help with RTN Strawberry Shortcake Pink-line syndrome?

[kittyworm]

Please help identify this coral disease.

This Strawberry Shortcake has been in the tank for over 7months. Apeared normal still today during daytime but at night in less than 6 hours it lost half its tissue. There is a pink mark on the skeleton that looks similar to the pink-line syndrome.

I got some frags over the internet couple weeks ago. All frags were lost within couple of days. Since then, there has been continuous RTN with SPS in my tank. I lost over 8 colonies and many frags since then and has not been able to find out the cause.

I checked water parameters over the week both day and night, all seems to be within normal range.
If any one knows whats going on please help. Thanks!

photo is taken off light with cellphone, so its not too clear.

p.s
System has been running for nearly a year and SPS
were growing normally before this crisis.
Here is a photo of the tank I took a couple of months ago

 

[kbriers]

Sorry I can't help you at all with your problem but I wanted to tell you that you have an amazing looking tank:beer:

 

[Ajskennels]

stray voltage maybe

 

[Gangous]

How can u check for stray voltage? Will that pale out coral?

 

[Ajskennels]

im not sure of the rules here on RC so i wont post a link but if you just google " testing for stray voltage in a aquarium" you will be able to find it. i say stray voltage because you said the tank is around a year old, from my experiance most equipment will degrade by this time and start emitting stray voltage, also cracked wires, its just a thought. not sure if it will cause paling but i could assume it can, it adds stress to the tank

 

[kittyworm]

stray voltage maybe

One of the return pump (eheim 1262) and one of the MP40wes is from my old tank, about 2-3years old. The rest are less than a year. The ATI powermodule I used in the first couple of months had some major stray voltage problem, which I soon switched to HQI and LED before I added any livestock to the tank. There was still some very small amount of voltage leakage in the sump, but all the fish seems fine since then.
Anyways, I'm ganna check again when I get home. Thanks for the help

 

[kittyworm]

Sorry I can't help you at all with your problem but I wanted to tell you that you have an amazing looking tank:beer:

Thanks, its sad watching them die off and not being able to find the cause :facepalm:

 

[trueblackpercula]

New frags + 8 colonies lost = AEFW maybe? Did you dip your corals. Get some better pictures. Also what is your ALk at as I am sure it dropped once you added all the new frags. Are you feeding your Sps. I think you need to post more information before we could better help you.

 

[kbriers]

Thanks, its sad watching them die off and not being able to find the cause :facepalm:

Yeah I bet. The great thing about this forum though is 99.9% are here to share their experiences/problems/results etc. There will be more than enough people that are willing to give helpful suggestions that will get your sps problems under control.

Not that it's worth much from a noob like me, but don't change everything at once. Yeah doing a 1000 different things may fix the problem, but you will never know what the initial cause was and you will be in the same boat as now. Make sure params are stable and patience is the key. I know its easier said than done but that's why I'm saying it. Ha

I wish you the best.

 

[kittyworm]

New frags + 8 colonies lost = AEFW maybe? Did you dip your corals. Get some better pictures. Also what is your ALk at as I am sure it dropped once you added all the new frags. Are you feeding your Sps. I think you need to post more information before we could better help you.

I'd like to firstly thank you for your help.

When the problem first started, I observed the affected corals with magnifier, saw no bite marks and no signs of AEFW. The affected coral tissue seems to just float off. This coral is the first sign of pink mark, the privious ones did not have it.

I added 4 small frags, all dipped with Coral pro RX, but I remember someone telling me that eggs cannot be killed. I also use zeovit FlatwormStop regularly (missing few days here and there)

Other things I add are:
Zeovit CV, AA, SP, Food7, Xtra, bak, BB (at ~1/3 suggested amount or interval)
Reefpearls almost everynight
Brightwell MB7, phytochrom, zooplanktos (I used over a last 2 months but has since then stopped as I noticed that the later two smells wierd, like the oil we use in painting)
cyclop-eeze, Thera SPECTRUM THERA+A, Ocean Nutrition formula2 to fish everyday.

Ca, Mg, Kh is maitained with dosing pump.

My system is about 100gallon. My fish is a little overstacked so I skim abit heavily, which I replace every day, adding up to about 10% each week with another 10-15% water change every month.

Salinity is mantianed at about 1.024

Using Salifert test: Kh ranging from around 7.3-7.7 over the past week. Mg is about 1380, Ca is about 400. NO3 around 0.05. PO4 not visible. Potassium about 400. I dont have Strontium test kit.

I will try to get a better picture when I get home. Let me know if I'm missing any info that could be helpful

 

[kittyworm]

Yeah I bet. The great thing about this forum though is 99.9% are here to share their experiences/problems/results etc. There will be more than enough people that are willing to give helpful suggestions that will get your sps problems under control.

Not that it's worth much from a noob like me, but don't change everything at once. Yeah doing a 1000 different things may fix the problem, but you will never know what the initial cause was and you will be in the same boat as now. Make sure params are stable and patience is the key. I know its easier said than done but that's why I'm saying it. Ha

I wish you the best.

:thumbsup: tks

 

[kittyworm]

Please help identify this coral disease.


***Some new picture, the coral is in the back corner of the tank, as there is not enough distance from the wall, I cannot get better quality pics without removing it from the tank:

 

[bmullikin1]

had similar thing happen, still not sure myself, could you have stirred up sand bed, kh a little low perhaps, I ended up just fragging colonies to save what was left, i did have an alk swing, good luck and nice tank, do you have a grounding probe.

 

[Moser]

Frag the healthy tips off. You might save some of that beautiful coral.

You are dosing a lot from several systems.
You dose 2 different bacterial strains… why?.

Do you run stones as well?
It could just be an overdose. e.g. too much bacteria can strip nutrients. Also, BB can strip corals if you overdo it…..
If you're nitrate and phos are zero, you could do a full dose of Pohl's extra for a few days….. it contains a lot of nutrient for corals that are struggling for nutrition.

Mo

 

[rigleautomotive]

It appears you may have a severe bacteria infection . Adding liquid foods and bacteria strains in hopes you will reduce nutrients will many times get you exactly what you now have. A petri dish of bacteria. KISS is the method I will suggest if you plan to rebuild and grow stoney corals again. I have seen a trend in this type of melt down in the last couple years and more so in the last year. One common thread found when investigating these types of coral death is, additions of bacteria are usually in the equation. And if they are not, perishable liquid foods are used. My theory is the bac dosing and liquid foods develop some harmful bacteria in the container and if conditions are correct for this to thrive in the aquarium(for example if ph is appropriate or nutrients are available) this strain of bacteria gains foothold and removes flesh from acropora very efficiently. The low ph realized when light are off for the dark photo period would indicate to me the bacteria consuming your corals like lower ph. Most sea water bacteria we see like the lower end of the ph scale and this is why I believe back in the early days kalk was used as a remedy for different nuisance bacterias with good results. Raising the ph to 8.3 to 8.5 consistently and stable will sometimes halt the progression of death but is dangerous in itself without careful monitoring of alkalinity and ph with a accurate probe.

 

[kittyworm]

had similar thing happen, still not sure myself, could you have stirred up sand bed, kh a little low perhaps, I ended up just fragging colonies to save what was left, i did have an alk swing, good luck and nice tank, do you have a grounding probe.

I have a grounding probe. I did purchase a gold head goby which is stirring up a lot of sand. It seems that bacteria is the problem. Thanks for the help

 

[kittyworm]

Frag the healthy tips off. You might save some of that beautiful coral.

You are dosing a lot from several systems.
You dose 2 different bacterial strains"¦ why?.

Do you run stones as well?
It could just be an overdose. e.g. too much bacteria can strip nutrients. Also, BB can strip corals if you overdo it"¦..
If you're nitrate and phos are zero, you could do a full dose of Pohl's extra for a few days"¦.. it contains a lot of nutrient for corals that are struggling for nutrition.

Mo

Tks for the help. I do not run stones. I do add alot of different things at a reduced amount(1/3 suggested amount), I guess this is bad?
Newly tested NO3 is 0.5 and PO4 is 0.02 using hanna. I think I'm going to stop dosing all together for awhile and do frequent water change of ~20% for a couple of days and see how everything goes. Let me know if doing this is ok.

 

[kittyworm]

It appears you may have a severe bacteria infection . Adding liquid foods and bacteria strains in hopes you will reduce nutrients will many times get you exactly what you now have. A petri dish of bacteria. KISS is the method I will suggest if you plan to rebuild and grow stoney corals again. I have seen a trend in this type of melt down in the last couple years and more so in the last year. One common thread found when investigating these types of coral death is, additions of bacteria are usually in the equation. And if they are not, perishable liquid foods are used. My theory is the bac dosing and liquid foods develop some harmful bacteria in the container and if conditions are correct for this to thrive in the aquarium(for example if ph is appropriate or nutrients are available) this strain of bacteria gains foothold and removes flesh from acropora very efficiently. The low ph realized when light are off for the dark photo period would indicate to me the bacteria consuming your corals like lower ph. Most sea water bacteria we see like the lower end of the ph scale and this is why I believe back in the early days kalk was used as a remedy for different nuisance bacterias with good results. Raising the ph to 8.3 to 8.5 consistently and stable will sometimes halt the progression of death but is dangerous in itself without careful monitoring of alkalinity and ph with a accurate probe.

Thanks! I think you are right that bacteria is the problem as a newly diseased red staghorn shows green mark that is similar to the pink mark on its skeleton.
Ph is 8.3 during daytime and 7.8 at night. I think I may not be able to maintain a steady Ph due to work.
Will stop additives all together and doing frequent water change be of help? What amount of water change at this stage would you suggest? Someone suggested using Cefalexin for 3days, but I'm afraid the it will further damage the fragile system, what do you think of it?

 

[rigleautomotive]

Thanks! I think you are right that bacteria is the problem as a newly diseased red staghorn shows green mark that is similar to the pink mark on its skeleton.
Ph is 8.3 during daytime and 7.8 at night. I think I may not be able to maintain a steady Ph due to work.
Will stop additives all together and doing frequent water change be of help? What amount of water change at this stage would you suggest? Someone suggested using Cefalexin for 3days, but I'm afraid the it will further damage the fragile system, what do you think of it?

The beauty of sea water is if water quality is kept at very high quality, the very bacteria you try to dose will occur at the proper proportions to process PO4 and NO3 without intervention. I think the death occurs when trying to manipulate these to thrive in poor quality water by dosing and to process excess nutrients rather then doing strong maintenance and removal.

IMO, it can work but it is like using a hammer and chisel to cut diamonds. Just too harsh and hard to control for such a easy process that occurs naturally in nature. Maintain very good water quality through regular maintenance and dosing and manipulating cultures is not needed. If anything, Lessen variables until success is achieved long term, then try to tweek colors or growth with fine tuning nutrients and minerals if you so desire.

Process or remove and dilute ? I use remove and dilute ! I do large water changes weekly with a param matched(to my DT) mix . 25 % total volume weekly works for me. GL

 

[Acronic]

May be worth while to look into dosing some lugols. It is a strong oxidizer and will raise the redox. Could also help in the war on bacteria.

Dans right, a thorough cleaning, remove and dilute is a good starting point.

Nice tank