Montis dying.... salt issue?

Sorry. I hate to see threads like this.
When was the last time you replaced your alk kit? I have found that salifert alk kits start reading low after a while. It's possible that your alk is higher than you think.
 
Just wondering if any of you caught the article in Advanced Aquarist this month about bacterial content in freshly mixed saltwater? One observation was that red sea salt had like a 10x or higher level of bacteria than fully synthetic salts likely due to carryover from the evaporartive process. I noticed that after I did my first change of DD h2ocean, I had heavy STN on some montis including large pieces of Danae and Undata. They even look as if a bacterial mat is covering them and look similar to yours. So does oceanpure have evaporated components as well? For the record I use biopellets as a carbon source.
 
preef said:
Sorry. I hate to see threads like this.
When was the last time you replaced your alk kit? I have found that salifert alk kits start reading low after a while. It's possible that your alk is higher than you think.
Click to expand...

I tested my kit using a standard I made at my lab... it was reading correctly.
 
I'm thinking perfect storm type event...

1. Changed salt
2. Changed reflectors
3. Replaced 1yr old bulbs
4. Removed thin sand bed layer

No one thing would have caused this, but maybe the combination?

I didn't even consider the sand thing because I thought it could only help the tank. But maybe it helped too much? Water getting too clean too fast, especially with the increase frequency of water changes trying to solve the problem?
 
The sand bed, which was very little (like 1/2") was removed over the course of multiple water changes.
 
It could very well be just one additional slight stressor added to the list.

I was actually posting that chart because I'm not familiar with the conversion, and figured you'd be able to tell me if I was reading it incorrectly :D Am I not supposed to add 0.0011 to the 1.0237 due to the temperature of the tank, vs the temperature of the water on the refractometer (assuming it gets colder with such a thin layer of water sitting on glass/metal)?
 
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I don't think you can blame it on one thing at this point. I recently had my salinity drop to 1.020 as a result of equipment acting up (skimmer and ato). Not only did my salinity drop but kalk fed through my ato made sure to keep my ph at 8.5 "“ 8.8, CA was at 500+, and my dkh was at 7 (if I was lucky). Then one day I noticed my ph wouldn't go above 8.1-8.2. And that's when I decided to check my salinity. I did loose a lot of fish in this time but I did not loose any corals; browned out colors was the only thing I noticed. Strangely enough I had decent growth in this time. I say this because I feel your salinity is not the problem. It may be a ph issue but I don't think ph could do this alone. I think it might just be the salt. That is something that could have an effect on the entire flow of the tank.

I hope it all works out.

Carlos
 
This really bums me out to see. Sorry for how things are going, I know how you feel from having had similar situations. There must be some junk in the tank from all this tissue dying off, maybe even ammonia and nitrite, who knows? I get tempted to use meds but end up taking the less if better approach and hope at least part of the animal survives.
 
I had the same thoughts. I'm hoping the carbon and polyfilter can remove anyhtign that might be an issue, but of course can't be certain.
 
I received more IO salt today, so I'll mix up 65g tonight and change it out tomorrow morning. I'm also goign to clean out my calcium reactor. It seems to be workign fine, but just in case. Besides, there's some detritus collected between the large media that has been bothering me, so I'll take this opportunity to clean that out.
 
Hi im new to this site guys so easy does it. I had similar issues over a year ago and tried everything.... started to dose iodide and within a few weeks everything was back to almost normal. I know its been mentioned but i would test for pottasium (are the tips slightley powdery) as well as iodide. The iodide /iodine i used at that time was prodi bio, i now use brightwells iodide.
Hope you get it sorted as you have some great pieces.
 
My 2 cents. I absolutely hate OPP salt. When I used it, everything in my tank would slowly die. Plus it's made in China ! Also changing phoenix 14k bulbs has to be done slowly. I've burned/bleached many good corals with that bulb. Don't cause RTN'ing though. My vote is still with the salt.
 
I came across this thread while searching for anything about orp levels since mine has been around 450 for a couple of weeks now. I too have recently lost a beautiful sunset monti and 4" acro colony to STN/RTN. A rainbow monti and green slimmer were showing signs of this as well. I believe it was due to swings in my alk I had a few weeks ago. My alk went from 9 dkh down to 7 dkh while I was away on vacation...dosing pump clogged. I gradually brought it back up but I didnt compensate enough on the ca side and my ca dropped to 300. A friend of mine sent me this link....

http://blog.fragd.it/2009/11/10/stn-and-the-real-issues-part-1

Be sure to read all 3 parts

Based on the suggestions of the article and my LFS I started adding potassium and vitamin-c. Within 2 days of adding my first dose I noticed remarkable improvement in everthing in the tank. I dont dose vodka or anything else that would reduce nutrients in my tank but the article does point out three likely causes to STN/RTN....1) salinity swings 2) changes in alk and 3) low nutrient systems.

Now to continue with my search on orp values. :)
 
SPotter said:
I came across this thread while searching for anything about orp levels since mine has been around 450 for a couple of weeks now. I too have recently lost a beautiful sunset monti and 4" acro colony to STN/RTN. A rainbow monti and green slimmer were showing signs of this as well. I believe it was due to swings in my alk I had a few weeks ago. My alk went from 9 dkh down to 7 dkh while I was away on vacation...dosing pump clogged. I gradually brought it back up but I didnt compensate enough on the ca side and my ca dropped to 300. A friend of mine sent me this link....

http://blog.fragd.it/2009/11/10/stn-and-the-real-issues-part-1

Be sure to read all 3 parts

Based on the suggestions of the article and my LFS I started adding potassium and vitamin-c. Within 2 days of adding my first dose I noticed remarkable improvement in everthing in the tank. I dont dose vodka or anything else that would reduce nutrients in my tank but the article does point out three likely causes to STN/RTN....1) salinity swings 2) changes in alk and 3) low nutrient systems.

Now to continue with my search on orp values. :)
Click to expand...

Great write up. It is about time that somebody gives feedback without the influence of brand marketing! I've been trying to tell people this for years. BTW, this is not too uncommon to how old salts were running thing 7+ years ago before all of these supplements came on the market. You used to not be able to really keep sps corals at their best until the system is around 1 year old. Defiantly read all 3 parts.

To sum up the reading, keep parameters stable, feed your system, and go slow.
 
I had a similar problem back in 2009. Kept doing more and more water changes to try to fix the problem - and the problem just got worse & worse. Finally I ran out of that bucket and had to buy a different brand. Within 5 minutes of a water change with the new salt, polyps were coming out (hadn't seen them in quite a while). Unfortunately I lost a lot of corals before I realized what the problem was.

I was using Red Sea Coral Pro (which I find the new Advanced Aquarist article on bacteria in RSCP as someone else mentioned very interesting) and switched to SeaChem.

Here are some photos of what I was dealing with - really sucked. Wish you the best!!

Healthy Pink Milli & ORA Blue Bottlebrush
100_7260.jpg


Dying Pink Milli and ORA Blue Bottlebrush
100_7513.jpg


Healthy Sunset:
100_7251.jpg


Just starting to die Sunset Monti
100_7457.jpg


Confusa Before
100_4980.jpg


Nearly dead Confusa
000_0154.jpg
 
wow, very interesting. I think seachem is a pretty good brand of salt. Potassium, Iodine, and Bromide seems to be a common denominator.
 
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