sps not to happy... pictures included

[Ding2daDong]

I recently bought this tank as a whole setup for a really great deal. The corals had amazing colors and I havn't changed much since I bought the tank but some of my sps are starting to bleach and die.

Here is an overview of my tank setup and my parameters.

75g aga, 40g sump
Octopus 200 skimmer
Refugium w/ cheato
8bulb t5 tek fixture, on for 7hours
Flow is a mag 12 return, 2 seio, korralia 3
SPS dominated
Fish include: blue tang, yellow tang, brown tang, copperband butterfly, pair of clown fish, some chromis, algae blenny.

I dose a homemade two part solution, and seachem amino acids
Ca 430
ALK/DKH 8.6
P04 0
Mag 1280
pH 8.3
Nitrate 0
Temp 80-81

I just wanted some insight on what could be the problem. Here are some pictures

One coral that is bleaching out


2 corals that have died




Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

-Matthew

[drrich]

I am certainly no expert, so bump; but I would think one might want to take those dead pieces out and maybe start a separate tank so they don't contaminate anything else, and then do daily significant water changes.

Again, just suggestions with no basis in experience, but I see you had no replies, so I am trying to help.

Rich

[Ding2daDong]

I just took them out. I am also planning a water change today. I have not done one since I bought the tank, little over 4 weeks ago.

Thanks again

-Matthew

[Toddrtrex]

How recently did you buy it? And how was it moved?

Wonder if it is just the stress of the move, and perhaps something was released during the move.

[Ding2daDong]

Originally posted by Toddrtrex
How recently did you buy it? And how was it moved?

Wonder if it is just the stress of the move, and perhaps something was released during the move.

It was moved a little over a month ago. The tank was setup for years before the move. When I bought the tank the colors popped and everything looked great.

Since then alot of the sps that came with the tank have lost color and/or died. I havn't added any "new" corals to the tank but ones I previously had in other aquariums.

Thanks again for any help

-Matthew

[Toddrtrex]

I could be wrong, but I think the move is a big factor, could have stressed them out. And while your numbers look good, they might be different from the previous owner's. You might doing things a bit different then he did, and that is adding to their stress.

Personally, I would keep up with water changes, and what not and make sure that everything stay stable.

Wish I could give you a more concrete answer -- like do X and everything will be better.

[Ding2daDong]

Originally posted by Toddrtrex
I could be wrong, but I think the move is a big factor, could have stressed them out. And while your numbers look good, they might be different from the previous owner's. You might doing things a bit different then he did, and that is adding to their stress.

Personally, I would keep up with water changes, and what not and make sure that everything stay stable.

Wish I could give you a more concrete answer -- like do X and everything will be better.

Thanks for all the help. I just mixed up a batch of saltwater and tomorrow will do the change.

I just thought that there was something I overlooked that was messing everything up. Like the lights are on to long or something like that.

Thanks again

-Matthew

[chem-e]

You probably forgot to list this, but what's the salinity and do you have an ammonia tester? Perhaps you're experiencing a mini cycle.

Did you rinse the sand out thoroughly before reintroducing it? Since the system was established, maybe there was a lot of gunk in the sand that was disturbed during the move.

Just my .02

[prideprops]

I am battling the same problem now too. Take a look at the picture of this on my thread:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1216062
Someone suggested that it is a brown jelly infection. I did more research and it sure sounds like it. It might be a similar problem. And when I vacuum the jelly and dead tissue, the smell of the water is horrible. I just did a 30% water change this morning and hoping it won't spread.

[RoWall]

I'd suggest as much water change as you can, and break off the infected pieces of corals as soon as you see the infection. Don't let them be any minute in the tank after they died. It's spreading the infection all over the tank!
You could try to make some kind of quarantine tank for infected pieces and treat them with some medicaments. I used Kent tech D ( don't know if you have it in States),
for dip treatment.
good luck!

[Randy1]

Take them out and throw them away you don't need another tank. I've had this sort of thing happen before. Possible causes: Stress from, too hot, changes in alk. high tds make-up water, pest such as red bugs. Good luck

[Ding2daDong]

Thanks for all the help.

I am going to do a water change tomorrow. The water is mixing right now. I recently got an ro/di unit instead of lugging the water from the LFS. It reads 0 tds and I dumped the first 90 gallons. I also add dechlorinator just in case.

I did syphon out the sand when I moved the tank.

I also didn't see any slim on the sps or red bugs.

Thanks again

-Matthew

[ycnibrc]

did you use dechlorinatorwater to mix your water ??Steve Weast wipe out his whole tank with the dechlorinator. Dechlorinator only use for fresh water not reef tank.

[mikekman]

Do a good sized water change and put some carbon in a filter bag. Any sps that is bleaching, frag it or something.

Let us know how things go. Should be ok I think.

[wentreefgirl]

You mag is wayyyyyy low. Need to up that baby. And could also be the move. However, I have found that when my mag is at good level, everything seems to do much better. Water changes. With a good salt that have everything in it including mag.

[snarfe]

i would say that the move is prolly your problem. are you using the two part in the same ratios that the previous owner used? i wouldn't say that your mag is your problem if your calcium is over 400. its really not that low. i think someone said this already but test your salinty. Did you miss any days of the two part? Did you use all the "his" water that was in the tank or did you just use part of it? i would say that your ALK could of dipped.

[ezcompany]

how old are the bulbs? sps bleach due to old bulbs.

[FroggyFeet]

You might want to run a longer cycle on those t5s I ran a 12 hour cycle with that same 8 bulb setup and things semmed to work pretty nicely. The stress from the move is problly what is frying all your sps, problly want to go with multiple small water changes or the like.

[alazo1]

What do you keep your mag at Wentreefgirl?. I thought the acceptable level is 12-1500.

Albert

[beariedog]

Matt is it possible the water got too warm that the corals were
in during the move,it was real hot out last month.

David

[Philwd]

I didn't see if you kept the sand or changed it out. If it is the old sand you likely kicked something up from it that is affecting your corals. Mg of 1280 is not really all that low. IIRC Randy recommended 1250-1350.

[Ding2daDong]

Originally posted by ycnibrc
did you use dechlorinatorwater to mix your water ??Steve Weast wipe out his whole tank with the dechlorinator. Dechlorinator only use for fresh water not reef tank.

UPDATE!

It appears that a few more of the acroporas are starting to go through the same fate. Slowly getting white tips and then slowly lossing tissue.

I do dose prime dechlorinator when changing water. I did a 20% water change and am making enough to do another 20% water change and am debating calling someone over to do a full tank flush? I also skip a day every so often of dosing Randy's homemade two part.

I am running carbon, and have lowered the amount of light exposure to only 5 hours a day.

I also have a few things that could be a major issue. My temp. gauge is off and the water temp gets to about 82.0 F during the day. I added some fans to the sump and now 78.0F is what it is.

I also didn't even notice that the idiot who had the tank before me used METAL clamps to secure the return mag pump to the tubing. It was rusted...

I changed that out. Any long term effects on the water from that?

Also found out that the mag pump was leeching electricity. Changed the pump out and run a grounding probe just in case.

Thanks again for everyones help. I hope I can fight this thing

-Matthew

[alazo1]

Wow, sorry to hear this Matt.

I would not dose the dechloronator due to the post of someone loosing their whole tank. Your tds is now 0 which means it's basically pure.

Was the clamp summerged or just got rusted from salt spray. If the latter I think the carbon would take care of it but just in case you may want to get some ...dang, I forgot the name of that pad, maybe someone will think of it. Sorry.

Did you test for ammonia and nitrite as suggested, it does sound like you're going through a mini cycle.

Even though you've cut the photoperiod down I would not run all 8 lights for now. They could handle 4 or 5 lights for a while.

Also I don't think you've mentioned if you have a dsb on the sump. If you do and ammonia is detectable I'd probably yank it.

How often are you feeding your fish?.

What salt are you using?.

Have you talked to the person that sold you the tank, maybe they'll have some insight specific to that tank.

How much of the old water did you use when you bought the tank?

Let us know how the ammonia and nitrite test come out.

Albert

[Ding2daDong]

Originally posted by alazo1
Wow, sorry to hear this Matt.

I would not dose the dechloronator due to the post of someone loosing their whole tank. Your tds is now 0 which means it's basically pure.

Was the clamp summerged or just got rusted from salt spray. If the latter I think the carbon would take care of it but just in case you may want to get some ...dang, I forgot the name of that pad, maybe someone will think of it. Sorry.

Did you test for ammonia and nitrite as suggested, it does sound like you're going through a mini cycle.

Even though you've cut the photoperiod down I would not run all 8 lights for now. They could handle 4 or 5 lights for a while.

Also I don't think you've mentioned if you have a dsb on the sump. If you do and ammonia is detectable I'd probably yank it.

How often are you feeding your fish?.

What salt are you using?.

Have you talked to the person that sold you the tank, maybe they'll have some insight specific to that tank.

How much of the old water did you use when you bought the tank?

Let us know how the ammonia and nitrite test come out.

Albert

The clamp was submerged in the water and rusted really bad. No ammonia or nitrates present. I cut the photoperiod to 4 hours.

I feed my fish daily with pellets and a special made mix. I am using instant ocean for salt water mixes. I ended up doing a complete water flush when I moved the tank.

I do have a dsb in the refugium and sand in the display. No ammonia detectable as well as nitrates.

Thanks again for everyones help

-Matthew

[gasman059]

Hey Matt sorry about your curent problems.
Certaily stress as well as many of the above factors could be implicated.
Water changes and stabilty will most likely promote success.
GL