Coral refuse to live!

[Black Pearl]

I had this nice little developing colony, not a real fancy coral, but I liked it. Noticed a branch had started tissue recession, took it out, dipped in revive and decided to watch it for a day or two. Well it didn’t get better so I decided to frag it at least I would be able to save and regrow, then after a day or two those frags started the same thing, took them and dipped in mild solution of Lugol’s placed in frag tank under less intense light continued to watch. Within a week all dead. (Refused to live)No ther issues with any other coral nearby, but a couple weeks before had the same thing happen to a coral at the other end of the tank that did just fine after cutting out the affected branch( wanted to live). Wish I had taken pics, sps can be very frustrating at times

 

[Reeferdood]

SPS can die with no obvious signs. But, since it seems to be trending I would bet something is up within the system.
Did you add anything recently? What are your parameters? Change lighting?

 

[Black Pearl]

I had a slight drop in calcium to 350 but started correcting that slowly, Alk runs 7-7.5, I don’t do water changes per se, only when I clean the sump or acclimating fish or coral, mag runs around 1350. This coral was looking great, then boom, I know it happens but #%##!

 

[Reeferdood]

Are you running a ULNS? That alkalinity is kinda low IMHO, I would get it up to at least 8. I would also boost the magnesium to @1400, I have seen a dramatic improvement in my montiporas from higher magnesium. What about organics, do you have any?? (nitrates & phosphate)

 

[Black Pearl]

N&P are low but not on purpose, using ATI Essential, coral have been responding better since I keep my Alk between 7-8 no3=5, po4.01-0.2. Monti are crazy in my tank

 

[Reeferdood]

Im digging the grafted cap!

 

[Flippers4pups]

I suspect bacterial issue. Do you run a UV?

 

[Black Pearl]

Yeah I run a UV but it’s small, that’s exactly what I thought it was, bacterial, but like I stated some coral just give up the ghost easily

 

[KrisReef]

That Monti is going to be sucking the CA, Alk, MG P & NO3 out of that tank like a sponge. It could be stripping nutrients so fast from your tank that your other sps colony couldn't compete. The drop in CA & Alk you reported make me think you might want to step up your replacement regime.
Also, do you feed any plankton or other micro food items to your coral?

 

[Black Pearl]

Replacement regime is ATI Essentials. I agree the monti cap is using up a lot of the tanks resources and there are two that size, I have considered taking one out. I check the major three elements every other day and sometimes ALK daily but the tank is full of sps, no others were affected. My point has been that I have almost lost other coral in the past and somehow they respond to treatment, then you have those that don’t no matter what you do

 

[Black Pearl]

Ha just read@ Yamil Montanez thread and a light bulb went off in my head. I usually run GAC for about five days each month this time I put in GFO because I read that it might remove Aluminum which I have elevated levels from Marine pure blocks, and this only concerns me because I have a Duncan coral that has been closed for over a year, still growing buds but not opening. So I thought if I lowered the Al it might open. With my po4 already being so low, the GFO might have dropped it low enough to cause the tissue lost. Especially if the coral was already compromised in some way. Checking po4 and no3 and taking GAC/GFO off line before I do more damage

 

[Flippers4pups]

Ha just read@ Yamil Montanez thread and a light bulb went off in my head. I usually run GAC for about five days each month this time I put in GFO because I read that it might remove Aluminum which I have elevated levels from Marine pure blocks, and this only concerns me because I have a Duncan coral that has been closed for over a year, still growing buds but not opening. So I thought if I lowered the Al it might open. With my po4 already being so low, the GFO might have dropped it low enough to cause the tissue lost. Especially if the coral was already compromised in some way. Checking po4 and no3 and taking GAC/GFO off line before I do more damage

Could be the cause. You might consider removing the blocks and going refugium if you have the space for nutrient control. I'm currently considering starting one up.

 

[Scorpius]

I run my alkalinity around 7.0 dkh myself, but I used to run 8+ dkh for years. For my system 7.0 dkh is a great place to be.

 

[Flippers4pups]

The only problem with DKH values around the lower 7's is that if it drops under 7, your water becomes acidic enough for your corals carbonate skeleton to actually melt! This includes your aragonite sand!

 

[Black Pearl]

Could be the cause. You might consider removing the blocks and going refugium if you have the space for nutrient control. I'm currently considering starting one up.

Running a ATS, I would remove the blocks if I was for sure the Al was the problem the frog spawn and Duncan are only one affected and it could be the low nutrient levels

 

[Mattrg02]

You sure your lights are up to the task? I did until I got ahold of a par meter. Three years of thinking I was in the 200-300 par range only to find I was 30-80!

 

[Black Pearl]

You sure your lights are up to the task? I did until I got ahold of a par meter. Three years of thinking I was in the 200-300 par range only to find I was 30-80!

Running 3 400w radiums, 4 T5 coral plus and 2 XHO reefbrites

 

[Mattrg02]

Running 3 400w radiums, 4 T5 coral plus and 2 XHO reefbrites

Sounds like enough, but so did mine, which is why I ran mine low. Then came the truth via apogee par meter. That was literally the last thing I checked.