So I feel I have come to that fork in the road that gets a lot of people out of the hobby. Set up the new tank and everything was growing like made, everything was doing so incredibly awesome it was unbelievable. I think I had finally gotten everything in its happy place and it was that way for about 7 months or so. Then I Started loosing LPS like crazy, a few of you might remember that post. Well all the LPS is out of the tank now, and been dipped and dipped, and dipped and quarantined and the recession and death seems to have slowed way down if not stopped. its hard to tell. All the SPS was doing so well despite the LPS taking a turn for the worse. Now my SPS seem to be having issues of their own. I cant put my finger on it, I can not for the life of me figure out if it is bugs/pests, or bacteria/disease. I see signs that it is pest, but despite all of my efforts I can never locate any. I have pulled all the ones that look sick and dipped them and never seen anything come off... here are some of the SPS shots. You will probably need to make them full size and zoom in a bit to see some of the issues. http://imgur.com/a/mJdrz the millies seem to have lost all of their flush despite still having their polyps which confuses me. So I guess I dont know which direction to turn. Pull everything that I can safely remove from the rocks. Dip and quarantine everything. But then my fear is, what if watever it is is still in the rocks or the sand, whether it be a pest or bacteria/disease. Do I just. Nuke the tank and start over? Leave everything alone and wait to see what happens? I just am frankly at a loss on which direction to go. Or do I just pack it all in and realize im not quite cut out for this hobby. I was planning on starting to break everything off the rocks and start dipping this weekend. Its going to be a very long tideous process but it seems like it might be the only viable option. but im still worried that something is in the tank, rocks, sand, whatever taking everything out. We will also get to my disappearing fish situation later. If anyone has any advice on how to get out of this downhill slide Please let me know. And yes, water params are all in check, Running UV steralizer and carbon.
Frustrated and looking for a direction.
- Thread starter toddmau5
- Start date
rogergolf66
im an addict lol
I am unable to open pics on iPad for some reason. What additives to u dose? Iodine, zeovite, potassium, and so on?
rogergolf66
im an addict lol
Reef energy is on my list of common denominators of people with this problem. Including amino acids. Personally have had this happen everytime i try to improve my corals. Short turn improvements then a crash and i look corals for no reasons. I cut out all additives other then dosing... Calcium reactor. Havent lost anything in a long time over a year now.... Knock on wood.
Check the pictures. I'm getting a lot of mixed options some say they are definitely bite marks, some say disease. The reef energy isn't a big additive like 40ml once a week just to add a little extra, never had any issues and have been running it for a while. /shrug. I'm just not sure what to do at this point. Dip or let it all die
oblio
New member
Truelly sorry for your issues. From reading your posts I am a little aprehensive to offer advice as I think your ahead of me. That being said I will throw in my 2 cents. I 100% agree with roger, stop the amino acids. All you "need" is water changes and the calcium reactor. Also go get some of those polyfilters. If it's something really weird they might tell you plus I think they will remove the amino acids ( not sure though) so a rigorous carbon regement and some water changes might be helpful. This if nothing else will eliminate something bizarre in the water. You say you have never seen a pest, this points to either bacterial or water. Don't quit bro, you obviously have figured this hobby out, it's just a bad moment. If you need help please reach out we can try and help if needed.
rogergolf66
im an addict lol
Second pic looks like the coral has a flatworm on it? Maybe aefw
Sone of a b.... When I first saw it I just thought it was the last remaining bit of flesh left in the Millie. I had tried blowing on everything with a turkey baster to see if I could get anything to come of. And that's the one coral I can't dip, so as soon as you did that I went to double check. Sure enough I was able to pry one off with a tooth pick...... This is going to be fun
plyle02
Active member
AEFW...
On mostly all pics included, at least all tell tale signs. No need to panic. Take a simple turkey baster, and blast all suspected corals, when I had this issue, I did under actinic view, that way it was easier to spot them. I would blast the corals, and they fly off into the water column. I would have a dish of tap water next to the tank, and suck them from the water column, into the the baster, then get them into the tap water where they died immediately. I then would pick the dead one out of the dish with tweezers, and feed to my fish. After a week or so, many fish had an appetite for them, soon there after, I only needed to baste my corals, the fish knew what I was doing, and were ready for the meal. Research "Living with AEFW" on the sps forum. Or, you can go the aggressive route of quarantine and dipping, a very tough thing to do with corals attached to live rock, IMO... Best of luck...
On mostly all pics included, at least all tell tale signs. No need to panic. Take a simple turkey baster, and blast all suspected corals, when I had this issue, I did under actinic view, that way it was easier to spot them. I would blast the corals, and they fly off into the water column. I would have a dish of tap water next to the tank, and suck them from the water column, into the the baster, then get them into the tap water where they died immediately. I then would pick the dead one out of the dish with tweezers, and feed to my fish. After a week or so, many fish had an appetite for them, soon there after, I only needed to baste my corals, the fish knew what I was doing, and were ready for the meal. Research "Living with AEFW" on the sps forum. Or, you can go the aggressive route of quarantine and dipping, a very tough thing to do with corals attached to live rock, IMO... Best of luck...
listen2bob
- David
The last picture looks like bite marks to me.
This is what stumped me, I blasted everything hoping to see something come off. It wasn't until roger said something that I decided to take a second look. Of course it didn't come off with blasting it, so I decided to poke it with a tooth pick, sure enough, it wiggled. I think I'm going to have to pluck them off one by one
Agreed, I kept thinking they were bite marks, but of 2 drippings nothing has come off and I can't ever see anything looking up close. So far the blue Millie is the only one I can see worms on after double checking when roger mentioned, and unfortunately that's one of the corals that's fully encrusted
rogergolf66
im an addict lol
What r u using for the dips?
All the new stuff I get goes through a Bayer bath, the last couple of dips were with coral rx, which has done well for me in the past with knocking off pests, a little hesitant to use Bayer on a stressed coral
rogergolf66
im an addict lol
The bayer does the best and is fine to use with stressed co r als. That being said its hard to inspect the water after because of the milky water.
rogergolf66
im an addict lol
The eges are at the base of the food source. The coral they r hosting is the food source in case that wasnt obvious. If u can remove the corals cut all the branches off remount them to something. Throw away the base and rock near base of coral u will have a nice head start
