Help, trying to stay positive with my SPS

[parkavenuereef]

Lately I have been experiencing alot of issues with my sps loosing color and polyp extention being minimal to near nothing and of course loss of color and health... Parameters seem well,

Sal 1.026
Alk 10
PO4 undetectable using API test kit
Calc 420-440
mag around 1270 to 1350 depending on the given day
temps around 76-78 with little swinging
nitrates 0ppm

I am afraid it is a pest issue, I just recently dripped the coral in a dip solution and not much of anything has fallen off.. About a month ago I did a flat worm exit on the entire tank worried about flat worms. in the botton of the dip container i thought I saw a red bug but numbers were minimal. What I have found are some suspicious snails ( see picture below ) around the base of the rock where the coral was placed..

I am getting fustrated with it as some colonys are un phased and healthy and others dying off such as a blue tip slimmer and greene slimmer and now my blue humillus ( at least that what I think it is ) seems to be affected..

Lighting is a 400W 20K XM bulb which is new.. I have adjusted flow to the coral both higher and lower with no good results..

Help is needed... Thanks in advance...

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[MikeandNicole]

Did you mean the bulb was new or the lighting fixture was new?

 

[parkavenuereef]

Did you mean the bulb was new or the lighting fixture was new?

The Bulb was new just 2 weeks old but this issue has been going on with old and new bulb.

 

[jedi31]

I'm in the same boat as you!! trying to stay possitive about SPS.What test kits are you using? My SPS growth is very slow and color is not the best. I switched Mag test kits from Sailfiert and Elos I came up with a difference from 1300 Mag to 1000 Elos. For months I thought my Cal,Alk and Mag were in balance

 

[parkavenuereef]

I'm in the same boat as you!! trying to stay possitive about SPS.What test kits are you using? My SPS growth is very slow and color is not the best. I switched Mag test kits from Sailfiert and Elos I came up with a difference from 1300 Mag to 1000 Elos. For months I thought my Cal,Alk and Mag were in balance

I use both salifert and API... been for years, and I have had my water tested at local reef shops with the same result of having great parameters so I am lost...

 

[jedi31]

I use both salifert and API... been for years, and I have had my water tested at local reef shops with the same result of having great parameters so I am lost...

Believe me so I'm I.... I always counted on Salifert but right now I have a difference between 300 ppm between Salifert and Elos. Maybe I just got a bad test kit. I guess I have to buy another brand test kit and see which one is closer. Your issue is most likely not your test kits but it's a possibility if your sps are not doing well in good constant water parameters that your test kits are measuring.

 

[Chipie]

I had 2 bad Salifert test kits one after the other. My sps started stn and i could not find what was wrong. Turned out my Salifert Alk test was wat off and my Alk was very low. Bought an API test and everything's fien now. Stn stopped. Then i could not get my magnesium level up. Bought another test (Salifert again) and my magnesium was off the charts. Bad Salifert Mag test. It's getting very frustrating trying to find a good test kit that you can rely on.

 

[parkavenuereef]

I had 2 bad Salifert test kits one after the other. My sps started stn and i could not find what was wrong. Turned out my Salifert Alk test was wat off and my Alk was very low. Bought an API test and everything's fien now. Stn stopped. Then i could not get my magnesium level up. Bought another test (Salifert again) and my magnesium was off the charts. Bad Salifert Mag test. It's getting very frustrating trying to find a good test kit that you can rely on.

I completely understand everyones fustration with the test kits... I have new one on the way just to giggles and I wish it was a simple issue but I fear it's more... I am slowly turning to API but do they make a mag test kit?

 

[MikeandNicole]

I have no id on the snails, but you could try dipping them or getting a wrasse to pick them off. I had luck with a birdsnest colony that was bleaching from the bottom up with a Furan II dip. Furan is good against bacterial infections and stopped the bleaching.

The reason I asked if the fixture was new was because they were bleaching from the top down which sometimes happens with too much light.

 

[parkavenuereef]

I have no id on the snails, but you could try dipping them or getting a wrasse to pick them off. I had luck with a birdsnest colony that was bleaching from the bottom up with a Furan II dip. Furan is good against bacterial infections and stopped the bleaching.

The reason I asked if the fixture was new was because they were bleaching from the top down which sometimes happens with too much light.

Yea, It's the same fixture as I have always had...

However Just an update to all the test kit discusion, I just re-tested my water parameters with a buddy's test kit and go figure different results... his kits were all API, so Calcium tonight tested at 380, mag was at almost 1600, just under, and alk was a minty green, which would be down the middle on api's chart. I would say now were getting somewhere... the test kit situation is really getting a bit old. what is worse is two seperate reef shops all came up with the same results as listed in the first post.

 

[Denadai]

Did you check aefw ??

 

[graveyardworm]

How long have you had the corals pictured?
How are you maintaining your parameters?
How long has the tank been set up.
Do you have other sps, if so how are they doing?
Any algae issues?
Can you better describe your set up, any reactors, are you running any media like GFO or carbon?
Can you get some closer in focus shots of the corals in the tank?
The snail appears to be a Collonista. If so no worries. A closer in focus pic is needed for id.

 

[parkavenuereef]

How long have you had the corals pictured?
How are you maintaining your parameters?
How long has the tank been set up.
Do you have other sps, if so how are they doing?
Any algae issues?
Can you better describe your set up, any reactors, are you running any media like GFO or carbon?
Can you get some closer in focus shots of the corals in the tank?
The snail appears to be a Collonista. If so no worries. A closer in focus pic is needed for id.

I have had the corals pictured for 4 years just about, the tank is 1.5 Years old, with rock from my old setup which was 3 year old 120g reef, A. valida is doing excellent, digi's doing fine, and caps also doing very well as well as zoanthids, candys, etc. I run reef Carbon consistantly in a phosban reactor, I run phosban in a seperate reactor with cuprisorb metal remover as I was afraid of our local water source in NY. I run a korallin 1502S calcium reactor with ARM media ( large Size ). I can try to get other pictures with better clarity.. Skimmer also is a ASM g3

 

[parkavenuereef]

I have had the corals pictured for 4 years just about, the tank is 1.5 Years old, with rock from my old setup which was 3 year old 120g reef, A. valida is doing excellent, digi's doing fine, and caps also doing very well as well as zoanthids, candys, etc. I run reef Carbon consistantly in a phosban reactor, I run phosban in a seperate reactor with cuprisorb metal remover as I was afraid of our local water source in NY. I run a korallin 1502S calcium reactor with ARM media ( large Size ). I can try to get other pictures with better clarity.. Skimmer also is a ASM g3

Any Thoughts?

 

[waxy]

Just to make things easier, I think you have 2 duplicate pictures. So I left it out.

I confused myself. Definitely pest's to me.

 

[parkavenuereef]

If you think it's pest what should I start with? I already did a iodine bath for 10 mins..

 

[Logzor]

What is your salinity and how are you testing it?

 

[parkavenuereef]

What is your salinity and how are you testing it?

1.026 with a refractometer...

 

[waxy]

Iodine doesn't do much, it has a few purposes. Mainly to help heal the coral as well as remove select pests as I was told.

If you have a bottle of Revive, or can get one, it's well worth the investment.

You can dip your corals in Revive in a clear container and confirm if there's anything that has fallen off. If there are pests, there will definitely be a handful of critters falling to the bottom.

Taking a closer look at your corals, it seems as though there is something blowing your corals to death. - No pun intended.

Reason being is because it seems there's a shaded area that is not affected by the tissue departure.

Take this picture for example.

If pests were in there, I think it would be much closer for them to go around the branch and eat the other side, rather than jumping from limb to limb.

On a few pictures you provided, it seems as though they were being eaten up by pests, flatworms possibly red bugs. For red bug signs, you'll see a lot of small blochy areas. Whereas flatworms leave a smooth cut, but not as flush as an RTN or STN.

 

[parkavenuereef]

Iodine doesn't do much, it has a few purposes. Mainly to help heal the coral as well as remove select pests as I was told.

If you have a bottle of Revive, or can get one, it's well worth the investment.

You can dip your corals in Revive in a clear container and confirm if there's anything that has fallen off. If there are pests, there will definitely be a handful of critters falling to the bottom.

Taking a closer look at your corals, it seems as though there is something blowing your corals to death. - No pun intended.

Reason being is because it seems there's a shaded area that is not affected by the tissue departure.

Take this picture for example.

If pests were in there, I think it would be much closer for them to go around the branch and eat the other side, rather than jumping from limb to limb.

On a few pictures you provided, it seems as though they were being eaten up by pests, flatworms possibly red bugs. For red bug signs, you'll see a lot of small blochy areas. Whereas flatworms leave a smooth cut, but not as flush as an RTN or STN.

I was using a specific dip solution " tropic marin " i believe... Do you think it could also be a over exposure to light?