What's killing my LPS?

R

RotaryGeek

New member
It started with a colony of hammers. I grew it out from 2 heads to 12 in a couple of months, then over the course of maybe 2 weeks it died. One head at a time. It would close up and shrink until it was completely dead, then start at another head. The way it travels from one head to the next closest head made me think some type of parasite, so I dipped it with coral revive. 1 full cap per gallon for 3 minutes. It seemed to help for a day or two, but eventually started again. That colony finally ended up with a single small head that I gave to my dad and it's doing great in his nano cube. Now it's happening again with a colony of frogspawn. Currently 2 heads are shrunk up. I thought maybe it was because of a k4 too close that it was being roughed up, so I moved it yesterday. Today it's still closed up. I have inspected it up close and can't see any bugs or any algae growing on it. I need some help figuring out what is killing my LPS.
 
lets see some water parameters, and age of your bulbs. there are so many things that can cause this. the indication that it is growing in your dads tank and not yours and is happening to your frogspawn means its something with your tank otherwise it would be passed to your dads. ie if it was a bug of some kind. get a ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, cal, alk and mag test. thats the best place to start. any problems with other corals?
 
Yeah I was just about to post my tests.

Salinity is 1.026
Nitrate 0
Calcium 500
Alk 9
Don't know ph, don't bother testing for it unless calcium and alk are out of whack.
Temp is anywhere from 78-82 (been hard to keep a steady temp even with a reefkeeper with this Texas summer)
Bulbs was something I thought of too, since they were getting really old (around 15 months) but I thought that if anything my sps would show signs of RTN or STN first. I did change them out for some old used bulbs with only around 7-8 months on them. They are 10k xm 150w metal halide.

The switch to my dads house has me baffled also, because it's a newly set up nano cube 12 gallon, but it used all established rock from my tank, and water from my tank also. So again lights was what I was thinking. Since I have switched out bulbs, I noticed my SPS has had a ton more polyp extension, but still crappy LPS.
 
See the two heads on the left that are all shriveled up? That's what I'm talking about. Anybody got some help for me? I really don't want to lose another colony. Oh and today while I was at my dads house I noticed that his hammer is all shrivled up too.
 
I'd be curious to know what your Mg is at.

What kind of flow are these euphyllia getting? And is it only euphyllia that are affected or other LPS too?

Out of curiosity, have you tried target feeding them with meaty foods?

You may want to consider talking to a vet about getting some interceptor if you suspect a pest.
 
I have no mag test, but I dose reef complete and I think that is also in it. I have about 600-700 gph from my return pump and 2 koralia 4s in the tank. It seems to be a little worse today. I have heard some pretty bad things about interceptor, so I don't think that would be a good way for me to go.
 
Fair enough. I don't dose my tank very much so I can't really comment but from hearing other's experiences with an all-in-one type supplement, I might double check those numbers and have someone test Mg for you. I had an issue with my LPS thinning out. I suspected a bug so I dipped all of them twice. The corals did improve but soon after I realized my Mg was around 1100. I dose a couple of tablespoons of Mg about every 3-4 weeks along with a WC and everything sits pretty stable. LPS have never looked better. I'm pretty sure it was the Mg and not a parasite.
 
I checked my salinity today becuase I assumed it was correct from when I transfered everything from my leaking 180 about a week ago and of course it's off. Down to 1.020. I mixed up about 2 gallons of water with about twice the normal salt and slowly topped off over the course of last night and this morning. I'll finish it tonight and maybe see some improvements in my coral hopefully lol.
 
When you were losing the colony was it covered with brown slime? If so, you might have a brown slime bacteria outbreak in your tank. Running a UV sterilizer for a few days will help to control it.
 
Nope no slime. I believe the salinity was my problem. But now i have a new problem. I think i raised it way too fast, cuz the next morning after it was done...... all my SPS were dying. Almost all of it was discolored or just bare white. Stupid newbish mistake that i should have known better to do. Its been like 3 days now and i haven't completely lost any pieces yet, but some are just barely holding on. On a side not, the frogspawn looked great today lol.
 
Interceptor is some pretty bad stuff, that's why you have to get it from a vet. And I believe it's illegal in California too. I don't know much more than that about it though.
 
It is in fact a controlled substance and requires a prescription from a vet. It is used to control a number of pests including red bugs. I have actually found it to be fairly mild when dosed correctly. Definitely do your homework should you use it. I decided to dip my corals (4 to 6 hours) a couple of times versus treating the entire tank. Worked well and no losses.
 
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Interceptor is used against the small parasitic arthropods which cause mange in dogs. It is also quite effective on the small parasitic arthropods known as red bugs. And it is not illegal in California. I have obtained legal prescriptions through my vet here. Ivermectin is often used to treat heartworm in dogs.
 
RotaryGeek said:
Nope no slime. I believe the salinity was my problem. But now i have a new problem. I think i raised it way too fast, cuz the next morning after it was done...... all my SPS were dying. Almost all of it was discolored or just bare white. Stupid newbish mistake that i should have known better to do. Its been like 3 days now and i haven't completely lost any pieces yet, but some are just barely holding on. On a side not, the frogspawn looked great today lol.
Click to expand...

If you want to raise your salinity, just top off with regular strength saltwater for a couple days. No need to use a concentrated brine solution.
 
If you didnt let the new water sit a bit before you added it that could stress some corals, esp sps. They also tend not to enjoy quick alk changes, adding all that salt could have done that. Glad your euphyllia looks better, keep it in low flow and it should continue to do fine! Since you changed your bulbs its probably getting a lot more light so make sure nothing is getting too much light. If youre worried about trace elements i would just do a nice wc and that will take care of most of that issue.
 
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