Coral death

sunken3 · Dec 19, 2020

I have a bunch of SPS (mostly frags and small colonies) i am growing out in my 250G. a couple of weeks ago i had one of my larger colonies start to lose its tissue color (from the base up) over about 3 days. i tried to frag the tips to save some, but none made it. Thankfully it was one of my least colorful corals.

This morning all my corals were fine, tonight i looked at my tank while feeding the fish and all corals are great... except one. It is completely dead (from florescent lime green to bone white). Thoughts on what would/could kill an otherwise perfect looking piece so quickly?

vetteguy53081 · Dec 19, 2020

White is good in regards to a chance of comeback
What could cause this:

alk spike
Ph too high or low
Salinity too high (possible false reading)
Too much water flow
White intensity too bright
Mag high

targets:

Alk 7-9
Ph 8.1-8.3
Temp 77-79
Salinity 1.025
Mag 1300
CA. 440
Nitrate < .03
Pho’s. < .05

sunken3 · Dec 19, 2020

thanks.. i am in those ranges.. i fight phosphates a bit, but they have been pretty low/stable for quite a while.. the problem is, nothing has changed in the last week.. thats why i find it weird that this thing just bleached out in a few hours..

sunken3 · Dec 19, 2020

well.. i also fight PH a bit.. staying at 8 is a challenge,.. which is weird, cause my sump is outside and i use a CO2 scrubber.,... something in my house is awry

sunken3 · Dec 19, 2020

maybe my family breathes too much.. i will ask them to slow it down

ScottB · Dec 20, 2020

Stretch back further than a week. There can be some considerable delay in reaction to a stress event. Also, a creeping change in parameters can be OK until it is finally NOT OK.

Has your alkalinity consumption changed at all? Has your phosphate been dropping in the last 3-4 weeks?

sunken3 · Dec 20, 2020

most things are pretty stable - i have been dropping my phosphates over a period of time... slowly (i did recently try phosohate-e, which seems to work well... could be the culprit.. but not willing to condemn yet)

ScottB · Dec 20, 2020

sunken3 said:
most things are pretty stable - i have been dropping my phosphates over a period of time... slowly (i did recently try phosohate-e, which seems to work well... could be the culprit.. but not willing to condemn yet)

Lanthanum is very effective in removing PO4. Any chance it was too effective?

What is your bioload like?

sunken3 · Dec 22, 2020

i have been using gfo and phosphate-e.. my phosphates are my only pain parameter / well other than PH.. which makes no sense to me, i have a sump outside, and my protein skimmer has a co2 scrubber - and still my ph hover in the 7.95-8.0

i have a lot of fish... and they are starting to get big.. but the tank also has about 350 gallons of water with the sump.

ScottB · Dec 22, 2020

sunken3 said:
i have been using gfo and phosphate-e.. my phosphates are my only pain parameter / well other than PH.. which makes no sense to me, i have a sump outside, and my protein skimmer has a co2 scrubber - and still my ph hover in the 7.95-8.0

i have a lot of fish... and they are starting to get big.. but the tank also has about 350 gallons of water with the sump.

The present cool thinking is that with ENOUGH consistent bioload, residual levels of PO4 and NO3 are not so important. Just measurable is enough. I have gone from too little (then dinos) to too much -- at least when it comes to nitrates.

As to pH, my probe tells me I am a tad on the low side even with a scrubber and reverse cycle refugium. 7.85 to 8.15 typically.

ScottB · Dec 22, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
Nitrate < .03

That is a bit close to zero don't you think? Perhaps if you have a huge fish load ticking ammonia all day it is good. But < .03 is edgy territory in my book.

sunken3 · Dec 22, 2020

my nitrates sit around 3ppm.. i had them up around 100 a year ago... but got them under control.. phosphates are the challenge.. they've been up around 2.8ppm (a year ago).. now i have them under 1ppm... but keeping them around .07ppm requires effort.

vetteguy53081 · Dec 22, 2020

ScottB said:
That is a bit close to zero don't you think? Perhaps if you have a huge fish load ticking ammonia all day it is good. But < .03 is edgy territory in my book.

meant .3

sunken3 · Dec 22, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
meant .3

yes that is very low.. i have clams that need to eat something.

ScottB · Dec 23, 2020

sunken3 said:
my nitrates sit around 3ppm.. i had them up around 100 a year ago... but got them under control.. phosphates are the challenge.. they've been up around 2.8ppm (a year ago).. now i have them under 1ppm... but keeping them around .07ppm requires effort.

It seems that with just a little practice, lanthanum chloride is the easier way to dial in PO4. You just do the math, apply, and you get the results you calculated. No mess, no fuss, no guess work.

Unbeknownst to me, my Red Sea nitrate kit went bad, kept reading 10 no matter. When replaced I was testing at 40-60. Slow carbon dosing is gradually bringing it down.

sunken3 · Dec 23, 2020

awesome.. i have read tangs are very sensitive to LC - which is another reason I have never tried it. phosphate e is cheap enough, but GFO gets very expensive long term.