Help SPS corals dying slowly

[bertoni]

I'd start looking for other problems. You could consider adding one new coral, to see how it does, but most corals should have recovered by now, I'd think. Could you post a picture of the tank?

 

[Staisman]

I'd start looking for other problems. You could consider adding one new coral, to see how it does, but most corals should have recovered by now, I'd think. Could you post a picture of the tank?

Here:

 

[Staisman]

I have a lot of those sponges from the last image

 

[bertoni]

I would start looking around for other issues in the tank. I suspect that those corals would be doing better if conditions were favorable, but I might be incorrect. Adding a new coral might be informative.

 

[Stickboy97]

update?

 

[Staisman]

I lost 95% of my corals, still don't know what was wrong. I don't dose anything anymore just WC since I don't have many corals. Going to try and buy some new corals and see how it goes.

 

[AquaManiak]

I noticed your idodine was 0 in your triton test, that might also be a problem?
As far as LPS goes I think having detectable nitrate/phosphate is most important, as well as light alternating flow.

 

[bertoni]

There's not much evidence that iodine is useful:

https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/3/chemistry

A lot of people, including me, have stopped dosing iodine and not noticed any difference.

 

[Tripod1404]

I lost 95% of my corals, still don't know what was wrong. I don't dose anything anymore just WC since I don't have many corals. Going to try and buy some new corals and see how it goes.

I have read the whole thread and it seems like a complete dead end... For I case like this, I would consider a disease as the culprit more than water chemistry. A disease that is perhaps bacterial or viral (or some other types of pathogen).

There are few signs here that may indicate some type of pathogen.

First all started with carbon dosing, carbon dosing increases the populations of wide variety of organisms. Carbon dosing might have caused the population of a certain bacteria to explode. Many bacteria can turn pathogenic if their numbers are very high. For instance, E.coli is a common beneficial gut bacteria in humans (or mammals), but if its population explode for some reason, it can kill you.

Some other signs;

STN in SPS from bottom up. A similar bacteria induced white band disease in SPS corals is bacterial and cause bottom of tissue necrosis. Here is a small description from wikipedia on white band disease;

The disease, however, typically begins from the base of the coral and works its way up the coral branches.[1] As it progresses, the band leaves behind the white coral skeleton.[4] Many of the details of how the breakdown of coral occurs due to the bacteria are unclear mainly in part to the difficulty in isolating marine bacteria.[8] Studies have confirmed that white band disease is contagious and caused by a pathogenic bacteria.[8] Experiments have shown that Ampicillin may be able to treat white band disease type I.

The way how your LPS corals die is also similar to bacterial infection. You described a clear mat growing on the skeleton as skeleton turns black and tissue recedes. That might very well be the pathogen or more bacteria being attracted to the dying tissue as pathogen makes it way. I had euphyllia specific bacterial infection that killed all my euphyllia corals in about a month. All died similar to the way you described, their tissue receded until it reached to the polyp head and after that they just started to disintegrate. I dipped some corals in antibiotic solutions for overnight, they also looked better for several days but the disease returned in few days later. I was very much convinced it was bacterial. It killed all my euphyllia corals, but nothing else died.

In your case you might have a pathogen that is less host specific and able to infect large variety of corals. Maybe carbon dosing caused the initial population explosion and infected corals are just cant get rid of it and are slowly dying.


You might try to use some methods that reduce bacteria population. Simplest way is UV, but it wont do anything to potential pathogens that are already on the corals. You might try ozone, it can kill at least some of the potential pathogens on corals or at least stress them and give corals a fighting chance.

If you are desperate, you can try adding antibiotics to the water or add diluted amounts of hydrogen peroxide. But as you might imagine these will have consequences on overall healthy of your tank, mainly inters of bio filter.

Another options if to dip corals with antibiotic. When I dipped my corals in antibiotic (mix penicillin and kanamycin) overnight there was a clear recovery for a short period until symptoms returned. It didnt save my corals, but helped me to narrow down the issue to bacterial infection. If your corals also look at least partially better after antibiotic dipping, it might indicate a bacterial pathogen.

 

[Staisman]

I have read the whole thread and it seems like a complete dead end... For I case like this, I would consider a disease as the culprit more than water chemistry. A disease that is perhaps bacterial or viral (or some other types of pathogen).

There are few signs here that may indicate some type of pathogen.

First all started with carbon dosing, carbon dosing increases the populations of wide variety of organisms. Carbon dosing might have caused the population of a certain bacteria to explode. Many bacteria can turn pathogenic if their numbers are very high. For instance, E.coli is a common beneficial gut bacteria in humans (or mammals), but if its population explode for some reason, it can kill you.

Some other signs;

STN in SPS from bottom up. A similar bacteria induced white band disease in SPS corals is bacterial and cause bottom of tissue necrosis. Here is a small description from wikipedia on white band disease;

The disease, however, typically begins from the base of the coral and works its way up the coral branches.[1] As it progresses, the band leaves behind the white coral skeleton.[4] Many of the details of how the breakdown of coral occurs due to the bacteria are unclear mainly in part to the difficulty in isolating marine bacteria.[8] Studies have confirmed that white band disease is contagious and caused by a pathogenic bacteria.[8] Experiments have shown that Ampicillin may be able to treat white band disease type I.

The way how your LPS corals die is also similar to bacterial infection. You described a clear mat growing on the skeleton as skeleton turns black and tissue recedes. That might very well be the pathogen or more bacteria being attracted to the dying tissue as pathogen makes it way. I had euphyllia specific bacterial infection that killed all my euphyllia corals in about a month. All died similar to the way you described, their tissue receded until it reached to the polyp head and after that they just started to disintegrate. I dipped some corals in antibiotic solutions for overnight, they also looked better for several days but the disease returned in few days later. I was very much convinced it was bacterial. It killed all my euphyllia corals, but nothing else died.

In your case you might have a pathogen that is less host specific and able to infect large variety of corals. Maybe carbon dosing caused the initial population explosion and infected corals are just cant get rid of it and are slowly dying.


You might try to use some methods that reduce bacteria population. Simplest way is UV, but it wont do anything to potential pathogens that are already on the corals. You might try ozone, it can kill at least some of the potential pathogens on corals or at least stress them and give corals a fighting chance.

If you are desperate, you can try adding antibiotics to the water or add diluted amounts of hydrogen peroxide. But as you might imagine these will have consequences on overall healthy of your tank, mainly inters of bio filter.

Another options if to dip corals with antibiotic. When I dipped my corals in antibiotic (mix penicillin and kanamycin) overnight there was a clear recovery for a short period until symptoms returned. It didnt save my corals, but helped me to narrow down the issue to bacterial infection. If your corals also look at least partially better after antibiotic dipping, it might indicate a bacterial pathogen.

Very interesting, I also think it's bacterial. Couple of my fish died also with bacterial infection signs. Few corals that left are not dying anymore but also not growing. After two years i am finally getting some signs of recovery. I will post some pictures.

I did not add any new corals, I want to be sure my tank is save first. My GSP coral turned from brown to green again but not growing, used to grow like crazy every day. My ricorderia mushrooms are not expending and not growing either. The same time my Uma's spliting and growing as usual, my two RBA are growing and doing very good. That's all I have left.

 

[Staisman]

I ran hydrogen peroxide for a week 15 ml a day with no noticeable effects My candycain keep dying.

 

[StinkerTinker]

How old are the lights? Test for mag, and run gfo and carbon.

 

[Staisman]

How old are the lights? Test for mag, and run gfo and carbon.

I am using mostly LEDs right now since I have no SPS left I don't see the point running T5. I have my carbon running all the time. No reason for GFO i have no algae and my Phosphates are 0.04 ppm

 

[scuglass]

Have you solved this issue? I am experiencing the same issues.

I started with all dry rock 10 months ago. Cycle took forever likely due to a lack of nutrients. All was well (or so i thought) however i never went through the ugly algae stages. I started losing some heads of branching hammer and the coral seemed to pull away from the skeleton until it melted away. There was algae or a film that climbed the base as the coral retracted. My SPS seemed to be unaffected for 4 months however started dying from the shaded areas and up or slowly losing all color and wasting away.

I didnt originally have a phosphate test but thought i had elevated phosphates as all my other parameters were okay. I got a hanna checker and found that my Nitrate and phosphate were actually 0 (which i thought was good based on my experience in the hobby 15 years ago). At the same time I had a break out which I believe to have been chrysophytes likely due to my nutrients. Scrubbing, mechanical filtration and increasing nuturients seemed to address to chrysophytes. As the chrysophytes declined cyano and some green algaes have become prevalent. I believe i am finally going through the ugly stage and things are finding a balance.

My sps however are continuing to decline, my torches seem fine, I dont and never have had coraline growth and I too had some snails dye off in the early stages which i think was from starvation.

Sounds like we have the following commonalities
- phosphate and nitrates were low - starving corals
- snail deaths
- lps pulling away from skeleton - algae chasing or causing the receding flesh
- sps slowly dying

Ive checked parameters, use dosers, run led and have 0 tds water as well. I dont seem to have any stray voltage or rusting magnets as people have suggested. I dip everything, qt for 76 days in separate system and have never identified pests. I cant think of anything other than bacterial...

Hoping youve found a solution already!

 

[Staisman]

Actually I was about to post an update. I was having these issues until the month ago when one of my fish got sick and I had to use metroplex with focus with food for one week. After that treatment I noticed that my corals started to recover and even have some growth now. Before that even my Caroline algae would grow and die off in one week, my GSP coral did not grow an inch since this problem started until last month. So I can tell you for sure that medication I was giving to fish helped my corals. Finally after almost 3 years and 90% coral loss I can say that my tank is recovering. I will now try and buy some SPS frags and see how it goes.

 

[pisanoal]

Have you solved this issue? I am experiencing the same issues.

I started with all dry rock 10 months ago. Cycle took forever likely due to a lack of nutrients. All was well (or so i thought) however i never went through the ugly algae stages. I started losing some heads of branching hammer and the coral seemed to pull away from the skeleton until it melted away. There was algae or a film that climbed the base as the coral retracted. My SPS seemed to be unaffected for 4 months however started dying from the shaded areas and up or slowly losing all color and wasting away.

I didnt originally have a phosphate test but thought i had elevated phosphates as all my other parameters were okay. I got a hanna checker and found that my Nitrate and phosphate were actually 0 (which i thought was good based on my experience in the hobby 15 years ago). At the same time I had a break out which I believe to have been chrysophytes likely due to my nutrients. Scrubbing, mechanical filtration and increasing nuturients seemed to address to chrysophytes. As the chrysophytes declined cyano and some green algaes have become prevalent. I believe i am finally going through the ugly stage and things are finding a balance.

My sps however are continuing to decline, my torches seem fine, I dont and never have had coraline growth and I too had some snails dye off in the early stages which i think was from starvation.

Sounds like we have the following commonalities
- phosphate and nitrates were low - starving corals
- snail deaths
- lps pulling away from skeleton - algae chasing or causing the receding flesh
- sps slowly dying

Ive checked parameters, use dosers, run led and have 0 tds water as well. I dont seem to have any stray voltage or rusting magnets as people have suggested. I dip everything, qt for 76 days in separate system and have never identified pests. I cant think of anything other than bacterial...

Hoping youve found a solution already!

My dry rock started tank didn't start to thrive until I upped my nutrients. You can run 0 phos and nitrate IF you have a lot of fish and are just efficiently removing nutrients as they build and also run alk. I have algae/cyano issues with very little nutrients (2-5 NO3, 0.05ish phos), but at least my sps are growing well and looking better all the time. I'll deal with the cyano eventually.

I also deal with seemingly lots of snail die off. That one is a head scratcher for me.

 

[pisanoal]

Actually I was about to post an update. I was having these issues until the month ago when one of my fish got sick and I had to use metroplex with focus with food for one week. After that treatment I noticed that my corals started to recover and even have some growth now. Before that even my Caroline algae would grow and die off in one week, my GSP coral did not grow an inch since this problem started until last month. So I can tell you for sure that medication I was giving to fish helped my corals. Finally after almost 3 years and 90% coral loss I can say that my tank is recovering. I will now try and buy some SPS frags and see how it goes.

I've noticed improved coral health as well from this same recipe. But I also started feeding 3 times a day to get them more meds. I think that increased food was the answer on my end.