Please help im still losing corals. Lost near 600$ in corals so far

[SaltISlife]

I need help. Im still loosing corals.

It started around 20th or so last month. And it started eith a encrusting chalice i had. Forgot the name but it was one from WWC blue with green eyes. Then it spread to my pink ******* next to it. Then my mummy eye chalice next to it. And then my pink berry chalice. I lost all of them in a week or so. They just litterally stn'd into nothing. But it seems to progress worse at night. Which is weird.

My plating chalices are unaffected. My euphilia like hammers frog spawn snd torch are all unaffected. My 4 bubble coral are unaffected. All my sps are unaffected. My cyphastrias are unaffected.

But now its spreading to my brain coral favias. I pretty much lost an entire Jason fox lemon lime favia. It was a giant tile too fully encrusted that i broke up like 5 months ago and glued into various places on a pillar of rock. It was growing great too. Then boom it got whatever this is.

I tried to put puddy over the affected areas. And nope. Once the lights go off it continues to melt.

My dragon soul favia started to melt but it stopped and seens to be healing. My captain american favia seems ok so far. And a Candy apple favia is ok.

But a new platygyra i got the other day. Was fine for 4 days then boom tonight i noticed an entire section was gone.

Another brain coral i think its a Joker favia at least tidal gardens calls it that. It has a few dead spots as well. Although its lrogressing very very slow on thst coral.. but from pictures i took 2 days ago you can see the progression. Ive had this coral for 2 years now and its like 2 fists in size.. and its going down hill now too


Only thing i did to my system was add Lace rock which was around the days this started happening. After research i took the rock out though. It was only in the tank for 20 minutes.

Nothing else changed exceot i have been dosing kents marine products like iodine. Essential elements and cora vites. My nitrates were really high around 70-80ppm due to me iverfeeding my fish too much. Normally its around 20-40ppm. I also didnt do a water change for 2 1.2 months as my dosing actually stopped thr need for it. As i had to do water changes every week or two ( 40% or so to replenish macro nutrient 100+ corals were using up quickly. Sps would bleach or melt if i didnt do huge water changes so i started dosing "not alk or calcium the other stuff" and it stopped.. so it all seemed fine.

Ph is 7.8 and ALWAYS has been so it isnt the ph.
Alk is always 8-9
Calcium is 440 although it did drop to 389 and i used seachems calcium powder to bring it bsck to 440 over 3 days time.
Magnesium is always around 1300-1350

Litterally nothing i can test for changed. Besides nitrates.


I did a 85 gallon water change 1 1.2 weeks ago. Then a 55g changed like 4 days ago. So 140 gallons.. my tank is 135 with sand and rock its about 110 or so.. so i litterally changed 120% of my water.

Nitrates are 10ppm. Everything else is still the same as always..

Yet my dang favias ARE STILL receeding. I put in two giant bags of carbon and two pads of that special poly fil for heavy metals. ... its not doing anything.


This is very upsetting.. i have another half a tile of the lemon lime favia in another tank and its perfectly fine. The only thing different from that tank is i havent put corals in it from stores in the last 2 months where i did with my dying tank. I also didnt put the lace rock in it. Even if it was only 20 min.


Im starting to think this isnt a water issue.. whatever was or if i ever had anything should be gone with 140 gallkn water change you know like if i overdosed with kents products..

Because my new platygyra is after i did all the water changes and carbon and so forth.. and it is melting.


Is there a parasite that eats chalices and favias ???

Im starting to wonder if i got this from a local fish store. Because that guy cant keep favias or chalices or acans.. they all tend to melt the same way... I always thought it was because his par in his tanks is like 90-100 and hechas poor flow and so forth..

Now im wondering if its a disease.. and a disease that coral rx didnt do anything for.. because i always dip my corals.. and rinse them..

Anyway please help... ive lost 600$ in corals.. and its still progressing.

 

[AZ_Reef]

I would do an ICP test. My guess would be you changed too much water too fast. What’s your po4 and Salinity?

 

[SaltISlife]

No re-read what i said.. The corals were all melting and in a last bid effort i did 85 gallons then 55 gallons 4 days later, and added carbon and that special poly fil for heavy metals.. I also put puddy over the dying sections of my lemon lime favia.. and NONE of this is helping..

It isnt the water changes doing this because this started before that.. i did the HUGE water changes in case i had something in the water that was hurting the corals. But it seems changing 140 gallons, did nothing. As a brand new platygyra i got like 3-4 days ago.. Which is AFTER i did the water changes and carbon and poly fill ect.. This platygyra brain coral is melting now too.

There has to be a parasite doing this.. It makes no sense..

Salinity is 1.0264 exactly. I dont check phosphates never have, i dont mess with chasing phosphates or nitrates, i found my tanks do great with high phosphates and nitrates.. at least high for what some people consider.. but i did check with an API kit which only goes to .25 and no lower.. and its .25. So its probably lower than .25


Ill call a guy i met at a local fish store, see if he has hanna checkers and can check my po4.. but im 100% certain it isnt that lol. This all started around when i put that lace rock in the tank, i have pics of the 16th when my chalices were fine, and i bought the rock on the 12th and put it in around the 17-18th but i took it out 20 min after putting it in... Then 2 days later i noticed my chalices melting. But also i got a bunch of a new corals around this time as well, and that local store always has chalices and favias melting on him

Im not certain it was the rock, but i highely doubt it was dosing kents products.. as i was dosing for nearly 3 months. It would be weird for corals to start melting if i added a rock to the tank and blame the dosing but i dunno.. even if it was the dosing 140 gallons is more than my tank holds and it has poly fil and carbon in it, so whatever was in the water should technicly be long gone.. yet that brand new platygyra is melting..

I dunno if i should do this.. but im seriously considering taking my favias out and putting them in my 60g hexagon.. but i worry if its a parasite itll spread to that tank.. But moving them to the 60g would eliminate a water quality issue as that tank isnt having melting favias

 

[AZ_Reef]

I know some coral started dying before water change but 120% water changed in less than a week is too fast and will affect other corals. How did you detect heavy metal in your tank?definitely do an ICP test to see what else is in your tank.

 

[SaltISlife]

I didnt detect heavy metal.. i just put in carbon and poly fil in case i had chemicals or heavy metals. But it doesnt seem to be doing snything.

Also the water change didnt do anything to any of my 100+ corals. Everything that was affected was affected prior to it.

And the platygyra brain i didnt have when i did the water change. I got it days after the fact. And it too is showing identical symptoms.

So there is no way my water change could have affected other corals. When it didnt.. The ones affected were already affected. How can you blame a water change on affecting a coral when the coral was melting prior to that ?

 

[SaltISlife]

Here are pics of the lemon lime im trying to save.

And the dead spot on the Joker favia and then after i puddied the dead spots on the lemon lime.


Looked fine for a day.. then it started melting around the puddy.. Grrr

 

[SaltISlife]

Ill see if any local store sells an ICP test kit.

 

[Fishfinder]

Do you use the same source water and salt for both tanks? That would eliminate a water issue. I would do 1 last water change, pull out the carbon and poly filter, I would stop the dosing of extra products. Then dip all of the chalices, favias, platys in an antibacterial Type dip.

 

[SaltISlife]

Do you use the same source water and salt for both tanks? That would eliminate a water issue. I would do 1 last water change, pull out the carbon and poly filter, I would stop the dosing of extra products. Then dip all of the chalices, favias, platys in an antibacterial Type dip.

yes same salt same water, havent dosed anything in 2 weeks cept alkalinity to keep my alk at 8-9. Only diff between the two tanks is one i didnt put the lace rock in, and i havent put new corals in it.. the other tank i did

Have no chalices left.. just the favias that are melting.,.. what kind of dip do you recomend because i tried doing coral rx.. and that isnt helping

 

[zuri]

honestly lot's of variable at play here I would do an Icp test first an foremost if everything came back fine. would suspect high nitrate's melting coral's coupled with the new rock an what it released while it was in the tank creating more nitrate's. I know lace rock raise's ph but that depends alot on how much but it's something you can't rule out chalice's are sensitive to ph shock.
the best thing you can do is be stable don't starve out the tank creating more problem's get ur ICp test an go from there

 

[SPR1968]

An ICP test will be the only way you can definitely tell if something ‘chemical’ is causing the problem

With stability being the main key of running a reef tank, I would stick to 10% water changes and stop the potential for constant major changes in water parameters

I would also start to reduce the phosphate level from 0.25 to eventually very low at around 0.03 and there are reasons for this very low number, which may or may not be the cause of your problems. I appreciate what you said about keeping it high so that’s your decision

As far as dosing iodine and Kent products I assume you’ve tested the levels or at least have an idea because Iodine can cause issues so I would stop adding these until you get the ICP test

As far as the LFS, if they can’t keep them alive, could it be the quality of the corals in the first place

Just my thoughts anyway

 

[Timfish]

It may not have anything to do with your tank so I'd reiterate the above advise about not doing big changes and refrain from dosing a lot of stuff. Just keep your ssytem stable. For what it's worth studies done on fragging corals show it may take months for the full effects to be seen, there might be a 90% survival at 1 month but at 18 months survival might only be 25% (keep in mind this WILL vary by species/genotype). There are also very complex microbial associations and when they are disrupted (just moving a coral may be enough) the long term effects are not only species specific but also context specific. Subjecting two different corals to the same stress will affect each coral differently and subjecting the same to corals to the same stress but with different parameters will change the outcome. To get a better understanding of the relationship between corals and microbes I would suggest getting Forest Rohwer's "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas"

 

[DeniseAndy]

I feel for you. It is hard to watch your corals slowly dying. Let's focus on the favia and platys. The water changes are probably not going to make it worse, but I would now stop that for a while to let the tank settle back in.

Sometimes tanks just do not handle some corals. It is the nature of the beast. I for instance could never keep acans in my 210g. No idea why, but over 17 years, never can. I can in my smaller tanks, not my big one. Weird.

I have had a major die off of lps (brown jelly disease) that I only saved some by taking out, treating with anitbiotics and putting in new tank. This could help too.

I sounds like you have a mixed bag of corals. Are your sps happy and growing? Are your plating chalices anywhere near the favias in issue? Those guys can have very long sweepers. Where are the favisa and platys located in the tank? Pictures of full tank could help (or area of tank in larger view).

What fish and inverts do you have?

 

[SaltISlife]

No this is the thing. My plating chalices were near the encrusting chalices and nothing happened to them.. and my chalices were all on the left of the tank. The favias on the right. So 6 feet apart basically.

Everything in the tank is fine. Hasnt affected any of my sps or acros. Or my other lps. Just favias and encrusting chalices.

Im going to try dipping the corals in antibiotics. I have packets of it for fresh water. I read a thread where a guy did this and someone here mentioned antibiotics.

So lets see what thst does.

The inverts and fish havent changed in a year. So it isnt them. I have 4 tangs a foxface. 3 dwarf angels. Two green chromis. A sunset dottyback, melenarius wrasse. A neon wrasse. Cleaner wrasse. Orchid dotty back and some other dotty back.

I have a black long spine seaurchin.. but isnt him. As the disease or whatever it is.. is happening all over in random spots on the corals and i never see him near the corals anyway.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Okay. Getting a picture, but more info needed. Fish, inverts, pictures if possible. Thanks.

 

[ZoWhat]

......

 

[ZoWhat]

Welcome to the bottom hill of the
Reefing Rollercoaster

 

[LeftyReefer]

Any chance that live rock brought in a coral eating hitchhiker? Nudibranch or something else that is eating the corals at night? Have you tried looking at the corals at night and see if you can spot anything munching on them? Just a thought.

 

[SaltISlife]

It was a dead rock. Dry as a bone. It was lace eock too. Never heard of it. But it looked cool then 20 min after i put it in i did research and read 50.50 so i took it out. Then 2 days later this started happening

Here iss pic of the rock


Only other thing i changed was putting my airpump outside but its dead winter no sprays outside.. and ny room gets hot alot so 80% of the time my window is open anyway even in winter lol

 

[X-37B]

Sounds bacterial to me.
Their is alot we dont know about it.
I had a few that slowly started to stn and could not figure it out.
It seemed very selective as 95% of my tank looked great.
I started dosing kz flatworm stop just to strengthen the corals.
I do not have flatworms.
I dosed for 3 months the recommended dose and no more stn on any with regrowth appearing on them.
It may be worth a shot to try.
Note: My tank is very stable and I do no scheduled water changes. Only 3 small ones in 1.5 years.