Red Planet in Decline - Guesses?

[JVJordan]

I turn to this forum from time to time in hopes your collective wisdom will help me see something I do not.

I've had a Red Planet colony, grown from a wee little frag for years. In its prime, as recently as May 2015, it looked like this:



Now, it looks like this:



I haven't a clue what the problem is. The rest of the tank appears healthy and my parameters wander a bit but are generally in line. I haven't made any significant changes to the system that I can recall or recorded between when the colony was beautiful and now, where it is hanging on by a thread and has already had major, but slow tissue recession.

Potential causes:

• Phosphates are too high because I've been slacking on GFO
• Bulbs color shifted over time (I just replaced them)
• Too much light? It is centered prominently under a 400 watt MH, but appeared to relish that for the first 8 months
• Stung every day by the BTA next to it
• General chemical warfare as my tank is overgrown
• Starvation?

Any thoughts?


And because people will ask, parameters are typically:

Temp 78-81F
pH 8.3
ALK 7-9 DKH
Ca+ 420 PPM
Mg+ 1300 PPM
NO3 20 PPM
PO4 .10 PPM

You can see more tank photos here:

http://s1232.photobucket.com/user/johndoe076/library/300 Gal Photos?sort=9&page=1

Note the other sickly corals in those photos (such as the montipora and pavona) were cured by dosing iodine.

 

[rog2961]

I got my money on the BTA, I took mine out for that specific reason.

 

[Denadai]

I got my money on the BTA, I took mine out for that specific reason.

yes...can be chemical war

 

[garethwood]

My condy is sitting over my kenyan tree and slowly killing it so i feel your pain : (

 

[markalot]

Maybe BTA, but could it be a combination of new GFO and new light making the area too bright at the same time nutrients dropped?

That is a beautiful reef tank, congrats on getting all those acros to mature sizes!

 

[JVJordan]

Thank you all for the feedback. I'm actually kind of leaning against direct anemone stings. As the RP has died off, they really don't contact each other directly.

However, I do have a lot of anemones in the tank, and in a connected system. I have a metric ton of frogspawn (3-400 heads) in the same tank. Do nematocysts from different corals and anemones float about the tank? I've tried a more aggressive GAC schedule, my skimmer is running well, and I do have frags of the RP elsewhere that are similarly dull brown, though maybe have better PE.

I'm leaning toward unidentified water chemistry parameter...

 

[joshky]

Hi Jordan, there is no research to my knowledge that suggests anemones release nematocysts to engage in chemical warfare. Some people believe that they do and some do not, it's a question commonly brought up in the anemone forum when people are mixing different anemones. I believe if your anemones were engaging in chemical warfare and releasing nematocysts, you would have a much bigger problem than one colony dying off.

 

[plyle02]

Check for pests, I see necrosis on that beautiful tricolor colony, base up usually means that something of the AEFW sort is working covertly underneath the colony as to not be easily detected. This could have been what killed your RP, man I hope not, your corals are beautiful and huge, I hope everything works out. I would inspect at night with a flashlight, shining it on the underside of the corals, you will easily notice tissue loss by its white color. If you have a coral that can be pulled exhibiting these signs, then dip it, this will let you know if you have the nasty. Good luck, hope everything is ok, and this is just a one time incident.

 

[sahin]

Check for pests, I see necrosis on that beautiful tricolor colony, base up usually means that something of the AEFW sort is working covertly underneath the colony as to not be easily detected. This could have been what killed your RP, man I hope not, your corals are beautiful and huge, I hope everything works out. I would inspect at night with a flashlight, shining it on the underside of the corals, you will easily notice tissue loss by its white color. If you have a coral that can be pulled exhibiting these signs, then dip it, this will let you know if you have the nasty. Good luck, hope everything is ok, and this is just a one time incident.

This. If there is contact between the nems and the Red Planet then I' say yes, its the nem...otherwise I'd look for other issues. I just hope its not AEFW.