Help needed - monti, acro growing well then STN

[pooootiqe]

Hey all,

Looking for some opinions on the cause of STN in my friend's tank and course of actions. All the montis that are undergoing STN were growing quite well, then started receding for unknown reasons. There have been a few acro pieces that withered away over time as well (some maricultured and some aquacultured).

All the pictures are taken under 100% white light from an AI Hydra 32 HD; currently running one of the signature settings from AI (not sure which one, can ask).

He did not report any sightings of monti-eating nudis; there's a sixline wrasse in the tank as well.

Unfortunately, the tank is located in Asia and ICP tests aren't quite accessible.

Thanks in advance!

Tank parameters:
KH: 8.3
Ca: 460
Mg: 1380
K: 440
NO3: 5 ppm
PO4: 0.052 ppm
RODI TDS: 0

FTS:



Corals in question:

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I do not see stn, I see the corals becoming pale and withering away. A tank thats packed with coral like that will suck trace elements out of the water very quickly, I think the solution is more in this direction, the corals are missing something from the water I think. The nitrate and phosphate are very low for that amount of coral IMO.

I'm just 100% guessing on my experience, but I think the coral is not getting enough nutrients or trace elements or vitamins or something.

 

[billyocean]

If all montis are stn then make sure to check for monti eating nudibranchs. The acros could be unrelated. If that's not the case then perhaps, as stated above, may need additional trace elements to account for the amount of sps in the tank. An easy trace addition without icp is the kz1234 system...I had good luck with it before moonshiners. Ideally, you would run ICP. Tests, but you could always underdose and it's better than nothing in my opinion. In my experience, it did fine for icp... It was just expensive for the size tank I had and I wanted to dial in things more

 

[Dburr1014]

I agree with others.

Does he do water changes?
Calcium reactor? 2 or 3 part?

There needs to be input of some trace somehow.

 

[pooootiqe]

Thanks all for your valuable inputs!

I agree with others.

Does he do water changes?
Calcium reactor? 2 or 3 part?

There needs to be input of some trace somehow.

3 part I believe, dosing Kamoer Ca which has trace elements added; can’t find the exact breakdown, though.

If all montis are stn then make sure to check for monti eating nudibranchs. The acros could be unrelated. If that's not the case then perhaps, as stated above, may need additional trace elements to account for the amount of sps in the tank. An easy trace addition without icp is the kz1234 system...I had good luck with it before moonshiners. Ideally, you would run ICP. Tests, but you could always underdose and it's better than nothing in my opinion. In my experience, it did fine for icp... It was just expensive for the size tank I had and I wanted to dial in things more

I do not see stn, I see the corals becoming pale and withering away. A tank thats packed with coral like that will suck trace elements out of the water very quickly, I think the solution is more in this direction, the corals are missing something from the water I think. The nitrate and phosphate are very low for that amount of coral IMO.

I'm just 100% guessing on my experience, but I think the coral is not getting enough nutrients or trace elements or vitamins or something.

Thx for pointing out the trace elements. I’ll try to help send a sample to Fauna Marin for ICP (could be quite a hassle). before we figure that out, any all-in-one trace supplement you would recommend (OR) How should he dose KZ1234 manually?

I agree the corals look a bit bleached. What nutrient level would you recommend? Any need to dose aminos etc? NO3 and PO4 levels have been pretty consistent from early on actually, 3-10 ppm and 0.02-0.1 ppm.

It may be worth mentioning that he has had recurring cyano issue, nothing major but it quite persistently show up on the sandbed in small patches.