Tissue Loss On Tips

[Bello]

Hey guys,

Hoping you could help me with a problem. As the title says, I'm observing tissue loss on the tips of certain sps (I believe it to be A. Echinata). These particular pieces have been exhibiting good growth until this point. Any idea what could cause this?

Tank details: Running for 18 months
45g dt, 15g refugium with halimeda & caulerpa.

NO3->0, PO4-> 0.00, Alk->7.5dkh, Cal->390ppm, Mag->1140ppm.

Cal and mag are lower than optimal, but could this be a cause?

The most recent change to the tank, was the addition of carbon through a Rx. Possible cause?

Any suggestions???

 

[James404]

I am going through a similar issue and I believe it is due to me starting to run ROX carbon through my reactor. It is a very high quality carbon and can strip a lot of organics from the water column.

 

[Bello]

That's definitely a possibility. I'm KZ Carbon, (they recommend boiling) and it could be the cause.

After searching through some of the older threads, some cite high alk being a possibility.

My alk is between 7.5-8 dkh. I'm just beginning to wonder if its possible, that the carbon being super aggressive, alk being a bit on the higher side, leads to the scenario observed by those performing carbon dosing wherein high alk causes tip burn.

Could carbon actually be that aggressive?

 

[Bello]

Hi James,

I think you're right about the carbon. I tested alk again, 7-7.5dkh. And now that you mention it, the tank usually runs without carbon. Time to take the reactor offline.

Also, have you noticed tip burn more on the less hairy acros and not on acropora like millies etc? That's what i have. Millies etc are fine.

Thanks for your help!

 

[James404]

My first acros that got affected were an icefire echinata, a stag, an ice tort and one of my millies. My alk is typically in the 7 range but I had bumped it up to about 8 right around the time this happened so I have since dropped it back down. I have taken the reactor offline yesterday and hope of recovery.

 

[Bello]

This seems to be very similar to whats happening with me. Have done pretty much the same, reduced alk and just removed the reactor.

Lets hope it works out.....

Thanks!!!

 

[dzhuo]

I will be very interested to heard your result after you took the carbon offline. Can you guys make sure to post follow up? Also, any chance of taking a couple photos to document the before and after change?

 

[Bello]

Hi dzhou,

I'm actually terrible at taking pics and don't have any on me. You can check out the coral in question (echinata, I believe) on my tank thread, through my username. This is before all the problems. I haven't lost much tissue yet, but this is one of my favourite corals, and it was thriving before this.

On another note, I posted this question on another site, and it was agrred that the problem pretty much is due to the carbon.

Will definitely update once resolved, hopefully it will be....

 

[James404]

I will post a follow up for sure, I dont have pictures of the damage but I lost a few frags plus a millie that was getting to be a nice size colony, it broke my heart to cut off all the branches, just the base is left hoping it will come back

 

[Bello]

That sucks! I haven't lost anything as yet, been forced to trim a bit. Had to trim healthy growing coral.

I'm still a bit confused about this episode. Sometimes, it seems that the simpler you run your tank, the better. I really didn't expect such an adverse reaction

 

[Alex T.]

I was posting on another thread how I had problems with ROX carbon. Having a huge skimmer and running ROX in a reactor is a powerful combination IMO. I started to get tissue recession from the base up on almost all acros. My green birdsnest and a maricultured acropora are the only ones that made it. I assumed it might have been the new salt I was using but parameters were consistent. I stopped using ROX and went to Lignite from BRS and everything is better....and cheaper.

I think if you have a fish only tank and want to strip it and start a reef tank it's great stuff, but for low nutrient SPS systems it could probably strip it clean.

 

[Bello]

I've been lead to thinking that in your case ROX is a very aggressive carbon, but it no matter how aggressive, if it is added gradually, things will be ok.

At least, thats pretty much how I sum up my mistake. Too much aggressive carbon on a tank that isn't usually run with carbon. Smaller increments might've worked better.

As you said, it would probably be great for FO tanks.

 

[dzhuo]

Any update yet?

 

[James404]

I've stopped the carbon use for now, just been using my normal Gfo and started feeding oyster feast. It looks like so far the recession has stopped. Will keep updating.

 

[jgonz_1979]

maybe was too much light due to suddenly clarity in water column because of the carbon.

 

[Bello]

"maybe was too much light due to suddenly clarity in water column because of the carbon."?

I'm not sure, I'd think if that were the case, we'd see bleaching. Here, its more of tissue dying off in a strange manner.

In any case, despite being fairly convinced that carbon is the cause of the problem, initially I put 50% of the carbon back into the tank, with passive flow. I also snipped a couple tips of the acro in question.

The reason for this, is that this tank serves as a holding tank for my main dt, which runs Zeo and uses carbon throughout. I think that I'd need carbon on both tanks, else moving corals between tanks would be highly stressful.

Let's see what happens....

P.S. Congratulations James!!! I see your avatar has changed!