Overnight Bleach-Fest!?!?

[stpauli914]

I am totally stumped at this and would love to hear any ideas as to what caused this in my System. Went to bed wed. night and everything in the tank was doing wonderful(as it has for years). Woke up and when the lights came on Thurs morning I was stunned! All my SPS looked extremely bleached and my montis were the worst. Zoas and palys were closed up and obviously unhappy as well. Torch coral, Chalices, and fish all seemed unaffected. This was the same in my display and my frag tank(both on same system, common water). I checked everything ASAP and water params were all perfect and stable as they always have been. I checked the log on my APEX and there were no issues(Temp Spikes, Power loss, etc.). I found a powerhead in my frag tank putting out about 6.5v of stray current. I unplugged it and current went to .03. Wondering/hoping that was the problem? My system info and params are listed below. Nothing new was done the night of the issue, normal feeding and off to bed. Everything looks the same now, I am hoping I solved the problem.

Tank:
180gal Display
50gal Sump
30gal Frag

Over 250lbs LR, BK skimmer, Dart Pump, 1/3 chiller, Tunze 6105 PH's, Apex controller, Dose Calcium, Alk, and Magnesium via dosing pumps. Lighting 250 Watt radiums on display and one on frag tank. VHO actinics.

Params(stable for a long time)

Temp 80-81
PH 8.1-8.35
Salinity 1.025(reefcrystals salt)
Alk: 3.39(DKH 9.5)
Calcium 420-440
Mag 1350
PO4: 0
Nitrate/Nitrite/Amonia: 0

Corals that were worst: Montis!! Seasons Greetings, Sunset, Superman, Rainbow, Undatas, Setosas, etc.

SPS, Red planet was real bad, Aquadelight-Bad, Tricolors and Hawkins Echinata, not too bad.

Chalices all fine, Pumpkin patch, BGM, Alien Eye, etc.

Palys not so hot, Cap. Americas losing color, Purple deaths closed, Zoas closed too for the most part.

Remember, this was literally OVERNIGHT!! Just me and the wife, no chance anything contaminated the tank by getting spilled in it, etc.

IDEAS??????????

Thanks,
Aaron

 

[LifeAquatic]

I dont think stray Voltage is your problem. If you havent done anything out of the ordinary and your absolutely sure nothing got into the tank, maybe the corals are engaging in some kind of chemical warfare? If you havent already, I would add some good Activated Carbon to help pull out contaminents. Might be a long shot, but your problem seems out of the ordinary. Id also double check your paramaters with a 2nd test kit or a new test kit before making any changes.

 

[mike_cmu04]

I agree it is probably some chemical released by one of your corals not much else would explain it.

 

[robs.mark]

I would do a 50% water change, be sure to make the water as close to your display as possible to reduce stressing everything out further. I would agree this sounds like war or a spawning.

 

[reefWW96]

do you have any type of leather corals at all?