I’m completely stumped and need help

[InvaderJim]

Having something similar in one of my tanks. No coral but softies will live, but inverts and fish do fine. I am leaning towards a bacterial infection and I have considered a complete teardown but I think I might try a full tank cipro treatment first.

Sounds exactly like the issue I'm having. Fish are fat and healthy. I have some cipro so I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

I haven't had aquabiomics test yet but for the price, I think I might just try the cipro first since I think I would try the cipro no matter what came back on the test.

 

[DanyL]

Another idea - do a chemiclean treatment for the whole tank.
It's an antibacterial treatment and should kill bacteria and allow you to repopulate it with bottled bacteria more easily.

 

[DanyL]

Sounds exactly like the issue I'm having. Fish are fat and healthy. I have some cipro so I guess it wouldn't hurt to try.

Yes, cipro should word as well.

 

[InvaderJim]

I haven't had aquabiomics test yet but for the price, I think I might just try the cipro first since I think I would try the cipro no matter what came back on the test.

That's a good point. I'm going to try cipro at 3mL a day for a few days.

Another idea - do a chemiclean treatment for the whole tank.
It's an antibacterial treatment and should kill bacteria and allow you to repopulate it with bottled bacteria more easily.

I do have chemiclean but never thought about using it for anything but cyano. That's not a bad idea either.

 

[DanyL]

I do have chemiclean but never thought about using it for anything but cyano. That's not a bad idea either.

Some well known reefers actually do periodic bacterial treatments with it, as well as dips targeted to stop STN/RTN.
iirc Luca Mahina talked about experimenting with it on one of the podcasts.

 

[InvaderJim]

Some well known reefers actually do periodic bacterial treatments with it, as well as dips targeted to stop STN/RTN.
iirc Luca Mahina talked about experimenting with it on one of the podcasts.

I have seen it used in the KFC dip which is the ultimate antibiotic cocktail. I have considered using that as well.

 

[InvaderJim]

Looking at your livestock, I insist you put a camera and watch your fish.
I've seen Sailfin, Fox Face and Melanurus all nipping on coral, some are sneakier than others and would not do this when you around, and may even wait till lights out.

I know you think they are well behaved, and you watched them but you never know until you know.

Here is my very own, recent experience with nipping:
4-5 months ago my 9 year old clam suddenly closed and wouldn't open, we didn't know what was going on, but it kept getting worst until it finally died. 2 months ago we bought 2 new, way-too-much-expensive clams, they started growing instantly and were thriving until a month ago when we spotted severe biting marks on both of them. Not knowing what we dealt with we moved the clams to our sump to let them recover.

A couple of days later, I was looking at another one of new additions, a tiny, even more expensive OG bounce.
It was nearly a week in our system, and it was all teared up.
Shocked, I moved what was left from it to the sump.

We suspected it was our new emerald crab, as this was our latest addition to the system.
Well, we caught him, and brought back our clams.
A few moments later, before we even moved the bounce back we spotted our so far well behaved Melanurus tearing up one clam after another, with so much aggression that if we wouldn't have spooked him away he probably teared them apart completely in less than 10 minutes.

Now mind you, we got both our old clam and Melanurus a few months apart from each other, both were added 9 years ago, and the Melanurus did not show any signs of nipping until this very moment.

I don't know if this is really what's going on in your tank, and I strongly believe the harsh dipping could've been responsible for some of the symptoms, but given the type of fish you have and their size, my suspicion for nipping is high.

I think you may have been on to something about a potential coral nipper. I watched my foxface messing with a large Goni colony earlier. I always suspected it was also the reason I could never keep zoas in the tank.

 

[DanyL]

I think you may have been on to something about a potential coral nipper. I watched my foxface messing with a large Goni colony earlier. I always suspected it was also the reason I could never keep zoas in the tank.

The nipping marks on your Favaia were a true giveaway.
FoxFace is well known for developing a taste for corals over time, so are Sailfin tang and Melanurus unfortunately.

I'll advise you once again to setup a camera and watch your fish, there is no other more definite evidence than this.

 

[Daftendire]

The tank was cycled with dry rock seeded with live rock from multiple sources.

Can you elaborate a bit more on this? Was it aquacultured rock from the ocean or something like cycled rock from an existing reefers tank?

I have a two year old tank with dry marco rock/seeded with LFS cycled rock which basically resulted in a failure to launch situation. It just isn't hospitable to most stony corals. Softies, fish and inverts do well. Small additions of aquabiomics seeded and tested live rock were also added in attempts to improve the microbiome.

I have another setup using the same source water and salt with the only difference being real ocean live rock. This tank is spinning like a well oiled machine and saves corals that are dying in the other system.

In my case, I strongly suspect a microbiome and bacterial imbalance resulting from dry rock and unfortunately sourced seed material. Hopefully you found your issue with the coral nipper

 

[InvaderJim]

The nipping marks on your Favaia were a true giveaway.
FoxFace is well known for developing a taste for corals over time, so are Sailfin tang and Melanurus unfortunately.

I'll advise you once again to setup a camera and watch your fish, there is no other more definite evidence than this.

I'm planning on setting one up today. But I sat in front of the tank for about an hour watching to see if it did it again and no luck.

Can you elaborate a bit more on this? Was it aquacultured rock from the ocean or something like cycled rock from an existing reefers tank?

I have a two year old tank with dry marco rock/seeded with LFS cycled rock which basically resulted in a failure to launch situation. It just isn't hospitable to most stony corals. Softies, fish and inverts do well. Small additions of aquabiomics seeded and tested live rock were also added in attempts to improve the microbiome.

I have another setup using the same source water and salt with the only difference being real ocean live rock. This tank is spinning like a well oiled machine and saves corals that are dying in the other system.

In my case, I strongly suspect a microbiome and bacterial imbalance resulting from dry rock and unfortunately sourced seed material. Hopefully you found your issue with the coral nipper

It was a mixture of caribsea life rock and marco dry, seeded with some live rock from my LFS. Several of the pieces came from a tank that was broken down. The insufficient microbiome it what I have suspected all along but I haven't been able to prove it. But my issue sounds exactly like that. I have another tank but it is just softies so I couldn't compare the two.

I don't think the coral nipper is my main issue. But it certainly doesn't help the situation.

 

[InvaderJim]

Just wanted to give an update because I hate seeing these threads and never hearing if and what the solution was.

I discussed in length a lot of things with @Big E pertaining to my tank but I saw a huge change for the better once I removed the filter roller. The tank is currently running without socks, or filter roller and it's honestly never looked better. All of the corals that were hanging on have made a full recovery and are pushing out new growth. Enough to where I felt comfortable adding more SPS frags.