STN? RTN? Why is my stylo dying?

[Shane B.]

Good afternoon reefers. Need some guidance. Woke up this morning to my new stylo looking bad. Received it roughly a week ago, acclimation went fine. 20 gallon Nuvo with 2 clowns, a six line wrasse, some snails, hermits, a few LPS and SPS corals. Nothing special.

Params are all in line with nothing out of the ordinary. Other corals in the tank show no signs of stress. Lights are still in acclimation mode. Did i just get unlucky?

 

[WIReefer]

Any swings in parameters lately? How long has the tank been setup? What are your actual parameters?

 

[Flux Capacitor]

What lights are you using? How high are they mounted?

 

[Reefahholic]

Yes, it would be helpful to have your listed parameters. Giving us your lighting type and PAR numbers could also help us with tha puzzle. Please keep us updated so we can help get your tank back on point if anything is out of line. I know it hurts loosing coral. Honestly, Stylo's are on the easier side so something may be off.

 

[Shane B.]

Reporting back. My green pocillipora is also showing signs of STN. Softies and LPS are all still fine. Fish are fine.
Tank is a 20 gallon nuvo, 14 months old, running Zeo-vit in a back chamber with carbon and a nano skimmer.
Stock is 2 clowns and a six line wrasse, crabs and snails.
I have an ICP test in the mail from BRS.

Lighting = Kessil A360. Par is around 100 (checked with a Seneye. This might be the issue, I thought it was way higher)
Temp - 80.5
Salinity - 1.026 (tested, calibrated refactometer, tested again, no change)
PH - 8.2
KH - 7.9
Ca - 458
Mg - 1320
K - 410
I2 - .06
P04 - .077 (this is up .07 from 11/3, might be why i'm seeing a dusting of algae on the sand bed)
No3 - 1 ppm

Changes in the past 12 days or so:

Added a new thermometer
Added new coral frags (most of which have died *sad face*). All but 1 were just pulled from the plugs. My favia I put on old rock I had from a frag tank.
Changed carbon.
Doing regular water changes (I promise).

Have not changed salt mixes. Use 7 stage RODI water for mixing/top off.

So that begs the question - barring my ICP test showing anything bad, I assume I need to increase my PAR. How do I slowly ramp up the PAR without getting an overload of algae?

 

[mattdg]

Possibilities are something stinging it, low / high light, flow? Rather than increasing / decreasing light, try moving it around the tank. You might lose this piece, but you will learn something in the process.

 

[Shane B.]

But I couldn't get PAR above 120 anywhere in my tank while I was putting together the last comment. If this frag came from a frag tank of 300 PAR, and came into my little tank of 100 PAR, that would also be an issue right?

 

[Spare time]

I find that corals tend to not do well when nitrate is that low (that is whithout continuous supplemental feeding).

 

[Spare time]

But I couldn't get PAR above 120 anywhere in my tank while I was putting together the last comment. If this frag came from a frag tank of 300 PAR, and came into my little tank of 100 PAR, that would also be an issue right?

Sudden light drop isn't as big of an issue as a sudden increase so I wouldn't think it to be that.

 

[Miller535]

Did you actually see the tissue blow come off, or blowing around the tank? That almost looks like predation to me.

 

[Shane B.]

Did you actually see the tissue blow come off, or blowing around the tank? That almost looks like predation to me.

I didn't actually see the flesh blow off. I have seen that before (sadly, man am I good at killing corals). But I don't know what I have that would do that, unless my hermits have decided they like SPS corals now. Or my wrasse, OR - I have another critter in my tank I don't know about that is hiding during the day, or something went on a stinging spree.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Possible effects (some which may have been mentioned)

Alk swings
Salinity too high - calibrate and recheck
Ph swings
Too much flow
Red bugs or flatworms
Light too bright or not acclimated to coral
Temp too warm or cold
Stinging from nearby coral
Nibbling by occupant (dwarf angel, crab, etc)
Lack of nutrients
Lack of zooanthelle

 

[Miller535]

I didn't actually see the flesh blow off. I have seen that before (sadly, man am I good at killing corals). But I don't know what I have that would do that, unless my hermits have decided they like SPS corals now. Or my wrasse, OR - I have another critter in my tank I don't know about that is hiding during the day, or something went on a stinging spree.

I wasn't thinking your livestock as much as a hitchhiker. Do you dip all of your corals before they go in your tank?

 

[Shane B.]

Possible effects (some which may have been mentioned)

Alk swings
Nothing major since adding that new frag. Ran between 7.7 and 8.0
Salinity too high - calibrate and recheck
Calibrated my refractometer during all testing multiple times, nothing out of the ordinary
Ph swings
Too much flow
This might have some validity
Red bugs or flatworms
Light too bright or not acclimated to coral
PAR over this frag at the time would not have been much more than 100 at the time
Temp too warm or cold
Temp verified with 2 different thermometers to be within range
Stinging from nearby coral
Possible
Nibbling by occupant (dwarf angel, crab, etc)
Would have to be hermits, or snails
Lack of nutrients
Lack of zooanthelle

 

[Shane B.]

I wasn't thinking your livestock as much as a hitchhiker. Do you dip all of your corals before they go in your tank?

Yes, everything was dipped twice before going in. I mean its possible.

 

[Miller535]

Yes, everything was dipped twice before going in. I mean its possible.

I could be totally wrong, I am by no means a expert. It just almost looks like bite marks to me. And my understanding is flatworms can eat a lot quickly.

 

[moz71]

Also looks like predator to me especially since i see tissue loss in the middle. For reference here is a picture of my stylo after one night. Turned out to be my filefish. It may be you MR hermits.

 

[moz71]

Also looks like predator to me especially since i see tissue loss in the middle. For reference here is a picture of my stylo after one night. Turned out to be my filefish. It may be you MR hermits.

By the this was completely healthy the night before. Good news. Is if you figure out cause they do recover quickly. After a month, 99 percent of tissue grew back

 

[Shane B.]

Also looks like predator to me especially since i see tissue loss in the middle. For reference here is a picture of my stylo after one night. Turned out to be my filefish. It may be you MR hermits.

This looks EXACTLY like my 2 guys that are dead now. Like, picked clean. So its either a pest, or its my crabs, or my wrasse, or something else.