Sad times in my big reef... maybe someone can help?

[LDH]

My 700 gallon system is 1.5 years old.

I was starting to grow coral well but my nitrates were 25 and I wanted to lower them.
Waterchanges on a tank this big are not ideal for nutrient export so I tried to cheat and did Nopox dosing.
it worked well for a couple weeks at .25 of the recommended dose and then I believe my dos overdosed as quite a bit was missing from the container one morning. I woke up to a ph of 7.6 and a tank full of white slime.
I stopped dosing and did some waterchanges and lost thousands in coral. Big ouch.
I’ve gotten to the point where the white slime is no longer and all my parameters are back in line as confirmed by an icp test however every time I add a tester sps in the tank the tips get a little white slimy film on them until they die. This overdose event was almost two months ago now.

I have read a ton on bacteria and it would seem I still have an over abundance of the heterotrophic bacteria.

My question is... how do I fix this? Do I wait it out? Anyone know how long this could take? Do I dose a different kind of bacteria?
It’s really bumming me out not being able to add coral. This tank is therapy for me and right now it is crushing my spirits a little.
Thanks so much for any insights.

 

[DC Reefer]

Sorry to hear about your tank.

 

[RVA REEF]

if you were starting to grow coral well you shouldnt have added something to the mix. No need to dose nopox with those nitrates and once your corals start growing again they will consume the nitrates.

 

[Bacon505]

There’s probably an infection continue to exist in your tank from the previous crashed. If your tank continue to show sign of stress to corals, best thing is to wait it out and add a sps in there to test the water. Once you see good polyps and encrusting then slowly work your way back in. Hard to say anything without any photo.

 

[LDH]

Sorry to hear about your tank.

Thanks.

 

[LDH]

if you were starting to grow coral well you shouldnt have added something to the mix. No need to dose nopox with those nitrates and once your corals start growing again they will consume the nitrates.

Yep I’m understanding that now. I wasn’t getting the color I wanted on them and when I asked my supplier he advised his nitrates are next to nothing. All the reviews I read on Nopox were very positive to reduce them so I gave it a go. I obviously regret that now.
Cheers.

 

[LDH]

There’s probably an infection continue to exist in your tank from the previous crashed. If your tank continue to show sign of stress to corals, best thing is to wait it out and add a sps in there to test the water. Once you see good polyps and encrusting then slowly work your way back in. Hard to say anything without any photo

 

[LDH]

Here is a video of the tester sps I put in. This is what the beginning of the end looked like for the sps in my tank. The white stringy things on the tips.
And because I know it will be asked
Params are
Nitrates 25
Phos .03
Alk - 8.4
Mag - 1440
Calc - 450
Everything on ICP in the green except for a slightly elevated lithium.

 

[Thales]

Sorry. Do another big water change, run carbon and a poly filter just in case, and keep trying new coral from time to time. Do new corals die after the tips slime/get white?

 

[carmodpg]

That really stinks. I’m sorry to hear that. First, I know it’s a pain, especially in a tank your size, but I wouldn’t trust a doser to dose NoPox. The downside of an overdose greatly outweighs the convenience of auto dosing it. I dose it myself every morning.

As you said, you definitely triggered a bacteria bloom. First, I would start with heavy skimming. Further, it may be worth your time adding Startsmart in there to help contain/stop the bloom. I have found Startsmart very reliable, but others may disagree.

Again, I can’t imagine losing something that provides therapeutic relief. My reef is the same for me. I cannot think of anyone better than @Randy Holmes-Farley to provide advice as to what are the best steps to take if he would be so kind.

 

[Thales]

Here is a video of the tester sps I put in. This is what the beginning of the end looked like for the sps in my tank. The white stringy things on the tips.
And because I know it will be asked
Params are
Nitrates 25
Phos .03
Alk - 8.4
Mag - 1440
Calc - 450
Everything on ICP in the green except for a slightly elevated lithium.

Those look like feeding filaments. Do you have images of what happened originally?

 

[LDH]

Sorry. Do another big water change, run carbon and a poly filter just in case, and keep trying new coral from time to time. Do new corals die after the tips slime/get white?

Thanks. It’s just the beginning stage but it’s exactly what happened to the corals I had at the beginning of their demise. The polyps have retracted and they appear to just be melting starting with the white stringy tips.

 

[LDH]

Those look like feeding filaments. Do you have images of what happened originally?

I’m sorry I don’t. I should have taken pictures but I was in a bad state and didn’t think of it. Ha. It started off as exactly what you see in the video. That is not a happy coral. The polyps have retracted and eventually those tips will become white until the whole thing goes under.

 

[LDH]

That really stinks. I’m sorry to hear that. First, I know it’s a pain, especially in a tank your size, but I wouldn’t trust a doser to dose NoPox. The downside of an overdose greatly outweighs the convenience of auto dosing it. I dose it myself every morning.

As you said, you definitely triggered a bacteria bloom. First, I would start with heavy skimming. Further, it may be worth your time adding Startsmart in there to help contain/stop the bloom. I have found Startsmart very reliable, but others may disagree.

Again, I can’t imagine losing something that provides therapeutic relief. My reef is the same for me. I cannot think of anyone better than @Randy Holmes-Farley to provide advice as to what are the best steps to take if he would be so kind.

Thank you I will look into startsmart. I have read that adding a different bacteria source can help. I was using microbactor 7 but it hasn’t had any effect. Maybe just not yet.

 

[Bacon505]

Video doesnt work

 

[LDH]

 

[Thales]

Thanks. It’s just the beginning stage but it’s exactly what happened to the corals I had at the beginning of their demise. The polyps have retracted and they appear to just be melting starting with the white stringy tips.

Understandable. I would be cautious about adding any tinctures to your tank at this point. Give the test coral so me time and see what happens. Adding more stuff, just adds more stuff

 

[LDH]

Video doesnt work

I tried to upload again... not sure how to make it work. ‍

 

[LDH]

Understandable. I would be cautious about adding any tinctures to your tank at this point. Give the test coral so me time and see what happens. Adding more stuff, just adds more stuff

Sounds wise. Thank you.

 

[Jeff Jarry reef]

Sorry. Do another big water change, run carbon and a poly filter just in case, and keep trying new coral from time to time. Do new corals die after the tips slime/get white?

Agree that's about all you can do at point.