Good evening R2R. I'm looking for some suggestions concerning Euphyllia no longer extending polyps.
SETUP: 120g mixed reef. Shallow sand. Lit with Aquatic Life T5/LED Hybrid running ATI Blue+ and 2 Kessel A360Ws. Supplement with BRS/Tropic Marin Balling Method and adding Red Sea Reef Energy AB+. Reef is 6 years old but tank was changed in February 2020 due to the old one springing a leak. All rock, coral, and fish were transferred with no losses but I did go through an ugly phase with algae and cyano. I think I've largely beat it now with about 6 months of Vibrant and finally Chemiclean to wipe out the cyano when I decided it was really bothering the coral.
PARAMETERS:
BACKGROUND: I had a mass casualty event in September following a water change. Lost 6 of 14 fish, and several SPS and LPS corals. Others looked pale for several months and are just now starting to come back. I was using natural sea water from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, which they provide free to local hobbyists in San Diego. It's the exact same water they use in their Birch Aquarium here, which has several reef tanks. Its use is very common among reefers here and I've been using it for 6 years and never had a problem before so I don't think it was the water. Instead, I fear there was something nasty growing in my saltwater bin because after the change when the bin was empty it smelled bad. I ran carbon but still lost a lot of fish and coral.
ISSUE: All the Euphyllia in my tank appear to be unhealthy. I have 3 large colonies of hammers and a green torch that are all 5+ years old. None of them are extending polyps like they used to and the skeletons break easily. This has been going since the crash.
POTENTIAL CAUSES I CAN THINK OF
Ideas?
Thanks!
Dave
SETUP: 120g mixed reef. Shallow sand. Lit with Aquatic Life T5/LED Hybrid running ATI Blue+ and 2 Kessel A360Ws. Supplement with BRS/Tropic Marin Balling Method and adding Red Sea Reef Energy AB+. Reef is 6 years old but tank was changed in February 2020 due to the old one springing a leak. All rock, coral, and fish were transferred with no losses but I did go through an ugly phase with algae and cyano. I think I've largely beat it now with about 6 months of Vibrant and finally Chemiclean to wipe out the cyano when I decided it was really bothering the coral.
PARAMETERS:
- Alk: 9.6 (higher than I'd like but stable)
- Ca: 430 ppm
- Mg: 1350 ppm
- PO4: undetectable (no GFO and can't seem to raise it despite feeding heavier)
- NO3: 0 - 2
- PH 8.1 - 8.3
- ICP Test - low iron but no other issues noted
BACKGROUND: I had a mass casualty event in September following a water change. Lost 6 of 14 fish, and several SPS and LPS corals. Others looked pale for several months and are just now starting to come back. I was using natural sea water from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, which they provide free to local hobbyists in San Diego. It's the exact same water they use in their Birch Aquarium here, which has several reef tanks. Its use is very common among reefers here and I've been using it for 6 years and never had a problem before so I don't think it was the water. Instead, I fear there was something nasty growing in my saltwater bin because after the change when the bin was empty it smelled bad. I ran carbon but still lost a lot of fish and coral.
ISSUE: All the Euphyllia in my tank appear to be unhealthy. I have 3 large colonies of hammers and a green torch that are all 5+ years old. None of them are extending polyps like they used to and the skeletons break easily. This has been going since the crash.
POTENTIAL CAUSES I CAN THINK OF
- When the crash happened, the coral didn't really bleach. They just lost all their color and slowly faded away. Meanwhile, they weren't taking up Alk and Ca and those climbed. Alk got up to 11.2 over the course of a week in October, Ca to about 490 before I stopped dosing entirely and allowed it to fall slowly back into the 9s and 430s. It was pretty unstable for a while as I tried to find the new set point but it's been stable for the last couple months now so I certainly think it was a stress factor but shouldn't be any more.
- Green (not red) cyano was really bad last summer and all through the fall. Since it was green and I also had hair and bubble algae, I thought it was a strange turf algae growing on the rocks and sand and worked to keep NO3 and PO4 low while I tried to beat it with water changes, removal, and Vibrant. Finally, a friend suggested it might be cyano. It got to the point where it was smothering my zoas and I used Chemiclean in November. I run carbon and do 20% water changes every 2 - 4 weeks so the Chemiclean should all be gone.
- There are a lot of yellow-green sponges growing in the shady parts of the rock work and I've seen it on the skeletons of the Euphyllia but never near the polyps. I don't know what it is or if it's bad. Everything I've seen says sponges are good to have in your tank so I don't think that's it.
- PO4 and NO3 are chronically low. Often undetectable with Sallifert. I feed pretty heavily (Mysis, Rod's Food, Reef Chili occasionally, and pellets) but it never really increases. No GFO or carbon dosing. Vibrant killed all my cheato so I was worried about PO4 and NO3 spiking but it was being taken up by the algae and cyano in the display and stayed low in the water column. Now that the algae and cyano are largely gone I'm still not seeing it come up, even with heavier feeding. Do sponges take that up?
- Euphylia are all on the bottom, in about 150 par of light. They've had a year to get used to it so I don't think it's the light.
- There is a lot of flow in this tank: 2 gyres and a Nero 5 but that's not new and none of the Euphyllia are in the direct path.
- I don't see any critters crawling on the coral.
Ideas?
Thanks!
Dave