Avatar chalice dying before my eyes.. what the heck?

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I’ve had these two frags in my tank for a couple months and they had been thriving. Last week I had an outbreak of brook/velvet, medicated the tank with Rally, but the fish didn’t make it. Did a 30% water change and added carbon a few days ago.

This morning one frag looks like it’s ditching the zoozanthelle and the tissue is receding. The other one looked totally healthy. Literally an hour later the healthy frag is now receding and losing color RAPIDLY. It’s like I’m watching these things die in realtime.

I get there are some swings going on, but even my SPS is hanging in there and I’d expect that to be the first to complain.

I even fed the corals their usual aminos and reef chili yesterday.

I wouldn’t expect corals to die THIS fast. The question is why and whether there’s any chance to save them.

As far as params, I just tested and Alk is 7, Ph is 8, Nitrates are 10. Haven’t checked anything else yet, but I’d expect Cal to be the usual 390ish and Mag to be the usual 1000-1100ish like they’ve always been. I don’t dose anything and never have.

The only other coral that has been a bit unhappy this week is the frogspawn due to the meds but it’s already perking back up after the water change/carbon.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Photo?

 

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Photo?

There are photos already

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

There are photos already

My bad, didn't load for me

 

[PocketGoose]

Is the mag number a typo? Seems pretty low.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Tank looks relatively new, how old is it? When did the recession start? @Randy Holmes-Farley could help with knowing what was in the medication you used, @encrustingacro ever seen such rapid recession? I've only ever heard of die off happening this quick during BJD which isn't what's happening here.

 

[bitstream]

Is the mag number a typo? Seems pretty low.

Nope. That’s what Fritz Blue mixes to.

I also looked at switching to maybe Instant Ocean purple but my test mixes came out similar to Fritz. Fritz seemed better with slightly higher Mag and Cal, though at the cost of lower Alk.

And yes, they’re mixed right. Yes, I’ve tested multiple times using 3 entirely different methods.

Bottom line is that the corals were peachy until this outbreak, so it’s possible this supposedly “reef safe” medication isn’t reef safe at all.

 

[bitstream]

Tank looks relatively new, how old is it? When did the recession start? @Randy Holmes-Farley could help with knowing what was in the medication you used, @encrustingacro ever seen such rapid recession? I've only ever heard of die off happening this quick during BJD which isn't what's happening here.

Tank has been going since October.

Tissue recession on one chalice started last night. The second one started this morning. Was healthy at 8:30, looked bad at 9:30.

Mouths are now all wide open and losing color.

 

[ReeferDog]

Consider checking P04 levels if you haven't.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Nope. That’s what Fritz Blue mixes to.

I also looked at switching to maybe Instant Ocean purple but my test mixes came out similar to Fritz. Fritz seemed better with slightly higher Mag and Cal, though at the cost of lower Alk.

And yes, they’re mixed right. Yes, I’ve tested multiple times using 3 entirely different methods.

Bottom line is that the corals were peachy until this outbreak, so it’s possible this supposedly “reef safe” medication isn’t reef safe at all.

I'd say it was the medication, an onset this quick is basically unheard of, the mouths "wide open" is the coral actively expelling zooanthelle, which explains the loss of color, I doubt is the low mag as that doesn't usually have severe effects, if this was the first water change in awhile that could also do it, another possible explanation is a rapid temp spike, but my money is on the medication. @Randy Holmes-Farley know anything about that particular medication?

 

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Consider checking P04 levels if you haven't.

I check weekly. They seesaw between 0 and 0.02. Right now 0.

 

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I'd say it was the medication, an onset this quick is basically unheard of, the mouths "wide open" is the coral actively expelling zooanthelle, which explains the loss of color, I doubt is the low mag as that doesn't usually have severe effects, if this was the first water change in awhile that could also do it, another possible explanation is a rapid temp spike, but my money is on the medication. @Randy Holmes-Farley know anything about that particular medication?

The temperature is rock steady at 77.x. There is always a slight dip to like 75 degrees each week during the phase where I clean the tank and do a water change, but it’s never made anything unhappy in the past.

FWIW, salinity is also stable between 1.0245 and 1.0255. Checked weekly.

Strange that the corals would change this suddenly and it’d be one of the corals that had seemed to show no negative reaction during the treatment, but afterward.

 

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And this isn’t a tank loaded with corals. It’s a 20g with probably 17-18 gallons.

I’ve got a small bird’s nest, a Duncan, a small favia, a small frogspawn, a few small zoa frags, and the chalices you see in the picture.

The only other oddity is that some of the zoas are also unhappy but that’s not new. It looks like Amphipods like to climb all over them and occasionally eat them.

 

[PocketGoose]

Nope. That’s what Fritz Blue mixes to.

I also looked at switching to maybe Instant Ocean purple but my test mixes came out similar to Fritz. Fritz seemed better with slightly higher Mag and Cal, though at the cost of lower Alk.

And yes, they’re mixed right. Yes, I’ve tested multiple times using 3 entirely different methods.

Bottom line is that the corals were peachy until this outbreak, so it’s possible this supposedly “reef safe” medication isn’t reef safe at all.

I only ask because I know at lower Mg levels Ca/Alk will start to precipitate, causing instability between the two.
I was under the assumption that rally is usually pretty safe, but I have never used it personally. Sorry I couldn't be of much help. Hopefully somebody comes along and is able to shed some light!

 

[bitstream]

I only ask because I know at lower Mg levels Ca/Alk will start to precipitate, causing instability between the two.
I was under the assumption that rally is usually pretty safe, but I have never used it personally. Sorry I couldn't be of much help. Hopefully somebody comes along and is able to shed some light!

I can say that weekly testing has shown all my parameters to be remarkably stable. Mag might be as high as 1150 hours after a water change and will drop to 1050ish over the period of a week.

 

[Troylee]

I’d lean towards low mag myself… no matter what your salt mixes too it’s a good idea to dose it up around 1300-1400 for fleshy corals.. couldn’t tell ya the science behind it but it works and the corals love it! Ruby rally didn’t cause this I’ve used it a few times on my current display even 6 times over the recommended dose with sensitive sps and LPs and had zero issues besides my clam wouldn’t fully extended… I did 4 days of dosing for a brook outbreak “which it cured” and over dosed cause I didn’t read the directions correctly lol.. after my water change I did notice elevated po4 but it went back naturally after a week or so.

 

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I’d lean towards low mag myself… no matter what your salt mixes too it’s a good idea to dose it up around 1300-1400 for fleshy corals.. couldn’t tell ya the science behind it but it works and the corals love it! Ruby rally didn’t cause this I’ve used it a few times on my current display even 6 times over the recommended dose with sensitive sps and LPs and had zero issues besides my clam wouldn’t fully extended… I did 4 days of dosing for a brook outbreak “which it cured” and over dosed cause I didn’t read the directions correctly lol.. after my water change I did notice elevated po4 but it went back naturally after a week or so.

I’ve had very different results… were you using Rally or Rally Pro? I’m using Rally Pro which lacks the formalin. Lost all fish, SPS is browning but hanging in there so far, Frogspawn looks kinda sad but again hanging in there (no longer eats mysis when target fed FYI), and then the chalice issue.

This all happened after starting to dose Rally Pro. Prior to the Rally Pro I also dosed with PraziPro because I suspected flukes. Rally was done like 4 days after Prazi as I saw what looked like Brook.

 

[Troylee]

I’ve had very different results… were you using Rally or Rally Pro? I’m using Rally Pro which lacks the formalin. Lost all fish, SPS is browning but hanging in there so far, Frogspawn looks kinda sad but again hanging in there (no longer eats mysis when target fed FYI), and then the chalice issue.

This all happened after starting to dose Rally Pro. Prior to the Rally Pro I also dosed with PraziPro because I suspected flukes. Rally was done like 4 days after Prazi as I saw what looked like Brook.

Ruby rally pro. I’ve used prazi here and there also as a precautionary for my tangs.

 

[sfin52]

I’ve had very different results… were you using Rally or Rally Pro? I’m using Rally Pro which lacks the formalin. Lost all fish, SPS is browning but hanging in there so far, Frogspawn looks kinda sad but again hanging in there (no longer eats mysis when target fed FYI), and then the chalice issue.

This all happened after starting to dose Rally Pro. Prior to the Rally Pro I also dosed with PraziPro because I suspected flukes. Rally was done like 4 days after Prazi as I saw what looked like Brook.

Have you started activated carbon and a water change. Those should help and maybe pull the coral back.

 

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Have you started activated carbon and a water change. Those should help and maybe pull the coral back.

I did a WC and added carbon after the last fish died the other day. Also turned on the UV this morning. Tank still has a faint haze.

I mentioned noticing amhpods eating and annoying my zoos. Just in the last hour I saw a bunch of them crawling up under the chalice frags. I wonder if they're munching on the innards. They are out during the day which is unusual, presumably because they don't have any predators.