My Green Slimer went from this...... To this..... PICS--Acro Help Please

[JDK]

I have brought SPS back from certain death dosing iron, it cant harm anything, the amount you dosed using the aqua vitro is very minute. Algae, corals all thrive on iron and if you don't have any it will cause problems. You will see results imediatley, 2 days and I garantee a change.

Kent Iron supplement will be here hopefully in the next couple days

 

[JDK]

I think you are not on the right path at all. I have found that when my corals have started to go maybe a power head or a water perameter has changed. I would do a big water change.

Just did a 17% water change will do another tomorrow.

After a good 50 percent change try adding more flow to your aquarium. I find sps need more flow.

Have an MP10 running at 80% reefcrest and a Koralia 450 power head. Combined I am between 50-90x turnover. Do I need more?

If your lights are to strong for one piece why move the light from the coral? Wouldn't it be easier to monitor one piece of coral instead of possibly of throwing off your whole tank's balance.

Coral is epoxied down and not able to move. This was stated earlier in the thread.

Again stop the over feeding you only need to feed corals once a week. Maybe change it up to phytoplankton one day and zooplankton the third day. To much food for a small system can lead to a big problem.

I feed corals 1-2 times a week with very small amounts of reefroids. Fish are fed 1-2 times a day with a pinch of Ther-A pellets and frozen mysis. Everything is consumed barely anything hits the bottom of the tank.

I would try to leave every thing alone for a month instead of a weekly change basis. Just do one good water change and then EVERY WEEK.

Nothing is changing weekly. I have only done two things. Fed the fish more and turned the lights down. Skipped one water change which up unitl last week were done every Sunday 17% religiously.

 

[JDK]

Additional things to try if you want to do it weekly is move the piece of coral once a month and see if this helps. But do not do it more than three times if you can't get it to do what you want bring it to a coral store and see if they have better luck.

Coral can not be moved it is epoxied down.

I would double check the phosphate levels.

I check them every three or four days with a hanna meter. GFO is running

Something is off in your echo system and it might not be the lights if every other piece of coral is fine why bother...

Every other piece of coral is not fine. Slimer is no PE and losing color. Epic Chaos is very very little PE from what it used to be. Other corals have OK PE but very little growth at all. LPS, Zoas are fine and thriving.

Mother nature is perfict and we are far from it. Natural sea water is by far the best way to go for reef tanks. I would invest in better testing kits and slow down on the food if the polyps are staying closed its not from a lack of food I promise. I hope this information helps some good luck. Look forward to next weeks pics

Brand new Salifert test kits are used for everything. Hanna checker is a few months old and used for Phosphates. Not sure where I would find natural sea water but I guess I can try and find some and do a couple water changes with it. I am barely adding any coral food. I have added a few fish and been feeding the fish more that really all that has changed in addition to lighting decrease.

 

[JDK]

UPDATE:

Tips of Mille look dead and there is brown stuff on them. Base is brown as well. All other corals seem about the same they have been. Only mille is declining rapidly.

Obviously Mille is getting worse. Impossible to tell if the lowering of the lights and upping the feedings contributed or if this was the natural course of the corals health and it was on a dying path to begin with. It has definately looked worse this week than it ever has but at the same time it has been declining in health for over a month maybe two months. Lost PE about 6 weeks ago. Stopped growing shortly after. Now it appears it is dying. From what I have seen in sps frags in the past I would guess total RTN in the next week unless something drastically changes.

Here is a picture of the blue mille from 6-28-12

Here are three pics from tonight some with flash on others with flash off 7-7-12

 

[fishes2889]

.07

Getting on a good water change schedule is imo imperitive w/sps if ur feeding as much as ur po4 lvls are at. Thats where i would start..

 

[BlueDartReefer]

I have not taken the time to read through your entire thread and for that I apologize. However, what I have read and what pictures I have seen lead me to question possible copper contamination. Most likely introduced through a media substance such as carbon. I've battled the same symptoms as you with the eventual loss of a number of prized pieces.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Turn lights back on full blast and keep em on 12 hrs+/day, wait for iron, dont throw any frags out, do a water change

 

[WesF]

Turn lights back on full blast and keep em on 12 hrs+/day, wait for iron, dont throw any frags out, do a water change

This is the wrong advice IMO.

 

[JDK]

Getting on a good water change schedule is imo imperitive w/sps if ur feeding as much as ur po4 lvls are at. Thats where i would start..

I appreciate the help but please read the whole thread. Water changes were done (17%) every single week for 9 months. Last week was the first time I ever skipped one.

 

[JDK]

I have not taken the time to read through your entire thread and for that I apologize. However, what I have read and what pictures I have seen lead me to question possible copper contamination. Most likely introduced through a media substance such as carbon. I've battled the same symptoms as you with the eventual loss of a number of prized pieces.

I ordered a copper test kit online only to find out it was expired. Going to get one tomorrow. Is Salifert a good test kit for copper?

Other than contaminated carbon where could copper come from? Bad pump or heater?

 

[Young Frankenstein]

This is the wrong advice IMO.

Why please explain, I have brought sps back using this methode.

 

[JDK]

For those who have Flow questions here is a visual guide to the flow in my tank. Return pump is a MaxiJet 1200 on a Hydor-Flow rotating head. Any suggestions/comments?

 

[WesF]

Why please explain, I have brought sps back using this methode.

Too much light will kill them when they are pale and weak.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Too much light will kill them when they are pale and weak.

Yes in some cases you are correct, now I have tried both, less light and more light. I had cases where more light improved coral health. If you read the entire thread JDK tried lowering lights and things went from bad to worse, so my thinking is to increase light and reverse the circumstances. There is too many variables to why the tank is going down, and JDK has put a tremendous effort to bring things back, even if he was a PHD in biology or a coral expert with a coral business its still hard to bring things back, thats why I don't insist on anything I post, I just state what has worked for me in the past. No matter what the outcome is, and I hope is a good one !!! JDK is an awsome reefer and does not give up easily in my book.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Also to add to this, just to list some of the variables, he is testing for copper. It could also be the water supply, fluoride, chloramines and God knows what else the water company decided to add to keep their pipes from rusting, could it be they added a copper pipe in his neighborhood water supply ? too many variables its hard but he just has to go on with testing. I just did a search, JDK read this !!! City Workers Accidentally Dump Hydrochloric Acid into Ohio Water Supply Instead of Toxic Fluoride by Mike Adams the Health Ranger

Falling fluoride levels alerted water treatment officials to the problem, and they immediately issued an alert to tell people to stop drinking the water. The water system was then flushed by opening fire hydrants across the town to remove any trace of hydrochloric acid.


Learn more: City Workers Accidentally Dump Hydrochloric Acid into Ohio Water Supply Instead of Toxic Fluoride by Mike Adams the Health Ranger

​

 

[tangs are awsome]

I do not get why if your other corals are doing good why you moved the light for the whole tank. I would of just moved the one piece of coral. You are now throwing another variable into your environment. Just try to do one thing for a month straight and see what it does there is no such thing as week to week progress. Maybe every other week but nothing in one weeks time. You probably have a phosphate problem and don't even know it. Do a 60 % water change with real ocean salt water (if you have to mix the water test the water BEFORE YOU ADD THE SALT) then watch every thing else. No sense in killing off the tank in spite of one piece... and if you really want to see a change stop feeding every day. Corals only need food once a week. Furthermore judging by the size of your coral you are way over doing the food. Do phytoplankton once every third day and zoo plankton every third day at most if you must feed often. I promise you nothing will die if you start cutting back on the food regiment. Water quality is 99% of how your coral acts in your tank and of course good lighting as well. but moving the light for the one piece does not add up to me as a good fix. If other corals are doing well chances are its not the light but placement of that one piece. Try testing for phosphate and see what kind of results you get if you are at .25 or higher you are in for big problems. .15 or less is what you should try to achieve. I have found to get a dramatic change out of sps corals you need big water changes with real ocean water and patience.

 

[mcarroll]

I ordered a copper test kit online only to find out it was expired. Going to get one tomorrow. Is Salifert a good test kit for copper?

Other than contaminated carbon where could copper come from? Bad pump or heater?

Honestly I wasn't impressed with the Salifert Cu kit, but you may get what you need. (I would not use it to dose Cu.)

A better "test" IMO is to get a Poly Filter. It will change color to indicate a few different contminents - including copper - as well as filtering them out, which is of course what you really want anyway.

The looks of your coral more than anything makes my gut say "toxin", whether it's Cu or otherwise. I've seen a steel clamp do similar - had a galvanized screw mech.

Anyway, sorry I'm so late w/the advice - hope this helps!

-Matt

 

[JDK]

I do not get why if your other corals are doing good why you moved the light for the whole tank. I would of just moved the one piece of coral. You are now throwing another variable into your environment. Just try to do one thing for a month straight and see what it does there is no such thing as week to week progress. Maybe every other week but nothing in one weeks time. You probably have a phosphate problem and don't even know it. Do a 60 % water change with real ocean salt water (if you have to mix the water test the water BEFORE YOU ADD THE SALT) then watch every thing else. No sense in killing off the tank in spite of one piece... and if you really want to see a change stop feeding every day. Corals only need food once a week. Furthermore judging by the size of your coral you are way over doing the food. Do phytoplankton once every third day and zoo plankton every third day at most if you must feed often. I promise you nothing will die if you start cutting back on the food regiment. Water quality is 99% of how your coral acts in your tank and of course good lighting as well. but moving the light for the one piece does not add up to me as a good fix. If other corals are doing well chances are its not the light but placement of that one piece. Try testing for phosphate and see what kind of results you get if you are at .25 or higher you are in for big problems. .15 or less is what you should try to achieve. I have found to get a dramatic change out of sps corals you need big water changes with real ocean water and patience.

Did you even read the previous page? Did you read any of the thread at all? I moved the light up 3/4 of one inch if you read the thread you would know this. I have only been doing 2 things for one month. Please READ the thread. OTHER CORALS ARE NOT DOING WELL!!!!! I responded to all of your concerns on the previous page. Phosphates at .25? I just listed the phosphate one page ago. Feeding too much? I listed my feeding regiment which has not change weeks ago it is in the thread. What are you talking about? I am not trying to be rude but you are obviously NOT reading the thread. You repeated everything again after I responded to all your concerns. I have done everything you are asking I am not going to keep repeating myself. I appreciate the help but please just read. This has all been answered and discussed.

 

[JDK]

Honestly I wasn't impressed with the Salifert Cu kit, but you may get what you need. (I would not use it to dose Cu.)

A better "test" IMO is to get a Poly Filter. It will change color to indicate a few different contminents - including copper - as well as filtering them out, which is of course what you really want anyway.

The looks of your coral more than anything makes my gut say "toxin", whether it's Cu or otherwise. I've seen a steel clamp do similar - had a galvanized screw mech.

Anyway, sorry I'm so late w/the advice - hope this helps!

-Matt

I use this filter floss- Poly Value Pack

Is this what your talking about?

 

[JDK]

UPDATE:

Got home tonight and the orange crush acro which has always had the best PE 24/7 has now not had any PE for about 3 days. Did not mention this before because I thought it might be from the lowering the light intensity. Increased the light today and will do so again on Monday. Going to test the phosphates and copper of the fresh RO/DI water that is not mixed with salt.

Also to add to this, just to list some of the variables, he is testing for copper. It could also be the water supply, fluoride, chloramines and God knows what else the water company decided to add to keep their pipes from rusting, could it be they added a copper pipe in his neighborhood water supply ? too many variables its hard but he just has to go on with testing. I just did a search, JDK read this !!! City Workers Accidentally Dump Hydrochloric Acid into Ohio Water Supply Instead of Toxic Fluoride by Mike Adams the Health Ranger

Falling fluoride levels alerted water treatment officials to the problem, and they immediately issued an alert to tell people to stop drinking the water. The water system was then flushed by opening fire hydrants across the town to remove any trace of hydrochloric acid.


Learn more: City Workers Accidentally Dump Hydrochloric Acid into Ohio Water Supply Instead of Toxic Fluoride by Mike Adams the Health Ranger

​

This is why I only drink and cook with distilled water. I have a counter top home distiller so I see what is left in the basin after one gallon is distilled. The impurities are left behind and if you saw it you would buy a home distiller and never drink city tap water again.