Monti getting white spots

[peiloy3196]

I have noticed white spots appearing on my Montipora which I think is a Superman. All my other monti's and acropora's are fine. I have been checking at night to see if I see any Nudi's and have not seen any. I even checked under the Monti rock and cannot see anything. I am currently dosing vodka and am at 13 mL on a 120 Net gallon system. My parameters are as follows:

Alkalinity: 8.6 Salifert
Calcium: 520 API
Magnesium: 1300 Elios
Phosphate: 0 Hanna Meter
Nitrates: 0.5 Salifert

Lighting is 2x250W MH and 54W T5's with the monti placed in the bottom 3rd of the aquarium. Flow in the system is done with 3 MP40's.

I was thinking today that it is possibly Alk burn associated with carbon dosing so I have cut my vodka dose in half to 6.5 ml and have turned down the bubble rate on the calcium reactor to drop the alkalinity. Please have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think... I don't want to lose this piece.

Thanks for the help!

By the way sorry about the picture quality. I suck when it comes to taking pics.

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

I would think MEN, keep checking!

 

[peiloy3196]

Thats what i thought but every night I check and cannot find a thing. I keep checking under it too with no luck. Can anything else cause this?

 

[redfishsc]

How stable does your alk stay? Meaning, does the reactor pretty much keep it rock solid from 8 to 9 dKH?


Has there been any alk swing in the recent past (up to a month or so before the decline was first noticed)?


Alk has been, from what I can tell, the biggest cause of STN on montis, if there are no nudis chomping on them.

 

[peiloy3196]

My calcium reactor holds the alk pretty much rock solid between 8-9. No alk swings that i am aware of. I am dosing vodka and started thinking that maybe my alk is too high so as of yesterday I slowed the bubble rate on my reactor to attempt to bring my alk into the 7 range. Was this a bad move?

 

[Reef Bass]

A rapid drop in alk could be bad. IMHO, an alk of 8-9 is ideal.

 

[peiloy3196]

Ok well hopefully I have not done more damage. i will check the alk when I get home and maintain it at that point. I just thought that 7 was ideal when dosing carbon.

Any other ideas then as to what the problem is?

 

[DiazE]

After speed reading I didn't see anything about temperature.
From my humble experience on keeping montis, I have lost a few from high temperatures during the summer. They started to get white patches then they lost color completely.
I would check with a magnifier first to make sure it is not any pest.

 

[peiloy3196]

Thanks DiazE. My temp stays between 78-80F which is monitored by a RKE. Temperature control is done by a 1/2HP Oceanic Chiller. I think that the temp should be fine.

 

[peiloy3196]

I am still having the same problem. It is just with the one piece and not affecting the other montiporas. I am really stumped as to what the problem is. Still no sign of monti nudis. I have tried lowering my salinity since it was suggested that my salinity was too high.
and it has not helped.

Does anyone have any ideas?

An update pic.

 

[mike_cmu04]

I am sure it is the nudis. You can see them during the day. I would take it off the rock it is on to look under it for the nudis and their eggs.

 

[peiloy3196]

Thats what i keep thinking but i have checked under the rock and cannot find any. I have also done a couple revive dips and a lugols dip while scrubbing with a soft tooth brush to see if anything will come off and there were no nudis. I am really confused. Also i have other montis in my tank and none of them have the same symptoms.

Is there any other way to confirm if there are nudis? I have a fair idea of what they look like from pics on the internet but i am not seeing any.

 

[peiloy3196]

Ok so I have now done another late night check for Nudi's. Looked under the rock again and still come up with nothing. Does anyone else have any ideas?

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

if not nutis then ALK swing only thing i can think of. Check and see if at night your numbers are changing much.

 

[Lyfey]

I would just leave it alone. I think you are stressing it out even more. my .02c would be to leave it be, untouched for a month and see if things get better. Your big three seem to be stable, no nudis, temp and SG are good. Just let it ride. Keeping hands out of the tank sometimes is the best for our little reefs.

-Chris

 

[peiloy3196]

I agree with you Chris. I am just gonna step back for a while to see what happens. Ill keep you guys posted.

Thanks for the help.