Losing Flesh on Acro Tips

[DDon]

Good evening all,
I am having a problem with a few of my SPS pieces, most notably my red table. Looks like I am losing the flesh and some of the underlying skeleton on some of the tips. I has only been a few tips on the others and they seem to heal fairly quickly, but a fairly large number on the red table.
Tank is 240g mixed reef (sps, lps and zoas), lighting is all LED; 2 kessil a360w, 2 kessil a360we, 4 ai sol blue and a diy fixture. Flow is provided by 2 mp-40s on one end on reef crest, a wp-60 on other end on else mode and reef dart return. No fish for the last 5 weeks (fallow due to ich). The red table is located approximately 12" below the water.

Parameters are:
Salinity 1.026 (Milwaukee Refractometer)
pH 8.20 (apex)
Temp 80 F (apex)
alk 8.3 dKH (Salifert)
Ca 420 (Red Sea Pro)
Mg 1240 (Red Sea Pro) which is a little low
PO4 0 (Hannah)
Nitrate 0 (Red Sea Pro) results suspect as solution A will not mix correctly (solids present)
Add kalk to ato and vinegar to increase concentration, Also add BRS 2 part via dosing pumps and Mg (Magnesium Chloride + Sulfate from LFS) manually when needed.

2 pics are attached, a closeup of the front of the colony and a top down shot that shows the number of tips affected.

If anyone has any ideas of what would cause this and how to correct it, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DDon]

Correction I dose B-Ionic 2 part not BRS, don't know where my head was when I typed that.

 

[Bpb]

Following

 

[javsku]

You should have a dosing regimen for Magnesium, especially with large colonies of SPS. I experienced something similar when I wasn't monitoring my Magnesium (stn at the tips). Drops in Magnesium effect all your levels. As soon as I started dosing Magnesium consistently my SPS bounced back. I didn't realize how much Magnesium was being sucked up each day. A lot of people can maintain proper Magnesium with weekly water changes but it all depends on the system. I use BRS 2 part on dosers and now I have BRS Magnesium set up on a doser as well. I use double the amount of Magnesium each day then of my Alk and Ca. Again every systems demands are different. If the tips are dead trim them, SPS heal quicker if you cut the dead part off. This also helps prevent algae from growing on them as we'll.

 

[Arkayology]

I would say nutrient issue. Your tank is too clean.

 

[DDon]

Thanks for the info on Mg. I have a general understanding of the role Mg plays in the Ca/Alk balance but didn't realize it could have this effect. I have a third dosing pump so easy enough to take care of.

 

[kevin_e]

Are you certain those aren't growth tips?

 

[DDon]

SoCalDude,
I agree that right now nutrients are too low. With no fish I am having trouble keeping them up. I took GFO offline as soon as I removed the fish and have skimmer adjusted back. I have been ghost feeding, feeding the snails and hermits daily and spot feeding the corals every few days. I have never run without fish so any suggestions on this would be great. Maybe take skimmer completely offline?

 

[DDon]

Are you certain those aren't growth tips?

I'm sure...wish it was though

 

[Bpb]

I've had the same issue though I've not seen magnesium levels being depleted to that degree. Once I get magnesium in the 1400-1500 ppm range, in an sps packed tank, it will take months to drop even 100 ppm. I'm experiencing the same thing on several pieces I just got in (red planet, Cali tort).

 

[DDon]

Sorry to hear you have the same issue. Can you share your setup, parameters, dosing regimens etc? Maybe there is a common denominator.
The pieces I am having the most trouble with are wild or maricultured and I'm suspecting it is mostly an issue with the transition to tank life. But always good to get the opinions of those that are more experienced.

 

[Bpb]

No problem. My situation is a tad bit different. I actually grew these pieces out from tiny frags into good sized colonies using T5HO lighting, kalkwasser, and 2 part dosing. I recently broke down my tank, hacked up my sps colonies, and sold most of them off. I had some friends hang onto mini colonies of my favorite pieces so I could re-introduce them in my larger new tank once it was ready.

They were growing quickly and looked great previously. Then within a month of friends holding them my 3 favorite pieces declined (in two different tanks). The red planet Acro and Cali tort in one tank began some STN from the tips. Not growth. It's obvious where the tissue is flaking away. In another tank, the Cali tort and red planet look beautiful (cut from the same colony), but the Hawkins Echinata STN from the base. No pests. All corals were dipped multiple times and I've never encountered pests.

Frags that went to friends tanks went into led lighting situations. Same lighting in both tanks. Same dosing in both tanks. Very close parameters. Alk in the 8's, calcium low 400s. Mg in the 1300s, salinity 1.025-1.026. Same as me.

I had to actually take all the specimens back to avoid total death. Now in my 3 week old tank under metal halides.

78-80 degrees
1.026
8.0 dkh
450 ppm calcium
1450 ppm magnesium
5 ppm nitrate
Unknown phosphate.

Rodi water
Skimmer
Bio pellets
Refugium
Rox 0.8 carbon
Tons of flow, but not direct

Red planet and call tort continue to decline. Miami orchid also STN from tips, Fragged up the Hawkins further and it's recovering and necrosis stopped. All other acros, montipora, Lps and zoas all look fantastic. A little browning from the northern lights Nasuta and rainbow monti

Several other acros look great

 

[DDon]

Quite a bit different situations. Sorry about your troubles, always stinks to lose pieces, especially nice ones. Just out of curiosity, with the change in lighting, from t5 to led then to halides were they light acclimated? I know i have some troubles when I get pieces from different lighting and don't take enough time to acclimate them. I have no experience with halides but with the leds I need to be careful.

 

[Bpb]

Yeah acclimated pretty gently. They've not worsened since coming back to my tank but not improved. Seems in my limited experience though that metal halide lighting is the "gentlest" at improving Acropora health as long as you start them low. I don't have a par meter, but am using radiums which are fairly low par as far as halides go. They're also 12" off the water, and my acros are low down on frag racks that are within a few inches of the sand. Not trying to derail you're thread. Just sharing and joining.

 

[DDon]

Not a problem and appreciate you sharing. I have thought about lighting change as another potential issue for mine along with the others mentioned. Just was curious how they were acclimated when they went into your friends' tanks since that is where the problem started and if that played into it at all.

 

[fitnessitalia]

parasites?

 

[DDon]

No parasites that I can see. I dip and inspect new pieces pretty closely though don't quarantine new pieces (yet anyways). Is there a particular parasite that would cause this? I have read quite a bit on AEFW but not so much on red bugs.