Acan & LPS Receding, Really Need Advice

Tuffyyyyy · Jan 7, 2021

I've had an acan collection for the past few years, and now it's starting to recede. I've probably lost 10 so far, and I have 4 or so more that are alive but haven't come out for months. Now I'm starting to see it in my lobo as well. I've also had two large duncan colonies die within the past few months, seemingly out of nowhere (one was in display and one was in frag tank).

After losing my largest duncan colony, and now looking at my lobo wither away, I've decided it's finally time to do something about it. I've tested PO4 every day for the past week and it's been between 0.02 and 0.05. My Alk/Cal/Mag hasn't been that consistent but we're talking about LPS here. The most recent trident reading says Alkalinity at 9.11, Calcium at 405, and Magnesium at 1268.

Happy to provide any other information that can help, I really don't want to lose my lobo.

dwest · Jan 7, 2021

Tuffyyyyy said:
I've had an acan collection for the past few years, and now it's starting to recede. I've probably lost 10 so far, and I have 4 or so more that are alive but haven't come out for months. Now I'm starting to see it in my lobo as well. I've also had two large duncan colonies die within the past few months, seemingly out of nowhere (one was in display and one was in frag tank).

After losing my largest duncan colony, and now looking at my lobo wither away, I've decided it's finally time to do something about it. I've tested PO4 every day for the past week and it's been between 0.02 and 0.05. My Alk/Cal/Mag hasn't been that consistent but we're talking about LPS here. The most recent trident reading says Alkalinity at 9.11, Calcium at 405, and Magnesium at 1268.

Happy to provide any other information that can help, I really don't want to lose my lobo.

Sorry. I would closely inspect all heaters, pumps, and magnets for any breakage for sure. Do the corals perk up with water changes?

DeniseAndy · Jan 7, 2021

Yes, check all pumps and sump and any area may have a rusting item involved. Also, were they growing nicely for years and then began receding? Have you added anything new such as a leather or gorgonia? If a parametr spike could have caused it even if it is now fixed and undetectable. May want to begin back tracking a bit.

You can save the lobo. Make sure it is in less light, low flow area. Enough flow to get the mucous off it and eat. LPS pellets actually work nicely when I used them. Feed it weekly. Make sure nothing is around it. It will lose to any chalice, favia (some), leather, gorg.

Curious also if it perks up on water changes. Are these in your 40 or 10? At least that is in your signature. If these are your tanks, you could do 100% water change and possible get rid of any contaminate.

NeonRabbit221B · Jan 7, 2021

Have you tried dipping any of the LPS to check for pests? ICP may be a good idea if you have had a steady decline. What is your water change schedule like?

I agree with checking pumps/magnets/heaters

Tuffyyyyy · Jan 7, 2021

Thank you for the responses. I really need to update my signature, but now I'm at a 120g tank with a 40g frag tank. I did try to dip the corals a couple of months ago but that didn't fix them, I think the stress exacerbated the issue and a couple of them kicked the bucket the next day.

I do have magnets in the tank so I'll remove all of those, and I'll also check heaters. I infrequently do water changes, maybe once every few months. I have the trident and my po4 is reasonable so I haven't seen much of a need. I did a 20g change a few weeks ago, thinking it would help the issue, and didn't see much of a difference. I will try and do one today and report back. Lights also turn on in an hour so I'll try and take pictures.

NeonRabbit221B · Jan 7, 2021

Another check for pumps/heaters is to check stray voltage in the tank. If you are putting out a large V then you likely have damaged equipment you can isolate by plugging in and re-checking.

Dkmoo · Jan 7, 2021

How have the PH on your tank been over the past few years? did you add anything/change anything recently in your tank?

Tuffyyyyy · Jan 7, 2021

I've pulled out my oldest magnets & heaters so maybe that'll help. I don't have a voltage meter to measure for stray voltage though. I have a batch of salt mixing now so should be able to change the water today.

PH has been pretty low overall, usually maxing out at 8, but winter here is nicer weather so the windows have been open more. I also added a plant to the fish room that could be helping. My PH 6 months ago was probably 7.9 low to 8.1 high, and now it's 8.1 low to 8.3 high.

Dkmoo · Jan 7, 2021

Tuffyyyyy said:
I've pulled out my oldest magnets & heaters so maybe that'll help. I don't have a voltage meter to measure for stray voltage though. I have a batch of salt mixing now so should be able to change the water today.

PH has been pretty low overall, usually maxing out at 8, but winter here is nicer weather so the windows have been open more. I also added a plant to the fish room that could be helping. My PH 6 months ago was probably 7.9 low to 8.1 high, and now it's 8.1 low to 8.3 high.

I see - this lends to my suspicion that the underlying factor is the low PH - It probably doesn't help immediately solve your problem but maybe it will be useful to you to avoid future problems. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the role of PH to calcification but a lot of reefers have underestimated its importance on overall coral health. In case you are not sure, here's a primer:

1) Coral calcification uses carbonate to form Calcium Carbonate. Most Alk in the water is in the form of a Bicarbonate and a small % of carbonate. The carbonate concentration increases with PH. Since the PH scale is exponential, the difference in carbonate concentration between a ph of 7.8 and a ph of 8.3 is about 4x.
2) calcium carbonate is more soluble in lower PH than in higher

what this means to LPS is that, in low PH environments, they have a hard time time calcifying, resulting in weak bone structure, and although they can take bicarbonates to grow bones, it takes a lot more energy to strip out the extra H+ ion. This also means that inside the coral tissue, the ph is likely even lower due to the extra H+ ions that the corals is trying to pump out from the calcification process. This results generally in overall weaker coral health, reduced life span and more sensitivity to changes in conditions even as their outer appearance show very little sign of trouble for a long time while the inside paints very different picture. The coral may look healthy and happy for a long time (even years) then suddenly crash b/c it has reached a tipping point, or it has experienced some other stressors that a healthy coral grown in higher PH would have been able to overcome. The analogy is like a chain smoker dying from pneumonia, pneumonia probably caused the death, but the pack-a-day in the last 20 years is the true culprit.

look up "ocean acidification" if you are interested and its role on coral bleaching and reef disappearance. This is a 0.1 change in PH from 8.25 to 8.14