Really starting to hate SPS

[Murminator]

Ok yesterday I came home to 2 dead large acro frags and 2 1/2 dead digi colonies (1/2 was still alive) and a small birdnest that doesn't look so hot. I did some tests and did a 10% water change
PH 8.3
Cal 440
Alk 9
Mag 1380ish
all done with new salifer kits
And everything else (LPS and softies) is looking awesome There is a slow growing milli that looks fine and a small cap frag that looks fine also.I can never seem to keep SPS I maintain life for a few months with little or no growth before it rtns
I added a calcium reactor a month with the hope everything will change but it seems noth has changed
What am I doing wrong???

90G 9.5 return pump, hydor #3 100#+ of rock

[christyf5]

I always try not to look them straight in the eye. If I do they're sure to croak in a timely manner.:razz:

To be honest, sometimes they just go and you never figure it out. In this case tho, do you think there could be some chemical warfare between the softies/LPS and the SPS? Do you run carbon? Maybe change it out for new.

Other than that I'm fresh out of ideas. Sorry to hear you're losing stuff. :neutral:

[Van-rookie]

wow... seems people have been losing their SPS by "unsure" reason. It make me think whether I really want to try having sps in my tank.

[Aquattro]

wow... seems people have been losing their SPS by "unsure" reason. It make me think whether I really want to try having sps in my tank.

Well the whole challenge in SPS is defeating the "unsure factor" :) Sometimes they just get bored and die. Even when everything is perfect in our minds, obviously the SPS don't agree.

[niloc16]

do you have red bugs? they are extremely small and lots of times when pieces die people think its just by fluke but the colony is infested with them. just an idea

[untamed]

Your water chem parameters look good. What is your lighting? Did you get any temperature fluctuation?

[Puff]

it's the government. they dont want canadians keeping SPS, so they are fighting us through our tanks!!


i guess i shouldnt have asked for more tax cuts :(

[Puff]

do you have red bugs? they are extremely small and lots of times when pieces die people think its just by fluke but the colony is infested with them. just an idea

do these red bugs ever go on to zoas? last night i was looking at my zoas and saw 2 small red flecks on them, but they werent moving so i assumed it was nothing.

[BMW Rider]

Red bugs are specific to acros. They do not go after any other types of corals.

[Chaloupa]

Murray...I totally get where you're at! I have recently had red bugs and now have acro eating flatworms :twised: =disaster!!! so I totally understand!

[rusty]

I feel your pain buddy!!! I had a dozen beautiful bali acro frags ready for sale I was going to post pics and sell them but then they died. All my othe sps are fine though. Including the mother colony!! Just the frags died, three months after I mounted them on plugs and up to that point the were growing awesome.:neutral:

[Snappy]

Red bugs are specific to acros. They do not go after any other types of corals.
Actually I once had them and they were all over a Montipora danae as well. They do however just feed on sps.
Sorry to hear about this Murray, but I doesn't sound like red bugs to me. My guess is nitrate/phosphate issues, temp swings, alk too low and then spiked or perhaps not enough flow. Not enough lighting can cause problems but will mostly brown them out as the corals tend to increase their hosting zooxanthellae count to compensate for the lack of carbohydrate production due to lower light levels. Lighting issues don't happen over night. Was it RTN? (rapid tissue necrosis) What did the corals look like? Is there a loss of tissue leaving just the bare skeleton? Pictures would be helpful for a diagnosis.

[Murminator]

No red bugs skeletons now reside in my sump :cry: 2X250 14 hamiltons that are a year old I have new bulbs I just need some alcohol to clean the reflectors 1st.....I find it better to do when I'm drunk:eek: :drinking: , and the carbon changed out 3 or so weeks ago, should I maybe try chem pure?

I'll try to get pics but i'm crappy at it and a crappy kodak camera maybe the fat guy has a new one for me for x-mas

[wickedfrags]

How are you controlling your temperature? With 2 - 250W halides on your tank, the cold season, and unreliable and innacurate heaters temp. swings can cause stress.

[Aquattro]

Although I recommend really trying hard to avoid temp swings, my tank went from79F to 89F everyday for an entire summer and I only lost one species of acro. Everything else did really well. If all else is ok, I don't think temp swings alone would do it, based on my experience.

[untamed]

Although I recommend really trying hard to avoid temp swings, my tank went from79F to 89F everyday for an entire summer and I only lost one species of acro. Everything else did really well. If all else is ok, I don't think temp swings alone would do it, based on my experience.

I think it has been well experimented/accepted that too high temperature causes the coral to expel its zooanthelle. I don't know about rapid temperature swings...but high temperature is certainly bad.

[Aquattro]

I think it has been well experimented/accepted that too high temperature causes the coral to expel its zooanthelle. I don't know about rapid temperature swings...but high temperature is certainly bad.

Absolutely agree. I've seen tanks that go up inthe mid 90s and lose most of the corals. Mine never topped 89, but it did swing 10 degrees daily, for almost 2 months.

[Murminator]

2X 250 watt (or 200W not sure) heaters not sure if they turn on or not I can't see them but I don't see any temp swings