ORA Birdnest has a spot of flesh missing (pic)

[Zukari]

I have had this guy for about a month and he has been doing really well.

http://imgur.com/iBGlEC7

Today I woke up and noticed that this chunk of flesh is just ... gone, to my knowledge there is nothing in the reef that would have taken a bite out of him.

125G reef
PH: 8.2
P04 is at .02
Nitrates is around 10 (water change tonight)
DkH is at 7.8 which is lower than normal, i think this is the culprit.
Salinity is 1.026
Calcium is about 465
MG: 1320


Here are some other SPS i have had for about the same amount of time:

http://imgur.com/302sUNb

http://imgur.com/l9Rs4Fh

They look to be doing beautifully and I would love an ID on these, they were completely brown when I got them (they were given to me from a LFS closing down)

Some SPS seem to be doing great, growing and wonderful PE. Others are white at the tips and still have PE. I tend to get a brown algae growing on said "dead" tips. I'm at my wits end here, I don't want to drastically change anything as most of the corals looks great!

Inhabitants:

Purple tang
Fox face
Malanarus wrasse
Cardinals
2 clowns
Mandrin goby

If anyone has any ideas I am ready for anything. I was able to in my old 90g Corner keep SPS without effort, so naturally this is driving me nuts.

Here is a FTS: http://imgur.com/A1kQfgm

Thanks!

 

[Reefvet]

Today I woke up and noticed that this chunk of flesh is just ... gone, to my knowledge there is nothing in the reef that would have taken a bite out of him.

That kind of tissue loss could be a Nudibranch, flatworms (which you would probably see) or a fluctuation in water chemistry in the last couple of weeks.

I doubt it just showed up all at once.

Can you remove it and dip it ?

Nitrates is around 10 (water change tonight)
DkH is at 7.8 which is lower than normal, i think this is the culprit.

Nitrates at that level will help many SPS maintain good color.

Alk is not the issue unless you've been maintaining it higher and it's suddenly dropped. 7.8 is a pretty ideal level.

Some SPS seem to be doing great, growing and wonderful PE. Others are white at the tips and still have PE. I tend to get a brown algae growing on said "dead" tips. I'm at my wits end here, I don't want to drastically change anything as most of the corals looks great!

If you have tips with algae on them it's another pointer to Alk swings.

 

[Zukari]

Thanks for the info!

I have noticed some tip issues on that birdnest, so this is not as all of a sudden as I made it seem. I will definitely dip him tonight, and I'll take a close look for any kind of pests again.

My alk has been incredibly odd in this tank. I mean really odd, I don't dose, I never have. I do however now have the BRS dosing kit (It just got to me yesterday) and I'd like to get the alk to a healthy 8 and maintain it. To give you an idea: Before i got these frags it was at 9. I tested the day I got my new frags and it was at 8.5

I then did a water change and it was lower again after the water change in an area around 8.0 on the dot.

I use SALINITY salt from aquavitro, I don't have any large colonies that would be sucking up this type of alk to my knowledge.

What is bizarre about this **** is that I have SPS I thought were toast, but they are coming back via 2-3 polyps and recovering steadily. Can you think of anything that could drain alk that quickly? We are talking drops of a point in a week - with about 6 tiny little acro frags. I do have some large LPS colonies as well so perhaps that's it.

Either way I will be starting my dosing tonight, a water change all incredibly slowly, until I get this to around 8 again. It's just so strange that my previous reef tanks did not need this kind of "babying" to get right.

 

[Zukari]

I know it sounds stupid but the fact that these SPS frags (most of them) do not have issues really irritates me. I like these little frags, especially for how much they colored up in my tank. ESPECIALLY because they were free! If they were all looking bad I would actually feel better.

Before this all happened I found my p04 to be 0. My GFO was stripping the water badly, lots of corals turned brown. They all regained color within a week of cutting out the GFO and Carbon. I lost some as I was out of town and did not realize how out of control the GFO was. Stupid mistake, this entire 125 move has been riddled with stupid mistakes.

I have always ran reef tanks with an average of 8-10 nitrates, but I don't like going higher. This has never given me an issue in the past.

I just don't want to harm these other animals by changing things. if I do this dosing to raise my alk I have to do it very slowly to not upset the healthy guys. Having never dosed with alk/cal/mag I am pretty nervous.

 

[Kaman8]

I would keep an eye on the foxface. Mine bite a chunk out of my bonsai .

 

[Zukari]

I'll watch out for him. I know he likes to "eat" the slime from my green slimer whenever i move it or touch it.