Unknown damage to Garf Bonsai

[Justfebreezeit]

Hello everyone.

Some quick background. I've been in the Sps game about 7-8 months so I haven't run into any problems yet. Any problem is new so i'm looking for opinions. Everything is growing well. I have some millies, pink lemonade, frogskin, a stag, and a random tenius all doing well besides great coloration, they are a little on the brown/muted side. Not pale mind you just muted.

The only thing that has changed in 6 months (Zero new livestock/corals) is I stopped kalkwasser in my ATO. I used to do kalk and 2 part. I got tired of adjusting the 2 part based on cold fronts altering my evaporation. Now it's just 2 part. The ESV B ionic one.

All params have been pretty stable, especially for a 20g tank. Nothing has varied from these posted params anything outside of testing variance for about 6 months now.

Temp 78.8
Alk 8.1(Hanna)
Phos .03 (Hanna ULR)
Nitrate 0-1 (Nyos) Shows a hint of color but no where near 1 ppm
Calc 430
Mag 1320

I dont have a PH tester because my house exchanges with outside air pretty often so I cant imagine it being a PH problem.

I feed LRS Reef Frenzy 3 times a day and a 1/4 scoop of reef roids once a week. I also dose KZ Spongepower once a week. (I have a few sponges and this product seems to work, idk)

I do 15% water changes every other week. My filtration is a algae scrubber, carbon, and filter floss. The ATS is only on 6 hours a night.

My Garf bonsai has had a little spot on him here for about a week and it's slowly growing (only notice because i study it everyday). I'm curious if this damage/irritant looks familiar to anyone? I should have circled it but you can see it there in the middle of the picture. No polyp extention and and lighter tips.





Here is a picture of the other side of the frag where its actively growing over my montipora, new growth since this spot has appeared as well.




Oh my lighting is 2 kessil a160's and 2 24" coralplus t5 bulbs. About 14" from the surface of the water. I dont know par but I have 15k lux on the edges of the tank and 20k in the hottest spot. So I don't imagine par being above 250.

I think I covered everything, If anyone has any ideas i'm all ears.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Hard to tell since the pic is not very clear. It looks like something hard rubbed or fell on it almost, like some tissue was removed. Do you and anything in the tank that may pick at it? Crabs, angel fish, maybe. Could be burnt a bit there if your nutrients are low.

 

[Hella_Reef]

Any fish in ur system that you think may pick at it?

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Hard to tell since the pic is not very clear. It looks like something hard rubbed or fell on it almost, like some tissue was removed. Do you and anything in the tank that may pick at it? Crabs, angel fish, maybe. Could be burnt a bit there if your nutrients are low.

Any fish in ur system that you think may pick at it?

Thats what I thought it looked like as well, looked like physical damage. I considered burnt tips but everything has been as it is for 6 months with no problems (nitrates below 1 and phos right at .03) so it seems unlikely to me at least that it would happen all of a sudden. Especially since my feeding routine hasn't changed. I'm still new to sps so I could be off base here and I appreciate your input.

Only two clownfish and a sixline wrasse for fish in the tank, and two scarlet hermits for crabs. The only other things in the tank are a cleaner shrimp, trochus snails, and a blue tuxedo urchin.

Its possible actually now that you mention it there is a gorilla crab left in my tank. I saw a molt of one a few weeks ago. It's florida live rock so it had a few when I got it. I caught three and saw no signs of any for months until that molt.

Also sorry for blurry phone pic, I dont have access to real camera.

 

[Hella_Reef]

That may very well be ur culprit. Ur parameters are fine, and it seems like u have a grasp on that. Let us know when u find the sucker and post a pic.

Best of luck

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Today revealed some new damage and it really is starting to look like burnt tips. I cant get a clear picture to come through better than whats in the OP but all the new spots are directly under the kessil and it is the highest coral in the tank. So it would make sense it would show up there first.

To remedy I have dropped my kessil's from 65% peak to 40% peak and will keep a vigilant eye and adjust my dosing as needed now that all the corals will receive less light.

Will update in a week or so, or if anything major changes.

 

[jda]

Burnt tips can be from LED burn (even with success in the past), alk swing or dropping po4 too fast. Since alk and po4 swing do not sound likely, I think that all that you can do is to turn the Kessil down like you did - if you need to compensate, run the T5s for a few hours longer since T5s have never been linked to burn on the tips.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Burnt tips can be from LED burn (even with success in the past), alk swing or dropping po4 too fast. Since alk and po4 swing do not sound likely, I think that all that you can do is to turn the Kessil down like you did - if you need to compensate, run the T5s for a few hours longer since T5s have never been linked to burn on the tips.

Roger that. I'm going full t5 on my tank upgrade just for that reason.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Got super lucky and looked at my tank right when the lights when out and found this little guy in a hole next to the Bonsai. Luckily its the top rock and I pulled it and skewered him out of the hole. I havent convinced myself hes the culprit really but its nice to remove him as a variable.

 

[Hella_Reef]

Got super lucky and looked at my tank right when the lights when out and found this little guy in a hole next to the Bonsai. Luckily its the top rock and I pulled it and skewered him out of the hole. I havent convinced myself hes the culprit really but its nice to remove him as a variable.

that was fast. Lucky is rite!!!! Rite next to the garf too. [emoji848]

 

[madweazl]

At 14" above the tank, the Kessils arent burning anything so I can all but guarantee that isn't the issue. Hopefully the crab was to blame and you'll be on the mend.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

that was fast. Lucky is rite!!!! Rite next to the garf too. [emoji848]

Right, i'm hoping he was the problem honestly.

At 14" above the tank, the Kessils arent burning anything so I can all but guarantee that isn't the issue. Hopefully the crab was to blame and you'll be on the mend.

I agree with you. Particularly because my nutrients haven't changed (so far as testing can tell) and my Alk isn't particularly high at 8 either. That being said, if it isn't the gorilla grab this is the only thing I can think of at the moment. At this point i'm going to wait and see what happens. If things are still going down hill in 2-3 weeks I might order an ICP test I guess.

Its the only coral showing damage so i'm trying to be patient but it was my first Acro so i'm somewhat attached to it.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

The crab is suspect for sure.

 

[madweazl]

Keep in mind you're looking at about a two week turn around for the ICP (from order to results) so it's probably wise to order now. You can hang on to it if things look good and use it at a later date.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Ok pretty big update.

After a water change last Saturday the damage wasn't getting worse so I was hoping I was in the clear. Fast forward to 2 days ago and it started getting worse again (New corralites showing white tips and slight increase in the size of the original spot). Also my Purple monti cap started getting a paleness on the top of its ridges (best I can explain it) and my Green Birdsnest also started to show burnt tip symptoms.

I didn't do anything about it choosing to be patient. Today after work I decided to do another water change incase something in the water was causing it.

Low and behold while mixing new water I go through cleaning out my ATS. The SantaMonica drop 1.2, I've honestly loved this thing so far. It grows algae so well and keeps my nutrients nice and low. BUT while cleaning it out I remember there is a weight in it to keep it underwater. I squeeze the silicone/rubber/whatever is encasing the weight and water seeps out. I remove the weight and squeeze again and sure enough brown water comes out. I find a gouge and peel it back revealing a rusted on one side weight.



I peel it all the way off. (knowing its never going back in)



It doesn't look terrible but at 20gal (AIO so probably more like 15gal all said and done)I figure this might be the culprit.
This is the best i've felt about thiking I have the smoking gun.

What do you guys think? Enough to be the culprit? It's the only thing that could be a relatively "new" development that I can think of. (The gorrila crab was in my tank for at least a year, albeit much smaller most of the time.)(The Low nutrients and Lights have been the exact same for at least 6 months)

 

[rkpetersen]

It's possible. Leaching iron isn't an issue but other elements in the steel could potentially be toxic. You could check that with an ICP-OES test, or just do additional water changes and add some fresh GAC.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

It's possible. Leaching iron isn't an issue but other elements in the steel could potentially be toxic. You could check that with an ICP-OES test, or just do additional water changes and add some fresh GAC.

I wasn't able to dig up what the weight is made of. Just replaced carbon and did a 20% change. Will do again in a few days and then resume normal water changes.

I ordered an icp test just now but by the time i get it i will have changed 60% or so of the water so i might save it.

 

[BestMomEver]

If it turns out that you have heavy metals (from icp test), triton has a heavy metal remover that works well. I used it cause I had high lead in my water (still don’t know source). I know there are other brands too but I can vouch for the triton.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

If it turns out that you have heavy metals (from icp test), triton has a heavy metal remover that works well. I used it cause I had high lead in my water (still don’t know source). I know there are other brands too but I can vouch for the triton.

Roger that, thanks for the heads up!

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Rusting metal and magnets are a unknow issue for a reef tank. Sps dont like it at all. Looks like you found your problem.