My Cap is dying :(

[Corona007]

Hi, SO I have had my reef for 14 or so months and never had any real issue.
What's got me is I have smaller 2 x 3 and 1 X 1 (3X) of the same plate. Red capricorn plate I think it's called. And they are fine and not bleaching.

I did dip it thinking it in revive a week after seeing some symptoms thinking it might be a critter or something. But it's all about more than half bleached.

I did also lose my little bird nest that was growing super fast. From 1/8 to 1X2 in a few months.

Water, 1025 SG, Alk 8.8, Cal 400, Mg 1400, 76F, NO3 5~10, PO4 .31.

My PO4 is high as it used to run .05 and under. Maybe I'm answering my own question.?

I really don't know what else it could be as my other montis are fine.

 

[Chrisq0904]

I think many will say that PO4 at .31 is pretty high in general for sps but how long did it take for your tank to go from .05 to .31? Also what test kits are you using?

 

[HefeWeizen]

Did you recently do a water change and/or add/replace GAC?

 

[Reef Frog]

Pic 1, monti cap looks more like parasite damage to me, but not entirely sure. If you don't get a definitive answer here maybe someone in the SPS forum can help.

 

[Corona007]

I use Salifert for main 3 and Hanna for PO4.
It took about 2 months to get up there, Last time I checked the PO4 was .15.
The reason I didn't take no action is when I did measure before my PH was a little high 8.8 and was thinking that's why I was getting higher readings and I would get a lower reading with lower PH before.
Anyhow, I have done 3 20% WC since I noticed the issue (Actually the last month).
I don't run any chemical other than whats in the salt, Red sea pro and a skimmer that seems to work great.
Everyone looks great except this guy.

BTW it's 20 gal with 20lbs of live rock.
There are plenty of Stomatella, pods, copepods, brittle worms, peanut worms. So my water doesn't seem to be deadly.

Thanks!

 

[Aquaman]

First guess would be chemical warfare from the soft corals. .15 p04 is high
for a 20 gal tank

 

[HefeWeizen]

My first guess would be high PO4. However, multiple 20% water changes makes me think something else. A quick drop in nutrients, plus instant water clarity, starves the xooanthallae all while the water clarity dramatically increased PAR. If you replaced carbon the water gets even clearer. I have bleached a few monti caps after WC and GAC replacement. Usually the ones near the top of the tank.

The other thing caps hate are large Alk swings. Water changes can cause this sometimes as well.

 

[Corona007]

Thanks for everyone's input, I really appreciate it.

I'm gonna do a few more WC and try to get my PO4 down.
It really puzzles me that my other plates are ok. Mmm weird.

 

[Corona007]

Ughhh, I found the reason my po4 kept rising even after w/c. I been doing them once a week just to keep it in the teens.

Broke down and purchased a TDS meter. Sure enough my di is pumping out 40ppm and 4ppm from my ro. I didn't suspect my ro/di because it's fairly new. Lesson learned.
I checked some ro/di from lfs and it checks at 7 ppm
So that was throwing me off too thinking I was getting clean water. Grrrrrr.
Got some di resin coming tomorrow and hopefully I can get it back to normal.

Just thought I would update this.