Oh no!! STN!

[cmjreef]

What a nightmare! Slowly, my acros are necrosing from the edge of the base and creeping. I've lost two smaller frags, and I can see some symptoms on some more mature, larger colonies. Some seem unaffected, others just beginning to show signs. Any suggestions which don't require me to remove the corals? These corals have been here awhile and getting them out isn't really an option. No red bugs or AEFWs that I can see or see symptoms of. Any insight or experience w/ this would be helpful, thx.

 

[Troylee]

Params please and what's holding it stable???? It's gotta be aefw "try blasting with a turkey baster" or alk related... Alk either dipped or spiked.... Try a hefty water change and some fresh carbon it might stop it....

 

[SAZAMA]

temp swing will cause it too imo

 

[xxbrianxx]

temp swing will cause it too imo

how many degrees can your temp swing before it'd be detrimental to your sps?

 

[SAZAMA]

I test everyday, so my alk, cal, mag,phosphate, nitrate, amonia are all in check. I swung 4 degrees and my cali tort got ****** off and started to stn. every reef is different so no one can say this/what will make you rtn or stn for there is no definite answer for why, but with the heat here that would be my guess.
GL, tony

 

[cmjreef]

Yeah, I'm pretty diligent about testing. Params are pH 8, Nitates are undetectable w/ Elos kit, PO4 is .03, Alk is 10, Calcium is 415, Mag is 1400. I always turkey baste the tank and I have two mp40 vortechs, so flow is pretty good. Had great growth for the first 9 mos, and then one colony after another started to show the symptoms. Basically, the edge of the smear (the base) would start to almost curl upward. Then, it would begin to lighten up along the curled up margin. Then I'd notice little necrotic sections in the base that would slowly creep up the corals branches. Eventually, it will kill the entire coral. I know it sounds kind of AEFWish, but I'm 99 percent sure it isn't. I've dealt w/ them before in other tanks, and I don't see the telltale bite marks or eggs anywhere. Just necrosis. I'm afraid its a bacterial infection. Sorry for the long post and thanks for the thoughts and ideas, please keep the conversation going. Any more insight would be helpful. Oh, btw, I have a standard 120 gallon.

 

[WesF]

Do you use biopellets, zeo, bacteria, or carbon dosing, etc.?

If so, Alk at 10 will make your corals STN.

 

[cmjreef]

No, I don't use any zeo,etc. Do you think 10dkh is too high anyway. I used to run it 7.5 or 8. You could be on to something. Are you suggesting that the alk would affect the corals in different ways depending on whether or not I used zeo, etc?

 

[Troylee]

it could i guess... i like to run mine at 8 to 8.5 seems to work the best for me... your saying you used to run 7.5 how long ago was this??? did the raise to 10 just happen recently????

 

[WesF]

I keep mine at 7. When you carbon dose you are supposed to keep Alk at 6-8. Anything higher can kill corals, especially SPS.

Most of these "problems" people are having with biopellets at around 6 months or so tend to be people who do not follow this "rule" of carbon dosing and have higher alkalinity levels.

 

[secretreefer]

i'm having the same issues. couldn't figure it out. params stable like your tank. few days ago while checking out my tank i saw something move on my turoki (receeding base) and upon closer inspection it was a flatworm. i've been flatworm free (so i thought) for months so i was hoping it was a isolated incident dipped and put it back. And i didn't see ANY bite marks on any of my sps colonies. 2 nights ago i went on a all out sps- coral rx/revive dipping binge after seeing all my sps had half the PE they usually had. Guess what? i had flatworms on half the pieces.....

 

[RaeRae]

How did this turn out?

 

[cmjreef]

When you say "all out dipping binge", did you actually break off mature colonies and dip? Or were you able to keep your corals accessible without having to break them? Because if I have to dip, I have to break corals out, then the bases are left behind, and then what's the point?

 

[PR_Reefers]

I keep mine at 7. When you carbon dose you are supposed to keep Alk at 6-8. Anything higher can kill corals, especially SPS.

Most of these "problems" people are having with biopellets at around 6 months or so tend to be people who do not follow this "rule" of carbon dosing and have higher alkalinity levels.

Really!? this is the first time I hear this...! Would you care to explain or reference this theory? thanks

 

[secretreefer]

nope i have all of the large colonies on big pieces of live rock. big enough that i can actually take the whole piece out. of all my sps there was none on my large colones. so i took the chance and put them back in the tank after dipping and visual check with a magnifying glass and white led flashlight. all pieces that i did find flatworms on i cut above the base, made sure there was no dead spots or eggs on each piece and then re-fragged.

When you say "all out dipping binge", did you actually break off mature colonies and dip? Or were you able to keep your corals accessible without having to break them? Because if I have to dip, I have to break corals out, then the bases are left behind, and then what's the point?

 

[WesF]

Really!? this is the first time I hear this...! Would you care to explain or reference this theory? thanks

It's pretty well documented all over the Internet. Some manufacturers of carbon dosing systems (zeovit, prodibio, etc.) will even tell you in the directions to keep Alk at 6-8. Corals tend to do poorly in these probiotic carbon dosed systems when alkalinity is elevated above NSW levels.

I don't know if any biopellet manufacturers provide this level of instruction but essentially since it is just a different way of using carbon to elevate bacterial populations, logic would lead some to believe the same rule may apply.

Recently, more and more people are speaking up about "problems" with corals after using biopellets for a few months. Whenever I ask these people what their Alk is, it's usually higher than 8.