Help needed please.

[dubmaneh]

The pics previously posted really don't do justice as to how poor the corals were doing, but here are some pictures from last week as a comparison.

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[reefmutt]

They certainly don’t look bad in those shots.
Ive always been under the assumption that iodine, like iron is used up extremely quickly in the reef. Most often test result come back with low iodine unless you dose very regularly.

 

[dubmaneh]

That's what I thought as well. Everything I read and everyone I spoke with said the same thing.

I never would have thought it was lack of iodine in my system. The only reason I tired dosing was because I was at my wits end and it was the only deficiency from my ICP results.

Looking back now I can see how I went wrong and I believe that it was a chronic deficiency of iodine. All starting with..... lack of water changes.

It does kind of make sense that something getting depleted so quickly would need to be replenished or maintained via dosing or WC.





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[pisanoal]

The vermitids are definitely a problem but I firmly believe the symptoms I was experiencing was due to lack or iodine in the system.

Have been dosing iodide to get consistent measurable levels and have seen drastic results. Was the only thing I changed. Corals have recovered and I'm seeing growth which is great.

Going to tackle the vermitids next. Following another thread on here and success with in tank treatments at these proportions seems slim to none at best. Will try the coral snow though as it can't hurt.




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I also dont think that the vermetids are as bad as they are made out to be. If you are referring to the in tank treatment methods thread i started, I dont believe we are going to find anything that is reef safe for absolute elimination.

As far as the harmfulness of the snails themselves, I believe that if you have enough water velocity, then you should not have a v snail problem where your sps are. Someone on that other thread alluded to this and I have seen similar results in my tank. I have seen a lot of great tanks and followed them for a while, when one day I look at a picture and spot a vermetid snail. Then I go back through and notice that they have quite a few. This has happened on multiple occasions. I had a frag from a very reputable high end vendor come in with a v snail on it. Doesnt appear to hurt his system much if at all.

Don't get me wrong, I know they "can" be a real problem, and they are for sure annoying. I also have seen the articles on decreased coral growth where they prevail on natural reefs, but I dont think that is the whole story.

If i were to do it over again, i would for sure try hard to keep them out, but now that i have them, I'm not going to risk my tank by adding something unless its 100% fleshed out as being safe.

All of that to say if you plan on trying coral snow, which I actually am planning on as well for its water clarifying properties, there is a DIY version that is pennies on the dollar. It probably doesnt have all the same stuff, but same main ingredient which is likely the one we are after anyways.

If you look up DIY coral snow, you should find the thread on another forum. Basically buy food grade calcium carbonate powder and mix with rodi.

Also, great to see the iodine dosing appears to be working. Nice to see threads like this with success, and potentially answer some "mystery" stn events.

 

[dubmaneh]

If you are referring to the in tank treatment methods thread i started, I dont believe we are going to find anything that is reef safe for absolute elimination.

That is the thread I'm referring to. It's a great read.

As far as the harmfulness of the snails themselves, I believe that if you have enough water velocity, then you should not have a v snail problem where your sps are. Someone on that other thread alluded to this and I have seen similar results in my tank.

From what I have seen I would have to agree. The only spot in my tank I don't have any v snails is directly in front of one powerhead. I could ramp up my pumps but would have to get rid of what little sand I have left. Would also have to get rid of my last LPS pieces as they definitely do not appreciate the higher flow.

If i were to do it over again, i would for sure try hard to keep them out, but now that i have them, I'm not going to risk my tank by adding something unless its 100% fleshed out as being safe.

All of that to say if you plan on trying coral snow, which I actually am planning on as well for its water clarifying properties, there is a DIY version that is pennies on the dollar. It probably doesnt have all the same stuff, but same main ingredient which is likely the one we are after anyways.

If you look up DIY coral snow, you should find the thread on another forum. Basically buy food grade calcium carbonate powder and mix with rodi.

I was at the point of a complete teardown and rebuild (v snail infestation and iodine deficiency) but now that I'm actually seeing some results in my tank I think I will try less drastic approaches to tackling the v snail problem. Coral snow (have a little of the blue bottle left but will definitely try the DIY formula), increased flow and slowly replacing badly infested rock with new, dry rock that has been curing in my sump. Perhaps I'll save that for your thread though.

Also, great to see the iodine dosing appears to be working. Nice to see threads like this with success, and potentially answer some "mystery" stn events.

Thanks. I wanted to share my results in hopes that it could help a fellow reefer avoid the headaches that I went through. Because it was such a grey area when I looked into it (can't tell you how many people told me I had to be doing something else different) I was very careful to only change the iodine dosing. Not exactly super scientific but good enough for me.