Corals dying, Elevated Aluminum on ICP the cause?

Gophish1982

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So I’ve lost over 12 corals over the last month so I decided to do an ICP for the first time. I have a mixed reef. Most of the coral deaths are LPS, but I had a new SPS die in a matter of a week. The corals lost were 3 torches, 2 blasto, 1 acan, 2 favia, 1 cynaria, 3 SPS (a Walt Disney I’ve been wanting for a long time and 2 birds nest). I’ve also noticed a couple things not doing as well as they use to. My Goni/alve are not extending as much, a Fox coral that hasn’t opened in over a month, a scoly with STN, dendro that only opens a bit at night when it had always opened during the day, 2 digi and 2 montipora cap/encrusting that are losing color on the edges.

I have a couple of theories but I’m still pretty new to this so I’d like some advice. I’ve attached my ICP.

The big red flag I saw in my ICP was aluminum. I do have some magnets in the tank I was worried about leaching. I thought I had covered them well in silicone when I was making some floating rock for my back wall but I’m questioning them now. Could these be leaching aluminum? I also recently added a large amount of bio media a few weeks ago to try and increase the bacteria population and get my Nitrates under control (they’ve been sitting at 25 for a couple of months).

No3 and PO4 had been elevated for a few months, I think due to dosing homegrown phyto that may have not exhausted all the fertilizer before I put it in the tank. I’ve slowed way down on the phyto (previously 8oz nano/tetra mix daily down to 4oz every other day) and also started Microbacter7 and NOPOX to lower these numbers. They currently sit at No3 10/PO4 .03.

Like I said, I’m fairly new to reefing. Started this 100gal tank in December and this is my first ICP. Things seemed to be going so well for a while then I had all these deaths. Immediately after I sent off the test I started doing 10% water changes for the next 5 days straight. My normal routine was 10% every 2 weeks.

sorry for the long post.
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taricha

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So I’ve lost over 12 corals over the last month so I decided to do an ICP for the first time. I have a mixed reef. Most of the coral deaths are LPS, but I had a new SPS die in a matter of a week. The corals lost were 3 torches, 2 blasto, 1 acan, 2 favia, 1 cynaria, 3 SPS (a Walt Disney I’ve been wanting for a long time and 2 birds nest). I’ve also noticed a couple things not doing as well as they use to. My Goni/alve are not extending as much, a Fox coral that hasn’t opened in over a month, a scoly with STN, dendro that only opens a bit at night when it had always opened during the day, 2 digi and 2 montipora cap/encrusting that are losing color on the edges.

yeah, Al at ~70ppb not killing corals.
Nothing else on ICP looks all that alarming either.
 
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Gophish1982

Gophish1982

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I agree I see no issue on the ICP that kills corals.

I trace element supplement mix might be generally useful.
I’m currently dosing ESV 2 part which I was told had trace elements included, but I just went with what my reef store recommended and didn’t research it as much.

Any recommendations on the trace element supplement mix? I happen to have some Lugol’s iodine from when I purchased the KFC dip to try and save some of these corals. It also suggested Mangan supplement. How important is that?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I’m currently dosing ESV 2 part which I was told had trace elements included, but I just went with what my reef store recommended and didn’t research it as much.

Any recommendations on the trace element supplement mix? I happen to have some Lugol’s iodine from when I purchased the KFC dip to try and save some of these corals. It also suggested Mangan supplement. How important is that?

ESV does have trace elements in it, but it cannot be considered a trace element additive. It has just enough (supposedly) to offset the salinity corrections needed (which will lower everything a bit). Thus, there is none added to offset other issues such as consumption by organisms. The net effect is like a super tiny water change every day.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I recommend manganese and iron as among the most generally useful trace elements.

Im not a fan of dosing Lugols, but some folks do. It can do a lot more (for better or worse) than add iodine due to its reactive nature. But experimenting with it is a fine idea.
 

Reef Labs Inc

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So I’ve lost over 12 corals over the last month so I decided to do an ICP for the first time. I have a mixed reef. Most of the coral deaths are LPS, but I had a new SPS die in a matter of a week. The corals lost were 3 torches, 2 blasto, 1 acan, 2 favia, 1 cynaria, 3 SPS (a Walt Disney I’ve been wanting for a long time and 2 birds nest). I’ve also noticed a couple things not doing as well as they use to. My Goni/alve are not extending as much, a Fox coral that hasn’t opened in over a month, a scoly with STN, dendro that only opens a bit at night when it had always opened during the day, 2 digi and 2 montipora cap/encrusting that are losing color on the edges.

I have a couple of theories but I’m still pretty new to this so I’d like some advice. I’ve attached my ICP.

The big red flag I saw in my ICP was aluminum. I do have some magnets in the tank I was worried about leaching. I thought I had covered them well in silicone when I was making some floating rock for my back wall but I’m questioning them now. Could these be leaching aluminum? I also recently added a large amount of bio media a few weeks ago to try and increase the bacteria population and get my Nitrates under control (they’ve been sitting at 25 for a couple of months).

No3 and PO4 had been elevated for a few months, I think due to dosing homegrown phyto that may have not exhausted all the fertilizer before I put it in the tank. I’ve slowed way down on the phyto (previously 8oz nano/tetra mix daily down to 4oz every other day) and also started Microbacter7 and NOPOX to lower these numbers. They currently sit at No3 10/PO4 .03.

Like I said, I’m fairly new to reefing. Started this 100gal tank in December and this is my first ICP. Things seemed to be going so well for a while then I had all these deaths. Immediately after I sent off the test I started doing 10% water changes for the next 5 days straight. My normal routine was 10% every 2 weeks.

sorry for the long post.

I routinely see tanks that measure with Al levels higher or comparable to yours that aren't experiencing coral loss. Anything over 200 ug/L is cause for concern, but while not ideal, your Al concentration isn't likely the cause of what you are experiencing.

However, you are deficient in many trace elements. Many of these are necessary for coral health, even if they are only present in sub ppb concentrations. ICP-OES testing at the price-point for this industry isn't capable of reaching into the sub ppb levels at this time. Given that your tank is just six months old, and well populated, it's likely that you have just hit the point where your current routine is unable to keep up with the trace element requirements of the system. I would suggest addressing the deficiencies first before looking elsewhere, particularly since there isn't a smoking gun. The elemental content of the seawater is the foundation of everything else taking place in your tank. It usually pays off to get the foundation right before looking for problems elsewhere.

That said, it may take a few weeks before you notice any changes or improvements after correcting deficiencies in trace elements. If the coral are already stressed enough to result in loss, the tank has already gone past the ideal point in time for intervention. Regularly performing an accurate ICP test is good practice to detect problems before they get to this point. You have a nice looking tank, I hope you're able to resolve the issue before any more losses.
 
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