Hawkins and 2 others acroporas are getting algae on tips

[Sailfinguy21]

My hawkins coral which was doing really good is now getting burned tips and a brownish slimy algae growing on the tips slowely killing the coral.

I habe two blue grape acros with the same issue.. and a povona coral. Also noticed a unnamed acropora is getting algae on its tips too.

Im not sure what to do. I had an alkalinity drop.spike so maybe thats it. Basically my tank was at like 11-12 dkh for the longest time and my acroporas grew like weeds and had great color.. calcium would drop so fast. Like from 410 to 370 in like 2 days. So i had to put a ton of calcium in to keep up with it.

Eventually normal dosing wasnt working so i had to double dose to calcium. I went up to 430 from 380.. and thats when the calcium stopped going down. Alkalinity started to drop instead and went to 8 over a few days. I dosed alkalinity up and i accidently put too much in the 3rd day i dosed. Alk went from 8 to 11 in 3 to 4 days.

Calcium still isnt going down its at 460 right now and i havent had to put any calcium in in like 2 weeks.. but alk still drops.. thats when i nktic3d my sps losing color turning white on the tips and then the brown algae growing on it.

Im dosing alk daily and im keeping it at 9 right now just to keep it stable.. Its been stable at 9 for a week now and i havent noticed my corals getting any better. So im not sure what to do... Should i let it go down and maintain 7-8 or should i get it back up to 11 and maintain that ?.

Because 11 is where my acros were doing awsome at for so long until it suddenly dropped to 8.

Phosphates are constantly reading 0. Nitrates keep changing but yesturday they were at 5 maybe 10ppm.

What should i do ? Should i just maintain 9.. or go lower.. or go higher ? Being at 9 doesnt SEEM to be helping but its only been a week... So i dunno what to do.

See here is the hawkins in just 3 or so weeks time.. it went from awsome to burned tips..

 

[reefwiser]

Yes the alk spike is the issue I have had this happen. Algae growing on the tips of a coral is not a good sign it means that the coral has stopped growing and is in shut down mode. In most cases this is a really bad sign and you are most likely will lost the coral.

 

[Sailfinguy21]

So whqt can i do ? Kee9 alk at 9 ? Should i move the hawkins to a shaded area. Like under a rock overhang to keeo the algae off it ?

 

[reefwreak]

What should i do ? Should i just maintain 9.. or go lower.. or go higher ? Being at 9 doesnt SEEM to be helping but its only been a week... So i dunno what to do.

You need to STABILIZE and don't tweak. Do not anticipate seeing growth for a number of weeks, if not months, after an event like that where the coral started losing tissue. The best thing you can do is pick an appropriate DKH and Calcium level, and stabilize them for the long term. That will help the coral acclimatize to whatever parameter you pick, and continue growing again. The worst thing you can do is keep playing around trying to find the "right" level to bring back growth. Stability of appropriate levels will bring back growth.

 

[reefwreak]

So whqt can i do ? Kee9 alk at 9 ? Should i move the hawkins to a shaded area. Like under a rock overhang to keeo the algae off it ?

Keep Alk at 9, don't move the Hawkins if it was happy there before. You can't prevent the algae growth. Some might recommend snipping off the dead parts and letting it grow back in. I've never been confident enough in that approach, I just wait it out and let the coral regrow the area, which they usually do (slowly).

 

[Sailfinguy21]

Ill just keep it at 9 then. I have to gently wipe the hawkins down daily if i dont the algae makes it worse.

Is it normal for alkalinity to drop so fast daily ? I just checked it today and its 8.5-9, slightly lower then yezturday so i had to dose 15-20ml of seachems alkalinity bottle. Seems i have to dose 15/20ml daily to keep it at 9.. if i miss 1 day itll drop .5 to 1 point in alkalinity.

 

[reefwreak]

I would not recommending touching your coral daily. It'll prevent it from growing back. Maybe in that case it might make sense to actually clip the end so algae isn't growing and you're not touching the coral...

Yes, alkalinity dropping quickly is normal once you have demand. You have a few different acros going, so you shouldn't be too surprised that the volume of two part being consumed. I remember my 29g biocube slurping down 2 part when I finally had it full of acros, I don't remember the scale, but it was at least 45mL of BRS 2 part alkalinity per day if not a lot more.

Even with my calcium reactor, because demand fluctuates, I still have to bump up my dKh 0.5 some weeks. When things are happy and growing (or your chemistry is totally out of whack), you will consume a lot of alkalinity.

 

[mbmax]

Ill just keep it at 9 then. I have to gently wipe the hawkins down daily if i dont the algae makes it worse.

Is it normal for alkalinity to drop so fast daily ? I just checked it today and its 8.5-9, slightly lower then yezturday so i had to dose 15-20ml of seachems alkalinity bottle. Seems i have to dose 15/20ml daily to keep it at 9.. if i miss 1 day itll drop .5 to 1 point in alkalinity.

That is totaly normal and probably you will have to increase the dose as coral grow and coraline increase. I dose 220ml of calcium and dkh every day with doser on my 150gls full of sps.
Just try to keep it stable.

 

[Sailfinguy21]

Well i have like 63 corals in my 135.

3 bubble corals, a 30 or ao head trumpet coral, 3 headed torch coral, 5 diff types of zoas, 5 headed octospawn, 2 headed frog spawn, i habe 3 bout 6 inch sized plating montis, a small povana frag, 2 4 inch leptoseris, basketball sized purple cepitulara. And i have 10 acroporas ranging from softball sized to regular frags.

Few others im missing too .

I guess ill break off the tips that are dead.

 

[Reefnjunkie]

Well i have like 63 corals in my 135.

3 bubble corals, a 30 or ao head trumpet coral, 3 headed torch coral, 5 diff types of zoas, 5 headed octospawn, 2 headed frog spawn, i habe 3 bout 6 inch sized plating montis, a small povana frag, 2 4 inch leptoseris, basketball sized purple cepitulara. And i have 10 acroporas ranging from softball sized to regular frags.

Few others im missing too .

I guess ill break off the tips that are dead.

In my experience breaking off the tips could prove to be the wrong thing to do, depending on how many tips and where you clip. I’ve done that before (many times) and doing a few, if doing it all proved better. I’ve had clipping the tips shock/stress the acro and more problems (RTN) arise.

Nowadays I don’t sweat it if it happens and will cut a few tips and then let it heal a good 4-7 days and do others after that.

If the branch starts to show signs of necrosis than that’s a whole separate treatment

Again, IME others may be different

Good luck!

 

[Sailfinguy21]

Well i didnt break off tips.. my experience with a hawkings when i first got it.. it shed its skin but healed very quickly.

So i figured ill leave it alone then and hope it heals itself.

Side note.. ive been feeding my fish like i used too 2-3x flakes a day and 2x nori a day. Vs 1x flake a day and thats it. and in keeping the alk at 9 for a lil over a week now. I think the algae growing on the tips and the whitening of my acros has stopped.

The hawkins doesnt have as much algae on its tips and my two blue grape acros are gainining back color.

So lets hope this 70$ hawkings coral comes back.

 

[tautog83]

Im.having a similar problem where get tips to die and no uptake in calcium.or alk. But I had no swing in alk.

 

[MTBake]

Im.having a similar problem where get tips to die and no uptake in calcium.or alk. But I had no swing in alk.

How's the Ph? I've seen this when Ph was below 7.7.

 

[tautog83]

Did have some spikes , couple weeks ago but was happening before and now after that it has stabilized

 

[Sailfinguy21]

How's the Ph? I've seen this when Ph was below 7.7.

Its around 8.0 to 8.2 for me.. but ph changes at night.

My calcium is still at 430-460 hasnt changed in over a week.. its just alkalinity that keeps dropping.

Im just wondering if my phospgates are 0 is also causing this.. thats why i decided to feed more like i used too i just dunno if its doing anything

 

[motortrendz]

Have you checked magnesium levels. Your corals need magnesium to be able to absorb calcium. Which could be why you calcium hasn't moved and your alk is ever changing. You need to try to keep all 3 balanced and stable long term. Dose everyday to try to keep the levels stable.

My dad was the worst when he first started in the hobby. Wed talk about different corals we got and hed get mad bc everything would brown or die. When we talked about dosing he was like yea o dose when I test sat mornings. Lol. And hed they to bring everything back up to the numbers which meant all was below 7 hed be dosing it up to 9 in one shot calcium would be down in the 300s and mag well into the 8or900s. It was a mess lol.

 

[Sailfinguy21]

I didnt habe a mag test kit.. i just got one and it tested low 1080 to 1110. I got a bottle of premixwd magnesium from my local store and added 35ml per the intructions based on the gallons of my tank.. ill test the mag again after i get back from the pool in 2 or 3 hours.

They also tested my alk and said it was 16+ actually used 1.3ml lol so probly 18-19kh lol when my two api bottles say 8.5 to 9.. its a salifert kit. And ive read salifert gas some bad kits for kh other people read 16+ on one kit then 10 on another both salifert.

I tested the water mysekf to be sure she didnt do itwrong and it read 16 kh... no way its 16... my corals woulda died if thats true.. because if my kh was 11 for months then 16 woulda 18 almost 20 kh lol.

I know some of you dont like api but i dont trust that salifert kit.... i tested their watee in their tanks and they read 15kh... no way lol

Th3 magensium though i believe since you guys said thats why my calcium isnt going down.

Ima slowely get it up to 1350 or so

 

[Makers Marc]

Its around 8.0 to 8.2 for me.. but ph changes at night.

My calcium is still at 430-460 hasnt changed in over a week.. its just alkalinity that keeps dropping.

Im just wondering if my phospgates are 0 is also causing this.. thats why i decided to feed more like i used too i just dunno if its doing anything

Phosphates at 0 is my vote.

 

[Sailfinguy21]

How do i get them up ? No matter how much i feed short of pouring the bottle of food in,my phosphates stay at 0.. which is weird considering i have alot of algae in the tank.. but its under control from my cleanup crew and tangs

 

[Sailfinguy21]

Sad news guys...my hawkins went rtn... i jist got home from a concert and boom the coral was waving skin in flow and was 80% dead. So now i have two blue grapes that are turning all white, well have been so far no rtn... but man..

what the heck is gping on with my wcroporas.... these grape corals ive had since day 1 and have seen all konds of tank fluctuations... now they are dying..

Im done dosing try8ng to figure this out.. i think ima do a 30% water change tomorrow. Then anotjer 30% a few days later... something isnt right.. thr only acroporas not affected are my green slimer, my red planet, and some other table coral i think its a table but its very big.. and two other unknown acropoas..but basically 4 of my acros are losing tips and bleaching... and 4 arent showing anything..


All my lps are fully extended and doing great.

My superman monit and seasons greetings are also turning white.... uhg.... this sucks