Help

Benzophun · Feb 17, 2021

I need some help fellow reefers. I’m not new to the hobby, not super seasoned either been keeping my tank for 3 years. I’m battling what I think is GHA right now and something else. I have pretty rapid coral death occurring, fish as well. I e done 2 50% water change this week so far. Nothing seems to be helping, going on about a month of this now. Parameters and some tank info below. I use a Trident, and Hanna Checkers.

Red Sea Reefer 525XL - 139G total volume (108DT / 31 sump)

Ph- 8.15
Salinity- 33.5ppt
ORP - 300
Temp - 78F
Dhk- 9.9
Cal- 367
Mag- 1318
NO3- 1.6ppt
PO4- 0.01ppt

Please let me know if any other info will help. some equipment listed below too.

apex A360X’s
Maxspec jump 12k return
Reef Octopus regal 200sss skimmer w/ co2 scrubber
Dual BRS GFO/Carbon reactor
Biopellet reactor - this I just started a week ago trying to figure this problem out
Dose 7ml NOPOX every 24 hours.

Aside from the bio pellets this setup has been up and running without any major changes or additions since last April when I upgraded to transfer my longest established 75gallon.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks.

Big_Mclargehuge · Feb 17, 2021

Can you get some pics?

CMMorgan · Feb 17, 2021

+1 on pics. If it is GHA, I'd guess that you have higher phosphate than the test is showing. It is just being consumed by the GHA.
What is your livestock? What are you feeding?

Benzophun · Feb 17, 2021

CMMorgan said:
+1 on pics. If it is GHA, I'd guess that you have higher phosphate than the test is showing. It is just being consumed by the GHA.
What is your livestock? What are you feeding?

Pics in a minute for sure.

2 gold lightening marroon clowns and their RBTA that has split several times over the 1.5 I’ve got them.

Marine Betta - my favorite fish, she’s about 1 year old now

Radiant Wrasse - 1 year

Early transition red corris wrasse - just under a year

And my newest is a 6 month old snowflake moray, super docile and sweet got her at about the size of a pencil, she’s been the same decent larger size for the past couple months

I feed a variety of frozen foods thawed in RODI and Selcon for the most part, with the random sprinkle of high quality pellet. The eel and betta eat large whole krill thawed the same way Selcon / RODI

Benzophun · Feb 17, 2021

CMMorgan said:
+1 on pics. If it is GHA, I'd guess that you have higher phosphate than the test is showing. It is just being consumed by the GHA.
What is your livestock? What are you feeding?

Largely an unchanged softy / LPS tank.. with the exception of some random cool Zoas I’ve picked up since the transfer, the rest of my corals have been with me for quite some time and have grown very well until recently.

saltyhog · Feb 17, 2021

What fish/coral died? Anything of note on the fish that died? Appearance/behavior? Do you see any algae besides the GHA? Still running biopellets with nutrients that low?

Benzophun · Feb 17, 2021

saltyhog said:
What fish/coral died? Anything of note on the fish that died? Appearance/behavior? Do you see any algae besides the GHA? Still running biopellets with nutrients that low?

My large jack-o-lantern died, orange short tentacle plate, some small Zoa frags, scolly isn’t look too hot.

my blue spot jaw died, pink spot blenny and most recently a Solon fairy wrasse that had been with me since around the time as my two others.

yes still running biopellets on the assumption that if it is GHA it may be giving me a false low reading in my Hanna.

Benzophun · Feb 17, 2021

CMMorgan said:
+1 on pics. If it is GHA, I'd guess that you have higher phosphate than the test is showing. It is just being consumed by the GHA.
What is your livestock? What are you feeding?

Benzophun · Feb 17, 2021

Benzophun said:

vetteguy53081 · Feb 17, 2021

Pics fuzzy but I can make out last one.
Looks more like Bryopsis and if you can take a couple under white light- Just to rule out dino. Bryopsis is a battle but can be beat. Reduce white light intensity and pull out as much as you can by hand.
The best defense you have with this will be fluconasal (flux) which takes the nutrients from it and gets to the roots which is what makes it harder to battle. If roots are stable- So is the Bryopsis.

Benzophun · Feb 17, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Pics fuzzy but I can make out last one.
Looks more like Bryopsis and if you can take a couple under white light- Just to rule out dino. Bryopsis is a battle but can be beat. Reduce white light intensity and pull out as much as you can by hand.
The best defense you have with this will be fluconasal (flux) which takes the nutrients from it and gets to the roots which is what makes it harder to battle. If roots are stable- So is the Bryopsis.

vetteguy53081 · Feb 17, 2021

Benzophun said:

Yep - Its Bryopsis

Benzophun · Feb 17, 2021

Wou

vetteguy53081 said:
Yep - Its Bryopsis

Would Bryopsis be the causes of the deaths too?

Benzophun · Feb 17, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Yep - Its Bryopsis

Also, what gives it away as Bryopsis for sure?

vetteguy53081 · Feb 17, 2021

Benzophun said:
Wou

Would Bryopsis be the causes of the deaths too?

Not necessarily Unless it is depleting the oxygen in the tank.

Benzophun said:
Also, what gives it away as Bryopsis for sure?

The heavy/leafy blades opposed to strands of regular algae. More often than not, Bryopsis is mistaken for green hair algae (GHA). While it may look similar, there are several distinct differences between Bryopsis and hair algae. The most noticeable difference is its size. Bryopsis algae tend to be larger, both horizontally and vertically, than GHA, which often features shorter reach. The branches of Bryopsis are distinct in comparison to any other green hair algae species. Essentially, the tiny hair-like strands resemble common variety ferns and feature dense trunks. GHA strands are smoother and have less-distinct physical characteristics.