Loosing a lot of coral....ugh....

Animal Chin · Jan 7, 2019

Ok so I have a tone of nice LPS coral. Big open brains, blasto, scoly, trachy, pineapple coral, candy cane, you name it.

So over the last month they are shedding their polyps like crazy. Lobo i had for 5 years totally gone, pineapple coral, totally gone, Space invader pectina, gone.......blastos..........gone then my scolys........all three of them! Ugh its killing me.

My alk is steady at 7.8, cal at 420, mg at 1280, the only parameter to surprise me was phosphate. Its up to about .5. I haven't had phosphate issues for a long time so not sure why its high but it is. Did have a wrasse die a little while ago but i cant see that making a 125 gallon tank rise that much.

Could this be the main culprit of killing lps coral? My sps are fine, zoas are fine, its only the big fleshy lps that are dying like crazy.

Thoughts?

Reefer5640 · Jan 7, 2019

what do you use to top off your tank and where do you get your water?

steallife904 · Jan 7, 2019

do you spot feed? have always had issues with LPS when I didn't spot feed them. I actually have a couple favia receding right now I I think its because I got lazy over the holiday and haven't spot fed in a month

SinCityRee4r · Jan 7, 2019

Did you check for stray voltage in your tank?

Animal Chin · Jan 7, 2019

I only use RO water I make myself, I have checked for stray voltage and thats not an issue, I don't spot feed as my tangs are voracious and eat it all before the corals react to the food. I've tried everything to spot feed and i just can't get the fish away from them. I do put reef roids in the water column though (maybe my phosphate source?). Some of these coral I've had for years and they are pealing like crazy all of a sudden. My Lobo and favia are at least 5 years old.

I'm thinking either the phosphates which seems strange considering my SPS seem to be ok, well I've lost a couple of frags but that could be a coincidence. Maybe pests? Maybe a fish picking at night or somethign?

Animal Chin · Jan 7, 2019

I've circled the coral that are dying or have died, just to show that my tank is in good shape and I can keep coral for the most part. You can also see big LPS that have not been effected at all. The big donuts and trachy, a bowerbanski acan, hammers, torch, frogspawn all my chalices (3 of them)...

rkpetersen · Jan 7, 2019

If your phosphate has gotten that high, I wonder whether any heavy metal ions are present and if so, whether they've also concentrated. You obviously know how to run a reef, so I'd be looking for unusual things and send in a water sample for ICP-OES testing.

ihavecrabs · Jan 7, 2019

Animal Chin said:
I only use RO water I make myself

RO or RODI?

If it is RO, I'd also recommend an ICP test.

Maybe some large water changes (with RODI) to provide immediate relief to any possible build ups that have been causing the issue.

Animal Chin · Jan 7, 2019

hmmm ya maybe i should look into a kit. I'd be surprised if things were really out of whack but hey after 8 years of doing this I'm still surprised all the time.

Reefer5640 · Jan 7, 2019

I ask about the water because I too had an issue where some of my corals were reseeding like crazy and it turned out my DI canister was spent and was releasing all it had pulled out back into my tank. If you are running strictly RO without a DI canister you won’t be able to pull the chlorine and chloramines out near as well which would certainly make your corals unhappy. The thought of a tank member picking at them is a possibility too though. What all do you have in the tank? Any new additions? I had an Aptasia eating file fish for months and when he cleared the tank of Aptasia he cleaned out my zoa colonies in less than 3 days

mborn · Jan 7, 2019

You should spot feed them at night with a flashlight after lights out when their feeder tentacles are out. The tangs will have taken cover for the night and won’t be stealing food. I feed mine at night with no problems from diurnal fish. You might cut back on the reef roids if your phosphate level is rising.

Clownfish2 · Jan 7, 2019

Is it possible any household cleaning products made its way into your tank, any recent indoor painting? What about insecticides if your skimmer is vented outside?

Retro Reefer · Jan 7, 2019

Check every magnet in your system.. I had similar issues recently and after just about giving up I found a rusting magnet, after removing and doing a few water changes tank turned around quickly.

steallife904 · Jan 8, 2019

when spot feeding shut the pumps off for a few minutes first, then spot feed and leave off for 10 or so minutes. Use the reef roids in a syringe or turkey baster (should be to small for tangs to mess with) and it does work better at night.
Since its only the LPS it makes me lean towards food or tank to clean. I would think if Alk or phosphates changed rapidly the sps would be first to go or at least on the way out. In saying this I have had similar happen before..... Just a few LPS just go south, never figured it out. Lost a frogspawn, chaclice and lobo for no reason I could figure out before but other LPS fine?

RichReef · Jan 8, 2019

I use a 1, 2, and a 3 liter coke bottle with the bottoms cut out to spot feed. I just throw a teaser in the tank to get the corals to open some. Wait about 15 mins. Then I place the bottle over the corals and blast some food in it with a baster. Use the baster to keep it stirred a little while watching the thieving fish freak out because they can't get the food. I love that part. The fish are so used to the bottles now it makes it easy to catch one if I have to.

I too had an issue with a rusting magnet. It seemed to effect the LPS first but I found it quickly.

Over use of carbon also effected my acans.

Animal Chin · Jan 8, 2019

Great suggestions in here but unfortunately you haven't met my sailfin tang. He is RELENTLESS when it comes to food. I over feed my tank, fish are fat but this guy is next level. Comes out at night, no problem he doesn't care about light if there is food he'll find it. I did the 2 litre thing, he attacks it till it falls over. I mean I have to leave my arm in the tank for 20 minutes for my coral to eat, its insane. I'll check for a magnet issue for sure. I do have an old mag float cleaner adn some magnet pumps, maybe thats it!

steallife904 · Jan 9, 2019

some comments above make me wonder if I should keep the glass cleaners out of the tank unless I need to clean? Haven't noticed an issue with them but they have magnets in them so maybe shouldn't just leave them stuck to glass 24/7? I did recently notice the wet side magnet on my gyre had a spot that looked like rust? Kinda forgot about it, need to pull today. Maybe its the reason I lost my Duncan?

rkpetersen · Jan 9, 2019

I leave multiple magnets and devices with metal bearings in my tanks, including Flippers, but I inspect them all regularly and pull anything with any rust. Contrary to certain manufacturers' misleading claims, a rusting piece of metal is not just like GFO. The iron isn't the issue; iron is not very toxic, used by many organisms quickly, and also taken up by carbon. It's the other heavy metal elements that may or not be given off by rusting metal that may or may not be causing problems. I also like to send periodic ICP-OES tests, because some device corrosion may not be visible to casual inspection.

Animal Chin · Jan 10, 2019

Well it turns out my city has cranked up the chlorine in the water due to an insane amount of rain we've had and I've been dumping chlorine that made it through my ro sytem into my tank. After doing a 30 gallon change and killing more coral I was making more water when I got a whiff of what I can only describe as the smell of a city swimming pool. Upsetting but at least I've pin pointed the issue and can stop killing my own coral with water changes now....grrrrrr