Help!! All of my SPS dying???

[Cassian]

Please help! I don’t understand what’s going on with my sps. Yesterday, my strawberry shortcake had this white stringy stuff coming out of the polyps, almost like it was spitting it’s guts out. It isn’t touching any other coral, so I know that’s not the cause of it. My birdsnest I think went RTN and my Tyree pinky the bear is washed out and looks like it’s dying now. The thing that concerns me is that there is this fuzzy algae that coats the coral slightly before or after it dies. Could it be killing it?? I really really don’t want to lose these corals. Please suggest what you think could be killing them and the cause. I will say, my bc rainbows in Spain and Walt Disney are doing amazing. Why isn’t this affecting them???

Params as of last week (checking again today):
Salinity: 1.025
Ph : 8
Cal 450
Mag: 1500
Alk: 9
Nitrate: 2-3??
Phosphate: need to test

I haven’t changed anything with the flow or lighting. I run BC’s light schedule. I recently added a pair of blue throat triggers and a black tang, I can’t imagine they would harm these corals but idk.

 

[j.falk]

Photos of the algae in question would probably help.

 

[Cassian]

Photos of the algae in question would probably help.

Pics of the algae and the strawberry shortcake that has white stuff.

 

[motortrendz]

That looks like bacteria. What have you been dosing?

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Sorry to hear that @LukeWolf . Something similar happens to me a couple of days ago and find out that my RODI filter was already exhausted and just change it and everything is back to normal. Check your water TDS just in case.

 

[Cassian]

That looks like bacteria. What have you been dosing?

No I have not

 

[Cassian]

Sorry to hear that @LukeWolf . Something similar happens to me a couple of days ago and find out that my RODI filter was already exhausted and just change it and everything is back to normal. Check your water TDS just in case.

Thanks for the suggestion! I will give that a try.

 

[Cassian]

Bump. Anyone else?

 

[C. Eymann]

Please help! I don’t understand what’s going on with my sps. Yesterday, my strawberry shortcake had this white stringy stuff coming out of the polyps, almost like it was spitting it’s guts out. It isn’t touching any other coral, so I know that’s not the cause of it. My birdsnest I think went RTN and my Tyree pinky the bear is washed out and looks like it’s dying now. The thing that concerns me is that there is this fuzzy algae that coats the coral slightly before or after it dies. Could it be killing it?? I really really don’t want to lose these corals. Please suggest what you think could be killing them and the cause. I will say, my bc rainbows in Spain and Walt Disney are doing amazing. Why isn’t this affecting them???

Params as of last week (checking again today):
Salinity: 1.025
Ph : 8
Cal 450
Mag: 1500
Alk: 9
Nitrate: 2-3??
Phosphate: need to test

I haven’t changed anything with the flow or lighting. I run BC’s light schedule. I recently added a pair of blue throat triggers and a black tang, I can’t imagine they would harm these corals but idk.

You just added fish? did these come from quarantine? or straight from a LFS? how did you add them ? This sounds like some type of chemical contamination to me for some reason.

 

[Cassian]

You just added fish? did these come from quarantine? or straight from a LFS? how did you add them ? This sounds like some type of chemical contamination to me for some reason.

They came from a qt. 2 weeks of copper and 2 rounds of prazipro along with dewormer in food. Fish was netted and placed in DT is no water got in the system. I do agree with you though that this maybe a chemical contamination.

Also, my acros that are dying look odd on the skin. There is like a squiggle pattern. Is that normal pattern on the skin or is it stress related??

 

[Cassian]

I got to thinking last night, could this be from AEFW or red bugs??? I recently added some new SPS

#reefsquad

 

[C. Eymann]

I got to thinking last night, could this be from AEFW or red bugs??? I recently added some new SPS

#reefsquad

AEFW only effect acropora sp., and while I have seen reduced color/stunted growth, I have never seen a red bug infestation kill an acropora,
I'm doubtful of pests, your other corals of different genus' look like they are showing equal signs of stress.

I'm still thinking this is some type of chemical contamination.

Check pump magnets? any aerosols used in the home recently? possible hands being vectors of chemical contamination?

I'm at a loss for what else it could be?

Hopefully as more people throw out ideas we can help you nail down the culprit

 

[ScottB]

Sorry @LukeWolf to hear about this.

Your params look fine so scratching my head a bit, but I would:
a) Get a Hanna reading on PO4 and insure it is well above 0 (not typically a cause of rtn but fade and stn)
b) Order up an ICP water test looking for contaminants or missing base elements
c) double check temp stability
d) rule out stray voltage and compromised magnets
e) Run and replace a lot of GAC (without any GFO). Do this first.
f) Calibrate or confirm your refractometer.
g) Keep bumping your post; there are answers out there to these things more often than not.

That image of the pale "algae" is puzzling. Does it blow off? Does it only grow at necrosis areas? Is its appearance brand new and coinciding with these troubles?

 

[Cassian]

AEFW only effect acropora sp., and while I have seen reduced color/stunted growth, I have never seen a red bug infestation kill an acropora,
I'm doubtful of pests, your other corals of different genus' look like they are showing equal signs of stress.

I'm still thinking this is some type of chemical contamination.

Check pump magnets? any aerosols used in the home recently? possible hands being vectors of chemical contamination?

I'm at a loss for what else it could be?

Hopefully as more people throw out ideas we can help you nail down the culprit

Pump should be fine. I just cleaned it not too long ago. No aerosols lately. Hand contaminant could be a possibility, but I would have no clue what it is.

Is it possible that the strawberry shortcake was just sloughing because it’s reacclimating to a new tank? And the other corals are maybe just starved and can’t make it any longer? The older ones have been bleached for quite a while.

 

[Saltyreef]

It unfortunately looks like the start of Dinos.

 

[Cassian]

Sorry @LukeWolf to hear about this.

Your params look fine so scratching my head a bit, but I would:
a) Get a Hanna reading on PO4 and insure it is well above 0 (not typically a cause of rtn but fade and stn)
b) Order up an ICP water test looking for contaminants or missing base elements
c) double check temp stability
d) rule out stray voltage and compromised magnets
e) Run and replace a lot of GAC (without any GFO). Do this first.
f) Calibrate or confirm your refractometer.
g) Keep bumping your post; there are answers out there to these things more often than not.

That image of the pale "algae" is puzzling. Does it blow off? Does it only grow at necrosis areas? Is its appearance brand new and coinciding with these troubles?

Thank you very much for the info! Is GAC activated carbon? Sorry, I’ve never seen that abbreviation before.
Also, the algae has been present for a while now, and it does blow off. It is mainly on my new rock because it’s doing it’s cycling thing. The algae only appears on the coral after the necrosis and when the skeleton is dead and bleach white.

 

[Cassian]

It unfortunately looks like the start of Dinos.

Could it not just be the new rock cycling. This happened in my old tank when I put dry rock in it and it eventually went away

 

[Saltyreef]

So its only on the single rock? If it was GHA it would not blow off the rocks easy. Which leads me to believe the more sinister possibility of Dinos. Only way to know is a microscope on the algae in question but the appearance of the gas bubbles on the top of the algae strands screams dinos to me.
Ive had many GHA outbreaks but none led to rapid coral death like dinos would.
Given your nutrients that are out of balance/unknown, its a perfect recipe for dinos.

 

[drawman]

That photo does not looks like dinos but it's a very bright photo. It would be nice to know where your PO4 is. Are you using GFO?

 

[Cassian]

So its only on the single rock? If it was GHA it would not blow off the rocks easy. Which leads me to believe the more sinister possibility of Dinos. Only way to know is a microscope on the algae in question but the appearance of the gas bubbles on the top of the algae strands screams dinos to me.
Ive had many GHA outbreaks but none led to rapid coral death like dinos would.
Given your nutrients that are out of balance/unknown, its a perfect recipe for dinos.

No it is not on a single rock. It is only on the new dry rock I added a few months ago.