w3bbo's 120 Gallon Reef
- Thread starter w3bbo
- Start date
w3bbo
Member
Had some major issues:
Long story short:
AEFW, broken heater, lots of dead SPS colonies now starting to recover.
Short story long:
Where to start? I started to get some STN on a mille which was really slow, not your normal STN. All other SPS looked fine. Thinking it was just a lighting issue as I had recently changed lights to 8x54w dimmable sunpower from LEDs I let it be. I also bought a granulosa around the same time. I left this on the sandbed to acclimate before slowly moving it up. Next day I noticed what appeared to be bite marks. Only 2 that I can recall seeing but the typical AEFW circular bitemarks. My heart sank. I went and dipped the granulosa again to double check but didn't see anything untoward and there were no signs of any eggs. I dip all corals prior to introduction in CoralRX pro which for 3 years has kept any baddies at bay.
A month or so later I started to notice STN on a tenius with retracted PE. This was an established colony but I took the decision after losing the mille to frag it before losing it all. I dipped the colony prior to doing this and a couple of AEFW dropped off.....gutted
. With so many colonies encrusted on my rocks there was no way I could go the route of removing and dipping so decided to try and live with it. For the most part this seemed to be fine and maybe the FWS I was also dosing was helping. So things progressed for a while until something happened that really knocked me back.
My corals started to go tan coloured. Like almost grey. The skin would go pale like STN but the skin was clearly still there so wasn't being eaten so it wasn't AEFW causing this I don't believe. It was however ONLY acropora that was affected but I've never read about this happening with AEFW. I started to lose corals on a daily basis, not RTN or STN but looking like they had rotted. They would go that grey/tan colour and then RTN.
I stripped the whole tank equipment down, skimmer, pumps, reactor pumps, chiller, heaters....everything that I could think of. I cleaned the sump thinking I may have dropped a screw in there - nothing. Stray voltage checked out. Did a number of 50% waterchanges and there was no improvement. I continued to lose acros, slowly. Fragging did nothing to solve this. It was heartbreaking. Despite checking the heaters on the strip down I decided to check them again....one of the heaters showed condensation:
The glass was perfect with no cracks that I could see but water was somehow getting in there. I'm still not 100% sure that this was the cause but since replacing them with schego titanium heaters the coral deaths have slowed to the point that I haven't lost any SPS in the past 2 weeks. Moreover, the colour is starting to come back to some that were showing signs of letting go.
I'm still battling AEFW I think although I haven't come across any on the 'test' corals that are not attached to rockwork and can be easily dipped/checked. I'm 99.9% certain I still have them even though I see no evidence but it seem my wrasse are keeping them in check. All of the corals are starting to gain a little strength things seem to be improving a little so (tempting fate) my tank seems to be over the worst of it.
I'm tempted to strip it all down and start again as my heart just isn't in it like it was. Its gut wrenching losing stock you've had for years, especially when there's nothing you can do about it, not without starting divorce proceedings! So this year I've had a 14hr power cut and lost stock because of this, replenishing with stock infected with AEFW, managed to get on top of AEFW problem only for a heater to contaminate my tank somehow and cause no end of suffering which may still not be over. You could say I'm fed up with it but I'll struggle on I guess until the next disaster!
Long story short:
AEFW, broken heater, lots of dead SPS colonies now starting to recover.
Short story long:
Where to start? I started to get some STN on a mille which was really slow, not your normal STN. All other SPS looked fine. Thinking it was just a lighting issue as I had recently changed lights to 8x54w dimmable sunpower from LEDs I let it be. I also bought a granulosa around the same time. I left this on the sandbed to acclimate before slowly moving it up. Next day I noticed what appeared to be bite marks. Only 2 that I can recall seeing but the typical AEFW circular bitemarks. My heart sank. I went and dipped the granulosa again to double check but didn't see anything untoward and there were no signs of any eggs. I dip all corals prior to introduction in CoralRX pro which for 3 years has kept any baddies at bay.
A month or so later I started to notice STN on a tenius with retracted PE. This was an established colony but I took the decision after losing the mille to frag it before losing it all. I dipped the colony prior to doing this and a couple of AEFW dropped off.....gutted
. With so many colonies encrusted on my rocks there was no way I could go the route of removing and dipping so decided to try and live with it. For the most part this seemed to be fine and maybe the FWS I was also dosing was helping. So things progressed for a while until something happened that really knocked me back. My corals started to go tan coloured. Like almost grey. The skin would go pale like STN but the skin was clearly still there so wasn't being eaten so it wasn't AEFW causing this I don't believe. It was however ONLY acropora that was affected but I've never read about this happening with AEFW. I started to lose corals on a daily basis, not RTN or STN but looking like they had rotted. They would go that grey/tan colour and then RTN.
I stripped the whole tank equipment down, skimmer, pumps, reactor pumps, chiller, heaters....everything that I could think of. I cleaned the sump thinking I may have dropped a screw in there - nothing. Stray voltage checked out. Did a number of 50% waterchanges and there was no improvement. I continued to lose acros, slowly. Fragging did nothing to solve this. It was heartbreaking. Despite checking the heaters on the strip down I decided to check them again....one of the heaters showed condensation:
The glass was perfect with no cracks that I could see but water was somehow getting in there. I'm still not 100% sure that this was the cause but since replacing them with schego titanium heaters the coral deaths have slowed to the point that I haven't lost any SPS in the past 2 weeks. Moreover, the colour is starting to come back to some that were showing signs of letting go.
I'm still battling AEFW I think although I haven't come across any on the 'test' corals that are not attached to rockwork and can be easily dipped/checked. I'm 99.9% certain I still have them even though I see no evidence but it seem my wrasse are keeping them in check. All of the corals are starting to gain a little strength things seem to be improving a little so (tempting fate) my tank seems to be over the worst of it.
I'm tempted to strip it all down and start again as my heart just isn't in it like it was. Its gut wrenching losing stock you've had for years, especially when there's nothing you can do about it, not without starting divorce proceedings! So this year I've had a 14hr power cut and lost stock because of this, replenishing with stock infected with AEFW, managed to get on top of AEFW problem only for a heater to contaminate my tank somehow and cause no end of suffering which may still not be over. You could say I'm fed up with it but I'll struggle on I guess until the next disaster!
reefmutt
Active member
Oh man, that sucks! I'm familiar with that sinking feeling when things go south... sorry to see such a nice mature reef get decimated.
I hear you about not having the energy to do a tear down.. it's no fun.
The only way to know if you are past the troubles it to try a new piece. The existing ones may never or take forever to recover. Sometimes adding a new piece can tell you a lot about your system.
Do you have acces to carribean peppermint shrimp? I have found them to be extremely effective at hunting for and eating aefw eggs. They aren't quite as good at finding adult worms on the corals but the eggs they seem to control very well..
Good luck!
I hear you about not having the energy to do a tear down.. it's no fun.
The only way to know if you are past the troubles it to try a new piece. The existing ones may never or take forever to recover. Sometimes adding a new piece can tell you a lot about your system.
Do you have acces to carribean peppermint shrimp? I have found them to be extremely effective at hunting for and eating aefw eggs. They aren't quite as good at finding adult worms on the corals but the eggs they seem to control very well..
Good luck!
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Ahhhhhhh buddy I'm so sorry. I know too well that gut wrenching feeling. It's moments like this when I get annoyed about the hobby; we have so many BS products put out by manufacturers but no in tank aefw cure.
I really hope you get your system stable and sorted out. Don't give up.
I really hope you get your system stable and sorted out. Don't give up.
w3bbo
Member
Thanks for the support guys. The most infuriating thing is I have never put a coral in the tank without thoroughly inspecting and dipping first and yet they still got through somehow. AEFW I can cope with though as I know there's a solution - albeit not one I am willing to enforce (removing dipping etc).
It's the other issue with the greyed out corals. This really stumped me as I've never seen or read about anything like it. While I strongly suspect it was something to do with the heater I cannot rule out some form of secondary bacterial infection. Did it come from the power cut and subsequent stress allowing the bacteria to gain a foothold? Was it somehow introduced on a coral? Is it airborne? Its the problems that I don't know the cause of that really grinds my bones because this makes finding a solution nigh on impossible - we're just clutching at straws.
I've completely stopped dosing aquaforest products as they weren't helping although I can't say with any degree of certainty they were an initial contributing factor. The tank is running at a very basic level with the only thing added is Ca, mg and bicarb along with carbon to remove any potential contaminates and of course weekly 10% waterchanges. Other than watching waiting and praying and of course keeping things as stable as possible, I don't know what else I can do. Very frustrating and upsetting.
It's the other issue with the greyed out corals. This really stumped me as I've never seen or read about anything like it. While I strongly suspect it was something to do with the heater I cannot rule out some form of secondary bacterial infection. Did it come from the power cut and subsequent stress allowing the bacteria to gain a foothold? Was it somehow introduced on a coral? Is it airborne? Its the problems that I don't know the cause of that really grinds my bones because this makes finding a solution nigh on impossible - we're just clutching at straws.
I've completely stopped dosing aquaforest products as they weren't helping although I can't say with any degree of certainty they were an initial contributing factor. The tank is running at a very basic level with the only thing added is Ca, mg and bicarb along with carbon to remove any potential contaminates and of course weekly 10% waterchanges. Other than watching waiting and praying and of course keeping things as stable as possible, I don't know what else I can do. Very frustrating and upsetting.
w3bbo
Member
Things are starting to recover on my reef. Just ran a batch of weekly tests and my alk has barely risen despite knocking alk dose up over the past few weeks. I noted a couple of weeks back that alk was starting to drop so I compensatd by upping the alk dose. Regardless it was still continuing to drop or at least not increase and went as low as 6.3. I'm now back to 6.7 and as of wednesday was dosing 167ml per day (100g sodium carbonate/litre). I've just finished another batch of tests and I'm still sitting at dkh 6.7 so I've now upped the dose to 175ml. I prefer to keep my alk between 7-7.5 but I'm wary of raising alk too quickly. In my experience I've found its more harmfull to raise alk too quick than let it drop. E.g a rise from 7 to 8 too quick can be more harmful than from 8 to 7 if that makes sense? Either way, the corals are really starting to suck the carbonates out of the water which can only be a good thing I hope! Strange thing is I never used this much even when the tank was in its prime so I guess recovery takes up more elements than growth? Regardless, I really need a bigger dosing vessel now as I'm filling the 2.5l one way too often which can be a bit of a bind.
Most corals are showing a fair amount of recovery with new tips, others are still in a dormant state which I feel could still go either way. The tank however is looking more colourful and healthy which I'm thrilled about. I've also added the first acro in over 3 months since noticing bite marks/aefw and I've been treating with FWS since along with a couple of anecdotal doses of prazipro to treat the Polyclad flatworm. The acro I've added is a smoothskin (Suharsonoi I think) which along with the existing nana are apparently favourites of AEFW and so far......nothing, no bite marks, no eggs, no worms when dipping which is a relief. I'm still not convinced I've got rid of them, I guess I'll never be convinced but the combo of adding lots of wrasse, FWS and prazipro, fluctuating parameters....maybe contamination from the broken heater too has broken the back of the infestation and/or keeping them at bay but I'll continue to monitor regardless.
The only thing that's going wrong with the tank at the moment is a bit of cyano which is a doddle to deal with in comparison to my previous issues!
Most corals are showing a fair amount of recovery with new tips, others are still in a dormant state which I feel could still go either way. The tank however is looking more colourful and healthy which I'm thrilled about. I've also added the first acro in over 3 months since noticing bite marks/aefw and I've been treating with FWS since along with a couple of anecdotal doses of prazipro to treat the Polyclad flatworm. The acro I've added is a smoothskin (Suharsonoi I think) which along with the existing nana are apparently favourites of AEFW and so far......nothing, no bite marks, no eggs, no worms when dipping which is a relief. I'm still not convinced I've got rid of them, I guess I'll never be convinced but the combo of adding lots of wrasse, FWS and prazipro, fluctuating parameters....maybe contamination from the broken heater too has broken the back of the infestation and/or keeping them at bay but I'll continue to monitor regardless.
The only thing that's going wrong with the tank at the moment is a bit of cyano which is a doddle to deal with in comparison to my previous issues!
w3bbo
Member
Thanks Matt.
Things are really starting to take off again. Alk/Ca consumption is the highest its ever been so its definitely on the right track. It's interesting to see the colour change that has occurred since stopping AF. The colours have gotten much deeper/more saturated. I think it suits some of the corals whereas some others I preferred with AF. Regardless - I will take healthy corals over half dead ones any day! Anyway here's a few few pics I took this evening.:
Things are really starting to take off again. Alk/Ca consumption is the highest its ever been so its definitely on the right track. It's interesting to see the colour change that has occurred since stopping AF. The colours have gotten much deeper/more saturated. I think it suits some of the corals whereas some others I preferred with AF. Regardless - I will take healthy corals over half dead ones any day! Anyway here's a few few pics I took this evening.:
w3bbo
Member
Cheers Bill. Glad I'm not the only one it didn't work for which puts my mind at rest. Weird how it suits some tanks but not others. Instead of jumping right in I watched the progress of a few guys tanks on here which I really liked so thought it would be safe to make the switch albeit gradual. No so . To be fair to AF I had loads of other problems which kicked of with a power cut but I do think the switch caused the biggest setbacks. Alas, I'm happy with how things are progressing now with everything getting 'back to normal'. I must resist trying out the latest fad lol.
. To be fair to AF I had loads of other problems which kicked of with a power cut but I do think the switch caused the biggest setbacks. Alas, I'm happy with how things are progressing now with everything getting 'back to normal'. I must resist trying out the latest fad lol.
w3bbo
Member
Thanks for the kind comment. Many of the corals are either frags from larger colonies I lost during the summer or large colonies I had to trim back due to RTN. The healing is almost done and they are starting to grow again now.
The nem is a magnifica and about 18" in diameter. I've had it since I started keeping a reef. I used to feed it but it started getting too big so just let the clowns and light sustain it now. Not fed it in about a year so no harm done. They are supposed to be really difficult to keep but I found them quite hardy - maybe I just have a tough cookie lol.
Surprisingly, most of the corals surrounding the nem tolerate it pretty well with only the blue stag in front of it showing any signs of damage. The nana, confusa, poccilopora and tenius all seem to be immune. Thankfully the nem has never moved from that spot in over 2 years. Its in very high flow and very high light.
The nem is a magnifica and about 18" in diameter. I've had it since I started keeping a reef. I used to feed it but it started getting too big so just let the clowns and light sustain it now. Not fed it in about a year so no harm done. They are supposed to be really difficult to keep but I found them quite hardy - maybe I just have a tough cookie lol.
Surprisingly, most of the corals surrounding the nem tolerate it pretty well with only the blue stag in front of it showing any signs of damage. The nana, confusa, poccilopora and tenius all seem to be immune. Thankfully the nem has never moved from that spot in over 2 years. Its in very high flow and very high light.
