RTN please help.

[WallyV]

So I have a whole lot of frags.......I run Activated carbon and gfo in a BRS dual reactor. I have done so much research tonight that I think I'm going crazy. The only thing that makes sense is that RTN occurred on one coral and spread to the rest (this must be where good flow is a downside). This quote is used when describing RTN in every article that I have found. "The cause of RTN is unknown, but it is possible that some type of infective agent is involved. A variety of bacteria have been found on affected corals, but it is unclear whether they are actually responsible for the problem." VAGUE at best. All together I lost one white acorpora colony, saved multiple frags of another acro, saved 90% of my Tenuis colony (in the form of frags), lost a tort & part of an orange digitata. All in all I learned alot in a hurry. Especially, that when you have a concern it must be isolated immediately. This was an expensive lesson, but a good one.

-Walter

 

[WallyV]

I let the corals acclimate to the light for 5 days on the sand bed. Phil had them in very shallow water (frag tank) under a 400w 20k. I have 2x250w radiums and 4x54w actinics. None of my other corals had any problem when I started running the radiums, so why would these.
-Walter

 

[DayFive]

These corals do not need revive they were healthy and bug free it's something else going on.

Not sure if you were referring to my post or not but I just wanted to clear it up. I said restore not revive, two totally different products. Revive is a coral cleaner and restore is a coral tissue rejuvenator and coral food. You are right no need for revive it would probable stress out the coral even more.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=19678

 

[murfman]

Wally, I had the same issue hit me in June. My tank had been set up 6 months (I upgraded from a 125 to 300) and it appeared to be alk swings that were causing the issues. It didn't affect all my SPS but a lot of them. The ones I fragged I at least got a piece of to start over with.

What ever you do, don't make a lot of changes all at once, that will just compound the issue.

 

[DayFive]

I tend to agree it looks like alk burn.

 

[WallyV]

Do you think I should dip all the coral frags in restore? The reason I thought it was RTN was because it started at the base of all the corals it affected.

-Walter

 

[DayFive]

I personally like the stuff for stressed out corals. The guy who got me using it (jonthefb) has had good results with it as well. I had a coral that was stressed out and dipped it in this stuff and it turned around and now it is one of my better growing corals. My problem was alk burn (low alk) and it was bleaching from the bottom up.

The restore product is specifically designed to restore the tissue of stressed corals so I think it would be beneficial. That said you still need to find the root of your problem. Good luck man!

 

[WallyV]

My alk is stable and I use salifert test kits, so I know that it is accurate. I will pick up some restore and give that a whirl. I'm kinda baffled because it is like a religous process every night to take care of the reef.

-Walter

 

[spstimie]

My alk is stable and I use salifert test kits, so I know that it is accurate. I will pick up some restore and give that a whirl. I'm kinda baffled because it is like a religous process every night to take care of the reef.

Test kits can all be/go bad. I have seen people read the salifert tests wrong and dose up the alk till everything died. Are you testing/dosing mag? We are in the middle of a discussion on masc site about how low mag will cause alk and cal to fluctuate. This happens throughout a day and you will get similar numbers at the same time of day. RTN is something we see a lot right after shipping, so I think it has to be water quality.

 

[WallyV]

I need to get a Mag test kit. I dosed what mag came with a brs two part solution start up kit. I don't have a whole lot of nusiance algae building up (isn't that a sign that your mag is low). I don't know if this matters, but I use reef crystals for my water changes. I assume this is not substantial enough to stabilize mag levels.

Thanks
-Walter

 

[spstimie]

Actually RC's mag is decent. It will still get used up.

 

[WallyV]

A Mag test kit is definately in order. My other sps are all doing just fine, thats what is bothering me the most. orange digitata, greem monti, idaho grape, hynophora, scroll coral, ora green birds nest, another (unknown name to me) acropora , staghorn, millipora. I'm Confused? I really think it may have been an acclimation error on my part.

-Walter

 

[PotHuntR]

Can't hurt to use restore. I really saw a change when i paid attention to my mag. It was why my stuff was dying