What causes STN
- Thread starter ShesEasy
- Start date
DivingTheWorld
Active member
No one knows for sure. The consensus seems to be a bacterial infection.
reef bloke
Member
Yup, no long or short answer.
Bacterial infection
Flow
Light
Alk bounce
Over enthusiastic use of PO4 remover
Temp swing
Organics
Viral issues
AEFW
Take your pick
Bacterial infection
Flow
Light
Alk bounce
Over enthusiastic use of PO4 remover
Temp swing
Organics
Viral issues
AEFW
Take your pick
aranax
New member
Can anyone elaborate on how Over enthusiastic use of PO4 remover can cause STN? I just started seeing some STN on two of my SPS corals and I did a revive dip and what not but it hasn't helped. I did just recently added Brightwell PO4 X-port and NO3 X-port and am now wondering if that was the cause.
Well that's super -.-
****ed off cause I fraged one acro I had cause.of it....and aperently.now it's affecting my green slimer which I'm ****ed about
I'm really hoping it's not
Side note. Can STN affect any sps or is it an acro thing
I have a cauliflower that's lost a bit of tissue but I found a crab hiding in the affected area so I can only assume it was him
But still
****ed off cause I fraged one acro I had cause.of it....and aperently.now it's affecting my green slimer which I'm ****ed about
I'm really hoping it's not
Side note. Can STN affect any sps or is it an acro thing
I have a cauliflower that's lost a bit of tissue but I found a crab hiding in the affected area so I can only assume it was him
But still
reef bloke
Member
For instance- let's say you have a po4 reading of 0.04 , you over use po4 remover and drop it down to 0 within 24 hrs. In my experience this is enough to kick of basal STN due to nutrient bounce . Only use the amount that the manufacturers state , Rowaphos for instance is 100 grams per 400l of water. Plus using too much gfo can temporarily effect ph and pull Alk down a little.
Reefstarter2
New member
For any GFO it should be rinsed by running the reactor in to a bucket over night , as for liquid stuff I stay away from it too risky
Patrick Cox
Active member
I have never heard of this. I do rinse my GFO initially until the water runs clear but not overnight. Can you elaborate on this? Thanks.
lol
DavidinGA
Active member
Any sps.
ajcanale
New member
Question was actually already answered a couple times.
There is NO single cause for it. STN is a response to one of many negative stimuli which has jeopardized health.
Applies to most SPS, and similarly with all stony coral.
Reef Frog
New member
In the last few weeks, there was an intriguing post in the General Discussion forum on this topic. The poster pointed to an article or maybe scientific paper (I haven't read it yet) and summarized it by saying that STN/RTN is caused by a bacterial infection and can be treated with a commonly available antibiotic (I seem to remember ampicillin being mentioned) during a QT procedure.
Wouldn't it be great if it was that simple? Did anyone else happen to see this post? Success with Acros has eluded me and I was going to look into this further when it's time for me to try again.
ALK instability as the sole cause never sounded quite right to me. My tank was quite stable with dosing pumps and tested with different quality brand test kits. And I've seen tanks that grew acros well enough where the owners' used somewhat haphazard dosing procedures. Of course this is mere observational speculation, and it stands to reason that if an effective solution was this simple "everyone would be doing it".
Wouldn't it be great if it was that simple? Did anyone else happen to see this post? Success with Acros has eluded me and I was going to look into this further when it's time for me to try again.
ALK instability as the sole cause never sounded quite right to me. My tank was quite stable with dosing pumps and tested with different quality brand test kits. And I've seen tanks that grew acros well enough where the owners' used somewhat haphazard dosing procedures. Of course this is mere observational speculation, and it stands to reason that if an effective solution was this simple "everyone would be doing it".
jjoos99
New member
If you experience stn from dosing too much po4 reducer will the stn stop after you stop dosing? I recently noticed some stn on one of my corals and after reading this realized that I had recently dosed lanthanum to lower my po4. Hoping it will stop, only did three treatments.
thanks
Jeff
thanks
Jeff
ThRoewer
New member
Heliocostoma nonatum, a ciliate, is suspected to cause it - especially RTN. When one of my coral frags came down with it I took it out and the next morning the whole container was full with them munching on the Zooxanthellae. Before, I could see them move inside the coral tissue.
Back then I didn't know what I saw under my microscope. Only when going through Fossa-Nielsen's The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium I found a picture and description of it and started looking it up.
There has also a vibro bacterium found on corals with STN.
This seems to be known among German reefers and they treat it with antibiotics.
I tried it myself. While treating an anemone with cipro I added a coral frag with STN. The decay stopped and the frag is now slowly recovering.
Though these ciliates are likely present on most corals and it is likely that a coral has to be stressed or weakened by other factors to be seriously affected.
If you can read German, here are some links:
https://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/tiere/4837_Helicostoma_notatum.htm
http://mathgame.de/Aqua/FAQ_Plagegeister-Kreaturen.pdf
