Dead coral over night

CoralClasher · Dec 31, 2020

I’m still losing hammers tho

CoralClasher · Dec 31, 2020

ca1ore said:
Well, your choice of fish is impressive. Parrot, CB and black leopard are three for which success has eluded me.

I really need to re-home the copper band

ca1ore · Dec 31, 2020

Haha, yup. Had a x-mas rock thriving in the frag tank. Thought I’d risk it in the display ...... bad call.

Privateye · Jan 3, 2021

Fragging is a good call if you aren't going with a treatment. The hammer might need it too, but it's tougher to say for sure since the polyps don't really share tissue like the chalice. Best of luck and keep us updated!

The chalice frags can grow back together if that's the goal. They are the same individual so they will graft well. You might still get a bump or a seam where they do, but it's how they grow large corals quickly in the lab to plant them in the wild. Just micro-frag, let the pieces grow together, and you get a big coral in a fraction of the time it would take as 1 piece.

CoralClasher · Jan 3, 2021

Well another sad day at the Malkerson house. Woke up to a dead Acro this morning.

Privateye · Jan 3, 2021

Ouch that's awful. It went from fine to bleached overnight? I'd check chemistry again if so. That's RTN not STN.

If there are no clues in the water chemistry, and there are no suspected contaminants, then something could be spreading in the tank. If you can, I'd recommend getting a UV sterilizer. At this point it could be paying for itself. I'd oversize it too - get something rated for fish pathogens/parasites at your tank volume. Bacteria and algae are relatively-easy to kill with UV compared to other microbes. BRS has a good selection. I personally use an 18W Coralife TurboTwist on my 90 gallon because it's what I could afford at the time. It's delivering a fraction of the dose I'd prefer though.

CoralClasher · Jan 3, 2021

Alright just got back from LFS with water sample.
Salinity 1.026
ALK 7.8
Ca 454
Mag 1440
Phosphate 0.26
No3 30ppm
They recommend a skimmer and lots of water changes.

CoralClasher · Jan 3, 2021

CoralClasher · Jan 3, 2021

I’ve been testing ALK daily and I have no consumption. I turned off the core7 dosing more than a week ago.

Privateye · Jan 3, 2021

Yeah the waste products are creeping up a little imo. A skimmer and a UV would likely help a great deal if not solve the problem. Both have been very beneficial to add in my experience. If you normally see consumption and you don't now, maybe the stony stuff isn't growing much at the moment. You did just do a water change though.

CoralClasher · Jan 23, 2021

It seems like every two weeks I’m losing a coral. Frog spawn took three days to completely melt away.

CoralClasher · Jan 23, 2021

CoralClasher · Jan 23, 2021

I started the in-tank treatment of Ciprofloxacin.

Privateye · Feb 12, 2021

Hey, sorry for the delay. I haven't logged on for a while. I'm really sorry to hear about the other corals. You've gone through a lot of troubleshooting, but I too agree that equipment could fix your issue.

I second the skimmer recommendation. I didn't need one until my coral load started growing either. With 30 ppm of nitrate, I think it could be good for reducing the stress at the very least. I remember when I first added mine. The corals looked noticeably happier after a week. It could make it so that you no longer see this issue in your tank. It won't eliminate the microbes responsible for it though....

...I also highly recommend a UV sterilizer of proper size. This isn't an issue on one coral - it's an issue in the tank. Add some sterilization to keep those microbes from proliferating. Such diseases are believed to be bacterial in origin, but viruses have not been ruled out by science. I know hindsight is 20/20, but investing in a skimmer and a UV could pay for itself in savings, and certainly in your level of enjoyment.

The solution to my experience like this was: restore my UV function, replace old t5 lamps, and dip the affected coral (well, I dipped one).

I don't know which saved me, but this solved my problem. I have very low nitrate so I can't weigh in on the effect of that.

I use cheap equipment: a Coralife Super Skimmer and a Turbo Twist UV. I oversized the UV (no harm in that except maybe another degree of temp). You are advanced enough in the hobby that you should strongly consider this technology to protect your livestock. This is normal in the hobby though - you don't need it until you needed it.

Seriously, best of luck. Stay strong. You can get past this. It took me 3 weeks of frantically trying everything until it was resolved. I even canceled some personal stuff to get it done in time. I think you can do it too, and not to beat a dead horse, but given all you've tried and experienced I'm confident that you wouldn't regret these additions once you have them.

Fingers crossed....

CoralClasher · Feb 13, 2021

Privateye said:
Hey, sorry for the delay. I haven't logged on for a while. I'm really sorry to hear about the other corals. You've gone through a lot of troubleshooting, but I too agree that equipment could fix your issue.

I second the skimmer recommendation. I didn't need one until my coral load started growing either. With 30 ppm of nitrate, I think it could be good for reducing the stress at the very least. I remember when I first added mine. The corals looked noticeably happier after a week. It could make it so that you no longer see this issue in your tank. It won't eliminate the microbes responsible for it though....

...I also highly recommend a UV sterilizer of proper size. This isn't an issue on one coral - it's an issue in the tank. Add some sterilization to keep those microbes from proliferating. Such diseases are believed to be bacterial in origin, but viruses have not been ruled out by science. I know hindsight is 20/20, but investing in a skimmer and a UV could pay for itself in savings, and certainly in your level of enjoyment.

The solution to my experience like this was: restore my UV function, replace old t5 lamps, and dip the affected coral (well, I dipped one).

I don't know which saved me, but this solved my problem. I have very low nitrate so I can't weigh in on the effect of that.

I use cheap equipment: a Coralife Super Skimmer and a Turbo Twist UV. I oversized the UV (no harm in that except maybe another degree of temp). You are advanced enough in the hobby that you should strongly consider this technology to protect your livestock. This is normal in the hobby though - you don't need it until you needed it.

Seriously, best of luck. Stay strong. You can get past this. It took me 3 weeks of frantically trying everything until it was resolved. I even canceled some personal stuff to get it done in time. I think you can do it too, and not to beat a dead horse, but given all you've tried and experienced I'm confident that you wouldn't regret these additions once you have them.

Fingers crossed....

I was going to wait 30 days before I say Ciprofloxacin helped. It’s been three weeks now and nothing else has died. I noticed a big improvement on day two of the treatment and things are definitely growing again.