I'm having a bit of an issue with my 20 long nano tank where my acans are spontaneously disolving like sps RTN. There are no signs of brown jelly or a mucous of any kind, they just disolve away from the main head, they were single head frags that have been growing over the last 4 months or so. I have had this tank up and running probably 6 months, tore it apart and redid it about 4 months ago due to hair algae but basicaly just did a big scrub of the rock and glued a bunch of frags in place. Parameters have be very stable at 130-140ppm carbonate hardness, 33-35ppt salinity over the last 3 months. Calcium is at 450, it was at 400 6 weeks ago then I brought it up. Mag is at 1250, a bit low but not really, phosphate is at 0.00, and always has been for 6 months. Using Hanna checkers for phosphate and alkalinity, salifert for CA and MG, refractometer and calibration solution for salinity, heater and fan on thermostat, stable 77-78, top off every morning and evening with ro di, about 3 pints a day, heavy skimmer. So this is about as stable of a nano as I have seen. The only thing to change recently is I added a pretty sorry looking ORA birds nest about 4 weeks ago, it is slowly looking better. Added a mariculture milliopora frag and aqua cultured tricolor frag two weeks ago. Also moved a clownfish, royal grama and two pepermint shrimp from another tank about two weeks ago this is the only livestock in the tank. The milli died last week, not too surprised, wild sps in nanos don't mix. Now I am getting some of the lps not looking so good, just suddenly rotting away, no torn flesh, just looking at the tank and knowtice shrunken in heads and missing flesh, usually the mouth from the initial polyp of the frag, new babies seem un affected sofar, but retracted. Started with my pink bobbies chalice about a week ago, half is gone, now the other half looks like it will make it, now three separate acan frags, main head dissolving. Like I said no slime or tearing tissue just retracted and mouth dissolving outward. Any ideas? I only feed about 1/2 cube mysis from a flat pack 4-5 times a week. I would think low nutrient but it's higher feeding than before, yet phosphates still at 0.00. The corals effected are all at least 4-6 months old except for the new milli frag.
Help with LPS RTN
- Thread starter hk855
- Start date
Sorry to hear your situ. I have had a similar issue with losing corals . They now go through a 2 month qt and dips to prove to me they are worthy of going into my dt . I have learned the hard wY to be patient. I mark the date of acquisition on the tank . Nothing else gets added and they stay under observation in bare bottom tank. There isn't much that will get by you if you observe for 2 months. It allows you to see unwanted algae, parasites such as starfish or red bugs RTN. Setup new qt for each new purchase date otherwise you reset the QT clock on older purchases. I wish I could be more help
rt67ghy
Member
I's possible that the sps that died initially released chemicals that affected your healthy lps corals leading to their decline. I'm curious whether you're running GAC. If you're not it would be advisable to do so to try to stop the decline. Also, if your hanna shows 0.000 PO4 this could be a factor in their decline and you could increase the organics in your water.
