Lost or losing all my SPS - still not sure why.

hi lobster

what kind of set up do you have in your old tank before move?how did you move your tank?did you transfer most of old water?
what is the different between the new tank and the old tank regarding light,flow,substrate ect... I just want to compare and see if we can find some cause of these event. Obviously something in between the two stage cause the problem. If I remember right you move to the new tank in July then 2 month later the problem start.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11071698#post11071698 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ycnibrc
If I remember right you move to the new tank in July then 2 month later the problem start.
Click to expand...

Yeah, thats just about right. Here are the differences I can think of:

Less rock, leading to a more open structure.
Switched from EVC 10K to XM 20K.
Switched out some pieces of LR. The new LR has less life on it, basically seeded dry rock.
Spray painted the back of this tank with rustoleum, maybe some accidentally got in?
Changed return pump from mag 7 to GenX PCX 40 (also feeding frag tank).
Eventually started feeding less.
Wrasse and mandarin died in transport, so two less fish.
I live with two cats now.
Began paying more attention to Mg.

Same reactor and media, same skimmer, same sump, same canopy and light fixture, much of the same rock in much of the same formation, same powerheads in the same place.

Thats all I can think of for now.

More details of my move can be found on another thread, give me a minute to find it.
 
A couple of more thoughts:

Phosphate comes in at least two flavors,organic and inorganic.Hobby test kits only measure inorganic and gfo and other binders only extract inorganic. Skimmers do export organic. If there is an excess of organic phosphate it could be consumed by your corals or their zooxznthelae as soon as it breaks down into inorganic phosphate before showing up on a test or before binding to the gfo.

Is it possible that the darkening tissue results from zooxanthelae growth pushed by excess nitrogen(via high nitrate) to a point where the symbiotic relationship is knocked out of balance with the zooxanthelae outcompeting the coral tissue for needed carbon?Death by high nitrate as dreaminmel suggests.

Either high nitrate or phosphate could come from a bad batch of salt.

Or is it possible that the darkened areas are infected by bateria or protozans following damage from a wound?
 
My pieces are doing the EXACT same thing as seen in your pictures. I am still on my theory of Vibro bacteria infection. In addition, I am seeing a correlation with tips receeding on warmer days. I just replaced my heater today and when I plugged in my new controller, it read a full four degrees higher than my thermometer and a full two over the display on the chiller. I had checked and calibrated them before, but perhaps something has changed. Because Vibro thrives in warmer waters, I could have been pushing the upper limit of the temperature threshold and not realizing it, stressing the corals and leading them suceptible to bleaching and bacterial infection.

I have lowered my temp by 2 degrees tonight, to see if any results may come of it. This would explain the faded colors. However, I have had poor growth over the summer, and I thought that is when the coral grows the most is during the warmer summer months. We all know how fast a Green Slimer grows right? At the beginning of the summer, I broke a large piece off and wedged it between the colony and the rock. Still, months later it is still not encrusted. Something is definatly impeding calcification and growth. Are you finding this to be the same as well?

I noticed the tips on the pieces accelerated over the weekend, as it was 81F here in Sacramento.......being the fall we are less likely to have the AC on and the house tends to be warmer. With the chiller set higher than I needed, I could be on the ragged edge of what I need. I am going to recalibrate them this week to double check.

No matter what you "think" you have it set at, I would suggest the same thing and lets compare results.

It could be just that simple..........some rusty screw eh?
 
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I don't see a chiller in your system. You lost all old water so the new tank are 100% new water.

Now I have a ton of rock, and ZERO gallons of water. My only option was to take tap water, mix it with some salt mix, and throw the rock in there after about 30 minutes.

Did you put any declorinate into the tap water?

This might be the root of your problem since Steve Weast wipe out his whole tank because he has to make up water fast with tap water.

3 thing I notice
1)tap water
2)all new water
3)Temperature swing

I suggest you send your water out and test for everything. Your rock might still have some contaminate from the tap water soak and leak out slowly killing your corals.
 
I went to the local petsmart and got dechlorinator to put in the tap water. That was only to hold the rock in a brute trash can. No tap water made it into the actual tank.
 
I totally agree with you on that. All water in this tank has been through an RODI, but the rock sat in saltwater made with tap water for about 2 or 3 days. It seems like I would have seen a problem earlier on. The rock was in tap water for a few days, then was in the tank for maybe 2 weeks, then all corals were added and did great for two months, then things started dying.

And as far as the temp swing... I guess its possible but I have never seen my temp controller read anything other than 80-81. The fans cut on at 81 and seem to keep it there. The apartment AC is at 72-74 which helps. I checked the temp controller against another digital thermometer I have and they both read the same thing. A few summers ago (before I got the temp controller) I had some days go to 83 or 85 with no losses.
 
well the only sugestion left is you need to quarantine everything. I know it's a pain but you will risk contamination if you don't sterile your tank. If it not too much throw all your rock away and start with new one. Tap water have a lot of metal and also copper. Fish can tolerate copper but not corals. 85 degree is pretty high for a reef tank. You might not loose any corals right away but they will be stress out and become weak overtime.
 
I have plenty of snails, crabs, urchins and soft corals. These are all sensitive to copper as well, so I dont think its that. The 85 degrees was probably two summers ago, I got the controller soon after that.
 
send your water our and have it check for metal and copper but the event lead to your tank crash have tap water in the equation.

tap water and declorinate are no good for reef tank especially sps.
 
Ok my friend, mine has taken a turn in the last few days and I will embarass myself in my overlookedness to aid you in your endevour.

1. I bought a new heater this week, when I plugged the fancy controller it came with in, it read a full FOUR degrees warmer than I thought I was. If accurate, I could have been in the 84-85 degree mark and not knowing it. Newbie boner numero uno.

2. I have been buying my water from a clean and friendly water store. I checked it was RO, and I "thought" it was DI as well. When I went in to ask about it, there was a slight language barrier and though I could only get "Good Water" out of the employee, I saw that the pump was running and saw the TDS meter showing 0, so I wrote it off.

Found out that its probably NOT DI could have an accumulation problem. Newbie boner numero dos.

However, I changed my source to a known one and am purchasing a RO/DI unit soon. (I live in apartment hell, which is why I don't have one now but obviously need one). I also lowered the temp four degrees and started dosing the Elos amino acids this week.

Good news: I have tip regrowth, coloration that I havn't had in months comming back, and my Pink Lemonade shot up an 1/8" in one week!!!

Turn over every rock and keep trying. With my luck next week I will be crying the same tune again.

Good Luck and keep each other posted.

Doug
 
Things are not getting better or worse. Here are a few pictures I took today:

100_1399.jpg


100_1395.jpg
 
I bought an RO/DI unit tonight and am excited about not missing the trips to the water store. Hopefully that will end my tenure of troubles. I have hopes something will break for you.......

But like I said, with my luck, it will return in a month worse than ever.
 
I have been experiencing the samething in some of my acroporas only. They have white patches in odd places and look exactly like your pictures. It is not a pest and have checked numberous times.

I have been experiencing low pH of 7.9 and think that could be the problem along with high nutrients.

hth will stay tuned.

Hope everything works out

-Matthew
 
Anyone got any ideas to raise pH other than Kalk? I can't think of an easy way to run my skimmer intake outside either (I'm in an apt). If I get a few plants in that room would it help at all?

Not all the corals are dying in the patchy fashion. What some of the corals look[ed] like was when the lower branches of a coral get shaded, and the tissue just loses color, thins and eventually is gone. There is a period where you cant tell if it is alive or not from looking at it. This usually is occuring uniformly over the coral. A lot are also losing tissue on the first few cm of all tips and coralites (you can se some of that in the pics).
 
Arent XM 20K bulbs pretty weak?? Maybe going from 10K to 20K has something to do with it. Just a guess.. YOu do lots of water changes?
 
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