sick sps pics - any ideas?

[Anemone0524]

My sps are all taking a turn for the worse. They've never looked great but at least they didn't look terrible. Because I know it's basically impossible to diagnose this sort of thing without pictures, see below.

DKH 9.3
CA 420
PO4 00
NO3 00
Skimming medium to heavy
Feed once a day, dime size piece of Rods Food
Bi-Weekly water changes of 15%
Lighting on full bulb for 6 hours, actinic bulbs on for 9.

I've narrowed many possible causes out, the only two things I can think of now are ALK swings or just bad lighting.

The reason it could be ALK swings is because I pour 70mL once a day before work in the sump all at the same time. But before I drop $400 on a controller and dosing pumps, I want to know that it could actually help.

The reason it could be bad lighting is because I just don't have faith in the TEK 6 bulb until to keep thriving SPS. Furthermore, the amount of salt creep on my reflectors could also be reducing the PAR even more. Still, I would have expected browning corals with bad light....which isn't what I have.

All other corals are doing just fine (zoa's and lps).

Why are my sps not happy?

 

[Cultivatedcoral]

What test kits are you using to test P04 and No3? They may not be accurate or inadequate. Your first pic of the birdsnest shows some patches of tissue loss and polyp loss. Maybe you have some pests.

The tek light should be able to handle SPS. We only run T-5's over our SPS tanks and one of them is a 6 bulb Tek light and works fine over anything under 24" high.

 

[Anemone0524]

Using a Hanna meter for PO4, Red Sea Test Kit for NO3

I haven't added a coral in months, i'd be surprised if it's pests.

Also something that is interesting - the coraline algae on the back of the tank is slowly receding. It used to cover most of the blue.

 

[curlykid]

mag's prolly low.

 

[Anemone0524]

1350 last i checked. I dump a cup or so of Kent Tech M in there.

 

[JSeymour]

Birdsnest have a tendency to lose tissue with alk swings. Check your day and night alk. You don't have to buy $400 worth of equipement to stop alkalinity shifts, just a bottle, some air line and a valve. Use gravity to drip your suppliments(What are you dosing?) into your tank, one... slow... drip... at... a... time. Dose at night when your alk is at it's lowest.

 

[LifeAquatic]

Nurse... I need 5000 miligrams of vicodin stat! And get something for the SPS to.

Seriously though...

I see a few things. Your tank is super clean! Maybe you dont have a enough fish poo in there. Or maybe you should try feeding the sps a little. You could also try cutting your light period back slightly. Cutting lights back will slow down need for food and your color might come back. T-5 are bright enough for SPS but it wouldnt hurt to clean your reflectors. If you feed more and cut lights back you will accomplish the same result.

The first pic is missing a little tissue. Looks like your parameters were off at some point.
I would test all 3 cal,alk,mag. adjust accordingly and wait a few weeks for improvment. If that doesnt help try feeding more and cutting lights. Find your balance!

Dosing with a pump is much better then dumping alk and cal in one time a day. It is def worth it to get dosing pumps. An auto top off for water will help to.

You might want to dip some of those corals to check for nasty critters. Just to be on the safe side. good luck!

 

[curlykid]

aha! you may be right! SPS can actually have too little nutrients, if your nitrates are 0, and you don't feed them, they may be starving!

 

[Anemone0524]

I'm dosing BRS Two Part Recipe 1.


Maybe it is the low nutrients. I would have thought 2 clowns, 2 tangs, a foxfish and a blenny would have been more than enough poo for a 90 though.

 

[dvanacker]

Looks like low nutrients and/or long lighing schedule to me.

I would try some AA's and coral food to get started and lower the amount of time all the lights are on.

 

[mike810]

i was having the same problem as u, sps looking pale, even my zoa was losing color. i raised my lights, lowered my phtoperiod and fed a lot more. now the colors are coming back after about a month , GL

 

[RobbReef]

How old are your bulbs?

 

[Anemone0524]

bulbs are like 4 months in. Not the culprit.


Any ideas on why the coraline algae is coming off the tank wall in chips?

 

[RobbReef]

bulbs are like 4 months in. Not the culprit.


Any ideas on why the coraline algae is coming off the tank wall in chips?

Wow thats a new one to me never heard of coraline coming off so easy? How high you have your fixture above the water line?
I never really liked the red sea test kits try another or take it to you lfs and have them take a second test for you.

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

it looks like bleaching, id def cut back your photo period

 

[dixiedog]

I say your lighting is fine. It's possible that you could get better results (or maybe worse) with different photoperiods, but you're not so far out that you're going to be damaging your corals.

Your fish load is also fine IMO.

My money's on alk swing and/or other param issues.

 

[DustinB]

I doubt it's nutrients guys, he feeds Rod's food every day.

There's a guy locally that started having this happen once he was dosing more. He was doing the same as you, just dumping the 2-part in there. Probably once you hit a certain demand, you can't just dump the dose in there. A lot of his corals started bleaching, never got to the point of real tissue loss though.

I have a frag of his purple valida that turned completely white. Finally 4 weeks later it is brown with the corelites showing a hint of purple.

Check out the BRS dosers, $99 each. If you don't mind the manual part do as the other guy suggested. Get a bottle, some airline, and a valve. Drop your dose in the bottle each night and let it drip that dose in the tank.

 

[abrian]

I suspect the Alk swing, but one small dime sized piece of Rod's every day sounds a bit low on the feeding as well. As others have said, stabilize your dosing, and possibly feed a bit more liberally.