learning never ends

[Gary Majchrzak]

It's been awhile since I've seen anything like RTN happen in my aquarium.
I've NEVER seen RTN with Pocillipora before. Actually... I don't even know if what I'm seeing IS RTN... but it looks similar. Acts similar.
Previously, Poci growth has been insanely rapid. (ie:calcification in existing colonies and release of planulae larvae. I've also seen the big Poci develop and release what appears to be eggs on a regular basis. I frag these corals regularly.)
Well today I have some Poci dieoff. Flesh melted off some tips- ESPECIALLY the tips exposed to water returns from my sump. As so often the case (IME) the corals looked better than ever and were growing quite rapidly just before some dieoff (not bleaching) occured.

So we all try to figure out why something went wrong in these cases. That's why it's so important to minimize variable conditions and monitor the aquarium water.

What's changed here?
I'm running my Ca reactor flat out. Alk has been steadily high at 10-12 dKH.
That's good IME. Should not be the problem.

pH is borderline low. Less than pH 7.8 due to reactor running flat out.
Not good.

I missed a water change last week.
That's bad. Might have somehow been a contributing factor.

Running 2x my normal amount of carbon.
That's bad. Why why why? Duh.

I removed the rock from my sump and cleaned up the mulm and detritus accumulated down there. Accumulated crap on bottom of sump got stirred up and blown into my display aquarium. (Reminds me of when I used to get RTN in Acros after stirring up a DSB in the display aquarium).
This is bad. Real bad. Don't do this! :headwally:

I'm sure things will recover and be better than ever.
In the meantime... water change and monitor Pocillipora to see if this stops.

At least I know enough not to PAY for products like 'Marine Snow' :facepalm:

 

[BuffaloReef]

With living organisms there are too many variables to always get things right. The best we can really strive for is learning from mistakes and not repeating them.

So do you think turning off the return and getting rid of all detritus in the sump before turing it back on would have been enough?

I hope things get back to normal quickly. This is another reason to frag that Pocillipora you haven't fragged yet.

 

[oneradtek202]

My own opinion is that in a aquarium, especially when it gets very full of life, something has to give here and there, especially (quoting Mark) in a finite system. I have had a Poci colony RTN in one night on me before, no rhyme or reason. at this point I don't even think twice if a coral decides to off itself.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I forgot to mention... while cleaning the sump I noticed relatively strong electrical current in the water. It was from one of my very old heaters. I removed it.
Another factor.

I agree when you're running a small glass box with so much life in it the balancing act gets more difficult.

Maybe I'll add another fish :debi:

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

the strange continues yet might be slowing down...

the strange continues yet might be slowing down...

might be result of LR removal from sump causing detritus storm in DT, too small of a Ca reactor or combination of who knows what...

so many variables. That's why it's always important to try and limit them.
More Randomness:
My Leopoard Wrasse bit. I wonder if getting rid of rock in my sump limited it's refugia effect somewhat. It must have!

 

[tent boy]

Bit what? The dust?

 

[tmz]

So hard to figure it out when trouble starts. Thanks for posting this it makes me think.
I agree keep everything as stable as practical.
Low pH, ie 7.7 or less could contribute and make it very hard for corals to calcify properly.
Bad heater may have put out some bad stuff.
I always suspect free metals released from organics that were holding them.
Lower pH may cause localized acidic conditions in gunk which when stirred might set things loose in the detritus storm. Any black sulfides evident?

I keep a bag of cuprisorb going in one sump and usually run some polyfiter just because of my obsesion with free heavy metals as a threat ,real or imagined.

Ro /di in good shape?

Now I'm worried. Just a few hours ago , I was fumbling around in the rock pile on top of the remote sand bed for some chunks to add to a seahorse grow out set up. When I was done the frag tanks in the basement were a tinge cloudy. Detritus , not very much. Displays upstairs got almost none. It would have been easy to put a sock on the outflow from that bin but I didn't. I think detritus accumulations are a major player in stn/ rtn . I siphon some out with each waer change. I know John Coppolino/Copps considers detitrus his worst enemy and spends a lot o effort keeping it to a minimum, he grows nice corals.

I think the idea of too much life in a small space reaching a crisis point is likely trues well.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

victim of success

victim of success

there's no doubt about this.

Several of my large SPS colonies are depleting calcium and alkalinity faster than I'm supplementing them. My nano size calcium reactor is running pedal to the metal- and you just KNOW that's not a good thing.
I'm way overdue for a larger calcium reactor but life is keeping me from making the move.
I truly believe detritus blowing into my display was the straw that broke the camels back here... causing some flesh to die on certain SPS.
As a matter of fact, I'm almost 100% sure the "detritus storm" was the culprit.
I never wanted my sump to have liverock in it. It was not part of my original plan, but an accumulation of rock was kind of inevetible as space ran out in my display. I have nowhere else to put it and it's difficult to get rid of nice LR.

The electrical current from a dysfunctional heater is a wildcard.

My RO/DI has been fine.

Does John C. keep rock in his sump? I'd be interested in knowing. From now on I will vac the sump very carefully. Going forward I might replace missing rock in the sump... it depends on what happens going forward without it.

Knock on wood... dieoff appears to have stopped and regrowth has started.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

one week later

one week later

back on track now.

I'm 99% sure the culprit was crap that blew into the display from the sump :headwally: