Montipora (only) bleaching/STN

[drummerboyevil]

This has been happening over the past few weeks. Everything non-montipora seems fine.

pH- 8-8.2
SG- 1.025 (had noticed it had slowly dropped to 1.022 a couple weeks ago, which I raised back to 1.025 slowly with saltwater in the ATO
Alk- 7.5-8.0
Ca-425
Mg- 1550
Temp- 79.2
Phos- 0.05
NO2- 12-16 (I usually run 10, but things are up a bit over the last month or so since I've been feeding a little heavier to raise phos after some GFO seemed to cause some issues a month ago)

Side note, I added some GFO and Rox about 3 weeks ago and noticed some stn at the base of some SPS after 3 days. I removed both the gfo and carbon and started feeding a bit heavier. As you can see, most SPS is good. This seems to be limited to the damn montipora.

 

[drummerboyevil]

Here's a closeup of the mystic sunset. Click the picture for a hi res zoom in.

 

[drummerboyevil]

Here's a video of a worm I spotted on my mystic sunset. Not sure if it is a concern:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_7jhpFNQIQ

 

[drummerboyevil]

Anyone?

 

[nmotz]

I would check for monti eating nudibranchs.....maybe wait until night and bust out a flashlight to scope things out. They'll ruin montis for sure...

 

[rovster]

I wouldn't be surprised if everything else follows. Montis are more sensitive to changes in parameters than acros. In my experience that looks like chemistry related, not pest aka nudis....

 

[drummerboyevil]

I wouldn't be surprised if everything else follows. Montis are more sensitive to changes in parameters than acros. In my experience that looks like chemistry related, not pest aka nudis....

Hrm, interesting. It's been almost a month since the first bleaching issue. I guess we'll see. I can't find pests though. I'll be checking some weird stuff like potassium and iodine tomorrow.

 

[deeznutz1]

alk!

 

[rovster]

alk!

Most likely

 

[drummerboyevil]

alk!

As in alk spike (roughly 2dkh higher than normal) in combo with starting GFO?

 

[bimborocks]

In a few of the pics I can see quite a few of what I think are atresia starfish, have you ever seen any of them on the corals?

 

[drummerboyevil]

In a few of the pics I can see quite a few of what I think are atresia starfish, have you ever seen any of them on the corals?

Nah, they don't spend time on any coral that I've ever seen.

 

[drummerboyevil]

Found some little dudes on a monti tonight after lights out. At first I thought it was nudis, but I think it's just pods eating dead stuff based on the jumpy movement and not the sluggish movement that I've seen from videos of monti nudis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxlOekBlrC8

 

[rovster]

MEN are unmistakable. They look like little white catepillars. They move slow and their frills sway in the current. With lights out, you will see them come out and you can't miss them, especially given the damage you have, which doesn't even look like MEN damage.

 

[spkennyva]

I wouldn't be surprised if everything else follows. Montis are more sensitive to changes in parameters than acros. In my experience that looks like chemistry related, not pest aka nudis....

I agree 100%. Montis are the first to show signs of stress in my tank. The acros can tolerate a bit more, but if things are not corrected will follow. Look for shifts in the big 3 and nitrate and phosphate.

 

[drummerboyevil]

I appreciate all the feedback. I think it's just something that happened weeks ago.

I also have been dealing with small amounts of dinos on burnt tips.

Honestly, I'm thinking about setting up a 40 breeder holding tank for the coral and resetting. I just need to research how to do so with as minimal stress as possible. I do have a small 20 gallon cube that is nothing but zoas and softies, but it's skimmerless. It doesn't have dinos, but it'd be worried about holding parameters stead in that thing.

 

[deeznutz1]

What is your alk at now and what was it 2 weeks ago? Burnt tips, sounds like a spike.

I find with montis they are the first to respond to alk swings and good down hill, but they usually have a better chance at bouncing back then acros do. Acros can bare a lot of stress until they just give up and rtn.

 

[Ross33]

I have been battling the same issue on and off. There is no definitive answer that I have found anywhere as to why montis bleach and lose polyps like this. Based on my experience I have narrowed it down to 2 things. Low potassium, and carbon dosing/ running activated carbon. My montis in higher light also react worse to ones in lower light.

Have you tested potassium? Based on how much they had encrusted you have been doing something right, but maybe you missed some water changes or something? Did you recently change or add carbon?

 

[drummerboyevil]

I have been battling the same issue on and off. There is no definitive answer that I have found anywhere as to why montis bleach and lose polyps like this. Based on my experience I have narrowed it down to 2 things. Low potassium, and carbon dosing/ running activated carbon. My montis in higher light also react worse to ones in lower light.

Have you tested potassium? Based on how much they had encrusted you have been doing something right, but maybe you missed some water changes or something? Did you recently change or add carbon?

It could certainly be potassium. I haven't been doing water changes in a while due to a very mild dino infestation. I borrowed the Red Sea colors kit from a friend and my first round of testing potassium is definitely showing the lower end of the scale on that. I need to do it again to make sure I was reading the color change right but it looks to be under 350 for sure if that makes a difference.

 

[drummerboyevil]

Second time trying to potassium test shows somewhere around 370. This is a hard kit to read.