GSP may be dead . . . .

[giantsmountain]

i think my Gsp is dead. the reason ive come to this conclusion is that it is covered in a white fungus like substance and it smells incredibly bad when i take it out of the aquarium as well as this it has brown algae growing on it. it stopped coming out about 3 weeks ago and hasnt come out since nothing has been added for about a month. everything else in the tank is good and healthy including a bta which is growing and thriving. i noticed the white patches appearing last week so did an emergency 50 % water change keeping the salinity at 1.026 which is where it has been since the aquarium started . when i got it all the heads were out it must have been about 200 -300 heads all were out continuously for 5 weeks then they just stopped coming out. this happened about the time i started to use selcon to aid in the repair of the hlle my clowns had gotten from carbon. im beginning to think that the removal of the carbon started this( on the bright side one of the clowns has fully recovered but the other died ) the tank has been running 2 months now. im keeping the tank at 26/27 degrees C with a 165w LED unit running 50% blue 50% white for 6 hours a day with 1 hour of blue only before and after the 6 hours. the gsp was placed in moderate/high flow that is indirect and its about 13 inches from the LED's. the salinity is 1.026 nitrates,nitrites,ph are unknown as is ammonia however i presume they are fairly low. i forgot to mention earlier white string like stuff began pouring out of it 4 weeks ago when i did a water change no idea what this was


also sorry for the crappy images ipads arent the best

 

[GregJames]

I wouldn't write off just yet... Mine has done the same thing. It had a stringy slime on it, then brown diatoms for a couple weeks. As of today, it has started to come back out. The only thing I did was raise the pH back up to 8.0 from where it slipped to 7.6

Those pictures are a week apart

 

[giantsmountain]

I wouldn't write off just yet... Mine has done the same thing. It had a stringy slime on it, then brown diatoms for a couple weeks.

ok thanks for the advice ill try raising the ph a bit see if that helps

 

[jayball]

ok thanks for the advice ill try raising the ph a bit see if that helps

Do not chase the PH, your PH is tied to the CO2 available in your water and your alkalinity. You should be monitoring your Alk, along with calcium and Mg. Your PH will be stable (but will swing from night to day, normal) if you keep your ALK stable.

Does the gunk blow off if you hit it with a turkey baster? Keep it clean and if there is any GSP flesh left under there it will regrow

 

[Dkuhlmann]

jayball is correct, don't ever chase PH, it will take care of itself if your Big three are in order. Kh, Mg and Ca! I never test PH and neither do many of the old time reefers as its just not that important as it is in FW.

 

[giantsmountain]

yeah the gunk blows off with a turkey baster. ill keep it clean and start keeping an eye on my Mg alkalinity and calcium thanks for the advice

 

[exsequor]

What about testing for phosphates, too?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

You should always test for nitrates and phosphates to keep an eye on them not getting too high. I would say to test them at least weekly.

 

[Webmanny]

Very few people have the ability to kill this coral. LOL

If you see any purple left on the rock, your coral is not dead, its just hiding. Also, not is a good time to get rid of it or at least make sure you move it to a separate rock where it cannot spread over the tank.

If you haven't had this experience before, you will one day. I have traded in three rocks so far full of GSP and kept a tiny frag. Two months later, the new rock is covered in GSp again. It is very hard to get rid of this coral.