Some Coral Troubles

[Nigel35]

So I have about 4 corals that I have a couple of questions about: Purple Hammer, Pagoda Cup Coral, Green Leather Toadstool, Spicy Lemon Favia. Fish in the tank are a yellow tang, dwarf flame angel and a pair of clowns along with a cleaner shrimp and cuc.

Hammer Coral:

I have lost much of the colony to brown jelly disease but also some other mysterious cause. I am thinking of a critter or something. I've checked late at night and seen nothing visible to the naked eye. Parameters are almost always stable so I want to cross that off the list but I could be wrong.

Pagoda Cup Coral:

This guy was doing great as of may 2020 but has never fully recovered.

It Looked like this in May 2020 and then slowly receded polyp extension:

The worst it got was this:

And the best it gets on occasion is this:

Green Leather Toadstool:

Used to be a great beautiful part of the tank but now is one I'm not so proud of.

I believe it started to shed around April of 2020 but has never made it back. Here it is about a year later:

I tried doing an iodine dip, dosing iodine higher lighting, higher flow etc. ... No luck...

Spicy Lemon Favia:

Used to be growing nicely:

Here it is now: (mind the algae)

My best guess is that it got stung by a nem and I never treated it well enough.

Ok I lied one more!

GSP:

Looks great until you have green hair algae and detritus building up on the surface.

GSP Now:

Tried scrubbing the junk off but not with long term success. IT use to cover the entire rock but has just started dying off. I've stayed away from peroxide dips because I wouldn't want to mess up the rest of the tank.


Apologies for the long post... Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Nigel

 

[Garf]

I would ICP test. Seems you have a system issue. How do you calibrate your salinity, temperature? Have you run carbon, checked your RODI?

 

[JCM]

Is your angelfish nipping at the corals?

 

[Nigel35]

Salinity checked by a Coral life deep sea Hydrometer, Temperature is controlled by an ink bird system. Running Chemi Pure for carbon and I purchase my RODI from a trusted LFS.

 

[Nigel35]

Is your angelfish nipping at the corals?

I think it is totally possible. I lost all my zoas out of the blue probably to asterina or nudibranchs but I don't want to let the angel off the hook.

 

[Nigel35]

 

[Nigel35]

 

[Nigel35]

First pic is when the tank was setup after a move Feb 2020 and then the second one was in December. I've lost a lot... but do you think it was the angel eating/nipping?

 

[NatureHold]

I would find another way to test salinity. The swing arm hydrometers are notoriously inaccurate. That's one possibility. The other possible issue I see, that I have personally experienced was a slow buildup of contaminants through water changes and top off water coming from a bad DI canister on my RODI unit. I failed to fully read the instructions and didnt flush the RO membrane before installing the DI, and it destroyed my DI filter in like 3 months. I was none the wiser, and wasnt checking TDS.

But I slowly started noticing less and less PE from my SPS although my lps and zoas didnt seem to mind. I stuck my head under the sink on a whim to double check my filter dates and saw that by DI resin was toast. A few water changes later, everything was back to normal. I +1 the ICP test/checking TDS as it comes out of your RODI unit.

 

[Nigel35]

Yeah I should probably looks into another mechanism...

 

[Nigel35]

How about a test with triton-reagents.de? I hear they give a free ICP test and there is a lab right next to my location?

 

[Nigel35]

Any other advice you guys would have?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Here is a worthwhile task for you:
grab TWO good water samples and go to two different trusted LFS which do not use API test kits and have them test your water AND your RO water for:
Ammonia
Nitrate
PH
Salinity
phosphate
alk

Do consider a refractometer or better yet, hanna or ice cap digital salt tester.
What test kits are you using?
Im also curious on Lighting? What lights are you using? (Hopefully not Current orbic)

- next two things I noticed is : You have a mixed reef. The big challenge is balancing chemistry to satisfy both groupings. The bigger challenge is toxins as LPS releases toxins that make SPS unhappy and likewise SPS (if you ever smelled your fingers after handling it) let off their own toxins. ChemiPure Elite Provides the carbon you use but also breaks down toxins (the very reason I use it) and keeps Phos and Nitrate in check.
- I see patches of cyano and possibly dino which would make some of these coral miserable. I would take a turkey baster and GENTLY blow this stuff loose and siphon or net up the loose matter. THEN . . . See how long it takes to return. If within 48 hours, begin a small program of adding 1.5ml of bacteria per 10 gallons during day and add 1.5ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons at night.

water flow- Maintain at least right now moderate and same for lighting

Your Hammers/euphyllia - Polyp Bailout when a coral lets go of its polyp, and the fleshy bit detatches from the hard skeleton. It is not the same as a polyp dying. It is thought to happen for one of two reasons.
- stress
- reproduction
Going back to having those water tests and adding that Chemipure .. . . . . . Stress you ask ?

• Alkalinity being too high or too low (ideally 8 – 9 dKH)
• pH being too high or too low (ideally 8.1 – 8.3)
• Temperature being too high or too low (ideally 77-79)
• Calcium/Magnesium being out of balance or being too high or too low (ideally calcium should be 3 times less than magnesium levels. Calcium should be between 400 –450ppm, magnesium 1300ppm)
• Phosphate being too high or too low (ideally between 0 – 0.1ppm)
• Having zero Nitrates or Nitrates above 20ppm
• Too much or too little flow directed towards , not at the coral

If your water parameters fall outside of these ranges, or you have big swings/unstable parameters it is likely that your corals will become stressed. Now you have some tasks and hopefully you find things that suddenly make sense.

Recommended:

Temp 77-79
ph 8.1-8.3
salinity 1.025
nitrate < .4
phos < .04
Ammonia < .03
mG 1300
Alk 8-9
CA 440

 

[Nigel35]

I know I know... I am using API but I just bought a Red Sea phosphate kit and a hanna checker Kit. I am going to probably get a better salinity measurement as well. And for the lights... sadly have to report that I am using an Current orbit IC. The interesting thing though is that the tank was able to run for 1-2 years with the same lighting beautifully. I'll have to show you the pictures before the move.