SPS Dying

[ShilReef]

Hi All,

On one side of my aquarium, my Monti's, Acros are just bleaching overnight. Parameters have been stable for years, Triton tests are perfect and nothing has really changed in terms of flow and lighting. It started off with one Monti, a couple of weeks ago, Now more corals are dying in the same part of the aquarium and it seems to be spreading.
A couple of new issues I'm having is a new Aiptasia outbreak, got about 30+ so far and Torches on the other side of the tank are also now dying and it seems like brown jelly disease. Wondering if it could be related? Going to treat them today using KFC method.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Some Pics:

Thanks

 

[Dburr1014]

Sounds like some kind of bacterial infection. Until that's taken care of it probably going to continue.

I have not really experienced a complete infection in the system so I don't know how to assist you further.

I know you said everything's perfect but, can you post the results. It just helps to have more eyes looking at it and thinking outside of your box.

 

[CHSUB]

growing corals doesn’t mean healthy corals…While I’m seeing some age, not sure what time frame is “years”. Maybe more details about your system would help folks with some insight?

 

[dwest]

In addition to the response above, I would do successive days of 10-20% water changes.

 

[ShilReef]

Sounds like some kind of bacterial infection. Until that's taken care of it probably going to continue.

I have not really experienced a complete infection in the system so I don't know how to assist you further.

I know you said everything's perfect but, can you post the results. It just helps to have more eyes looking at it and thinking outside of your box.

Here are the Triton results: https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/icp-oes/199676

Main parameters:

 

[ShilReef]

growing corals doesn’t mean healthy corals…While I’m seeing some age, not sure what time frame is “years”. Maybe more details about your system would help folks with some insight?

Fair point. Tank has been running for 4 years now.

 

[Dburr1014]

Here are the Triton results: https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/icp-oes/199676

Main parameters:

This could be an issue. High alk, extreme low po4. Coral may need food.
Also, salt is slightly over 35. May or may not be an issue.

 

[ShilReef]

This could be an issue. High alk, extreme low po4. Coral may need food.
Also, salt is slightly over 35. May or may not be an issue.

 

[ShilReef]

thanks, i think both are slightly off. Hanna reports 0.06 Phos and other salinity checks are around the 35ppm mark. Probe just needs cleaning/recalibration. Corals also get spot fed daily.

i just remembered, that a few days ago (probably when this happened), i did chop up some over growing Zoas just below these corals, I'm now leaning towards palytoxin poisoning?
Does this theory seem plausible?

 

[Shawnd08]

I had an issue with SPS quickly dying that I believe was bacteria related. I would add SPS to the tank from my other tank or and within hours it would start to RTN. Someone suggested it may be bacterial and to run UV. I did a few larger water changes and ran UV. Not sure if you are already running UV but it may be beneficial to do. I noticed improvement within a week or two of running the UV.

 

[Dburr1014]

thanks, i think both are slightly off. Hanna reports 0.06 Phos and other salinity checks are around the 35ppm mark. Probe just needs cleaning/recalibration. Corals also get spot fed daily.

i just remembered, that a few days ago (probably when this happened), i did chop up some over growing Zoas just below these corals, I'm now leaning towards palytoxin poisoning?
Does this theory seem plausible?

Personally, I have never heard of that being an issue. Maybe someone else has?
With flowing pumps and skimmers, I would think that would be taken care of pretty swiftly.

 

[dank.reefer]

thanks, i think both are slightly off. Hanna reports 0.06 Phos and other salinity checks are around the 35ppm mark. Probe just needs cleaning/recalibration. Corals also get spot fed daily.

i just remembered, that a few days ago (probably when this happened), i did chop up some over growing Zoas just below these corals, I'm now leaning towards palytoxin poisoning?
Does this theory seem plausible?

Personally, I have never heard of that being an issue. Maybe someone else has?
With flowing pumps and skimmers, I would think that would be taken care of pretty swiftly.

It is very much a thing. I have seen it in action. Here in this video Julian Sprung addresses just this.

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

Here are the Triton results: https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/icp-oes/199676

Main parameters:

Both Cal and Mg are very low also. 450 calcium and 1500+ Mg is what I have always read. Having high Alk and low nutrients could also be an issue with essentially burning the corals that are food starved.

 

[Dburr1014]

It is very much a thing. I have seen it in action. Here in this video Julian Sprung addresses just this.

Thanks for sharing!
Maybe water changes are in order and wear your PPE! Personal Protection Equipment

 

[dank.reefer]

It is very much a thing. I have seen it in action. Here in this video Julian Sprung addresses just this.

Thanks for sharing!

For sure.... I saw the aftermath of an event just like Julian described first hand at my LFS. They had their main display with many 10+ year old SPS colonies crash after pulling some palythoas from it for sale.

 

[fishface NJ]

For sure.... I saw the aftermath of an event just like Julian described first hand at my LFS. They had their main display with many 10+ year old SPS colonies crash after pulling some palythoas from it for sale.

I'm experiencing this too. I got rid of palythoas in my tank last month in prep for my new 150g tank. I have lost 8 to 10 year old acro colonies the size of footballs....approx 10 acros so far

 

[ShilReef]

Thanks all. feeling more confident it's palytoxin. I killed a bunch of fish doing the same thing a few years ago... i'll never learn!

 

[dank.reefer]

For sure.... I saw the aftermath of an event just like Julian described first hand at my LFS. They had their main display with many 10+ year old SPS colonies crash after pulling some palythoas from it for sale.

I'm experiencing this too. I got rid of palythoas in my tank last month in prep for my new 150g tank. I have lost 8 to 10 year old acro colonies the size of footballs....approx 10 acros so far

The shop keep that I know experienced this told me that to save what he had left he mixed a batch of water that matched the big 3 in his tank and did a 150% water change over the course of 6-7 days. 50% on day 1 and 20% a day for the rest of the week.

I have used this same method to stop a downward spiral in my own tank. For me it was not palytoxin related and I never figured out the cause. I was just experiencing RTN on many of my plates, chalices and sticks. I changed 100% of the water over 5 days and everything turned around. I always keep enough RODI water and salt on hand to take agressive action if needed. I am 4 months out from that event and almost fully recovered.

IMO if corals couldn't take the shock of a 100% water change then we likely wouldn't have any in our systems at all. After all what do we think is happening when we first introduce them to our systems... 100% different water(Water Change).

 

[ShilReef]

The shop keep that I know experienced this told me that to save what he had left he mixed a batch of water that matched the big 3 in his tank and did a 150% water change over the course of 6-7 days. 50% on day 1 and 20% a day for the rest of the week.

I have used this same method to stop a downward spiral in my own tank. For me it was not palytoxin related and I never figured out the cause. I was just experiencing RTN on many of my plates, chalices and sticks. I changed 100% of the water over 5 days and everything turned around. I always keep enough RODI water and salt on hand to take agressive action if needed. I am 4 months out from that event and almost fully recovered.

IMO if corals couldn't take the shock of a 100% water change then we likely wouldn't have any in our systems at all. After all what do we think is happening when we first introduce them to our systems... 100% different water(Water Change).

Totally agree. Think I can set up an auto water change with my spare DOS and spread if out over the course of a day for 5 days to minimize stress to all livestock

 

[DJF]

Based on 357 ca, I’d say it’s your calcium