Losing corals one after the other. Getting desperate and fed up.

Rpc07 · Jun 4, 2018

Not sure where to start I have been losing corals one after the other for a few weeks now and I always seem to come up with an excuse to why it happened but I’m fed up and could use some help. The tank is about 4 months old and I recently had an ich outbreak so all my fish are in qt while the tank sits fallow. I’ve dipped every single coral that goes Into the system and my parameters have been stable for the past month without fluctuating much at all.

So far I have lost a mini acan lord colony , the tissue receded and slowly started to show its skeleton until it was gone.

After that I lost a no name Acro frag which just stripped and went white over a few days.

I then lost another slightly bigger Acro frag in the same way. And most recently my acan bowerbanki frag (1) Head is slowly starting to melt and show skeleton as well as my Scoly.

When I had fish in the system I was feeding reef roids once a week now since the tank is fallow I spot feed every coral every other day with reef roids and I feed frozen Lrs to the bigger corals.

The only corals that seem to thrive and grow new polyps are zoas and my Duncan.

I did a full parameter check today and this is what I came up with.

Alk 8.5 - Hanna checker
Cal 451 - Hanna checker
Mag 1410 - Salifert
Ph 8.1 - Salifert
Phosphate .034 - Hanna checker
Nitrate 2ppm - Red Sea
SG 1.026 - refractometer calibrated at 35ppt
Temp - 77.5-78

The tank is a Red Sea reefer 250 with 2 ai primes running the brs ab plus copy profile. The only things I dose are esv bionic 2 part. The sump has a refugium section with chaeto and miracle mud
(just added this week)

I’m sure I am forgetting something and I apologize for the scattered post just trying to get all my thoughts out. I appreciate any and all help.

Gator0930 · Jun 4, 2018

Rpc07 said:
Not sure where to start I have been losing corals one after the other for a few weeks now and I always seem to come up with an excuse to why it happened but I’m fed up and could use some help. The tank is about 4 months old and I recently had an ich outbreak so all my fish are in qt while the tank sits fallow. I’ve dipped every single coral that goes Into the system and my parameters have been stable for the past month without fluctuating much at all.

So far I have lost a mini acan lord colony , the tissue receded and slowly started to show its skeleton until it was gone.

After that I lost a no name Acro frag which just stripped and went white over a few days.

I then lost another slightly bigger Acro frag in the same way. And most recently my acan bowerbanki frag (1) Head is slowly starting to melt and show skeleton as well as my Scoly.

When I had fish in the system I was feeding reef roids once a week now since the tank is fallow I spot feed every coral every other day with reef roids and I feed frozen Lrs to the bigger corals.

The only corals that seem to thrive and grow new polyps are zoas and my Duncan.

I did a full parameter check today and this is what I came up with.

Alk 8.5 - Hanna checker
Cal 451 - Hanna checker
Mag 1410 - Salifert
Ph 8.1 - Salifert
Phosphate .034 - Hanna checker
Nitrate 2ppm - Red Sea
SG 1.026 - refractometer calibrated at 35ppt
Temp - 77.5-78

The tank is a Red Sea reefer 250 with 2 ai primes running the brs ab plus copy profile. The only things I dose are esv bionic 2 part. The sump has a refugium section with chaeto and miracle mud
(just added this week)

I’m sure I am forgetting something and I apologize for the scattered post just trying to get all my thoughts out. I appreciate any and all help.

Your salinity is a little higher then what is suggested for a reef. (1.023 - 1.025). That is the only parameter that seems unusual. How did you treat the rich, if at all? Also, how much light are you giving them? Have you tried adjusting that?

Rpc07 · Jun 4, 2018

I can bring my salinity down some that’s not a problem. I didn’t treat the display with anything for the ich I put all the fish in a hospital tank where they are being treated with copper power. As far as lights I have only adjusted the photoperiod. I have a 2 hour ramp up/down and 5 hours at full intensity.

BestMomEver · Jun 4, 2018

I have been reading a lot about lighting and looking at videos and pictures of others' tanks. What I keep coming up with is that many use very limited white light. Or at least shorter periods of time with white light on. I run mainly blue, UV, and violet at 100% and only add white for 2.5 hours a day at 50%. When I ran white light all the time, I burned up three acro frags. I will also say, that not only did I change the colors, time, and intensity, I also bought a better quality light. It's a little odd to me too cause way back when, we ran super hot halides and some actinic blue and had amazing coral growth. Go figure!

dede · Jun 4, 2018

Well kudos on getting your fish out and treating them for the ich and letting the tank sit fallow.

I think the salinity is fine, I would look at the light intensity and flow in the system. Also, your tank needs to mature. Four months is not long enough to start adding acros to your tank. Maybe you just added too much too fast.

mich2599 · Jun 4, 2018

Maybe try lowering the white intensity. I run mine at less than 1/2 of what I run the others. Also maybe try moving stuff around the find their happy place. I am new to the hobby and have found that moving coral around to find the perfect place can be quite tricky.

Rpc07 · Jun 5, 2018

The brs ab plus copy is a very blue spectrum and does not have much white in it at all. As far as finding the corals happy place all the corals were in place for weeks if not longer with polyps extended and feeding long before they started to lose tissue. Dede I agree it may be to soon for acros which is the main reason I went with cheap no name Frags to see how they would do and half of them are starting to encrust while the others are dying. I’d really like to figure out the issue with my lps because I am losing them much faster and it’s becoming frustrating. Thank you all for your response.

Tallison · Jun 5, 2018

Rpc07 said:
The brs ab plus copy is a very blue spectrum and does not have much white in it at all. As far as finding the corals happy place all the corals were in place for weeks if not longer with polyps extended and feeding long before they started to lose tissue. Dede I agree it may be to soon for acros which is the main reason I went with cheap no name Frags to see how they would do and half of them are starting to encrust while the others are dying. I’d really like to figure out the issue with my lps because I am losing them much faster and it’s becoming frustrating. Thank you all for your response.

Are you running your primes at 100% intensity?

BestMomEver · Jun 5, 2018

Just a thought.... did you dip these corals? I lost a huge colony of pretty zoas until I realized I had a flatworm problem. Now, I dip every coral and take all the plugs off. The only exception are the zoas. I still dip them but can’t always get them off the plug. If I can and they come off in one “sheet” I rubber band them to a rock. They’ll attach pretty quickly.

Rpc07 · Jun 5, 2018

When i get home from work I’ll post my light schedule and intensity. And yes every coral was dipped from day one.

Dom · Jun 5, 2018

Rpc07 said:
I can bring my salinity down some that’s not a problem. I didn’t treat the display with anything for the ich I put all the fish in a hospital tank where they are being treated with copper power. As far as lights I have only adjusted the photoperiod. I have a 2 hour ramp up/down and 5 hours at full intensity.

Careful playing with your parameters. Remember; changes to things like salinity will impact other parameters. I believe (please correct me if I am wrong) that your salinity impacts your calcium ceiling.

Also, at 4 months, your tank is a bit young and perhaps a bit unstable. Can you tell us the light that you are using?

Rpc07 · Jun 5, 2018

I am running 2 ai prime hd’s and when I said I would drop the salinity that’s only if it’s going to solve my issue. I’m not chasing numbers

BestMomEver · Jun 5, 2018

FWIW, when we had our 500 reef, we continuously fought with the Calcium levels. We had a Ca reactor and dosed and did every other thing recommended. What we found was if we kept our salinity slightly above the typical 1.025, our Calcium stayed stable and we no longer had to dose... the Ca reactor was sufficient. I, too, am not necessarily recommending you change your salinity as we did. Your system is different and should be treated as such (obviously). Point is, changing one parameter will most certainly alter others as Dom said. Also, I'm glad you dip. Best thing I ever learned to do!

SurfLife · Jun 5, 2018

Hate to agree but those who stated 4 months being a bit early is what I learned doing the same thing. I lost most of my corals when I rushed into them in the first 3-5 months. My parameters were good, my fish were healthy, my corals were dying. I gave up on corals until about 6 months later. I am now having much more success.
I am also running AI Primes(52) and running a similar program as you(I edited it slightly).

Rpc07 · Jun 5, 2018

I understand 4 months is a young tank but other then the parameters I test for what kind of stability am I looking for? I test my alk twice a week and it’s always between 8.2-8.5 and I test the rest of my parameters once a week and they barely fluctuate. Here is my light schedule and intensity.

I have a 2 hour ramp up and down and 5 hours st full intensity

And here is the intensity.

BestMomEver · Jun 5, 2018

I'm not sure why a "seasoned" tank grows corals better than a new one. All parameters being equal, it seems a bit odd. But, truth is, it's true. I've been impatient on more than one occasion. I had to have that pink/purple bird's nest. Unfortunately, I didn't have it for long. Maybe 3 weeks. Hard lesson to learn. Wasted $100.

Rpc07 · Jun 5, 2018

I hear you esimison all the acros I have are no names and I picked them up for $5-$15 so in a sense they are test acros. But with my tank as stable as it is I should be able to keep lps happy or so I thought.

BestMomEver · Jun 5, 2018

If you have to have something, start with a softie like a green tree coral. They grow fast and sway in the breeze, so to speak. I’ve had softies live through the most dreadful of tank catastrophes. They sit low most of the time and don’t require as much light/water flow. I target feed mine every two or three weeks. Otherwise, they live off fish poop!

Rpc07 · Jun 5, 2018

I have some really nice zoas and mushrooms that are thriving and popping out new polyps all the time so it’s not all corals struggle in my tank.

Smprc · Jun 5, 2018

Rpc07 said:
Not sure where to start I have been losing corals one after the other for a few weeks now and I always seem to come up with an excuse to why it happened but I’m fed up and could use some help. The tank is about 4 months old and I recently had an ich outbreak so all my fish are in qt while the tank sits fallow. I’ve dipped every single coral that goes Into the system and my parameters have been stable for the past month without fluctuating much at all.

So far I have lost a mini acan lord colony , the tissue receded and slowly started to show its skeleton until it was gone.

After that I lost a no name Acro frag which just stripped and went white over a few days.

I then lost another slightly bigger Acro frag in the same way. And most recently my acan bowerbanki frag (1) Head is slowly starting to melt and show skeleton as well as my Scoly.

When I had fish in the system I was feeding reef roids once a week now since the tank is fallow I spot feed every coral every other day with reef roids and I feed frozen Lrs to the bigger corals.

The only corals that seem to thrive and grow new polyps are zoas and my Duncan.

I did a full parameter check today and this is what I came up with.

Alk 8.5 - Hanna checker
Cal 451 - Hanna checker
Mag 1410 - Salifert
Ph 8.1 - Salifert
Phosphate .034 - Hanna checker
Nitrate 2ppm - Red Sea
SG 1.026 - refractometer calibrated at 35ppt
Temp - 77.5-78

The tank is a Red Sea reefer 250 with 2 ai primes running the brs ab plus copy profile. The only things I dose are esv bionic 2 part. The sump has a refugium section with chaeto and miracle mud
(just added this week)

I’m sure I am forgetting something and I apologize for the scattered post just trying to get all my thoughts out. I appreciate any and all help.