Help with SPS What's it doing

[nuclearheli]

This coral is going through some very rapid changes and I don't know what is going on. The coral was a creamy white for months. Last week it started to turn brown, then it looked like it was bleaching again



Now for the past few days it's changing again and looks like this.



And what's up with the micro bubbles all over it. The tank is perfectly clean. I do weekly water changes (90 Gallon Tank total volume about 60 gallons of water, 30 Gallon Sump) changing 10 Gallons of water every Sunday Morning.

Temp Setpoint 79, (Chiller Range 79 - 80)
Calcium 460
Nitrates and Nitrites Not detectable.
Phosphates 0
Potassium 330
Mg 1300
pH 7.9 - 8.23
dKH 8 - 9
90 Gallon Tank
Lighting two 250W 20K Aqualites
Two T5's
Vodka Dosing (25ml Vodka/2.5ml Vinegar/Pinch of sugar)
Weekly Strontion dosing (3ml)
Biweekly Koral Color Dosing (0.5 ml)

 

[smtank]

In the last picture the sps is covered in cynobacteria giving it that red appearence, means it is growing on skeleton.
I would move any sps away from any leather corals and always run carbon.
Bringing up the mag to 1400 would be a good ideas as well.
And lastly I would stop dosing all together unless you are using part A/B, that would be the only thing I would continue with. And try to maintain a higher pH.

 

[nuclearheli]

pH has always been a problem. I ventilate all the time and have a CO2 scrubber on my skimmer air intake. Pretty sure CO2 isn't the problem. I have used buffers but again, dKH becomes a problem. It gets high. I can't seem to raise the pH without putting the dKH through the roof.

So cynobacteria is a bad thing? You said always run carbon. What does that mean, I should still Vodka dose? I do run A&B but have problems with dKH when I dose B daily.

Is the coral dying? Can I resolve the problem?

Thanks

 

[nuclearheli]

In the last picture the sps is covered in cynobacteria giving it that red appearence, means it is growing on skeleton.
I would move any sps away from any leather corals and always run carbon.
Bringing up the mag to 1400 would be a good ideas as well.
And lastly I would stop dosing all together unless you are using part A/B, that would be the only thing I would continue with. And try to maintain a higher pH.

Why move SPS away from leather corals?

 

[smtank]

Leather corals, (toad stools) release a toxin. It is a type of corals chemical warfare. Running a good quality carbon can help keep those toxins from affecting the sps or other stoney corals.

If you want to save the piece I would frag it and that may not be enough.

Since you are using vodka you should not have any cynobacteria. This is a problems I see when dosing with certain carbons.

Me I do not dose carbon anymore, it works extremely well for some people. Personally I think is works much better in older established reefs. But I really do not need it.

The leather and the sps are too close in proximity IMO.

 

[Dustin1300]

Does the leather touch the colony typically? Is it possible it started dying off on the side closest to the leather? My guess is yes based on the picture. Definitely looks like cyano to me.

 

[madkeenreefer]

the coral is dead ,unfortunatly. As stated it maywell have been a corse of coral warfare/toxines or maybee somthing else are any other acros "loosing tissue"?

 

[nuclearheli]

yes, I have another one on the other side of the tank with burnt tips. Not near this one or the leather.

 

[Dustin1300]

Carbon, Carbon, Carbon

 

[nuclearheli]

The coral has been removed from the tank along with another one that was probably also touching the leather. My preference would be to get rid of the leather. I just may do that once my son has his new tank ready to go. He doesn't do SPS.

I am concerned about the toxins that you guys said were released. Are these toxins still in the tank and perhaps having an impact on all the SPS corals regardless of where they are?

Carbon, yes, I am dosing VSV daily and maintaining the best water chemistry possible with the low tech testing stuff available.

 

[smtank]

Google Sacrophyton toxins and that will give you more insight. Personally I always had some degree of problems keeping large leathers and sps in the same system. Granted these were not huge tanks, but 100 gals. Once the leathers were gone I saw a lot of improvement in the sps.

It may not be the cause but it should be considered.

 

[phenom5]

I am concerned about the toxins that you guys said were released. Are these toxins still in the tank and perhaps having an impact on all the SPS corals regardless of where they are?

Carbon, yes, I am dosing VSV daily and maintaining the best water chemistry possible with the low tech testing stuff available.

Yes, soft corals can effect SPS regardless of where they are in the tank.

And to clear something up here. There are two different types of carbon being referenced. Carbon dosing, like vodka, VSV, etc. And what people are referring to in this thread, GAC or granulated active carbon, which you run in a reactor or a media bag, which removes toxins, and polishes the water. Definitely something you want to have with softies.

 

[Dustin1300]

Good clarification phenom. IN addition to what phenom mentioned on granulated carbon, it can also help pull odor out of the water IME.

 

[nuclearheli]

Thank you for the clarification, that was a big help. Yes I do run two reactors. One reactor is 1/2 filled with activated carbon and the other half is PhosBan. The second reactor has Purigen (http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=4190). I have also been known to throw a bag of Activated charcoal into my 100 micron 7" return sock just because it's cheap and why not be safe.

On my Protein skimmer I have a home made CO2 scrubber on the air inlet side that also contains some carbon. I think I have that covered pretty well.

Doesn't look like I am going to be able to get rid of that leather for a few months.

While I am at it I also run a Calcium reactor and maintain a 460 - 480 calcium level. I drip the effluent from the reactor into a home made drip tube directly over the protein skimmer pump in the hopes that any CO2 left in the solution mixes well with the protein skimmer air which should have virtually no CO2.

One more thing I was not aware of until the most recent edition of Coral Magazine. My Potassium was extremely low and they warn of that. I started supplementing the tank with Potassium and got the levels up. I purchased a Potassium test kit and it barely even registered. I understand levels of 390 are recommended.

I do a 10% water change weekly. Using RedSea salt. I wonder if I should switch to another brand. I shouldn't need to be chasing these trace elements as much as I am.