SPS Tips Splitting????? Help

2890 Views 38 Replies 12 Participants Last post by russeko8, Feb 13, 2013

russeko8

Discussion Starter · Jan 21, 2013 (Edited)

3

The tips on some of my acros have been splitting over the last week or so seems they kinda swell a bit and the flesh splits and peels away. I have not seen any signs of predation bite marks eggs etc. Tank is well estblished also my monti cap and many others are fading as well. The acros that the tips are spitting on look very healthy other wise. My parameters are Ca 440 Mg 1410 K+ 400 NO3 .02 PO4 0 I have been running a small amount of gfo for a while dosing 2 part and I feed the corals every morning. Water changes have not helped.

Thanks for the help

Russ

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russeko8

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jan 22, 2013

Ideas

So at this point I am thinking it must be something in the water as most of my corals seem to be showing some sign of stress. Guess Im going to try to run some GAC in a reactor??(water contaminat of some sort???)One other thing I have noticed is also the algae is not growing on my glass as fast as usual. Most of the time I have to clean the glass once every 4 days I am at 8 days and the glass has very little algae on it.. I would think if it were a nutrient high problem it would be the other way around but some of my corals have started to brown up a bit so Im going to cut back the feeding to every other day. Any light on the subject would help alot as you know this is very stressful.

Thanks

Russ

dcmartinpc

· #3 · Jan 22, 2013

This is just a shot in the dark, but you might not have ENOUGH phosphate in the water. SPS needs a small amount of phosphate for calcification. Maybe it's a case of being too clean...

Don

Skynyrd Fish

· #4 · Jan 22, 2013

+1 on maybe not enough po4. Try removing the GFO, or half of it.

russeko8

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 22, 2013

Gfo

I removed the gfo about 5 days ago anybody got some dirty water I could put in my tank?? Where is that guy selling used water on craiglist when you need him

Also checked for stray voltage and raised my lights about six inches. Im a little nervous to add carbon at this point especially if my water is too clean already...

aileen

· #6 · Jan 23, 2013

Hey Russ! Big fan of the video where your wife brings u a beer! Anyway, I agree with too low of phosphates and nitrates. I had the same problem myself and backs off the gfo and carbon for a while to let things level out. Advice from James who u know as well. It takes a while to get back to normal. I'd cut out gfo for a while or go half recommended amount

cmaxwell39

· #7 · Jan 23, 2013

What is your alk level at? Some have experienced that too high of an alk level can cause tip burn on SPS. Just another thought.

I would also agree that you may need to raise your phospate levels some. Too clean of a tank can cause issues with SPS coloration and growth. Good luck. Looks like you have some nice colonies there.

russeko8

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 23, 2013

Alk level

Cant believe I forgot to put that my alk level is always around 9.6-9.9 and the swing beteeen those numbers is slow. I have noticed the progression seemed overnight to start off and now seems to be slowing. Hopefully stopping.....

Thanks for the suggestions I welcome any other thoughts

Thanks

Russ

tdb560reef

· #9 · Jan 24, 2013

.

I have had ALK swings with the CARX and it impacted the fish worse than the Corals. Looking at your pics and video I wouldnt think it would be too low pos or nitrients as your corals have great color.

Can you please post your params?

Was there a change in lighting, bulbs or now additions to additives. Anything around the house like getting the carpet cleaned.

russeko8

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jan 25, 2013

Parameters

Well today I decided to (bayer advanced)dip one of the worst effected corals to look for parasites and found nothing out of the ordinary no flat worm, red or black bugs etc what so ever.I moved it to my other tank for monitoring. I am starting to think it must be something that got into the water some how I have a monti digi that is dying now and it has been growing like crazy for the last year, and also this whole catastrophy did seem to be an over night deal. I put a cup and a half of Carbon in my reactor today in hopes if it were some type of contaminat it might pull it out.. The only thing that looking back on my log I changed was salt brands to Neo Marine and I raised my pottassium from 350 to 400 over the corse of two weeks. Also the one other thing I considered is the washing of my filter socks I hose them out then wash them in my HE washer with a small amount of bleach, a second wash with nothing, air dry them, declorinated them with Prime and air dry them again. Maybe some thing traveled there... We will see how things go from here Please keep with the suggestions.

Thanks

Russ

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russeko8

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jan 25, 2013

Tom my params are Ca 440 Mg 1410 NO3 .02 PO4 0 KH 9.6 K+400 I have not added anything new recently other than raising my Pottassium from 350 to 400 over a 2 week period. It is really weird the tips of the branches get puffy looking and then split and the rest of the coral looks good. Very frustrating The pieces that I got from you are doing well by the way. I am starting to thing it is something I cant test for. Do you happen to know anybody with a mass spectrometer???lol [

Any other suggestions

Thanks

RussQUOTE=tdb180reef;991225]I have had ALK swings with the CARX and it impacted the fish worse than the Corals. Looking at your pics and video I wouldnt think it would be too low pos or nitrients as your corals have great color.

Can you please post your params?

Was there a change in lighting, bulbs or now additions to additives. Anything around the getting the carpet cleaned.[/QUOTE]

tdb560reef

· #12 · Jan 25, 2013

Neo Marine

James talked me into switching also. One thing I noticed was that my alk, which stayed at 9 something has lowered to about 8 something. I am not sure want you are using to raise alk but consider lowering it to about 8. This is where I have the best success.

When my feed pump turned off I kept adjusting the effluent and didnt know the pump was off. One day the pump decided to come back on and over the course of a week or two the tank was being overdosed with effluent. My Alk shot up to 11 something and I acutally lost a baby naso. The digis also showed stress at the bases and acros at the tips.

I over the next 3 weeks I lowered the alk back to 8 and everything returned. One interested observation is that some of the corals took off and sprung now growth and buds.

russeko8

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jan 25, 2013

Alk

I may give that a try. One weird thing I did notice is that my current bucket of Neo mixed with a Alk of 9.6 I thought it was my test kit ( Salifert) so I checked it with the calibration solution and it was dead on. Hope this isnt one of those bad salt stories I mix the bucket well before using lt. I have mixed up two batches 65 gallons each with this bucket and both were same alk. As for my Alk supplement it is BRS 2 part I want to switch to a Calcium reactor soon providing I get this under control.

Thanks

Russ

russeko8

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jan 25, 2013

Gac

Well I hope this is not like my love making usually a little premature :dance3: but after adding the carbon last night I have noticed the tissue on my sps tips included, look more natural not swelled hopefully this trend will continue and help me draw a conclusion to the problem. I will keep the thread updated hopefully I will figure it out and help someone else in the future.

All thoughts and suggestions welcome

Russ

russeko8

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jan 27, 2013

water

Im ready to pull out my hair one strand at a time. There is something going on with my water I cant figure it out. Fish are fine clams are fine but some of the corals are not thinking of selling the ones that are doing fine so they dont perish while I figure out the problem. I cleaned out my barrel that I mix salt in today and it looked like there was an oily sheen on the surface.

Thanks

Russ

Skynyrd Fish

· #16 · Jan 27, 2013

I read somewhere someone had a problem with a clear slime in their waterchange storage vessle. They had a bacteria that grew in it and was killing coral. I would have read it on reefcentral. clean that thing out, bleach it and dry it out. do all water lines, pumps and heaters as well. good luck on this one. keep us posted on what you find out.

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russeko8

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jan 31, 2013

A big thanks

I would like to put out a big thanks to TBD320 (Tom B. ) and Aileen (Jeff). Both offered to house some of my corals during this mess. Tom is currently holding some of my prized conlonies in his frag tank. Thanks Tom. A little update on what has happened so far. I noticed an oily looking film on my saltwater bucket over the weekend so I emptied it out and cleaned it to find a brown film on everything. After I cleaned it filled it up and mixed in new salt I did a 50 gallon water change. To my suprise when I got home from work the next day things drastically seemed to look better almost normal???? Still dont have a deffinitive answer as of yet and if something got into the bucket how, but things seem to be improving all the sudden.

Thanks guys

Russ

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McPuff

· #18 · Jan 31, 2013

Wow, that is very strange. I hope things keep getting better. You've got an awesome system!

MatroxD

· #19 · Jan 31, 2013

I wonder if it's the same type of bacteria infestations that occur in hydronic vessels. It's a clear, whitish colored slime. Since I haven't grown in a while I can't remember the name of it, but I remembered that this was when I (and alot of growers) stated dosing 8% peroxide in their systems.

I want to say it was a strain of cryptosporidium. I think now that this is why when I got my carbon blocks, I got one that targeted the crypto(this is something that our common blocks don't pull out much). You may want to take a look at some of the documentation on that. But in the growing industry, you can pick up 8% peroxide at 9.00 a quart from the Hydro shop.

Just another thought and perspective as it's funny how so many things are similar between the two hobbies and industries.

Sent from Note 2 via Tapatalk

russeko8

Discussion Starter · #20 · Feb 2, 2013

Crash of 2013

Just a news update from our most recent tank crash " The great crash of 2013 " The statistics seem to be stacking up as a dozen or so wounded, 1 dead coral, and a battle scared reefer who averted a complete shutdown. Also noted serval corals were evacuated to safe area in the near by reef of TBD320Reef. (Thanks) The wounded seem to be recovering rather quickly. The culprits in the crash seem to be "The Contaminated Barrel" and a possible accomplice "Bleachy the Sock". We are leaning on the culprit to be The Contaminated Barrel due to the quick recovery after "The Contaminted Barrel" had its act cleaned up. So what was in this dirty barrel? We lost all evidence after cleaning "The Contaminated Barrel" in processing. At which time the ground sucked it all up when "The Contaminted Barrel" spilled its gutts. Should have saved a sample for testing... As for the Sock theres no direct evidence only a hunch from word on the street. Its likely niether will do any time due to the lack of evidence, But the suspicion will always be a reminder as to what happened in the "Crash of 2013".
Thanks

Russ

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