Help - Dying Acros

[orlandobrian]

I could use a little help. I purchased three large acro corals from Extreme Corals Dot Com. The corals were supposed to ship on Wednesday June 20th for arrival on Thursday June 21st (I had Thursday off from work). On Thursday, Scott from Extremecorals called and told me that UPS had not picked up the shipments set to go out on Wednesday. He asked me if I wanted the corals to ship for arrival on Friday. I asked Scott to put the corals back until the next week and try again (Thursdays are best for me).

The next week, Scott called and informed me that one of the three large acros did not look healthy enough to ship. He told me he would refund my money. The other corals shipped as planned.

When the corals arrived, they looked healthy, but the bags smelt like a dead fish! I had purchased other corals from extreme corals with the refunded money and these came in without the dead fish smell (LPS).

I acclimated the corals for two hours, gave them a 10 minute dip in Lugol's solution and placed them in my tank. One coral smelt fine, the other smelt horrible. I must confess that I do NOT have a quarantine tank set up. I wish that I did. So I thought the clean water would help the coral pull through. Everything was fine for about a week.

One of the two acros had good polyp extension (the one that did not smell) and the other looked meaty but was not feeding. Last week, the coral with the good polyp extension started dying from the base up? This is the coral that looked very healthy. It was VERY quick. I woke up to the sight of a bleached white base and very meaty branches. But the branches all had full polyp extension! This coral looked incredibly healthy and smelt fine?!!?

I gave this coral a 15 minute dip in Lugol's Solution and left for work. I thought everything would be okay, but the next day the coral was significantly more bleached. I again dipped this coral for 15 minutes.

The third day, this coral was almost all bleached. I didn't know what to do. I cut the tips off of each of the remaining healthy looking branches about 1/4 inch from the bleached section. I only got 11 cuttings from a 5 inch coral head! Today - only one remains.

Today, the other coral from extreme corals was bleached from the base up - about 1/3 of the coral is white. I just cut it into 15 frags. I will let you know what happens.

But here comes the clincher... Today my LE Steve Elias Loisetta frag I got from Alicia (slojmn) is completely bleached - no freaking warning (by the way an excellent person here - if you get a chance at a frag pack buy it!)! A three inch acro from my LFS is more than half bleached from the base up - and it was fine yesterday. A 3 1/2 inch acro from my LFS is showing white on the base (very little). A 2 inch tricolor is showing white on the base (very little). And a one inch frag of Tyree's Purple Monster (from member Ranran - a good person) is bleached about 1/4 inch from the base! I don't know what to do. I gave the frags a Lugol dip - but this doesn't seem to work. I am now making two 35 gallon trashcans of RO water for a water change. Is there a treatment anyone can recommend for my entire tank?

[szwab]

Sounds like RTN. Have you checked your water parameters? A water change is a good start might also want to run some carbon if you already are change out with some fresh carbon. I do not know of a treatment for a whole tank. When you say bleaching is the flesh remaining or are the corals down to the skeleton in the effected areas?

[ScallopKing]

i've seen temp issues cause this to happen.

[ejocam]

Sorry to hear of this. It seems that these types of thread are popping up a lot lately and something is unusual is happening to reef tanks across the US.

I know this may be way off, but what CA Reactor Media are you using?

[orlandobrian]

scwab: I don't know what RTN is.

The bleaching is all the way down to the core - pure white. The flesh of the coral seems to melt off in very thin sheets. When I dip the coral this comes off.

My parameters are:

ScallopKing: 1.) Temperature is 76 - 78 degrees (wal-mart sticker on sump - never below 76 and never over 78)

2.) Calcium is 420 - 430 (Salifert testkit)
3.) Alk is 9KH value in dKH or 3.20 Alkalinity in meq/L
4.) My LFS says Magnesium is fine (I think he said 1400? he used a red sea testkit)
5.) Copper is 0 (red sea testkit)
6.) Phosphate is Undetectable (red sea testkit)
7.) Salinity is 1.024

This is all I can test for. The frags I cut of the "stinky" coral are all meaty (no bleaching) - no polyp extension though.

ejocam: I don't have a CA Reactor. I use a two part additive Aqua Philic - but not often. I test calcium and alkalinity every other day and only add 30 ml of each part every fourth day (or longer - only as needed). Is this normal? I also use kalkwasser in my top off water - 1/2 teaspoon per gallon.

The 3 inch acro from LFS is exactly the same - no more bleaching but almost completely gone.

The 3 1/2 inch acro lost one full branch - but the base was already dead under this branch so it is not spreading to the rest of the acro.

The Purple Monster shows no more bleaching from yesterday - the white is turning brown with algae already.

Finally, the tricolor is the same as yesterday - just a sliver of white.

The irony is my RO is slow so I have yet to do a water change and I have no carbon on this tank. Is it possible that the elevated iron from the Lugol dips is catching up with this thing? I bet my iron is way to high - I don't have a testkit.

Thanks.

[rcpilot44]

I too order from extreme corals on the same day. Did not ship until Thursday due to a ups screw up. Acro smelled terrible and instantly bleach. I got a credit from Scott but haven't used it yet. My other acros are doing fine.

[ejocam]

Brian, once again sorry to hear of your mis-fortune. I heard of some issues with a certain Ca Rx Media and that is why I asked. I hope you can figure this out and move forward. Good luck

[orlandobrian]

Thanks Eric.

[orlandobrian]

I thought I would give everyone an update. I was shocked to have Scott from Extemecorals call me at work and recommend a dip they use instead of Lugols. It was refreshing that this company took the time call. I know its not the forum for this, but I thought I should mention it.

The first coral frag (the last one left from the original colony) did not make it. It faded from the bottom up. There are only three frags left of the other coral (last 15 frags). On a brighter note, my other corals are not showing any more signs of die off. They are no more bleached from when I wrote last.

[orlandobrian]

I should also point out that the Acans and Monti I ordered from Extreme Corals are BEAUTIFUL and very healthy.

[fireiko]

I am having similar issues with my corals. I have also bought from Extreme, but can't say that that is the cause or anything. What is the dip that Scott recommended?