SPS RTNing, ATI results. opinions needed

five.five-six

five.five-six

Well-known member
I have been losing SPS colonies for the last 6 or so weeks. starts at the base or the tips and a few days later POOF! that coral is gone. Fish, Zoas and LPS seem fine. I know I have nutrient issue and my SG is a bit low but neither of those issues should be causing the RTN. I see a few high levels of metals and am looking for direction on how to combat that

https://lab.atiaquaristik.com/view/26106

High values

Zinc 11.30 µg/l
Sulfur 1182 mg/l
Bromine 77.16 mg/l
Zinc 11.30 µg/l
Tin 5.31 µg/l
Nitrate 24.97 mg/l
Phosphorus 46.71 µg/l
Phosphate 0.14 mg/l
Aluminium 51.29 µg/l


low values

Molybdenum 1.71 µg/l
Iodine 10.79 µg/l
Fluorid 0.17 mg/l
Strontium 2.32 mg/l
Manganese u.
Salinity (NaCl) 31.04 PSU
 
Do you test for dKH (Alkalinity)? Fluctuating dKH as been thought to cause RTN with SPS.

What is your water change schedule? What salt mix?
 
I test alk weekly, and it stays fairly close... It has been a bit high. As high as 10 but it’s in the 8 range now.

Had been using IO but just changed to TM, just trying to eliminate things.

Generally I WC 1x mo 25%
 
Sometimes it's not what you did yesterday with SPS. It may be something that happened a week or more in the past. An alk spike or other rapid change could cause the issue you describe & it might not show up right away. IMO, that's why those "sticks" are so difficult to maintain.
 
reefgeezer said:
Sometimes it's not what you did yesterday with SPS. It may be something that happened a week or more in the past. An alk spike or other rapid change could cause the issue you describe & it might not show up right away. IMO, that's why those "sticks" are so difficult to maintain.
Click to expand...

You have to be a bit (a lot9 anal to keep SPS.test and test, test, and test some more.
 
I might try a PolyFilter in case there's some metal contamination. The zinc level might be close to the toxic range, although the test results can be misleading.

I agree that the salinity is only a bit low. Has the device been calibrated recently? I suspect that the SG is fine, but given the losses, some double-checking might be useful. The same goes for the alkalinity and calcium kits, if that's not too difficult.

Have all the SPS been Acropora, or is this a more mixed set of species?
 
bertoni said:
I might try a PolyFilter in case there's some metal contamination. The zinc level might be close to the toxic range, although the test results can be misleading.

I agree that the salinity is only a bit low. Has the device been calibrated recently? I suspect that the SG is fine, but given the losses, some double-checking might be useful. The same goes for the alkalinity and calcium kits, if that's not too difficult.

Have all the SPS been Acropora, or is this a more mixed set of species?
Click to expand...

The refractometer is fine, It's a Milwaukee and I knew the SG was low.. a function of takeing a little more water out than I put back in the last few WCs. Put poly filter in a week ago and no strange colors, just slowly turning brown.


I wonder what thesourse of the tin could be.
 
It's very hard to be sure that the tin level is real, but the most reasonable idea that comes to my mind is electronics.
 
If you are swinging between 8 and 10 rapidly (within a week or 2) that could be your answer. Also, if you are using a high alk salt and aren't matching your alk of new salt mix, a 25% change could be a pretty significant alk swing
 
pisanoal said:
If you are swinging between 8 and 10 rapidly (within a week or 2) that could be your answer.
Click to expand...
Most certainly... A tank with SPS going from 10 to 8 isn't stable and they need stability.. Even a one time swing is sufficient to cause RTN..
 
pisanoal said:
If you are swinging between 8 and 10 rapidly (within a week or 2) that could be your answer. Also, if you are using a high alk salt and aren't matching your alk of new salt mix, a 25% change could be a pretty significant alk swing
Click to expand...

Swings arn't that hard. In fact consumption went down so much that I turned off CARX 2 months ago and my only alk supplementation has been 50% saturated lime water ( I have tandem topoff bottles and only added kalk to one and the other RO/DI). No water changes in the last 6 weeks as I was treating with fluconazole.
 
Big E said:
On the zinc in particular........were you dosing any metals, trace elements.
Click to expand...

The zink and the aluminum were the two that stood out to me. That and the sulfur. I dose iron occasionally but that's it.

Either something fell in my tank or I have a bad batch of IO or calcium hydroxide is my thinking.

RO/DI results came back from ATI and all zeros except for silicone. No idea where the silicon is comeing from. 123.2 µg/l No idea where that's comeing from. It's stored in a brute trash can.
 
I'll send out another ATI-ICP test today

The day I sent the first ATI-ICP did a 60 gallon WC with new salt (yes 60 gallons on a 150 gal system but really, the tank was circling the drain) added carbon and turned the skimmer back on in installed polyfilter.

Since then I did a 30 gallon WC and changed carbon twice.

I think some of my most recent losses can be attributed to all the carbon and I anticipated that collateral damage when I decided to run that much carbon. Polyfilter wasn't showing any color changes and tests for iron, iodine, potassium, alk, ca, mg, and ammonium were coming up normal.
 
I recently did an ATI test as well that showed very low levels of Iodine, similar to yours. In between the time I sent out the test and got results I noticed some (but not all) of my SPS were looking unhappy, with small bits of tissue loss, a few frags RTNing and not great polyp extension on others.

Anyways I dosed my Iodine back up to the recommend level over a 4 day period, and by the end of the 4 days it was clear that everything was much healthier. Polyp extension, especially on my Montiporas, was markedly better. Within a week Acros with tissue loss were recovering and I think I'm going to salvage pieces I was pretty sure were goners.

Now granted I don't know if this was directly related to the Iodine levels, but I keep all the parameters in my tank very steady so I'm strongly inclined to believe it was. Your test has a lot more going on than mine (I only had 3 recommendations from ATI), but in addition to doing the other things I'd get your Iodine levels back to normal.
 
I'm skeptical about iodine doing much, but it might be an issue. Lots of people run with very low iodine since it is consumed very rapidly and very few people dose.

I'm skeptical about PVC leaching much tin. What tin is used in the product should be bound up quite well, and the situation hasn't changed in years. People have used PVC for a long time.
 
bertoni said:
I'm skeptical about iodine doing much, but it might be an issue. Lots of people run with very low iodine since it is consumed very rapidly and very few people dose.

I'm skeptical about PVC leaching much tin. What tin is used in the product should be bound up quite well, and the situation hasn't changed in years. People have used PVC for a long time.
Click to expand...
the only PVC in my tank is te standpipe and it has been in place for several years

Some softies are sensitive to iodine deficentcies. SPS not so much. I have kept SPS successfully years befor there was even a reliable iodine test avalable on the hobbies market.
 
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