SPS problem, spots

[Fishfinder]

I am having an issue lately. Over the past month my corals have been on the decline. Im looking for help. This post i hard for me to make and difficult to describe. A few of my acros have been exhibiting odd pale circles on the encrusting edge. They appear overnight and are not small. The circles are about the size of a pencil eraser. It started with 1 or 2 acros. Always on the leading edge of encrustment. Then it turned into about 10 pieces. Some of the acros healed and the spots are gone, some continued to look worse and are now entirely pale. A few weeks later I notice a couple of these spots on the branches of some acros. I also notice that many acros are looking pale in general. Not all my acros are being affected, some are growing and colored completly normal. Others are very pale. But all my new growth is coming in pale and not coloring up. The spots are getting worse and affecting more pieces. Then a few nights ago I had a giant monti cap RTN overnight. I also had 2 monti palawanensis colonies grey out. My pink floyd turned black. This isn't a slow STN around the base. It it individual spots.

When I first noticed the issue I thought my PO4 was too low. So I fed heavier and started fuel. It didnt help. Then I started water changes. I did 60 gal, few days later 100 gal, few days later 100 gal, no change, I started carbon, no change.

I took frags out, bayer dipped them, visually inspected them, blew them off til skin peeled, freshwater dipped them. No sign of pests.

My system is 300gal. running for a year. really 0 water changes, i run socks, fuge, skimmer. Nothing else. Sorry for tagging people but those i tagged have experience in the subject, or we've talked, or I trust your knowledge. Looking for any direction. The only thing in my system that changed is my H380 went out. I didnt realize for a week and I replaced it with a 5500K home depot bulb. When i did that my NO3 went up and my PO4 went to 0

@DSC reef @bubbaque @FarmerTy @Rakie @Big E

 

[Fishfinder]

 

[Fishfinder]

 

[Justfebreezeit]

dang that sucks. I hope someone can lead you in the right direction, those are beautiful pieces.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Have you checked for rusting magnets? I had similar symptoms around Christmas, and tries everything I could think of to correct it. I had inspected all my pumps and powerheads, but I failed to check my magnetic probe holder. Eventually I did, and it had rusted. I removed it, and did some WC's and everything recover beautifully.

 

[Fishfinder]

Have you checked for rusting magnets? I had similar symptoms around Christmas, and tries everything I could think of to correct it. I had inspected all my pumps and powerheads, but I failed to check my magnetic probe holder. Eventually I did, and it had rusted. I removed it, and did some WC's and everything recover beautifully.

I checked all pumps, powerheads, and magnets. There was a minute amount of rust in one of my return pumps but not enough that i would think to cause this damage. Was your issue creating spots like this?

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Got any pics of the entirely pale ones? I don’t see anything really wrong some of it looks like healthy parts, some looks like spots were burned from something but started to heal. Sometimes new growth can make acros look funny when it starts in places that have been idle for a while. Interested in what others say. I have seen the same thing at times but always went back to normal in short time. I wouldn’t worry much unless you start seeing dead areas and skeleton, unless this is was happening to the monti before it died and the spots got worse. Curious to how the entirely pale ones look.
The monti dying and the Pink Floyd turning dark is what I would worry about, got pictures of them when it started? I have seen acros turn dark or green when nutrients shift quickly and when a bacterial imbalance happens, which are normally linked anyways.

 

[Fishfinder]

@Pedoconfuego I can get pics of the entirely pale ones today. This is the purple cap. The pics are 12 hours apart. Explain the bacterial imbalance/color loss more. I know these spots aren’t odd growth or something of that nature. My alk consumption has gone down more than half in the past 2 weeks

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

I checked all pumps, powerheads, and magnets. There was a minute amount of rust in one of my return pumps but not enough that i would think to cause this damage. Was your issue creating spots like this?

I had burned tips, and some spots like that on the bases. I also had quite a few pieces putting out messenterial filaments. I did not have the kind of recession that you're seeing on the Monti's though.

 

[Fishfinder]

I had burned tips, and some spots like that on the bases. I also had quite a few pieces putting out messenterial filaments. I did not have the kind of recession that you're seeing on the Monti's though.

I have at least a dozen montis, that is the only one showing any effects.

 

[DSC reef]

I'm waiting for others to chime in brother but some of the pics look like pests while others look more like chemistry/lighting. One way or another we will figure this out. I've noticed some areas look like the recession has progressed.

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

I checked all pumps, powerheads, and magnets. There was a minute amount of rust in one of my return pumps but not enough that i would think to cause this damage. Was your issue creating spots like this?

All of your water goes through your return pump, if there is rust at all there then it is constantly pushing it into your tank. Just a thought.

 

[rkpetersen]

Send in a water sample for ICP-OES analysis; I recommend ATI.
It will tell you if you have any metals at hazardous concentrations in your tank.
If so, rusting/corroding magnets are a likely source, although there are other possibilities too.

 

[Seminoles76]

My vote is with DSC in it being likely pests. Just doesn’t look lime typical STN/RTN type issues.
Just a thought and Someone may have mentioned this but look at asterina stars or any other type of crab or other crustacean that may have gone rogue and could be biting at night. I had an emerald that was a model citizen for a year. Had some similar bites that you had and caught him at night on Coral. My guess is that he wasn’t getting enough algae and turned on the coral.

 

[x2uranium]

Did your salinity tank lower for 0 water changes ? My salinity drops if I don’t do wc. From my slimmer over time.

 

[Fishfinder]

@DSC reef and @Seminoles76 it looks very bug like to me also. Random spots is never good. But i have checked and dipped and checked frags multiple times. Idk im going to try a new dip tomorrow.

@x2uranium my salinity is rock solid. probe calibrated regularly

@bobby.w.hodges and @rkpetersen an ICp is going out soon as the holiday weekend is over. I assumed that 260 gal of water change would of fixed any water quality issues

 

[Fishfinder]

I want to add this info because @Pedoconfuego mentioned bacterial imbalance. My tank has always run at NO3 2 and PO4 0.06 when I changed my fuge light i started testing NO3 10 and PO4 0.0 would a new light change the way my tank is metabolizing NO3 and PO4 or did something else happen?

 

[Seminoles76]

I’d slap a powerhead or turkey baste them. You may already do this. Just thought I’d mention it. Good luck. Hope you find a solution.

 

[Seminoles76]

I want to add this info because @Pedoconfuego mentioned bacterial imbalance. My tank has always run at NO3 2 and PO4 0.06 when I changed my fuge light i started testing NO3 10 and PO4 0.0 would a new light change the way my tank is metabolizing NO3 and PO4 or did something else happen?

I’d say the new light may have altered your algae growth which could have an effect on 3/4 levels. I guess it may be possible to effect the bacteria population ultimately if your algae started up taking more 4 than 3. That’s well over my pay grade though and just a guess. You haven’t changed feeding pattern or anything like that?

I meant to say powerhead or turkey baste while your dipping in my last thread. Sometimes they hold on for dear life depending on what your using for a dip.

 

[islander84]

I ran into this almost identical problem years ago and it was from running nutrients too low. Dinos took over shortly after.... hard lesson learned. I was baffled because both my montis and acros were randomly stn in random spots like yours and some rtn. Dipped everything and never found anything. And I always cut any new incoming pieces off the plug at least an 1/8” from the plug and tossed it. Then dipped them as if they had every pest known to man.