Help me help my STN

[drawman]

Hi all,
I have been battling STN in my 30 gallon since early Spring and I would like to hear thoughts from other advanced SPS keepers. This tank previously was growing acros well with great colors and PE. Things took a turn downhill and I can't say I've been able to pinpoint any issues so maybe you can help me think about what I have not looked for...

What's affected:
Acros, montis, and stylophoras. Some LPS don't seem to be growing anymore but Euphyllias look great.

About the system:
Tank is pretty simple. No skimmer. Just return, MP10, ATI 4 bulb T5 fixture running B+C+ bulbs. Tank has some Siporax media and BRS rock. Dosing is done by BRS 2 part only. Tank is mature and has grown acros well in the past.

Params:
Alk 8.0dKH Salifert
Calcium 440ppm Salifert
Magnesium 1502mg/L last Triton test
PO4 .04mg/L last Triton test
NO3 5ppm Salifert

I have true STN paranoia at this point. I've done everything from check my RODI unit, check my pumps for rust, ran a polyfilter...can't really see anything that's off. Triton test was pretty unremarkable as well except all major elements were a little elevated. This led me to think my salinity was high (I've used multiple AquaCraft and one Brightwell bottle with numbers that vary). I checked it back with an LFS and it was in line with what they had.

At this point I'm willing to check and recheck everything so throw it at me!

 

[bubbaque]

Have you checked for pest?

 

[Reeferdood]

Can you post a photo?
The parameters look fine.

 

[drawman]

Have you checked for pest?

Yes I have never seen AEFW or any other pest thankfully

Can you post a photo?
The parameters look fine.

I will try to post a photo later tonight after work.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

How old are your bulbs? Any recent temp changes in your tank. What temp and salinity do you run at? Any algae issues? Your parameters look solid.

 

[drawman]

How old are your bulbs? Any recent temp changes in your tank. What temp and salinity do you run at? Any algae issues? Your parameters look solid.

Bulbs are actually swapped out regularly. I've been swapping out one every 3 mo to keep the rotation. That way I get a year out of them and don't have four new ones at once. No temp swings I keep it between 77-78. Temp has been consistent since I set the tank up. Salinity I keep at 1.026.

As far as algae I do have a fair amount of bubble algae but otherwise not much else that is overtaking anything. I would use vibrant for it but I do not want to kill my nutrients or cause any more problems. Coralline really has grown well up until very recently it has slowed some.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Could be a heavy metal issue or stray voltage.

 

[DivingTheWorld]

As far as algae I do have a fair amount of bubble algae but otherwise not much else that is overtaking anything. I would use vibrant for it but I do not want to kill my nutrients or cause any more problems. Coralline really has grown well up until very recently it has slowed some.

I recently had an issue with bubble algae getting out of control and masking high nutrients. I'd have phosphates/Nitrates drop, I'd cull out a bunch of bubble algae and they would spike up. I ended up losing some acros (STN) as a result. I've been battling the bubble algae back with Vibrant and my acros are beginning to look a lot better. I'm going to keep it up and see if I can eradicate the bubble algae for good.

 

[drawman]

Could be a heavy metal issue or stray voltage.

I was kind of hoping I would be able to find a metal issue because that would be an easy fix. Triton tests didn't show anything and I've yet to find rust. I'm going to try to test for stray voltage with a multimeter this week I was questioning the same thing thanks.

I recently had an issue with bubble algae getting out of control and masking high nutrients. I'd have phosphates/Nitrates drop, I'd cull out a bunch of bubble algae and they would spike up. I ended up losing some acros (STN) as a result. I've been battling the bubble algae back with Vibrant and my acros are beginning to look a lot better. I'm going to keep it up and see if I can eradicate the bubble algae for good.

It certainly could be masking some. I'm not sure I want to add vibrant to the mix just yet but I could try to scrape a bunch of it out.

 

[drawman]

Just took a couple of photos over my lunch break. I was actually surprised by this. I knew this coral had some "bubbling" going on along with the STN but on closer inspection this looks a lot worse. The white border around the base is where it has STN'd and you can see the white area in the middle where the bubbling has destroyed the tissue. FWIW this "bubbling" has also happened to montis and stylophora.

I know others have debated if this bubbling is bacterial. If that's true I'm not sure what I can do at this point. Maybe put a skimmer on the tank?

 

[reeferfoxx]

If it's bacterial, Dr. Tim's Eco-balance claims to reduce if not eliminate vibrio and other bacterial issues in corals. More or less fortifies beneficial bacteria. Not sure though, I would go down the check list, which you have been, and go from there.

 

[drawman]

Attempted to test for stray voltage. I've heard of using both the neutral and ground on an extension cord...I used neutral and got a reading around 1.0 with everything on so nothing too exciting there.

 

[drawman]

It's been a while since I've updated. I've been doing 2x weekly water changes with RODI water from a different unit/source that I have and also added a small Tunze skimmer. I also removed half of my Siporax and am considering removing the rest. I just don't have a lot of rock in this tank but I am truly wondering if this is from a pathogen. My reasoning is it was introduced from one specific frag and spread from there.

The bubbles on the acro I posted before have subsided a ton. That said, a different acro still seems to have a ton of them. I still think I have slight STNing going on but it is very slow. No noticeable growth on any acros. Euphyllias look great but my hammers also have an extreme inflated appearance...

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

The pictures you posted back on sept 11th doesn’t look like stn. Stn starts at the margins of the base and creeps up the body uniformly.

 

[drawman]

The pictures you posted back on sept 11th doesn’t look like stn. Stn starts at the margins of the base and creeps up the body uniformly.

Yes you're right. The pictures that I posted are better at showing the tissue bubbling but if you look at the last picture there is a white band around the base that is STN from previous growth. In my case I am dealing with both tissue bubbling and STN.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

The tissue bubbling, hyperplasia I believe, can sometimes be caused by dosing the big three in uneven amounts ime. Once I started dosing equal amounts and got mag where it is supposed to be according to cal and all the bubbling stopped and new growth took over. Others have said that this was not the cause of their hyperplasia issue but I am not sure I remember anyone finding a solution to that thought either.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Yes you're right. The pictures that I posted are better at showing the tissue bubbling but if you look at the last picture there is a white band around the base that is STN from previous growth. In my case I am dealing with both tissue bubbling and STN.

Gotcha. I didn’t notice it because it still looks encrusted. I had a lot issues with stn because I was carbon dosing and using gfo. As soon as I stopped both the stn stopped

 

[drawman]

The tissue bubbling, hyperplasia I believe, can sometimes be caused by dosing the big three in uneven amounts ime. Once I started dosing equal amounts and got mag where it is supposed to be according to cal and all the bubbling stopped and new growth took over. Others have said that this was not the cause of their hyperplasia issue but I am not sure I remember anyone finding a solution to that thought either.

I've done a lot of searching on it as well. I think most people don't care because their acros generally don't suffer and continue to grow so there isn't a ton of discussion on it. I've heard people question high Magnesium, high CO2, etc.

I haven't dosed Magnesium in many months and Calcium and Alkalinity have been stable.

Gotcha. I didn’t notice it because it still looks encrusted. I had a lot issues with stn because I was carbon dosing and using gfo. As soon as I stopped both the stn stopped

Thankfully no carbon dosing or gfo here. That said, my Siporax media works really well without carbon dosing and I may end up pulling the last bit of it.

 

[Krzydmnd]

Salinity? I juat lost three pieces over a few short weeks because my salinity got up to 1.03 somehow and I didnt catch it

 

[MTBake]

I've done a lot of searching on it as well. I think most people don't care because their acros generally don't suffer and continue to grow so there isn't a ton of discussion on it. I've heard people question high Magnesium, high CO2, etc.

I haven't dosed Magnesium in many months and Calcium and Alkalinity have been stable.


Thankfully no carbon dosing or gfo here. That said, my Siporax media works really well without carbon dosing and I may end up pulling the last bit of it.

Has the issue progressed? I've seen this bubbling in frags I've received in. Not sure what causes it. Good flow and lighting usually results in the coral growing over those spots, ime.

Not sure about the necrosis. That has always baffled me. Colony going great, then dead over night, has happened to me a few times over the years. Never could pin point an issue to cause it.