SPS Colonies bleaching

[swimboy123]

OK, here's the deal. I have a 240 gallon tank that has 225+ lbs of LR, and multiple types or soft and hard corals. In the last three days, four of my favorite acropora colonies have started to bleach out. Some smaller and newer colonies are doing fine along with all the LPS and softies. Tank parameters are stable, but I have recently added a new calcium reactor in the last week. Has anyone else heard of something like this? Could this somehow be killing my system? I was dosing C-balance for the last two years and the calcium reactor should pick up that job repsonsibility and then some. Any feedback or advice I could get would be awesome.

 

[clkwrk]

Please list your prams .........Saying their stable means nothing.....Also you say bleaching ???? Are you sure you don't mean RTN/STN ???? Is there any polyps out and if so are they white along with the tissue?

If you never dialed in your reactor and just hooked it up your alk can be way high or way low ..

 

[Horace]

I would bet your PH/Alk/Ca are all fuxored up now with the Ca Rx. You cant just strap one of those to the tank and expect everything to be perfect, you gotta take your time and dial those puppies in. I suggest testing all the above and see what you come up with. Its way too conincidental that your having problems now after adding a Ca Rx

 

[swimboy123]

Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate-0
temp- between 76 and 80 (night&day)
s.g.-1.026
dkh-8
calcium-550 ppm
ph in tank- 8.32 as of right now
calcium reactor- Hi 6.83 low 6.65 would estimate that 2-2.5 gallons per day are being pushed through to enter the tank as effluent. It took me a few days to get it dialed in correctly as far as I know.

 

[swimboy123]

it could be rapid tissue necrosis, although I am not sure becuase I have never had that pointed out to me. On one colony, I can clearly see the holes in the colony where the polyps had been. The other colonies are not in places where I can easily see if there are still polyps or not. In all colonies, the bleaching/necrosis started in a small area and had a domino effect on the rest of the colony. None of the colonies that are having problems are within 12" of each and one is a good four feet from the other area with the other three problem corals.

 

[clkwrk]

RTN . If its white and there are no polyps or tissue visible its a gonner.

A bleached coral will still have tissue and white extented polyps (depending on species)

With a picture I would confrim this.

 

[clkwrk]

a 4 degree temp swing ? is that a new thing or been that way for years?

 

[swimboy123]

My chiller is set to turn on at 80 and my heater turns on at 76. Usually at night, it gets down to about 77, but is has never been above 80.5

 

[swimboy123]

I'll get pics to post in a sec

 

[clkwrk]

IMO I would tighten up your temp swing but not saying its the cause but maybe a contributor at this moment. My setup has a max of 1.5 degree swing . For me my chill comes on @81 and goes off @80 .No heater but if I did use one I would have it set at 79.5.

 

[swimboy123]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/122361IMG_0135.JPG

 

[swimboy123]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/122361IMG_0137.JPG

 

[clkwrk]

How long of a time frame did that happen in ? From look it looks like STN. How is flow near the base of that coral?

 

[clkwrk]

#2 looks like RTN I can see some slough on the left side.

IMO I would get a good healthy frag off those asap .

 

[swimboy123]

Flow is very good, it is situated between two tunze 6060 and two 1" seam swirls that are bringing in 1800 gpf flow. That total bleaching process took two days.

 

[clkwrk]

Also by the looks of your rock you have some nutrient problems also that tricolor is brown . Did you get it recent ?

 

[clkwrk]

2 days deffinetly sounds like STN. I would recommend a water change and carbon addtion along with still getting a frag from each just in case. Something is going on .

How old is your alk test kit ? What was your alk range before the reator addtion?

 

[swimboy123]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/122361IMG_0138.JPG THis is a frag from the first picture that is place about 18" in the same flow rate. It was placed here about 4 weeks ago, and you can tell the rate of growth on it.

 

[swimboy123]

nope, had that thing almost from the very beginning, only my VHO's were on at the time, it is the same color as that frag pic that I just posted.

 

[clkwrk]

Looks alright . I still see alot of green on the rocks so there is also a possiblity of PO4 wicking up through the base. What type of Phosphate test kit are you using ?