Maroon Lagoon V2.0

[gig 'em]

So I’ve hit a rough patch with the tank ever since I left town for a few weeks on vacation in May and lost a bunch of corals. Still never was able to definitively nail down the cause, and honestly it doesn’t seem like the issue has been resolved yet... ~6 months later. I’m still having issues with some SPS. Growth seems to have slowed, colors have slowly been coming back, but I lost my two largest plating colonies and some very expensive “high end” acros.

As a result of the weakened health of my corals and the subsequent coral deaths, I have now been struggling with a GHA outbreak. The stuff is everywhere in my tank now and I pulled out over two full pitchers worth of algae from my tank in October. On top of this, all of my sponge growth died back last month, I assume because GHA exploded and starved my sponges to death. Needless to say I have become discouraged with half a year of struggles and unsolved health mysteries.

I couldn’t take the GHA any longer and thought maybe it was compounding my coral health issues by outcompeting them and smothering them. I bought Vibrant and dosed the entire bottle to no avail. Then last week I gave up on hoping Vibrant would work and dosed Fluco 200. The GHA is still there, but I’m starting to think it is at least stunted, if not starting to die. The pH in my tank took a sudden drop and, even with windows open last night, is lower than it has been. This tells me that some big CO2 scrubbers in the tank are taking a hit and microbial activity is starting to break the algae down and drive pH even lower. I assume (and hope) this trend will continue and is indeed indicative of dying GHA. Here’s a snap of my pH trends this week:

 

[Jimbo662]

wow...sorry to hear this.

 

[tripdad]

Been dealing with a very similar set of circumstances. The only thing I'm pulling out more of than algae is my hair, lol. I let my nutrients rise to match a vendors specs prior to placing an order of corals " I had always wanted". Everything was looking amazing and growing so I got lazy. I have not recovered yet, still trying. I've just completed Fluco so will see what happens. Vibrant has worked for me in the past so that's next. It is a slow cure and I am impatient. So far I'm down about 8 corals. I hope your on the upswing and things resolve for you.

 

[bubbaque]

Have you tried turbo snails? I am always amazed by how fast those snails will mow down some GHA!

 

[gig 'em]

Have you tried turbo snails? I am always amazed by how fast those snails will mow down some GHA!

In the past I have, but they never seem to last long in my tank. I’ll swing by the LFS this afternoon and see if they have any. Currently I have mainly cowries and trochus snails since they seem to survive the longest. I also have scarlet hermits, regular hermits, and a tuxedo urchin.

 

[bubbaque]

Yeah try the turbo snails. Get as big as ones as possible. When I setup my new frag tanks I was getting algae everywhere. I bought like 5 giant ones for my 50 gallon tank and within days it was clean.

 

[justingraham]

Bubba my turbos kill it for like four months then they are done

I loaded up with like ten in March and now I have two

They eat till they don’t but when they are eating they do magic

 

[McPikie]

I was advised after dosing flucazolne to leave the skimmer off for a week and not to touch the hair algea for 14 days. Let the treatment work it's way right down to the root, then after 14 days, syphon out as much as you can as it should just come away from the rock without a fight. Then it's a case, as Bubba says, of adding LOTS of turbos. Fingers crossed, mine never came back after fluc treatment

 

[gig 'em]

Well the LFS did not have any in stock. Story of the year with LFS, always finding it hard to find livestock now.

I have the skimmer cup removed, hr letting the pump run to keep the tank well oxygenated when things (hopefully) start to die off. Thanks for all the advice everyone! It’s been a nice morale lift to have people chime in and give support.

 

[gig 'em]

I don’t want to be too optimistic and jinx myself, but it seems like things are starting to turn around for the better. The hair algae is getting more thin, hasn’t been growing back where it usually does, and may be disappearing slowly.

My sponge might also be starting to recover too. You can tell the dead sponge that is more washed out and transparent and what might be new sponge growth that is more tan color in the shadows there. Hopefully that’s a sign that the tank ecosystem is returning to normal

And here are a couple of tank shots just for the heck of it

 

[bubbaque]

Woo hoo! That's always a good thing when things start to turn around. Hopefully it continues for you.

 

[gig 'em]

Woo hoo! That's always a good thing when things start to turn around. Hopefully it continues for you.

Thanks bud! I hope so too. Now to turn my attention to my suffering frag tank... [emoji58]

 

[gig 'em]

I’ve felt hopeful about my tank for the first time this week in a long long time. The GHA is mostly gone now thanks to the Fluco treatment, and what a difference that has made on the health of my corals! I performed a large water change this week and it seemed like the next days the colors of my corals was noticeably better. Sponge growth is definitely starting to come back, my feather dusters are starting to pop back up again, and I’m starting to see mysid shrimp in the sump again. I’m hopeful the recovery will continue and corals that have laid dormant for half a year will start growing again. Fingers crossed!

New sponge growth peaking through the dead sponge.

A couple FTS:

 

[FarmerTy]

I’ve felt hopeful about my tank for the first time this week in a long long time. The GHA is mostly gone now thanks to the Fluco treatment, and what a difference that has made on the health of my corals! I performed a large water change this week and it seemed like the next days the colors of my corals was noticeably better. Sponge growth is definitely starting to come back, my feather dusters are starting to pop back up again, and I’m starting to see mysid shrimp in the sump again. I’m hopeful the recovery will continue and corals that have laid dormant for half a year will start growing again. Fingers crossed!

New sponge growth peaking through the dead sponge.

A couple FTS:

I came over last night... That's all I'm saying. [emoji16]

But it really has looked the best it's looked in awhile. I'm glad your tank seems to be on the mend. It would have been awful to have to chat with you about cichlids... I might have defriended you.

 

[Caravanshaka]

I came over last night... That's all I'm saying. [emoji16]

But it really has looked the best it's looked in awhile. I'm glad your tank seems to be on the mend. It would have been awful to have to chat with you about cichlids... I might have defriended you.

If you ever have that talk, Ty....call me....we can setup an intervention!

 

[FarmerTy]

If you ever have that talk, Ty....call me....we can setup an intervention!

I need to dial a friend! I've been approached about cichlids!

 

[gig 'em]

I came over last night... That's all I'm saying. [emoji16]

But it really has looked the best it's looked in awhile. I'm glad your tank seems to be on the mend. It would have been awful to have to chat with you about cichlids... I might have defriended you.

What about joining the plumeria forums?

 

[FarmerTy]

What about joining the plumeria forums?

Ugh! Not again! Noooo!

 

[gig 'em]

My tank continues to not make up its mind wether it’s happy or struggling. I had some RTN this past week losing 90% of my SSC and nearly a whole large branch of my red dragon.

I can’t really explain the SSC, but the red dragon RTN coincided with my CaRX flow stopping while I was out of state and my alk dropped below 6. The RTN has slowed and maybe stopped now that the CaRX flow has restarted.

On the other hand, coral colors continue to slowly improve. They haven’t returned to optimal coloration, but a slow and steady improvement is better than none or reversal.

 

[bubbaque]

Sucks to see that happen to such nice colonies but it seems like you know why it happened.

Hopefully things continue to improve!