Red Planet & Tricolor STN... AEFW??? Help!

[Mr. Brooks]

Hey guys, I've got a problem. Two of my corals are STNing on their undersides. All other corals appear healthy. The Red Planet is in the worst shape.

Here are my parameters:

Alk 9.9
Cal 435
Mag 1500
Temperature is kept stable with an Aquacontroller Jr.

I'm running 400 watt Radiums and VHO actinics. For flow I have two Vortech MP40W's and two Tunzes 6105's. I'm at a loss for what this could be. My only guess is AEFW. I haven't added anything in months though and I've blasted my corals with a turkey baster and saw nothing. The pictures aren't that great but here ya go.

<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=IMG_0210.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/IMG_0210.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

<a href="http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/?action=view&current=IMG_0209.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h39/thechad21_2006/IMG_0209.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Any idea what could be causing this? If it is AEFW, what should I do? I'm getting ready to move everything to a new 300 gallon system. Is there a full system cure or do I have to dip everything in an iodine based dip like Tropic Marine Pro Coral Cure? Both corals are thoroughly encrusted =(

Thanks in advance.

 

[mutateddogbone]

need a closer up pic to tell if it is AEFW or not. i would QT and dip the coral anyway to be sure

 

[Mr. Brooks]

I don't have a QT system and the colony is completely encrusted on a rock with other encrusted colonies. Wouldn't it be pointless to QT a just a couple colonies? If they're on one colony then they could be anywhere right? I don't have a better camera unfortunately.

I just did a large water change and added fresh carbon. I'm hoping it has to do with water chemistry and not a pest.

 

[SC Trojan]

sorry to hear that bro, but i was in the same boat as you a few months ago but definately knew it was aefw! With my case of those bastards it slowly over a few mos became apparent(loss of color and tissue,bite marks and eggs) that i had them as symptoms,such as rtn, dont usually appear overnight. If they continue to rtn then you pretty much have no choice but to pry them of your live rock and dip to see if you do have them. Try using CoralRX,its not too harsh and definately works on aefw and supposedly halts rtn but i dont know for sure, but it doesnt hurt to try! Hopefully its just a case of rtn because there is no in tank treatment for aefw and you would have qrt and dip all acros unless you want to do the baste,wrasse and live with option which didnt work for me. Good luck and dont feel too bad, i lost my ice-fire ech,ultimate efflo and upscales microlados because of those f@!$%^#.

 

[Mr. Brooks]

Well I managed to get the colony out. I put it in a white bucket with tank water and about 10 drops of lugals. Then I added a cap full of revive. I blasted the colony with a turkey baster and found nothing... I have no idea what's wrong with my Red Planet.

 

[Reef obcession]

have you checked your alk levels consistently? Looks like its bleaching

 

[Mr. Brooks]

Yea, very consistent at 9.9. I have a GEO calcium reactor. I did a big water change yesterday and started running carbon. It seems to have stopped any further damage. Time will tell.

 

[prickles]

a crab perhaps? I had some RTN on one of my frags one night, and then nothing else now for a few weeks. I think it's a crab (I have a big black one I need to get rid of)

 

[p-nut]

i had the samething with my red planet.

 

[Alex T.]

Check your phosphates with a hanna meter. This was the cause of my Red Planet loss coupled with overzealous photoperiod and improper acclimationb to my bulbs.

 

[Mr. Brooks]

I'll check phosphates tomorrow. I only have a salifert test kit. I don't think it's a crab, my reef is pretty old and I haven't added anything in a long time.

 

[M007]

What about water movement? Have you changed or redirected your flow patterns?

 

[Alex T.]

What color temperature are your bulbs?

Just a quick overview of what happened to me. You can take it with a grain of salt or learn from what I did.

I had about 20 frags in my 150 doing great under 10k 400 watt xm bulbs and 4 48" t5 combo. They were doing so great that I upped the halide duration. Some corals (especially Green Slimer) started to get a little brown and then started getting pale. After all the buzz about AEFW I thought I had them. Parameters seemed perfect, so I suspected a pest. I started dosing Flatworm Exit and saw nothing. Then I started dipping and couldn't tell what it was that fell off. It looked like grains of sand. My impatience led me to believe that since my tricolor valida was going first, it had to be flatworms. Slowly I lost the valida, Bali Slimer, Red Planet, an indigo stag and a maricultured yellow bottlebrush and my prized colony of purple secale. I then turned my attention to nutrients. Since I was vodka dosing at the time, it had to be starvation right? So I started feeding Oyster Feast and an extra cube of mysis per day. This was the worst mistake I have made since starting reefkeeping. The green hair algae outbreak that ensued wiped out my whole tank. When I stopped vodka dosing and started running gfo, I lost all remaining acros and 2 maxima clams that had been with me for years. Later research revealed that a sudden drop in phosphates and introduction of GFO has been shown to cause problems in some setups.

I still to this day believe that it was the lighting that caused all this. Going from 14k bulbs to 10k with an increased photoperiod I'm willing to bet caused the problem of over exposure, shock and ensuing death. Instead of taking a deep breath and slowly evaluating each change I had made...I rushed to judgement and caused a tailspin of death. I'm wiser now. I run 20k Radiums on Galaxy ballasts for 4 hours per day with 4 t5's that are staggered for a slow sunrise and sunset effect. My total photoperiod is 10 hours with only 4 hours of halide. My colors, polyp extension and growth have never been better.

I also feed more prudently that I used to, and have removed some fish that unless kept well fed will wreak havoc on my reef. I no longer run gfo or vodka dose, and let things slowly just happen...and here's what I've learned:

1. Many of us have too much light and too bright. I don't stress this reflector over that one, or this Amino acid or this magic potion.
2. Oyster Feast and other SPS foods will never go in my tank again. They foul the water quickly, and shut the skimmer down for too long, even at 20% of suggested doses.
3. I keep the tank slightly "dirty" and the sps love it. I want single digit detectable nitrates. Not 0, or .2 or .5 Mark Poletti and Keith Berkelheimer's TOTM prove that colors can rival any ULNS system with this approach.
4. Slow steady growth with good coloration and polyp extension is my goal. I'm not after out of water staghorn growth with my sps in less than a year. I can wait.
5. Do water changes that work for you...but do them. I don't dose, I replenish through water change frequency. 25 gallons every Sunday morning.
6. After a water change, no halides go on that day. Call it my overcast Sunday maintenance routine. It works and saves electric.

Hey, it worked for me. The most important thing is to not rush into any drastic shifts. Keeping it simple is a very difficult thing to do in this hobby with all the new gadgets and technology out there. Even with Sanjay Joshi, who probably has more experience than most of us in this hobby, his recent tank of the month is almost a mimic in maintenance and "gadgets" from over twenty years ago. Kudos for being able to hold back and stick with the basics and with what works.

 

[rc4kinu]

Could be a sps eating bristle worm. Check it out with a flashlight about an hour after you turn off all lights out, including nightlights. Something like what you are experiencing is what was happening with me and could not figure it out. Hold and behold! Took it out with tweezers and that thing must have been about 8 inches long. RTN progression stopped immediately.

 

[Alex T.]

Eight inches!! Wow. That's interesting. I'm wondering if having certain wrasses in a tank can help keep these and other pests at least in check before they reach the plague proportions that others post. Some people that have had AEFW and fireworms seem to add theses to their tanks after an encounter.

 

[Mr. Brooks]

Interesting imput..

I've been running 20k Radiums for a long time. I don't think it has to do with the lighting.

I have recently started feeding oyster feast. This is something new that I never did before. I've also been running a large amount of ROX 0.8 carbon for the last month or so.

I have been noticing a lot more bristle worms lately. This is certainly a possibility.

I'm going to stop feeding oyster feast and start doing more water changes. See what happens.

 

[Alex T.]

Yup. After stopping the Oyster Feast my skimmer started working normal again. I think fish poop is just fine for SPS.