SPS help

[Gordoe]

Looking for some suggestions to help my corals.
My SPS corals are dieing off slowly, one by one. Parameters are all ok. Fish inverts and softies all growing well..

The corals start to go white in one little section and eventually spread over whole coral. Is this a critter in my tank, or bacterial infection?

I'm ready to pull them and put them into a new tank, but I don't want to infect??

Calcium is hovering at 300-400ppm. If this is possible the reason, how quickly can I bring it up to 450ppm?

TIA

[Acro]

Hello Gord,
Well I think we need some more info on your tank perhaps you can take the time to fill out some info in the tank spec. forum and then link it to this thread or just let us know you have filled it out. With out knowing anything about you sytem it with be geuss work . Also how about polyp expantion day and night? If you are concurned about critters best to look in the evening when lights are out.

[Aquattro]

Also Gord, "hovering between 300 and 400" is a big swing. What type of test kits do you use?

[DJ88]

Gord,

We will need to know all the numbers. images/smiles/icon_smile.gif

Jamie made a good point to fill out the tank specifications. Fill out everything you can. Lighting, measurements etc etc.

[Gordoe]

Set Up Date :Aug '99

Tank Size (LxHxW | Volume):48"x18"x18" 65G

Sump Size (LxHxW | Volume):15Gal

Live Rock (Mass): appox 75lbs

Live Sand (Mass):100lbs of caribmax seeded with live sand

Lighting (Type | Wattage | 80W NO Actinic
2X175W Metal Halide
Photoperiod):Actinics 14hrs MH 8hrs

Protein Skimmer (Brand | Model):PS Sea clone

Biological Filtration (Type):LR/LS

Chemical Filtration (Type):None

Circulation (Rate | Brand | Model):RIO 2100, Maxi 1200, 402

Return Pump (Rate | Brand | Model):Rio 2100

pH (Morning | Evening):8.2 8.4

Temperature (Range | oC | oF):

Specific Gravity / Salintity (g/g | 1.024ppt):

Alkalinity (meq/l | dKH):9dKH

Calcium (ppm):300ppm tested with SeaChem

Ammonia (ppm):0

Nitrite (ppm):0

Nitrate (ppm):0

Phosphate (ppm):0 but lots of hair algae and macro is starting to come back

Fish :Lawn mower blenny, damsel

Corals :Cabbage
Leather
Toadstool
Green Pocillapora
Bird's Nest
Green Hydnophora
Yellow Cyanophora (I think)
Montipora Digita
Devil's Claw
6cm Clam


Invertebrates :Misc. Cleanup crew

Maintenance Program :

Additional Information (include estimated total system cost if known): Too much to think about, living art... Ya that's a good one.

[djbh]

Is the skin peeling off the sps?Do a search on rtn.
When you get new corals it is a good idea to dip them in a solution to disinfect them , this also puts a tiny protective coat on them.Such as sea chem dip.
Is this coral new?How old?
Had this happen to a montipora,3" tall,it started at 8:00 am and at 3:00 pm all but the base was gone.It worked from the tip down.After a quick search on web,I decided to frag the part that was left.
I cut it about 2mm below the bleached part.So I was not getting any bleached or rtn.
It survived,as for the rest of the monti it died.In such a short time.
Act quick.
Dan

[Gordoe]

images/smiles/icon_mad.gif I caused it!! Sitting here talking to my wife and thinking about what I've done differently.. I've been battling hair algae since the summer.. Some had moved onto my SPS corals... Around the base, I spread whatever the infection was from a sick acro to my other corals... 3" monti digita gone in a day....

What do they say, wisdom and knowledge comes from our mistakes.. Learnt something today..

[One_Divided]

Those perameters all look good except the calcium could be better. 300 isn't too low, but I'd try to get it up as much as you can.. what are you using for calcium supplement? Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring the gravity up a little higher to 1.025/26..

There are so many cuases for bleaching it can be hard to narrow it down.. Any temperature spikes recently or way prolonged photoperiods?

There's an awesome article on bleaching in the new marine fish and reef 2002 annual.. I suggest you pick it up.

I'll let jamie, darren, marc, etc. take it from here..

[Acro]

Hey Gord, Thanks for filling that out. The calcium is abit low. Don't know if thats the prob, but try to bump it up some. Also any sign of undesirable algae in a sps system is not good. It is very hard to get readings of a problem as the algae will consume nutrients fast as their produced there for giving you low readings with test kits. I noticed you didn't fill out the maintance area of your tank specs. So not sure what your doing but I would make sure you are performing water changes in the neighborhood of 15 to 25% a month with good ro water and also start running some carbon in a high flow area in your sump. In my experience sps corals will show signs of a problem before stuff like hair algae appears.If you are lacking in the maintance department then I would start it of with doing a larger water change say in the area of 40 to 50% once the algae is gone start expermenting with your water changes and carbon use.This is my best attempt to adress your question.This is my opinion and others might have different ones so please make your own decision based on others opinions and personal research.
Jamie images/smiles/icon_wink.gif

[ 05 January 2002: Message edited by: Jamie Cross ]

[DJ88]

Gord,

All I can really see are the following things;

The main thing is lighting. With 175's you may not be giving your SPS enough light. But I can't say for sure. I'd say yes, enough to keep them alive or sustain them, but not to grow. But I am sure others will say it is enough. What K bulbs are you using? How far are the SPS from the water surface?

What temp is your tank at?

I am assuming the MJ1200 is on the skimmer.. If so the RIO and the Hagen are for circulation? You said you dont have a sump yet put a RIO as a return pump?

You may want more circulation. ie Powerheads. Not directly hitting any SPS but circulating the water in the tank.

A SeaClone may not be enough for your tank. IME & IMO. Is it modified? or out of the box?

To me your Alk and CA are a bit low. not by much. I keep my alk at 12dKh and Ca at 450. The best way to keep them up is a reactor. But I have heard lots of good things about B-Ionic additives. The two part one.

The only thing I can really say is that your SPS aren't getting enough light and are receeding due to this. But without looking at more info or pictures I can't say for sure.


I posted your tank specs in the proper forum.. tho you wil want to do this so you can add things to this list as things in your tank change.

[DJ88]

I also want to add that if you have hair algae you have nutrients in your system. You won't be able to measure phosphates that are suspended in the algae.

Are you using RO??

[Gordoe]

I have a 15gal sump, the MaxiJet 1200 is in the tank for circulation along with the RIO 2100 and the Hagen 402. The coral hasn't been receding over time, but actually growing quite quickly IMO. The bleaching is something that started this morning, I've heard of bacterialogical attacks on corals and looking for some input on them. I really looks like something eating them....

Been working on my CA reactor, but router and table didn't show up like supposed to... Thanks for the B-Ionic suggestion.