Well darn. SPS bleaching.

[jdogclif]

I posted this on my build thread but I thought I would post here to and see if I can get any advice. Barely a month ago I posted how great everything is doing: minimal fish losses, coral growing nicely, minimal maintenance, but always waiting for the inevitable trial. This week was the trial: All my SPS have slowly started to bleach. First the birdsnest which always grew nicely, followed by the others. The grube gorgonian has retracted its polyps as well. The monti cap seems to be fine, and all the soft coral and LPS are fine with polyp extension.

So what is the cause?

Water chemistry? The last Triton test just got back, and nothing seems too far out of whack. For heavy metals Tin is 4.279ug/l. Calcium is high at 549 mg/l. Could that cause it? Everything else is normal.

Flow? I have not changed the flow for the year that this tank has been set up, two Maxspect Gyre 250. I have it set up for one to ramp up to 70% for one minute, then for the second one to ramp up to 70% for one minute, back and forth. At night it goes down to 40%.

Lighting? I have not changed the settings on the light since I set it up. It is a Chinese LED. Everything has grown fine until now, and my eyes have not noticed any change in the light intensity. But maybe that is the problem?

I’m doing Triton supplements which has been rock solid. I've checked the dosing pumps and they are accurate. I’ve just toned down solution 2 to get the calcium back to where it should be. The refugium has been growing macroalgae fine. The skimmer has been pulling out gunk as usual and there is no algae in the display.

*Sigh*. For now I am doing a series of water changes. I hesitate to change or do anything else because I don’t want to be reactionary and mess up more stuff, but obviously something is wrong and it would be nice to figure it out so I have the confidence to rebuild and add more SPS. Or maybe I should stick with softies for now? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[jda]

We are probably going to need to see the gamut of parameters and how you tested them (refractomer vs hydrometer, etc.).

Those look bad for sure. Sorry.

 

[madweazl]

With the calcium so high, I cant imagine all kinds of parameters aren't also out of the "normal" range since you're using Triton. I've not noticed any issues with tin at those levels and wouldn't suspect it to be a problem in and of itself.

What size tank? I only ask because of flow and in that regard, there is no good reason to reduce flow in the evenings.

What is the alkalinity at? Salinity? Post the ICP results.

 

[jdogclif]

With the calcium so high, I cant imagine all kinds of parameters aren't also out of the "normal" range since you're using Triton. I've not noticed any issues with tin at those levels and wouldn't suspect it to be a problem in and of itself.

What size tank? I only ask because of flow and in that regard, there is no good reason to reduce flow in the evenings.

What is the alkalinity at? Salinity? Post the ICP results.

Thanks for the responses!

It's a 270 gallon tank.
Alkalinity is 8.2 with a Hanna Checker.
Salinity is 35 ppm with a refractometer.

Here are the most recent Triton results, from this week.

 

[Waters]

Unfortunately this is tissue necrosis...not bleaching. Bleaching is normally much easier to figure out the cause. STN/RTN can be caused by a HUGE number of different things.......it is easiest to say that ANY change in ANYTHING can cause RTN. Can you think of anything that has changed from a month ago when everything was doing so well? Even that all being said, SPS can seemingly start going downhill for no reason at all....they are so frustrating lol. I would just try to keep everything stable and wait it out.

 

[madweazl]

Based on your Triton results, your salinity checks out at 35.4 so no issues there. Potassium is fairly low and may be contributing to problems but I think one of your biggest issues is flow. On that size tank, your turn over rate with the gyres is about 13x which is very low for SPS. Cant say this is the sole cause but it certainly isn't helping.

Do you know what bottles contribute potassium vs calcium (hopefully not the same one) so you can adjust the dosing?

Edit: A few larger water changes will get you back to "zero" which might be a good idea at this point. Once everything is back where it should be, you could continue with the dosing. Triton provided corrective actions, I cant imagine this wouldn't be one of them.

 

[happyhourhero]

Flow, low K, swings, what’s your nitrates? Would be my best guess.

 

[jda]

If you have high tin, then it is likely coming from your salt mix. This is probably not a huge deal.

I do not see anything else in there really that is helpful - like a lot of ICP tests, they appear to just be for novelty since they do not really ever seem to have a smoking gun as to why something is out of whack.

You have not touched the lights, right? If not, then do a physical inspection on them to see if the lenes melted or something else is weird.

 

[Oshengems]

Over the past month or so after I stabilized my tank from a vacation with an empty Kh bottle everything seemed fine but I started getting random bleaching on the remaining corals, I was over lighting them I dropped my lights about 30% less and all have been doing much MUCH better,

The bleaching was happening from under so idk exactly if it was the light intensity or something else but it has stopped I been trying to get a PAR meter to know ~exactly what my avarage pars are, Check your lights since our eyes are poor judge of “actual” brightness vs intensity

 

[jdogclif]

Unfortunately this is tissue necrosis...not bleaching. Bleaching is normally much easier to figure out the cause. STN/RTN can be caused by a HUGE number of different things.......it is easiest to say that ANY change in ANYTHING can cause RTN. Can you think of anything that has changed from a month ago when everything was doing so well? Even that all being said, SPS can seemingly start going downhill for no reason at all....they are so frustrating lol. I would just try to keep everything stable and wait it out.

Thanks for clarifying, that helps me zero in my research on this. Lots of people have had it happen!! That is where I am at now, getting things stable and then trying again...

 

[jdogclif]

Based on your Triton results, your salinity checks out at 35.4 so no issues there. Potassium is fairly low and may be contributing to problems but I think one of your biggest issues is flow. On that size tank, your turn over rate with the gyres is about 13x which is very low for SPS. Cant say this is the sole cause but it certainly isn't helping.

Do you know what bottles contribute potassium vs calcium (hopefully not the same one) so you can adjust the dosing?

Edit: A few larger water changes will get you back to "zero" which might be a good idea at this point. Once everything is back where it should be, you could continue with the dosing. Triton provided corrective actions, I cant imagine this wouldn't be one of them.

Triton did recommend some water changes for the Tin, and then turning down solution 2 for the calcium. Not sure which bottle potassium is in...

 

[jdogclif]

If you have high tin, then it is likely coming from your salt mix. This is probably not a huge deal.

I do not see anything else in there really that is helpful - like a lot of ICP tests, they appear to just be for novelty since they do not really ever seem to have a smoking gun as to why something is out of whack.

You have not touched the lights, right? If not, then do a physical inspection on them to see if the lenes melted or something else is weird.

Haven't changed the lighting schedule since I started the tank a year ago. No visible change with the appearance of the lights; I know my eyes are not the best equipment to test them but that's all I got...

 

[jdogclif]

I appreciate all the comments! I think I am going to do the recommended water changes, maybe turn up flow, and give it a few months and do another triton test to make sure everything is stable, and then see if I can add some more coral. I'm not sure what else to do besides that!

 

[uncle luke]

Check to see if theres any stray voltage. Maybe a wire is frayed somewhere? Worth a shot.

 

[Oshengems]

Check to see if theres any stray voltage. Maybe a wire is frayed somewhere? Worth a shot.

This also came to mind, too much light or stray voltage

 

[jdogclif]

This also came to mind, too much light or stray voltage

I will check the voltage thing. Heaters and wires and such I imagine? The fish are fine thought, would that not affect them too? I do keep thinking about the light. I'm not sure if my Chinese LEDs are part of the problem. Not even sure how to tell. Coraline is still growing, inverts, softies and LPS are still doing fine... its just the SPS. Except the montipora.

 

[Naturalreef]

Definitely STN, not bleaching. Last time I had unexplained STN, it was due to a rusting magnet from a frag rack. SPS usually STN from rapid changes. Whenever I notice my Sps going down hill, I start doing 10% water changes till I see them improve. That would be my suggestion.

 

[Naturalreef]

Double post......

 

[jdogclif]

Definitely STN, not bleaching. Last time I had unexplained STN, it was due to a rusting magnet from a frag rack. SPS usually STN from rapid changes. Whenever I notice my Sps going down hill, I start doing 10% water changes till I see them improve. That would be my suggestion.

Yeah, that's what I've been doing. I think that I'm going to lose all of them except the montipora. There were a couple of acros that were looking good, but now they are turning brown. The other thing I've noticed over the last week is that I am starting to get diatoms on the sand bed, which I haven't had since the tank cycled. The Kole tang is enjoying them, and the diamond goby keeps it looking okay by moving sand around, but it's strange that they are here again. My RO/DI unit is fine, filters have been updated, TDS is low. So weird. I'll just keep doing water changes till it looks better...


Diatoms!


Brown SPS!


Hang in there, Monti!!

 

[jdogclif]

Just an update, I did a series of water changes but nothing else. Everything seems to have stabilized. Only one coral was a complete loss. The big birdsnest still has some tissue on the tips so I'm hoping that it does something... The browned-out sps are starting to get color again, mostly on the bases where they are starting to encrust again. Everything else looks as though nothing ever happened, with the exception of a torch coral that shrank after the water changes and now has stubby little tentacles. It still seems to be alive so hopefully it will stretch back out in time. It looks like I dodged a bullet, still bugs me that I don't know what caused it, but I will keep plugging along! Thanks everyone for the advice!