Help save these SPS colonies

[Rcfiftyone]

I recently got "back in the game" of reefing after about a 6 year break. Purchased a Figi cube 57 shallow off marketplace. The tank is fully setup and running with Radions, T5s, apex, MP40s etc. Most importantly, it is stocked with high dollar sps frags and colonies.
Just prior to my purchasing it the owner had a heater "incident" that cooked the tank. A few colonies had died and naturally everything was stressed. In the days following my purchase things have continued to decline and I can't seem to slow it down. I got the tank for a good price so if everything dies Ill still be in it right financially. However, I underestimated the psychological toll of watching beautiful corals die one by one in front of me.

So, Im looking for any advice to mitigate the losses. Im open to all suggestions at this point. Massive water changes? Should I set lighting at lower or higher intensity? Different spectrum? Higher or lower flow in tank? Skimming more or less? Dose anything like acropower etc? There are no fish in at the moment. Should I feed the corals? Ill post more pics soon. Parameters are as follows

Calcium- 540!
Alk- 7.5
Mag- unknown-getting a test today
Phosphate- 0.075
Nitrate- 25ppm
Salinity- 1.025
Temp- 78
Ph- as low as 7.6

 

[bubbgee]

Need pics of what's going on. Is it RTN? STN? Flow? Lighting? Lighting schedule?
Then we need an ICP test to see the chemistry at a lower level.

If it's STN, moonshiner's witch hazel protocol has slowed down my STN issues. https://reefmoonshiners.com/pages/witchhazel-reeftank-treatment

Since there was an increase of temp, it's probably a bacterial issue but cant really tell without an ICP test.

Good luck! This is the hardest part of being an SPS owner.

 

[Project1004]

I would setup a small frag tank and remove them from the main system until you can get the tank back to normally. Probably cause big issue when heater malfunction.

 

[Dburr1014]

I recently got "back in the game" of reefing after about a 6 year break. Purchased a Figi cube 57 shallow off marketplace. The tank is fully setup and running with Radions, T5s, apex, MP40s etc. Most importantly, it is stocked with high dollar sps frags and colonies.
Just prior to my purchasing it the owner had a heater "incident" that cooked the tank. A few colonies had died and naturally everything was stressed. In the days following my purchase things have continued to decline and I can't seem to slow it down. I got the tank for a good price so if everything dies Ill still be in it right financially. However, I underestimated the psychological toll of watching beautiful corals die one by one in front of me.

So, Im looking for any advice to mitigate the losses. Im open to all suggestions at this point. Massive water changes? Should I set lighting at lower or higher intensity? Different spectrum? Higher or lower flow in tank? Skimming more or less? Dose anything like acropower etc? There are no fish in at the moment. Should I feed the corals? Ill post more pics soon. Parameters are as follows

Calcium- 540!
Alk- 7.5
Mag- unknown-getting a test today
Phosphate- 0.075
Nitrate- 25ppm
Salinity- 1.025
Temp- 78
Ph- as low as 7.6

The dying spreads like cancer. The smell of death is terrible.
As the flesh peels off from one to another it will have to be immediately taken out of the system or it gets overloaded.
I wouldn't know how to do this other than another system attached with massive skimmer and filters.

Good luck

 

[Kooma]

A temp spike will cause them to expel their zooxanthellae as oxygen builds up in their skeleton. Depending how long it lasted it could be fatal or could recover. Bleaching doesn’t mean it’s dead, but does introduce opportunities for the coral to die due to the stress.

I’m not sure if there is much that can be done other than keeping things stable. Moving good drags to another system could help.

 

[Rcfiftyone]

Appreciate all the responses. It seems like both STN and RTN. Definitely had the brown jelly spreading across some corals. Others dying slower.

Is there a known schedule for the radions that anyone recomends?
Ill get some pics in a sec here...

 

[Klem]

So here is my take on it. If it were me I’d start be removing all the dead coral. Do two 25% water changes every other day. Run carbon. Keep your water levels exactly how they are(alk, Ca, Mag). Let the calcium slide down naturally. Phosphates are most likely high. Get them down under 1. Don’t worry about nitrates unless over 20. Add some Microbacter7. If you have UV - use it. Pay attention to ph and keep it normal. Try to stay calm and go slow. The worst thing you can do is start throwing additives in there and disturbing rock/sand etc. Best of luck and welcome back

 

[Rcfiftyone]

Heres the damage of some that are still holding on...

 

[Rcfiftyone]

So here is my take on it. If it were me I’d start be removing all the dead coral. Do two 25% water changes every other day. Run carbon. Keep your water levels exactly how they are(alk, Ca, Mag). Let the calcium slide down naturally. Phosphates are most likely high. Get them down under 1. Don’t worry about nitrates unless over 20. Add some Microbacter7. If you have UV - use it. Pay attention to ph and keep it normal. Try to stay calm and go slow. The worst thing you can do is start throwing additives in there and disturbing rock/sand etc. Best of luck and welcome back

This was along the lines of my thinking. It seems anything I touch to frag just dies even faster. The tank is bare bottom so no sand to worry about. I do need to get some carbon running. Dont have UV either at the moment but I might get one setup here. Resisting the urge to do too much at once but obviously intervention is required

 

[Klem]

This was along the lines of my thinking. It seems anything I touch to frag just dies even faster. The tank is bare bottom so no sand to worry about. I do need to get some carbon running. Dont have UV either at the moment but I might get one setup here. Resisting the urge to do too much at once but obviously intervention is required

Yes, I’ve done the same thing trying to frag in hopes of saving corals but they’ll likely are very fragile at this point. I think you’re taking the right approach. Hopefully you’ll save some but definitely not all.

 

[Rcfiftyone]

Last nights losses... Atleast the ones that can be easily removed...
I dont want to speak too soon but it seems like things may be stabilizing a bit. Well see how it looks this evening.
I've tried blowing the brown jelly off the ones that are dying. In a few cases I've even taken super glue and put it all around the dying edge in an attempt to stop the spread. Anyone have any thoughts about this practice?

 

[Rcfiftyone]

Need pics of what's going on. Is it RTN? STN? Flow? Lighting? Lighting schedule?
Then we need an ICP test to see the chemistry at a lower level.

If it's STN, moonshiner's witch hazel protocol has slowed down my STN issues. https://reefmoonshiners.com/pages/witchhazel-reeftank-treatment

Since there was an increase of temp, it's probably a bacterial issue but cant really tell without an ICP test.

Good luck! This is the hardest part of being an SPS owner.

Interesting read about the witch hazel protocol! I had not heard of that before.
What is the average turn around time for the ICP test results?

 

[bubbgee]

Interesting read about the witch hazel protocol! I had not heard of that before.
What is the average turn around time for the ICP test results?

ICP-- two weeks if it's in Germany (ATI and Fauna Marin)
Triton and Oceamo within 7 days

 

[Klem]

Interesting read about the witch hazel protocol! I had not heard of that before.
What is the average turn around time for the ICP test results?

I’ve heard about witch hazel and guys having success with it. But these are guys that have stn or rtn on systems that have been up for a while and then using the witch hazel. In your case you’re dealing with shock from the move and likely the coral adjusting to your water/salt mix and this is causing your die off. I think throwing witch hazel in would be overkill? Just my thoughts…

 

[Rcfiftyone]

I’ve heard about witch hazel and guys having success with it. But these are guys that have stn or rtn on systems that have been up for a while and then using the witch hazel. In your case you’re dealing with shock from the move and likely the coral adjusting to your water/salt mix and this is causing your die off. I think throwing witch hazel in would be overkill? Just my thoughts…

Yes I definitely feel like that protocol is designed for a different situation than mine