Something is destroying ALL of my Chalice Corals!!

[The Big Chill]

I have a 3 year 120 gallon/40 gallon sump/refugium mixed reef tank with many soft, LPS and SPS corals. For some reason ONLY my chalices are losing its flesh all the way down to the skeleton overnight. I thought it was peppermint shrimp so I took all of mine out of the tank. A few other chalices suffered the same fate overnight without the shrimp so I concluded it was not them. I am clueless.....I wake up in the middle of the night with a flashlight to see if something else is chewing the coral and never see anything. All of my other corals was doing very well...I have healthy euphyllias, montipora digitata and plates, acans, zoas, acroporas, pavona, leathers, mushrooms, birdsnest, blastos, duncans, candy canes, ricordea, green star polyps and a few others are all doing extremely well....except the total decimation of my chalices!! Need help!! Are there some type of black/red bugs that I can't see that eat Chalices? If so how to kill them? I have ruled out shrimp and crabs. Would pods do this kind of damage at night??

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a 3 year 120 gallon/40 gallon sump/refugium mixed reef tank with many soft, LPS and SPS corals. For some reason ONLY my chalices are losing its flesh all the way down to the skeleton overnight. I thought it was peppermint shrimp so I took all of mine out of the tank. A few other chalices suffered the same fate overnight without the shrimp so I concluded it was not them. I am clueless.....I wake up in the middle of the night with a flashlight to see if something else is chewing the coral and never see anything. All of my other corals was doing very well...I have healthy euphyllias, montipora digitata and plates, acans, zoas, acroporas, pavona, leathers, mushrooms, birdsnest, blastos, duncans, candy canes, ricordea, green star polyps and a few others are all doing extremely well....except the total decimation of my chalices!! Need help!! Are there some type of black/red bugs that I can't see that eat Chalices? If so how to kill them? I have ruled out shrimp and crabs. Would pods do this kind of damage at night??

Obviously something with the chemistry changed. Have you changed salt or added anything different?
This time of year we endure temperature changes and ph swings.
Salinity changes with faster evaporation also.
I would loot at all these mentioned and see also if any aerosols or similar were used near tank which can chemically ruin a stable system.

 

[Hemmdog]

Chalices are really high temp sensitive ime. I think most of them are fairly deep so they probably don’t experience warmer temps like acros, zoas, softies, mushrooms deal with in nature. Just a hunch.

 

[rolyguy7]

I have a 3 year 120 gallon/40 gallon sump/refugium mixed reef tank with many soft, LPS and SPS corals. For some reason ONLY my chalices are losing its flesh all the way down to the skeleton overnight. I thought it was peppermint shrimp so I took all of mine out of the tank. A few other chalices suffered the same fate overnight without the shrimp so I concluded it was not them. I am clueless.....I wake up in the middle of the night with a flashlight to see if something else is chewing the coral and never see anything. All of my other corals was doing very well...I have healthy euphyllias, montipora digitata and plates, acans, zoas, acroporas, pavona, leathers, mushrooms, birdsnest, blastos, duncans, candy canes, ricordea, green star polyps and a few others are all doing extremely well....except the total decimation of my chalices!! Need help!! Are there some type of black/red bugs that I can't see that eat Chalices? If so how to kill them? I have ruled out shrimp and crabs. Would pods do this kind of damage at night??

What are your water parameters. Please fill in with recent tests.

Salinity
Alkalinity
Calcium
Magnesium
Nitrates
Temperature

 

[The Big Chill]

Chalices are really high temp sensitive ime. I think most of them are fairly deep so they probably don’t experience warmer temps like acros, zoas, softies, mushrooms deal with in nature. Just a hunch.

Thanks for the tips! One thing I didn't mention are these chalices (3) were the newest corals in the tank. I have only had them for about 3 weeks. These are my first Chalices and I am just devastated because they are soooo beautiful!! I will take a picture of the remains of the last chalice and pictures of the other corals which are doing great. Which makes me think of some kind of pest is responsble for this. Parameters are very steady and essentially never change. Cal - 430, Alk - 8.5 to 9.2, Mag - 1400. Nitrates are 0 ppm and Phosphates are .03 - .05. Salinity is 1.025.

 

[tnyr5]

By any chance, do you have any urchins?

 

[Hemmdog]

Thanks for the tips! One thing I didn't mention are these chalices (3) were the newest corals in the tank. I have only had them for about 3 weeks. These are my first Chalices and I am just devastated because they are soooo beautiful!! I will take a picture of the remains of the last chalice and pictures of the other corals which are doing great. Which makes me think of some kind of pest is responsble for this. Parameters are very steady and essentially never change. Cal - 430, Alk - 8.5 to 9.2, Mag - 1400. Nitrates are 0 ppm and Phosphates are .03 - .05. Salinity is 1.025.

0 nitrates will do that to especially if they came from a more nutrient rich system. Are they really 0? What test kit are you using ?

 

[The Big Chill]

What are your water parameters. Please fill in with recent tests.

Salinity
Alkalinity
Calcium
Magnesium
Nitrates
Temperature

Cal - 430,
Alk - 8.5 to 9.2,
Mag - 1400.
Nitrates are 0 ppm
Phosphates are .03 - .05.
Salinity is 1.025.
Temperature is 79 degrees.

 

[The Big Chill]

0 nitrates will do that to especially if they came from a more nutrient rich system. Are they really 0? What test kit are you using ?

Red Sea for Cal/Alk/Mag
API test for Nitrate
Digital Hanna Checker for Phosphate

 

[The Big Chill]

By any chance, do you have any urchins?

No urchins in the tank.

 

[The Big Chill]

0 nitrates will do that to especially if they came from a more nutrient rich system. Are they really 0? What test kit are you using ?

Also I use Kalkwasser in my ATO and dose trace elements. That has been good combination for my tank.

 

[rolyguy7]

Cal - 430,
Alk - 8.5 to 9.2,
Mag - 1400.
Nitrates are 0 ppm
Phosphates are .03 - .05.
Salinity is 1.025.
Temperature is 79 degrees.

That’s the problem bud. 0 nitrates!!! Your corals are starving from no nutrients in the water. You need to add nitrates. I dose sodium nitrate in mine and keep my nitrates at 20ppm. I have seen many folks in your same situation. Established tank, corals growing, nitrates dropping. Eventually corals start spitting out their zooxanthellae and bleaching causing loss of tissue. Always affects lps corals first.

This is what you need.
Duda Energy 5sn 5 lb. Sodium Nitrate Fertilizer 99+% Pure Chile Saltpeter Gold Metal Refining Industrial Grade Glass Pottery Enamels

Solution mix and dosing calculator for dosing nitrates

James' Planted Tank - Dosing Calculator

 

[The Big Chill]

Here is a picture of the 1st one that this happened to.

 

[rolyguy7]

Here is a picture of the 1st one that this happened to.

Yep. That’s what 0 nitrates will do. I’ve helped so many folks correct this problem. Seems so many folks aren’t aware you need to keep nitrates in the tank for corals to stay healthy and thrive.

 

[The Big Chill]

That’s the problem bud. 0 nitrates!!! Your corals are starving from no nutrients in the water. You need to add nitrates. I dose sodium nitrate in mine and keep my nitrates at 20ppm. I have seen many folks in your same situation. Established tank, corals growing, nitrates dropping. Eventually corals start spitting out their zooxanthellae and bleaching causing loss of tissue. Always affects lps corals first.

This is what you need.
Duda Energy 5sn 5 lb. Sodium Nitrate Fertilizer 99+% Pure Chile Saltpeter Gold Metal Refining Industrial Grade Glass Pottery Enamels

I would agree if my other corals were suffering and none of them are suffering at all. They are doing well. The test is showing 0 (API) but I am sure I have some Nitrates.

 

[rolyguy7]

I would agree if my other corals were suffering and none of them are suffering at all. They are doing well. The test is showing 0 (API) but I am sure I have some Nitrates.

That’s the same response every unaware reefer gives bro. Either you can listen and learn or watch more corals die. Your call. Boils down to you do not have enough nitrates in the system to keep all of your corals living and healthy.

Some folks will tell you to over feed. But over feeding will raise your phosphates. Easiest and safest way to correct this is dosing sodium nitrate. Long term, add more fish to increase nitrate production or just make a habit of dosing nitrates like most folks with heavier stocked tanks do.

If you have a refugium remove some of your refugium plants. At least half of them to allow more nitrates for corals. Also, feed seaweed to your fish daily as it doesn’t affect phosphates like other foods but allows the fish to eat more and poop more creating more nitrates. Still, safest and quickest way to fix is dosing nitrates. But combination of these will help get you to corrected parameters.

 

[The Big Chill]

That’s the same response every unaware reefer gives bro. Either you can listen and learn or watch more corals die. Your call. Boils down to you do not have enough nitrates in the system to keep all of your corals living and healthy.

Duly noted and thanks for your expertise. I will look into increasing Nitrates in the tank and see if that will stop that 1 species of coral (Chalice) from dying in my tank.

 

[rolyguy7]

Duly noted and thanks for your expertise. I will look into increasing Nitrates in the tank and see if that will stop that 1 species of coral (Chalice) from dying in my tank.

All your other parameters are within range. Although I would recommend raising your calcium to 440-450ppm and maintaining alkalinity between 8-9dkh. I keep mine around 8.3-8.5dkh and 450ppm calcium.

I have a ton of chalices by the way. and have been reef keeping for 25+ years.

 

[The Big Chill]

That’s the same response every unaware reefer gives bro. Either you can listen and learn or watch more corals die. Your call. Boils down to you do not have enough nitrates in the system to keep all of your corals living and healthy.

Some folks will tell you to over feed. But over feeding will raise your phosphates. Easiest and safest way to correct this is dosing sodium nitrate. Long term, add more fish to increase nitrate production or just make a habit of dosing nitrates like most folks with heavier stocked tanks do.

If you have a refugium remove some of your refugium plants. At least half of them to allow more nitrates for corals. Also, feed seaweed to your fish daily as it doesn’t affect phosphates like other foods but allows the fish to eat more and poop more creating more nitrates. Still, safest and quickest way to fix is dosing nitrates. But combination of these will help get you to corrected parameters.

Thanks for much needed advice and help! I will definitely give it a try and make a few changes to get more Nitrates in the tank and see what happens.

 

[The Big Chill]

All your other parameters are within range. Although I would recommend raising your calcium to 440-450ppm and maintaining alkalinity between 8-9dkh. I keep mine around 8.3-8.5dkh and 450ppm calcium.

I have a ton of chalices by the way. and have been reef keeping for 25+ years.

Yes, I love those corals and have to figure this out because I can't have a tank full of corals and no chalices. Wow 25 years....yes you have true experience!