HELP! Acros bleached in 24 hrs!

[BlueDevil]

I came home this evening to find several of my acros bleached to a shiny white!! The sticks that have not bleached seem to be getting white at the base where they've encrusted the frag disc. Acros are the only corals that seem to be affected. All others (zoas, acan, micromussa, euphyllia) look great. Following are the water parameters. The first number is from my routine test this past Saturday (1/9) and the second number is from the tests this evening.

Alk: 2.9/8.1 ; 3.0/8.4
PH (got from Apex data): typical daily swing between 8.0 and 8.3
Ca: 440 ; 450
Mg: 1320 ; 1320
Salinity: 1.025 ; 1.025
Temp (got from Apex data): 78.2 - 78.5
NO3: 5 ; 2.5
PO4: 0.025 ; 0.037

The only new things I've done to the tank since Saturday was to add one strawberry shortcake frag, two zoa frags, and a couple of favia frags that I am trying to resuscitate. All frags were dipped for 15 minutes in Revive before adding to the tank. I have done this with all my other acros.
All the livestock is fine. No signs of any sudden algae. I know I haven't lost power since I did not get any alerts from my Apex.

Any thoughts on what could be causing this sudden change? I am totally gutted and don't know what to do. I plan on doing a 25% water change tonight but beyond that I am lost

@cee @KJ or anyone else ... any thoughts?

Here are the pictures showing some of the bleached frags.

FTS from this past Saturday where everything was normal...

 

[pirate2876]

Very similar to my problem. Did you do any water changes or change top off water? Anyway something could have been sprayed near the tank?

 

[BlueDevil]

Very similar to my problem. Did you do any water changes or change top off water? Anyway something could have been sprayed near the tank?

Did my usual weekly 10% water change and topped up my ATO that has kalk in it. I've been using it for a couple of months now with no issues.
Where the tank is located no change or any foreign chemicals or sprays getting in the water.

 

[CastAway]

Man! So sorry.

 

[ontop27]

Thats not bleaching unfortunately that was rtn, they are goners

 

[kevindo123]

Don't wait do a big of a water change you can and remove the dead and almost dying frags. Only time I experienced RTN that quick and spreading was when I introduced a dying frag and it spread some toxin in the tank. It crashed my tank. Had to start over again. I learned my lesson now. Have a frag tank and never introduce new frags into your main display.

 

[BlueDevil]

Sorry I'm new to acros - do I need to take any drastic steps tonight? Is RTN something that spreads from one coral to another? If so should I remove the dead pieces immediately?

 

[BlueDevil]

Do I also take out the pieces that are showing a little bit of white on the encrusted portion of the disc? The main stalk looks fine right now.

 

[ontop27]

Cut the healthy parts off otherwise the whole piece is gonna die. Its called rapid tissue necrosis. Doesnt spread from coral to coral. But if you tank is off other corals could be affected

 

[pirate2876]

Did my usual weekly 10% water change and topped up my ATO that has kalk in it. I've been using it for a couple of months now with no issues.
Where the tank is located no change or any foreign chemicals or sprays getting in the water.

Did you do your water change yesterday? Do you make your own saltwater? Is the bucket of salt new if so?

 

[kevindo123]

Do I also take out the pieces that are showing a little bit of white on the encrusted portion of the disc? The main stalk looks fine right now.

You have to monitor it. If the RTN stop spreading then you are ok. The SPS can recover over time.

 

[BlueDevil]

Did you do your water change yesterday? Do you make your own saltwater? Is the bucket of salt new if so?

Water change was done on Saturday. I buy my SW from a LFS - same one I've been buying from for the past 10 years.

 

[cee]

Which frags died, the new ones or established ones?
The weather's gotten cold here lately, is there a heater vent near the tank that could be directing something from other parts of the house to the tank?
You measured Al and Fe recently in your tank via Triton. What steps did you take to address that if any?
Have you changed out carbon or GFO within the last week?
A water change should be safe. Remove those RTN frags completely. Those that have live tissue you can frag off the healthy parts but it rarely works. It has happened to me immeasurable times and seems to be isolated to just a few and then it stops and everything is fine. Unfortunately it is part of the hobby and it is unlikely you'll isolate the cause.

Dave

 

[cee]

Oh and if you get your SW from AM they only run RO, no DI (unless something has changed). That's not adequate for SPS IMO. If that's your water source I would NOT recommend a water change cause their membranes could be past their prime.

 

[cee]

If you want to keep SPS long-term I'd recommend you invest in a rodi system of your own, change the carbon every 3-4 months, the membrane every 1.5-2 years (for your size tank) and replace the DI resin as soon as your tds reads 001.

 

[CastAway]

Going to have nightmares now. Again, so sorry man.

 

[BlueDevil]

@cee - to answer your questions:

• I had a mix of frags die. The SSC that I got from you completely died today. Two others that completely died I got in December (one from WWC and one from Jeff)
  
• there is an air vent about 6 feet up and 3 feet off the edge of the tank. We had our entire HVAC system cleaned out and replaced over this past summer so I'm not sure if that is a factor?
• Regarding Fe and Al, I had an extended conversation with Randy Holmes-Fairley and we came to the conclusion that in the absence of any metal in contact with the water, the ChemiPure and Phosguard that I was using more than likely was the cause of those increased levels. He said that water changes and tossing the media (which I did on Saturday) would likely bring the levels back down.
• Hate to say it but I am not running any carbon or GFO in my tank right now. I just don't have the space in the cabinet/sump to run the unit.
• I buy my water from the Aquarium - AFAIK theirs is RO/DI

I have plans on getting my own RODI system. With space limitations it is going to be difficult right now but I will certainly look at it more seriously now. Same with frag tank. I was hoping to get by with what I have until later this year when my basement living space will open up for both my new tank, as well as a full water station.

I took out all the completely white frags and cut the healthy portions of those that were just starting to show signs of RTN. As long as it doesn't spread through the water column, I might be able to salvage a few of the sticks. Also did a big water change. Keeping my fingers crossed I don't come back home to yet more white sticks tomorrow. I'm sure this is part of the SPS keeping process but man it is disheartening!

 

[BlueDevil]

Going to have nightmares now. Again, so sorry man.

Thanks, Jeff! It really blows man! And mine were just frags! As gutted as I feel, I cannot even begin to imagine how I would react if I lost a mature colony!

 

[cee]

Going to have nightmares now. Again, so sorry man.

Why would that be?

 

[cee]

Water change and drastic media removal could change unknown parameters quickly. I'd ask the aquarium if they can show you the tds level of their water and if they cannot or will not go elsewhere. Hell, for your small tank I'll happily give you rodi water and you can add your own salt. As I'm sure you've heard before change things slowly in this hobby, even things you believe are less than optimum. Can't tell you how many times I've ignored that mantra and paid a price.