year or so, coral free.
I set up a new 40 breeder for a frag tank about six months ago and transfered the dino free surviver corals to it.
Then I started collecting much wanted frags from various places, dipping them in brightwells medi coral, and placing them in the frag tank.
EVERYTHING was doing extremely well. the old survivers, and the new arrivals. growth and polyp extension was out of this world! colors were being maintained as they were when purchased on the colorful pieces, and the somewhat drab pieces were making marked improvements week by week.
then I came home one day to find a green milli frag had rtn'd in less than 24 hrs. by the next day it was completely gone. I didn't fret about this too much since I have had this happen on a few pieces in the past, although rarely. I have seriously only lost 2, maybe three pieces of sps in my 5 years of reefkeeping.
then over the next couple weeks the events just kept escalating. one frag after another would lose polyp extension, fade or bleach, then start rtn'ing. some in patchy areas around the base, some all the way around the base. I could not find anything out of whack and went through every parameter, and through everything I could think of that could be causing this stress (keep in mind I'm an experienced reefkeeper before you ask me If I have high no3 or po4 levels, lol) and I couldn't find anything!
my only thoughts at the time was there must my something lacking in my frag tank. too clean? maybe the corals were starving? so, I fragged all the struggling, faded pieces, gave them another dip in brightwells, and starting stocking my DT with frags.
I also started feeding both tanks twice weekly, one day with a week with oyster feast, the other with a homemade recipe.
all pieces were looking a lot better after that. the display tank had been stocked for 6 weeks everything was encrusting and growing more each day. then, I came home to a red planet frag rtn'd 3/4 of the way! then a blue milli, then a oregon tort, and now today, a purple milli! the problem has mostly been millepora species, but has plagued a few other as well. digi, monti, and birdnest has been un-affected.
This leads me to believe i may have a (gulp) AEFW infanstation! I have never encountered them before, so Im not 100% of all the signs. of course, I have inspected for them. but, I know they can be very hard to spot. and that iodine based dips will not kill them.
I will attach a crappy cell phone pic to see if the blotchy, dead base of todays victom looks like it may be getting eaten by AEFW's.
I completely tore my tank down and started over from scratch. my freshly redone 75 gallon DT has been setting here, quietly maturing for the last year or so, coral free.
I set up a new 40 breeder for a frag tank about six months ago and transfered the dino free surviver corals to it.
Then I started collecting much wanted frags from various places, dipping them in brightwells medi coral, and placing them in the frag tank.
EVERYTHING was doing extremely well. the old survivers, and the new arrivals. growth and polyp extension was out of this world! colors were being maintained as they were when purchased on the colorful pieces, and the somewhat drab pieces were making marked improvements week by week.
then I came home one day to find a green milli frag had rtn'd in less than 24 hrs. by the next day it was completely gone. I didn't fret about this too much since I have had this happen on a few pieces in the past, although rarely. I have seriously only lost 2, maybe three pieces of sps in my 5 years of reefkeeping.
then over the next couple weeks the events just kept escalating. one frag after another would lose polyp extension, fade or bleach, then start rtn'ing. some in patchy areas around the base, some all the way around the base. I could not find anything out of whack and went through every parameter, and through everything I could think of that could be causing this stress (keep in mind I'm an experienced reefkeeper before you ask me If I have high no3 or po4 levels, lol) and I couldn't find anything!
my only thoughts at the time was there must my something lacking in my frag tank. too clean? maybe the corals were starving? so, I fragged all the struggling, faded pieces, gave them another dip in brightwells, and starting stocking my DT with frags.
I also started feeding both tanks twice weekly, one day with a week with oyster feast, the other with a homemade recipe.
all pieces were looking a lot better after that. the display tank had been stocked for 6 weeks everything was encrusting and growing more each day. then, I came home to a red planet frag rtn'd 3/4 of the way! then a blue milli, then a oregon tort, and now today, a purple milli! the problem has mostly been millepora species, but has plagued a few other as well. digi, monti, and birdnest has been un-affected.
This leads me to believe i may have a (gulp) AEFW infanstation! I have never encountered them before, so Im not 100% of all the signs. of course, I have inspected for them. but, I know they can be very hard to spot. and that iodine based dips will not kill them.
I will attach a crappy cell phone pic to see if the blotchy, dead base of todays victom looks like it may be getting eaten by AEFW's.
