help with RTN Strawberry Shortcake Pink-line syndrome?

[trueblackpercula]

Well a little update on the current status:

RTN is still continuing...

I noticed that almost all of the effected corals are of "Australia" origin at least thats what the vendors told me when I bought them. Not sure if it has any relationship to RTN as they are collected at different time points and some of them has been with me for over a year.

Also I have discovered redbugs in the system which I got rid off with Milbemycin Oxime. But it did not stop RTN so I guess it might not be directly related.

Sound to me you have a lot going on and your Sps are really stressed out. At this point water changes are a safe bet and you should do this until you see progress. Also take a look at what fish you may have to ensure that they are not picking on them. How stable is your water? Are you having and alk swings? Please post your water numbers. Are you using bio pellets, phosphate removers or carbon dosing? How long is the tank set up? Have you checked for aefw?

Get back to us

 

[trueblackpercula]

My RTN issue has come to a stop. I removed my biopellet and ROX carbon reactors offline, I'm not sure if they played a role in my RTN issue.

Congrats hope your system has stablized.

 

[1000_smiles]

One thing that I have found is that most of the diseases I have encountered with stoney corals do not like high ph and/or tanks that use limewater. I believe the bacteria has a harder time thriving if ph is kept in the 8.3 to 8.4 range and not allowed to fall very much. Elevated ph and/or the use of limewater seems to not nurture the environment for this to occur.

Dan mentioned limewater a couple of times, might be worth trying to stabilize your pH at night and keep it from dropping. Need to watch your alk and ca dosing though. Good luck.

 

[kittyworm]

Sound to me you have a lot going on and your Sps are really stressed out. At this point water changes are a safe bet and you should do this until you see progress. Also take a look at what fish you may have to ensure that they are not picking on them. How stable is your water? Are you having and alk swings? Please post your water numbers. Are you using bio pellets, phosphate removers or carbon dosing? How long is the tank set up? Have you checked for aefw?

Get back to us

I was just away on a business trip for a couple of days and the dosing pump melfunctioned...
before I left, the parameters were:
Kh 7.5-8 Mg 1350, Ca 400. NO3 transparent (salifert). PO4 0.02 (hanna)
when I got back from trip:
Kh is about 5, Mg 1280, Ca 350. NO3 and PO4 around the same.

I'm slowly trying to bring parameters back to normal. Good thing is that nothing was lost during this time. only one coral's color faded.

Fish I have are: 3 small tangs, 1 flame angel that never pick on coral. 1 mandarin, 4 clown fish, 3 firefish,1 lawnmover and a group of yellowstripe cardinals. As for removers, I stopped everything except for PO4X4.
No aefw.

I also changed filters on the RODI units TDS was 011 before and 001 now.

Havent done anything else besides water change at this movement.

 

[kittyworm]

Dan mentioned limewater a couple of times, might be worth trying to stabilize your pH at night and keep it from dropping. Need to watch your alk and ca dosing though. Good luck.

Thanks. Just curious, does alk swing have anything to do with the tank being located in the balcony? Is 0.5 difference in kh b/w day and night considered high alk swing?

 

[1000_smiles]

Don't know about the tank being on a balcony causing an alk swing, I remember reading about ambient CO2 in the air affecting aquariums.

I think a 0.5 daily swing in alk is on the high side, I test at the same time each day so I don't really know what happens on the other side (maybe I should check that). Keep in mind that the resolution of the Salifert test kit is about 0.3 dKh (I think).

That said, I was talking about your pH.

Good Luck

 

[ThaBeast]

Co2 in air primarily affects ph

 

[Allmost]

No, I do not manipulate bacteria in any way anymore. I have several times for a year or less and then returned to my old standard that NEVER let me down. Each instance I experienced STN or RTN even following the strict zeo guidelines of proper mineral balance and lower then NSW alkalinity. (Brightwells,prodibo,and vodka were also used with no positive results in the long term)This is nothing new but more new for the US. The Germans have been playing roulette with bacteria and carbon for some time.As did a few other countries also.

Adding some REAL live rock to the system periodically would be my advise to keep the natural balance of bacteria in tact.There is nothing in a bottle that can do this as well in my experience. The sponges, microbial life and bacteria inoculation you receive is what I believe to be a better idea in your case .

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Dan