Fading tissue

[Charlie’s Frags]

Ok...

Yea I’m with you and feel this might be it.

It’s weird, the frags that have been in the system are improving in color and growth. Whereas the new frags are the two that are suffering.

What’s very weird is that the same acro, from the same farm, I have two of. One the older frag, which survived is recovering nicely and growing. The same coral, just a new frag, is the one in the picture which has gotten worse.

Very strange. Maybe the longer tenured corals have built an immunity to vibrant and the newer ones aren’t used to it? Or more of a lower nutrient higher alk issue...

So it’s just a couple frags that are stressed? All of your other sps are happy?

 

[mfollen]

The new frags I put in two weeks ago.

My existing frags from a crash 1.5 months ago, related to the turf algae and lighting intensity increase, were reversed and have been showing signs of not just recovery but growth. Some look the best they’ve looked in a long time while others look more pale w/ less polyp extension.

After seeing encouraging signs from my existing frags, and that they were handling vibrant fine, I decided to get these test frags.

I’ve had the test frags for two weeks, looked all fine. I put an sps pack in two days ago after the test frags were looking good. The very day after I added this order, well of course two of the five test frags then start receding or bleaching.

So overall most coral look ok-good, but this certainly has me worried.

 

[mfollen]

Nitrate dosing has been relatively stable to hit 2.5-3.

Not sure if it’s the inconsistency of the Hanna ulr phosphorus kit, but I’ve been ramping up the inorganic PO4 dosing to keep hitting the .002. That might be the limiting nutrient as fish feed has been heavy...

I guess I will continue to stay focused on maintaining nutrients and slowly increasing. I test multiple times a day and am giving every bit of effort I have to the tank during this pivotal time.

Thank you everyone for your help. @Chaswood79 thanks for hearing me out and sticking with me on this.

 

[EmptyWallet]

You might be overthinking it focussing on tank parameters. If your existing SPS are happy, I would just put it down to acclimation stresses on the new kids. Last thing you want to do is jolt your parameters chasing numbers (which = more stress on the already stressed frags) and risk upsetting your healthy stock

 

[mfollen]

Sounds good. Thanks @EmptyWallet

Will keep it steady moving forward.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Nitrate dosing has been relatively stable to hit 2.5-3.

Not sure if it’s the inconsistency of the Hanna ulr phosphorus kit, but I’ve been ramping up the inorganic PO4 dosing to keep hitting the .002. That might be the limiting nutrient as fish feed has been heavy...

I guess I will continue to stay focused on maintaining nutrients and slowly increasing. I test multiple times a day and am giving every bit of effort I have to the tank during this pivotal time.

Thank you everyone for your help. @Chaswood79 thanks for hearing me out and sticking with me on this.

No worries bud. I believe you should drastically cut back or stop the vibrant. The flucozanole (flux rx) is much gentler on sps and way more effective IME. Good luck my man.

 

[mfollen]

I’ll give it a look!! Definitely stopping vibrant.

In the meantime i’ll be trying some different urchins and turbo snails. If it returns, fluxrx will be the go/to if needed.

 

[mfollen]

I’ve noticed three more of my longer tenured acro frags now showing the faded bases.

I’m worried the vibrant is now causing more damage or there is another issue at hand. Contamination, etc.

I haven’t dosed vibrant in 4 days now.
No3 & PO4 have been the most stable at detectable levels in a long time. No3 at 5ppm, PO4 at .03 ppm.
Nutrients through daily aminos and protein/feed/fish poop are plenty.
Light is lower intensity than usual for coral acclimation purposes.

I will stay the course but I’m worried that the damage is starting to become more prevalent. Maybe any remaining detergent in filter socks? I’m very good about rinsing my machine before washing socks, no bleach... just looking for ideas here just in case there’s another issue...

Thanks everyone.

 

[NeutronMan]

I’ve noticed three more of my longer tenured acro frags now showing the faded bases.

I’m worried the vibrant is now causing more damage or there is another issue at hand. Contamination, etc.

I haven’t dosed vibrant in 4 days now.
No3 & PO4 have been the most stable at detectable levels in a long time. No3 at 5ppm, PO4 at .03 ppm.
Nutrients through daily aminos and protein/feed/fish poop are plenty.
Light is lower intensity than usual for coral acclimation purposes.

I will stay the course but I’m worried that the damage is starting to become more prevalent. Maybe any remaining detergent in filter socks? I’m very good about rinsing my machine before washing socks, no bleach... just looking for ideas here just in case there’s another issue...

Thanks everyone.

You better be talking about your tube socks going into the washing machine :-)

 

[mfollen]

You better be talking about your tube socks going into the washing machine :)

Of course! :)

I’m going to reboot my skimmer to potentially remove anything in the water bothering the coral. I’m running carbon.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I use the Red Sea mesh socks. They don’t polish the water like the felt socks but they’re much easier to clean. I just rinse them in the sink and they basically last forever. No worrying about bleach or soap residues contaminating them. I still believe it’s the vibrant stripping your water and higher’ish alk that is causing your issues. I believe the vibrant is still in your system despite not dosing for 4 days. I would consider doing a massive water change to reset your chemistry. Followed by some heavy fish feedings to raise your building blocks.

 

[mfollen]

Will do.

 

[mfollen]

Made a power move.

Pulled and siphoned out whatever remaining green turf algae I could get.

Changed out 60 gallons of new water, close to 30% of system volume. New water close to matching alk (8.8 vs 9.2), also dosed to get .002 PO4 & 2ppm no3 in the new water, so nutrients still somewhat stable and don’t bottom out during the big water change. Slowly adding the new water in.

Really hoping this is a big step forward and not a huge one back. I’ve already suffered a crash close to two months ago. Gotta get this tank on track. Will report how the coral do next couple of days. Thank you for your help.

Fingers crossed at this point.

 

[EmptyWallet]

I'm a big fan of keeping it simple. I don't use vibrant (don't even know what it is), don't dose PO4/NO3, don't use amino additives etc. etc. just feed the fish a varied diet, reef roids once a week, and frequent water changes for those without effective nutrient export options (chaeto, gfo, carbon, high end skimmer) + change filter socks at least every 3 days- they do most of the hardwork

The less you touch the tank, the more stable it becomes.

If your nutrient levels are really low (remember detectable levels arent the actual levels in the water column 24hrs a day, usually algae consumes it rapidly giving the false impression you have none, so you work to increase the levels which just fuels the algae problem further) - if your front glass is getting film algae every other day you have enough to feed the corals in the water column.

A fun exercise is to test your nitrate/phosphate levels. THEN pull out all the GHA. THEN test nitrate/phosphate levels 24 hours later and you should get a much higher reading. For the record I havent had nuisance algae for 6+ months, just Coralline everywhere instead. The less I tinkered with the tank, the more stable it became and all the issues went away.

 

[mfollen]

Thanks @EmptyWallet that’s the game plan moving forward. Keep it simple.

I have some more urchins coming next week for the remaining green turf algae (hopefully they eat it).

Hopefully the coral respond well now that the vibrant should hopefully be diminishing in the system.m

 

[EmptyWallet]

Your welcome. If you have turf algae I would certainly stop dosing PO4/NO3. I don't believe water changes with zero nitrate/phosphate will 'shock' your corals going into water with nutrients - infact that is generally the purpose of a water change to dilute with zero to bring your tank levels down (and to replenish trace elements)

 

[mfollen]

It’s been one week since these issues and I put in place the great advice given here

I did a 60 gallon,30%, water change to reset the system somewhat. It worked.

This water change must of removed quite a bit of vibrant bacteria. The next day I no longer had to dose inorganic PO4 and no3 to keep my nutrients at a detectable level. Which I am very happy about.

Both no3 and PO4 have slowly risen actually and have been at 7ppm nitrate and actually .1 PO4.

So far the negatively impacted coral that we’re bleaching have stopped bleaching. The other new coral I got that last week look great. Good color and PE.

Unfortunately I could not remove all the turf algae. So I will have to keep an eye on that evil grass. I have more urchins coming tomorrow. Still need to find Mexican turbos.

Otherwise cyano and dinos have started to show as a result of the decrease in vibrant. I plan to (hopefully) keep these at bay by maintaining the available nutrients to increase competition, including dr Tim’s bacteria to help re-establish a healthy bacterial balance after vibrant dosing.

Thank you everyone for your help. I really do believe you saved a number of corals. That said, this is 1 week in and I’m ready for anything to happen -good or bad.

 

[mfollen]

So everything has been pretty stable for the most part and corals are encrusting again and are looking happy w/ improved PE.

Nitrates:20
Phosphate: .15
Alk: 8.1

No inorganic dosing, all from fish feeding and some light coral food.

BUT the slight remaining green turf algae is also perking up again. It now doesn’t look dead and I can tell is starting to activate and grow as well without the Vibrant killing it off.

I now have pincushion urchins and emerald crabs to help. But I know how quick this algae can rise and get out of control. Nothing eats it.

Any recommendations on how to manage this so it doesn’t explode again?

Thanks everyone!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

A half dose of reef flux by blue life USA will knock it out. But a little algae and happy corals is way better than no algae and dead corals IMO. You might want to let your corals continue to recover for a couple more weeks before you add another treatment.

 

[mfollen]

I was talking with another local reefer and we came to the same conclusion.

Will monitor for a few weeks. thanks!