Coral bad reactions to adding biodiversity?

[kartrsu]

I'm wondering if anyone has experienced bad reactions from their corals from adding biodiversity to the tank be it from live rock or sand from sellers like ipsf, garf's grunge, gulfliverock, etc. I had a dino outbreak in my 20G and added the live sand and wonder mud from IPSF to bolster the microbiome. My expensive torches and SPS all started to react in a negative way the next couple of days. I thought I'd wait it out, but my euphyllia started showing tissue recession and expelling lots of zooxanthellae. Even my acans were all closed up. I ultimately decided to emergency move them back to the frag tank and they seem to be recovering.

 

[ichthyogeek]

I can't help but wonder if this was due instead to a spike in something like nitrates or phosphates.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Did you check for an ammonia spike? I'm thinking you may have had a mini cycle.

 

[kartrsu]

You know what, I didn’t check ammonia. My shrimps and snails were all fine, and I figured they would be the first to tell me ammonia was an issue.

But now that I think about it, you guys are probably right that it was a parameter swing. I know my phosphates shot up to .36ppm, so I did a big water change and that must have swung the parameters even more. Alk spiked a little because of that cause I used reef crystals which is at 11 dkh.

The reason I ask this is because my 20G is 6 months old but my frag tank has 2 year old rock. I know I should have just let the tank stabilize again after all swings, but the corals were just looking BAD. So, in the panic, I tested moving a coral to my frag tank and it bounced back quickly. I subsequently moved the rest and they are all doing better, no zooxanthellae expulsion. My frag tank has different parameters too, so that would add even more instability and stress with the move, but the corals are for sure doing better.

 

[schuby]

I only had good effects from my IPSF order.

 

[kartrsu]

Thanks everyone. I'm happy with the IPSF stuff as my dinos have started to diminish. Only complaint I have is that I received an aiptasia, which thankfully I spotted in QT before I added the IPSF stuff. Plus these nerites don't stay in the water!

 

[Rjukan]

I'll post if I see something similar, I have a order from IPSF coming this sat. My system is a bit more stable though, being almost 3 years old and total volume around 70g.

Did you notice the aiptasia on something or was it in a bunch of macro? Reason I ask is last time I got the red macro algae as a bonus and I found a couple in there.

 

[Vette67]

Thanks everyone. I'm happy with the IPSF stuff as my dinos have started to diminish. Only complaint I have is that I received an aiptasia, which thankfully I spotted in QT before I added the IPSF stuff. Plus these nerites don't stay in the water!

They definitely like to climb out of the glass. I even picked one up that fell onto my floor, that's how far it climbed out..

 

[kartrsu]

I'll post if I see something similar, I have a order from IPSF coming this sat. My system is a bit more stable though, being almost 3 years old and total volume around 70g.

Did you notice the aiptasia on something or was it in a bunch of macro? Reason I ask is last time I got the red macro algae as a bonus and I found a couple in there.

I dumped everything, with the exception of a free coral, into a 5 gallon tank to observe for a week, so I'm not sure what it came in on. The aiptasia popped up on the glass the next day.

FWIW, I also got white flatworms and tiny hydroids. I believe both are benign, but can grow uncontrolled. Of course, it includes bristleworms and amphipods. Did get a cool spaghetti worm though!

 

[Timfish]

Interesting! Myself I'd think the age of your system might have been a factor. Even using live sand and live rock I see a maturation process that's roughly 10 - 12 months. There's a lot of cryptic stuff and endoliths that just take time. Glad to see your stuff is recovering!

 

[ScottB]

I am not sure I understand your order of operation correctly, but a spike in ALK could certainly upset corals.

I too use IORC, but keep my tank around 8ish dKH. For normal 15% WCs I am generally OK with a <.5 swing. If I am doing anything larger, I will knock down the ALK with some acid buffer and drop in a big Mag 18 pump to gas off the CO2 and heat the water.

 

[Vette67]

Interesting! Myself I'd think the age of your system might have been a factor. Even using live sand and live rock I see a maturation process that's roughly 10 - 12 months. There's a lot of cryptic stuff and endoliths that just take time. Glad to see your stuff is recovering!

I love it. I consider myself an old salt too and thought I had heard just about everything there is concerning reefing. I am in no way saying that I KNOW everything. I don't. But then I see the word "Endoliths" and had to look it up. I don't know how I missed out on that one. Thanks for my new word of the day. I learned something new today.

 

[ScottB]

I love it. I consider myself an old salt too and thought I had heard just about everything there is concerning reefing. I am in no way saying that I KNOW everything. I don't. But then I see the word "Endoliths" and had to look it up. I don't know how I missed out on that one. Thanks for my new word of the day. I learned something new today.

+1 to this.

Are they different than microfauna though?

 

[Timfish]

I love it. I consider myself an old salt too and thought I had heard just about everything there is concerning reefing. I am in no way saying that I KNOW everything. I don't. But then I see the word "Endoliths" and had to look it up. I don't know how I missed out on that one. Thanks for my new word of the day. I learned something new today.

+1 to this.

You're welcome!

Are they different than microfauna though?

For the most part in our aquariums I'd give a qualified "yes" but it will depend on the species. My quess is some sponges would be considered both macrofauna and endoliths