The great montipora slow motion crash....need advice

[Lousybreed]

I am at the end of my rope. My tank is 6 months old. For the first 5 months I never lost a coral. Now I have this weird slow motion crash that my monties and zoas are going thru. My monties started to lose tissue, usually around the base first. They keep losing tissue Until they die. I have checked for hours for Nudies to no avail. Middle of the night, one hour after lights out, haven't seen anything abnormal. My zoas got a white patch growth on them and I lost between 5-90% of the colonies. They seem to be responding and getting better. The monties on the other hand are almost all gone. I have been losing one a week for about a month. There is only one colony that is still thriving. What is going on in my tank!? My acros and LPS look amazing. I am lost.

Alk 7-8, CA 450, MG 1400-1450, temp 77, SG 1.025, 1-2ppm nitrates and boarderling undectectable phosphates, 10% WC every week, Kalk is dosed-not used as ATO. The tank is a 70 gallon with a 20 gallon sump. I have a large chaeto fuge that does most of my nutrient export. I use a RODI unit. I dose LPS aminos and also regular aminos. I broadcast feed reef chili, reef roids, and harkiris powder three times a week. I spot feed my LPS mysis and LPS pellets twice a week. I have lawn mower blenny, a harlequin bass, and a green spotted puffer. I see no evidence of anything picking on the corals either.

 

[Dilan Patel]

green spotted puffer might have taken a liking to the montis and zoas.

 

[Lousybreed]

The GSP was just recently put in there. I am literally watching the tissue peel off of the corals.

 

[Lousybreed]

Another note, this GSP has been in reef tanks for years and I have never observed any nipping.

 

[Lousybreed]

Great discussion. Dont even know why I bother on this forum.

 

[cmcoker]

Great discussion. Dont even know why I bother on this forum.

Sorry your frustrated, let's get some more eyes on this #reefsquad

 

[jsker]

I would suggest getting your nitrates up to between 3 to 5ppm, keeping the alk steady at 8

 

[3mm3]

Are you able to post some up close pictures of the montiporas?

 

[ciscomania]

Great discussion. Dont even know why I bother on this forum.

maybe some picture might help

 

[Sabellafella]

I am at the end of my rope. My tank is 6 months old. For the first 5 months I never lost a coral. Now I have this weird slow motion crash that my monties and zoas are going thru. My monties started to lose tissue, usually around the base first. They keep losing tissue Until they die. I have checked for hours for Nudies to no avail. Middle of the night, one hour after lights out, haven't seen anything abnormal. My zoas got a white patch growth on them and I lost between 5-90% of the colonies. They seem to be responding and getting better. The monties on the other hand are almost all gone. I have been losing one a week for about a month. There is only one colony that is still thriving. What is going on in my tank!? My acros and LPS look amazing. I am lost.

Alk 7-8, CA 450, MG 1400-1450, temp 77, SG 1.025, 1-2ppm nitrates and boarderling undectectable phosphates, 10% WC every week, Kalk is dosed-not used as ATO. The tank is a 70 gallon with a 20 gallon sump. I have a large chaeto fuge that does most of my nutrient export. I use a RODI unit. I dose LPS aminos and also regular aminos. I broadcast feed reef chili, reef roids, and harkiris powder three times a week. I spot feed my LPS mysis and LPS pellets twice a week. I have lawn mower blenny, a harlequin bass, and a green spotted puffer. I see no evidence of anything picking on the corals either.

Try fragging die off and dip.in iodine or K salts

 

[Maritimer]

Agree with Jsker - corals, even SPS, require some nutrients. See if you can pull that nitrate up a bit - and maybe even the phosphates. (Just a little, though...)

Do you know what those parameters were a few months ago, when the corals were thriving?

~Bruce

 

[greenhorn reefer]

Test for iodine. Everyone else mentioned the phosphates which I agree, especially since zoas like water a little dirtier. When my tank was 6months old I had a colony of Zoa do the same thing and a couple of crustaceans died during their molt. I started dosing seachem Iodide and the tank has been much better. If you order the salifert test kit you're going to need some distilled water too. Good luck. And try not to get too upset, trouble shooting a biological issue with as many variables as an ecosystem is close to impossible so just do the easiest thing first and work your way to the most complex.

 

[kireek]

Have you tired pulling the Montipora out and dipping them? Nudibranchs will hide underneath the coral inside tiny crevices.They can be very difficult to see even up close.Sometimes they must be blasted off a tad roughly with a turkey baster during the dipping process.

 

[DSC reef]

When I had montipora loosing tissue like yours it was always alkalinity. Even fragging didn't save the coral. Just because you don't see nudibranchs, doesn't mean they are not there.

 

[Lousybreed]

I will post some pics tonight. I do dose iodine but I don't test for t so I dose at like 10% of recommended levels. As for nudi's I have gone to the point of removing rocks and looking under the monti colony's and inspecting with a eyeglass. No eggs, no nudis. The die back isn't irregular like you get with nudis. It's literally linear and progresses at a constant rate. My alk has swung before but not more than 1DkH in a week.

I agree that my levels need to be higher for phosphates and nitrates. Just tested them last night. 0.5-0.75ppm nitrates and 0.08-0.16ppm phosphates. And this was right before my cheato fuge lights turned on. Assuming it drops after that. So my main focus is stable alk with a target of 8 and getting nutrients up a bit. Going to add some more fish to help with that.

 

[cmcoker]

I will post some pics tonight. I do dose iodine but I don't test for t so I dose at like 10% of recommended levels. As for nudi's I have gone to the point of removing rocks and looking under the monti colony's and inspecting with a eyeglass. No eggs, no nudis. The die back isn't irregular like you get with nudis. It's literally linear and progresses at a constant rate. My alk has swung before but not more than 1DkH in a week.

I agree that my levels need to be higher for phosphates and nitrates. Just tested them last night. 0.5-0.75ppm nitrates and 0.08-0.16ppm phosphates. And this was right before my cheato fuge lights turned on. Assuming it drops after that. So my main focus is stable alk with a target of 8 and getting nutrients up a bit. Going to add some more fish to help with that.

How long are you running the fuge light? maybe decrease the run time to see if that will help bump your nutrients, until you add more fish...

 

[Reefltx]

I will post some pics tonight. I do dose iodine but I don't test for t so I dose at like 10% of recommended levels. As for nudi's I have gone to the point of removing rocks and looking under the monti colony's and inspecting with a eyeglass. No eggs, no nudis. The die back isn't irregular like you get with nudis. It's literally linear and progresses at a constant rate. My alk has swung before but not more than 1DkH in a week.

I agree that my levels need to be higher for phosphates and nitrates. Just tested them last night. 0.5-0.75ppm nitrates and 0.08-0.16ppm phosphates. And this was right before my cheato fuge lights turned on. Assuming it drops after that. So my main focus is stable alk with a target of 8 and getting nutrients up a bit. Going to add some more fish to help with that.

Stop dosing iodine. Your po4 is fine but a little more no3 wouldn't hurt. Test for potassium. Do more water changes. Good luck!

 

[Sabellafella]

I will post some pics tonight. I do dose iodine but I don't test for t so I dose at like 10% of recommended levels. As for nudi's I have gone to the point of removing rocks and looking under the monti colony's and inspecting with a eyeglass. No eggs, no nudis. The die back isn't irregular like you get with nudis. It's literally linear and progresses at a constant rate. My alk has swung before but not more than 1DkH in a week.

I agree that my levels need to be higher for phosphates and nitrates. Just tested them last night. 0.5-0.75ppm nitrates and 0.08-0.16ppm phosphates. And this was right before my cheato fuge lights turned on. Assuming it drops after that. So my main focus is stable alk with a target of 8 and getting nutrients up a bit. Going to add some more fish to help with that.

Yea lets get a photo. If your positive you couldnt find nudis, parameters are in check, clip off the dieng portion. Its better to force it to heal instead of receding and waiting for it to recover.

 

[Lousybreed]

How long are you running the fuge light? maybe decrease the run time to see if that will help bump your nutrients, until you add more fish...

I have reduced from 16 to 9 hrs about a month ago and you have a great point. I am running a 150w high pressure sodium light on my fuge. Reportedly puts out an excess of 6,000 PAR at the distance I have it. Growth is crazy, basketball to 1/2 of a five gallon bucket of growth per week. I will reduce to 6 hours and feed more until I can get a six line wrasse to add to the fish list.

 

[Maritimer]

Be aware that though they're beautiful, sixline wrasses have a reputation for being very aggressive, especially with any wrasses added after them. If you've no plans to add more wrasses (or possibly other small fish, depending on the individual), their beauty and taste for coral pests can make them pretty cool to have around.

~Bruce