Green slimer bleaching; poor extension

[Terefel]

Guys, this has been my frustrating week in my combined reefing experience and could sure use your help. In between preparing my new hospital tank in my guest bathroom (all my fish are sick w/ ich and I've already had two or three disapprear, but have nowhere else to set up a new tank) I was trying to tackle some Aptasia I found :deadhorse:. While doing that I noticed that my one SPS (green slimer) was starting to bleach.



You'll notice above there is tissue recession as well, especially on the right side.



The polyp extension has been not great over the past two months. I was experimenting with different lighting programs (most recent is the Maxspect razor at 85% power for 6 hours with ramp up and ramp down times) since my water parameters seem to be ok. All my LPS are doing fine. Is this guy a goner or can something be done?

The last thing I will note is that this morning I was observing the pods that are starting to populate my tank and I also noticed a few small black spots that were definitely moving around wit them - I'm hoping these are not red bugs; they don't look like it based on the pictures I've seen but they are also nearly invisible to the human eye and would have never noticed them had the rock not been right next to the glass. I did dip all my coral (Coral RX) but now am wishing I had used something stronger.

I retested last night and got similar water parameters as I have in the past. Information is provided below (including the non-standards since I presumably have dead fish somewhere in the rockwork, but the cleab up crew seems to be doing it's job...)

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.1 ppm
Nitrate: 1 ppm
Phosphate: 0
Alk: 8.2-8.4 (Grrr red sea... be easier to titiate)
Calc: 390
Mg: 1360
Temp: 77-78
sg: 1.025

Thank you!!!

 

[fishguy597]

I think you are nuking that coral @ 85%. Maybe back down the intensity. How did you acclamate the coral to that intensity? I think that having your nitrate that low isnt helping either.

btw I would be spending more time in the bathroom if I had a tank in there lol.

 

[Terefel]

I've been slowly bringing the light up over time... It is top and center so it very well could be! I'll try dropping it down to see if that helps.

Is there any sense in redipping it?

 

[ahmed_iAM]

Green slimer are generally less demanding. You'd kill it from strong lighting rather than parameter issues. If your running halides see if you can raise it 6" or bring the coral down 6-12". I have green slimer at top of my tank with LEDs and it growth is astonishing

 

[Terefel]

Thanks Ahmed. I'm running. 160W Maxspect razor (LED). I feel so very dumb if too much light is what it is. I will try dropping the intensity down a bit.

Anything else I should do in the interim?

 

[fishguy597]

I'd lower the intensity. I have radions and only run them at 55%. Anything more and I start to fry them.My slimmer is on the bottom 1/4 of my tank. But they are light hogs. You arent running any carbon like rox 0.8 are you? I dont think I would stress it out with a dip. You might want to look into Bayer dips, its cheaper and more effective.

 

[Terefel]

I'd lower the intensity. I have radions and only run them at 55%. Anything more and I start to fry them.My slimmer is on the bottom 1/4 of my tank. But they are light hogs. You arent running any carbon like rox 0.8 are you? I dont think I would stress it out with a dip. You might want to look into Bayer dips, its cheaper and more effective.

Dude... I am running exactly that Carbon. I have it blended with GFO in a reactor and I've been changing it out a bit more frequently (about every two weeks) because of my suspected fish deaths. Is this a problem??

I'll drop my intensity down to 60% for a few days and see if that helps as well...

Thank you for all the responses!!

 

[fishguy597]

I love the rox but it strips the water column. Especially since your nitrate is at 1 that coral is starving and frying at the same time. I run about 1/3 of what they recommend and my nitrates are @5.

 

[Terefel]

Thank you! I'll start decreasing the carbon. Think dropping in some reefroids might help?

Also... I did learn about Bayer dips after I had put everything into my system. Believe me, I wish I had known about them then, because the Aiptasia obviously survived the process - I think I may even have a brittle star that made it through (or six baby bristles that all live in the same hole in a rock...)

 

[fishguy597]

I cant remember if its supposed to be run in a reactor or not probably can be . I run mine passivley in a mesh bag. That stuff is more pouris and lasts longer than other carbon. I change mine once a month.

 

[fishguy597]

How many fish do you have and how often do you feed?How big of a tank? try feeding 3 times a day. I use reef roids and oyster feast every so often.

 

[fishguy597]

btw the dips wont do anything for aptasia since they are an anenamy. Bayer will kill the star fish.

 

[Terefel]

How many fish do you have and how often do you feed?How big of a tank? try feeding 3 times a day. I use reef roids and oyster feast every so often.

Thanks for everything. Had 6: one Royal gramma, two firefish, two clowns and a chromis (I think I lost the RG and the two firefish to the ich. I'm hoping to move everyone else to my newly resetup aquapod to begin hypo.)

I was feeding half a cube of mysis shrimp once a day. While everyone's in hypo and the tank goes fallow I guess I'll need to feed some reefroids occasionally to keep everyone happy.

 

[fishguy597]

Been there and will be doing it again. just a tip keep a close eye on the copper in qt. mine must have dropped down and I didnt catch it. I had my tank fallow for 3 months and just used oyster feast, azox,and phyto. the tank did fine.

 

[Terefel]

Thanks bud, really appreciate the tips. I'm actually running hypo salinity (not copper), so what I really need to do is watch the salt to make sure I completely get rid of this thing. Then I'm going to bring the aquapod back to normal, let the DT go fallow, move everybody back home, and start QTing new arrivals until I'm where I want to be and can break down the Aquapod again.