Scoly just melted away.

Kayla carpenter

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I’ve had this scoly for over two months. And I’ve the time it just recessed then two days ago it was gone. Lost one hammer and my acans are receding too…… my other hammers and torches and gonis are all fine. Water prams; NO2-0 NO3-5-10 PO4-.06 temp is 77.5-78 salinity is 1.24 I don’t have calc or mag but what could cause this??? I’m stumped
 

Hincapiej4

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Also, scoly's are very sensitive to high lighting. And they are hungry little guys that and lobos too.
 
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Kayla carpenter

Kayla carpenter

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Well, I'm not stumped.

We need to know ALK >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Cal >>>>> Mag

The > means how important it is.
I said my alk is 9.5. I don’t have regent for the other two. I just started and I’m almost positive I haven’t used up everything in my tank and it’s a 1 1/2 old lights been on for 6 months
 

Hincapiej4

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I said my alk is 9.5. I don’t have regent for the other two. I just started and I’m almost positive I haven’t used up everything in my tank and it’s a 1 1/2 old lights been on for 6 months
When I responded, you hadn't mentioned your ALK yet. So you "said" nothing at the time.

If you just started, then the 9.5 alk - which first of all is kinda high imo for a new tank/reefer - but who knows how stable it is on a daily and hourly basis.

THe fact that not just the scoly died or is dying, tells me something is wrong. You need to get full parameters, not just a snap shot.

Always watching mine:

1630438248916.png
 

MaxTremors

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9.5 alk isn’t too high (I like to keep mine around 8.5), but it’s the stability that matters. A dkh between 7 and 12 is okay, you just need to pick a number (most people try to just stay where their salt mix mixes at), and then keep it stable. If the Alk is fluctuating or continually going down and then back up when you do a water change, it could absolutely stress your corals out to the point that they die. Your calcium and magnesium should also be stable, but fluctuations are a little less dangerous than they are with alk. Flow and lighting could also be the cause (or part of the cause, it could be a combination of things). One thing to keep in mind is that Scolys are all wild caught, so they don’t handle unstable water conditions as well as aquacultured pieces do. Acans are also usually wild caught and hammers and torches can be either, but this could be the reason why you’re seeing some corals do well and others dying.

You said your tank is new, which generally means that your parameters aren’t stable, I would wait to acquire any new corals until you’ve ensured your parameters are consistent. Start testing every day or every couple days and see how much they are fluctuating. Since you have several stony corals, you’ll probably need to start dosing a two part to keep your alk and calcium stable, but you won’t know (or how much to dose) until you have a log of how your parameters move over time.
 
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Kayla carpenter

Kayla carpenter

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9.5 alk isn’t too high (I like to keep mine around 8.5), but it’s the stability that matters. A dkh between 7 and 12 is okay, you just need to pick a number (most people try to just stay where their salt mix mixes at), and then keep it stable. If the Alk is fluctuating or continually going down and then back up when you do a water change, it could absolutely stress your corals out to the point that they die. Your calcium and magnesium should also be stable, but fluctuations are a little less dangerous than they are with alk. Flow and lighting could also be the cause (or part of the cause, it could be a combination of things). One thing to keep in mind is that Scolys are all wild caught, so they don’t handle unstable water conditions as well as aquacultured pieces do. Acans are also usually wild caught and hammers and torches can be either, but this could be the reason why you’re seeing some corals do well and others dying.

You said your tank is new, which generally means that your parameters aren’t stable, I would wait to acquire any new corals until you’ve ensured your parameters are consistent. Start testing every day or every couple days and see how much they are fluctuating. Since you have several stony corals, you’ll probably need to start dosing a two part to keep your alk and calcium stable, but you won’t know (or how much to dose) until you have a log of how your parameters move over time.
It’s a year and a half with fish and cuc but is new in the fact of having corals. I was going to test my alk at night and see if it’s dropping then. I don’t do very many water changes ie maybe a gallon a week to try and switch to a new salt. I’m going from instant ocean from my lfs to Red Sea pro.
 

Pistondog

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What fish do you have, my filefish and puffer would takes chuncks from the warpaint given the chance.
 

Sharp

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Just some food for thought. I believe that alkalinity needs to be linked to nutrients, typically higher nutrients such as yours, do better at a slightly higher alkalinity: 10-11. Whereas lower nutrients systems prefer lower alkalinity 7-8. As mentioned above stability is most important. Also calcium and magnesium should correlate with alkalinity. Elevated alkalinity does better with higher calcium and magnesium - and the reverse for lower levels. How is the tank going now?
 
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Kayla carpenter

Kayla carpenter

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Just some food for thought. I believe that alkalinity needs to be linked to nutrients, typically higher nutrients such as yours, do better at a slightly higher alkalinity: 10-11. Whereas lower nutrients systems prefer lower alkalinity 7-8. As mentioned above stability is most important. Also calcium and magnesium should correlate with alkalinity. Elevated alkalinity does better with higher calcium and magnesium - and the reverse for lower levels. How is the tank going now?
I had to move scoly under a shaded spot and now it’s doing better
 

outhouse

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I don’t do very many water changes
There is your problem, corals cant take abuse like that. Unless you have a fuge or some other means of reducing nitrates and phosphates.

You have dirty water that is killing less than hardy specimens. You should be doing some major water changes as large as you possibly can. You have poison for water right now, and unless you ditch it, more corals will die.
 

outhouse

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I believe that alkalinity needs to be linked to nutrients,
It does not.

If your pushing to high or low on your alk numbers it can, but its all negative from to many nutrients. If you run alk in decent ranges it does not matter
 

outhouse

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move scoly under a shaded spot
So you may have your intensity set to high, if your using leds. Thats a sure sign and I have cooked my scoly and lobo and hammer from to much light and had to turn mine way down, And coral started growing and thriving like weeds.
 

Sharp

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I am not certain we can make such sure claims. I run my reef tank at the exact same NO3 and PO4 levels as OP with no issues, and I am sure many others do to. I have to say I disagree with the assessment that large water changes quickly are the way to go. I would recommend maybe doing a couple smaller ones. Its highly likely there are other factors at play here. Such as issues with calcium and magnesium, flow, lighting etc.

I would like to add that my tank did significantly worse when my nutrients were closer to zero. My coral was thin and unhappy and I had issues with dinos and cyano bacteria. At this time I was running a lower alkalinity of 7.5.

Also LPS corals can typically do better at higher nutrient levels than SPS corals. I would argue SPS can do fine in medium nutrient waters, but it is proven with LPS.

OP: do you dose calcium and magnesium? If not, then because of your limited water change schedule, maybe those are too low, especially considering you do not have low alkalinity and nutrients.

IMO best course of action would be to conduct a small water change, and get those calcium and magnesium test kits asap. You could go to your LFS and ask them to test for you while you wait for yours to arrive.

I also recommend you get more opinions, none of us can know for 100% sure. Good Luck

Fergus
 
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Sharp

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I would also like to take back my phrasing. I used the words NEEDs when talking about alkalinity and nutrients. As with everything there is no exact way or number to shoot for. Its more that I believe a higher success comes when the two are correlated. I should have used different phrasing.

Fergus
 

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