Help SPS corals dying slowly

Staisman

Staisman

New member
I have 75 gal tank with 55 gal sump. You can see my build in the signature. I have my tank up for almost 3 years now and just recently start having issues.
First my huge Monti started to develop white spots, then it bleached completely. I had couple different SPS frags for 5 months now and they are all dead now. On the other hand my LPS doing fine.

My parameters are stable:
Alk - 8.4 dkh
Cal - 450
Mag - i dont test unless first two are not in range
PO4 - 0.4
NO3 - i need new test so I don't know right now. But i am doing 3 ml of NoPox everyday.
PH - from 8.25 to 8.40 by the end of the day

After a 20 gal water change coral doing better for couple days and then stay closed and slowly dying.

Here are couple pics.

prob1.JPG


prob2.JPG


prob3.JPG


prob4.JPG


prob5.JPG
 
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Does the tank have a skimmer? I might try running some fresh carbon and a PolyFilter. The PolyFilter will turn blue in the presence of copper and will adsorb other metals, as well. In theory, the phosphate level is rather high, which could be an issue, but that's hard to predict. Some people seem to be successful with higher phosphate levels and stony corals.

Those parameters otherwise are fine, although I might check the temperature and SG. If a LFS could run some tests, a second opinion might be useful. It's rare, but test kits can fail and cause problems with their false results.
 
I also noticed a lot of Vermetidae snail/worm which is a sign of high feedings...they can grow on corals and basically stressed the coral
 
Same issue here. Your phosphate is high like mine. What's your nitrate at? Starting to wonder what happens with zero nitrates because then the no pox won't work on the phosphates. Does it just hang around haha? I did start dosing nitrate and my stuff is starting to look slightly better

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Help SPS corals dying slowly

I had similar issue and it was the chloramine in my water that the rodi didn't filter. Check for total chlorine.


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Hm. Do you qt corals? Have you had .4 po4 for a while? When did you start dosing no3po4x?

You said you had various sps frags for 5 months, do you mean you had them in your tank for 5 months or have had various frags over the course of 5 months? How long do they last on average?

How are the acros dying? STN, RTN, from the bottom up, from the top down, random spots?

I would confirm your alk with another test kit, calibrate your refractomer and check your salinity, test your rodi for total chlorine (brs sells kit but I think you can amazon prime). Run some carbon in case there is a contaminate. Polyfilter is not a bad idea either and may give you some info. After confirm alk and salinity you can do large water changes since the 20g helped (to rule out contaminates)

Any changes in the tank or lighting or salt mix in the last few months?

How old are your bulbs if t5? Old bulbs can change spectrum and kill acros, happened to me and switching to new bulbs had astonishing results. Not only in terms of coral health (acros in particular) but also had some algae and cyano that went away.

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I am sorry I made a mistake, PO4 is 0.04

BigJohnny said:
Hm. Do you qt corals? Have you had .4 po4 for a while? When did you start dosing no3po4x? I was dosing NoPox manualy for a year but only couple month ago started dosing via doser. I do not QT corals only Fish, but I dip corals before put them in the tank

You said you had various sps frags for 5 months, do you mean you had them in your tank for 5 months or have had various frags over the course of 5 months? How long do they last on average? I bought them 5 month ago, some were OK for couple month some Died after a month another after a 4 month now I have only 2 left. The acros on the fisrt picture are from my first colony which now is dead but was thriving about a year.

How are the acros dying? STN, RTN, from the bottom up, from the top down, random spots? They would stay close, no polyps, an then would just cover with algae slowly.

I would confirm your alk with another test kit, calibrate your refractomer and check your salinity, test your rodi for total chlorine (brs sells kit but I think you can amazon prime). Run some carbon in case there is a contaminate. Polyfilter is not a bad idea either and may give you some info. After confirm alk and salinity you can do large water changes since the 20g helped (to rule out contaminates). I am running a carbon all the time. My FCI and TCI are at 0. My RODI water usually 0 but when it gets to 002 I change my sediment and filters. My Salinity is at 26 but I had recently a dip to the 24. I brought back up slowly.

Any changes in the tank or lighting or salt mix in the last few months?
I had BML lights for 2 years and 6 month ago added 2 T5 bulbs

How old are your bulbs if t5? Old bulbs can change spectrum and kill acros, happened to me and switching to new bulbs had astonishing results. Not only in terms of coral health (acros in particular) but also had some algae and cyano that went away. About 6 month

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Click to expand...
 
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Had a similar situation years ago. Turned out I wasn't paying attention to my TDSfrom my RODI.The cartridges need to be changed.Check the TDS coming out of your RODI.
 
scuzy said:
I had similar issue and it was the chloramine in my water that the rodi didn't filter. Check for total chlorine.


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Click to expand...

+1

Check your total chlorine levels both in the tank and with your finished RO water.
 
Vinny Kreyling said:
Test regularly for Magnesium, it will cause problems if it falls too low.
Click to expand...

+1
I also quit testing Mg, for years it was always 1440, all of sudden it was below 1100.
I use Reef Crystals, a year or so ago I started loosing corals and found that the mixes are very low and inconsistent in Mg.
I'm back to testing each mix & they seem to be coming in around 1300 to 1350, but some mixes still show low 1200's.
 
are you dosing carbon without testing your nitrates?

also you dont seem to have a lot of fish, why are your nitrates so high. what kind of skimmer do you have, maybe its time to invest in a better one ?

also i would test alk, nitrates and phosphates at least 2 times a week. calcium once every 2 weeks and mag once a month. i noticed once i started testing my tank started doing a lot better long term. i used to also have corals do well and grow for 6 months then just die. imo there shouldn't be a need to dose carbon. i know people do it with success, but its just a band-aid for something else that is wrong with your tank. do you have any marco algae.
 
Check any wetsides or magnets that may have cracks in the casing. I've seen some threads of mp40s cracking and slowly killing off corals.
 
jUST TETSTED EVERYTHING:

Mg - 1280
Alk - 9.8
Ca - 470
Phosphates - 0.04
Salinity - 26
FCI - 0
TCI - 0

Alk and Ca little high because I just did another WC
 
anthonys51 said:
are you dosing carbon without testing your nitrates?

also you dont seem to have a lot of fish, why are your nitrates so high. what kind of skimmer do you have, maybe its time to invest in a better one ?

also i would test alk, nitrates and phosphates at least 2 times a week. calcium once every 2 weeks and mag once a month. i noticed once i started testing my tank started doing a lot better long term. i used to also have corals do well and grow for 6 months then just die. imo there shouldn't be a need to dose carbon. i know people do it with success, but its just a band-aid for something else that is wrong with your tank. do you have any marco algae.
Click to expand...

I do have a Skimmer, usually there are not much skimmate. It is Reef Octopus Coral Vue
 
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