Possible Vibrio disease (STN)

[serbusfish]

My SPS have been slowly showing STN for weeks, ive done everything I can think of to find the cause, all parameters are in check and stable, lighting is good, temp is stable, I even did a Triton water test to see if trace elements were lacking but they are all good. I have finally decided there is a good chance my SPS have a strain of Vibro disease, otherwise it makes absolutely no sense that previously healthy growing corals would suddenly all start dying when every parameter in the tank is as it should be...

Now what I would like to know is this; if I removed all SPS from the tank and left it fallow of SPS for x amount of time would the disease eventually die out? Because it is my understanding that only SPS suffer from this disease + my softies and LPS are happy and seem unaffected?

EDIT: These problems seemed to start when I began dosing Red Sea NoPoX, I have read that dosing this or Vodka can potentially help grow bad bacteria, so I guess this is a possible cause?

 

[serbusfish]

Bump

 

[Reef Frog]

I have read items claiming the root cause of RTN/STN is a pathogen. Some say a bacterium or a virus. I saw one account that claimed success using a common anti biotic.

If pathogens are actually the cause, perhaps a properly sized UV unit would be an effective tool.

 

[serbusfish]

I have read items claiming the root cause of RTN/STN is a pathogen. Some say a bacterium or a virus. I saw one account that claimed success using a common anti biotic.

If pathogens are actually the cause, perhaps a properly sized UV unit would be an effective tool.

Which common anti biotic would that be? I dont really want to splash out on a UV to be honest, but as a last resort I might have to.

 

[mcginnisandrew]

i know sometimes carbon dosing can burn sps and cause STN, so i would pull back on the nopox and see if your corals improve. What are your nitrate and phosphate levels?

 

[JammyBirch]

Man these SPS corals can make people go crazy... I think taking them out for X amount of time based on an assumption is not the right way to deal with the STN.

I had similar experiences with SPS also, not sure what the problem was as my parameters were in check also.

What i ended up doing was taking the SPS, it was my green deep water, out of the DT and i put a very thin layer of super glue on the STN area. I was going to lose the coral anyway so i thought it was worth a shot to use the glue to stop the STN. It worked... It really ended up doing the same thing as fragging the coral above the affected area, this method alowed me to continue to use the skeleton as the flesh grew over the glue and back onto the skeleton.

I know this is not something that will get a lot of support but i experimented with it and it worked. I think you have two options, frag or glue.

The problem i had was the coral was in a high flow high light area, as soon as the flesh started coming off it just kept getting worse from the current.

 

[Reef Frog]

Which common anti biotic would that be? I dont really want to splash out on a UV to be honest, but as a last resort I might have to.

I can't remember exactly but it was a common antibiotic available in LFSs & on line. Nothing exotic. I encountered the conversation in the SPS forum.