Acropora Tissue Recession... need experts here plz.

drawman · Dec 24, 2018

Following @Syntax1235

Your problems are very familiar. I've been having the same thing plague my tank for the past year so it will be interesting to compare notes. Very simple system with slow STN. No pests seen so I'm wondering if I just have a virulent strain of bacteria. FWIW I pulled out all of my Siporax (similar to matrix) and it seems to have helped. That said I've tried several things so it's hard to pin down just one.

Part of me thinks @markalot is on the right path. I can't say I remember issues with Alk below 7. Hopefully more nutrients will help you as well.

Syntax1235 · Mar 2, 2019

Update:

I've been increasing my nutrients and experiencing the same exact problems. I have some acros that look fantastic and others are still slowly receding away. My nutrients are kinda high now, I was hoping it would fix the issue. I've gone from unmeasurable Nitrates to about 25ppm and increased PO4 from .o1 to .1. The nitrate spike is probably due to an increase in feeding and the use of acro power. The odd thing I am experiencing, even with the increase in nutrients, is the lightening of some acros, not bleaching but definitely washed out a little.

At this point I'm confused and frustrated. I'm thinking of transitioning my tank to an lps, montipora and chalice display since those all look amazing.

drawman · Mar 2, 2019

Syntax1235 said:
Update:

I've been increasing my nutrients and experiencing the same exact problems. I have some acros that look fantastic and others are still slowly receding away. My nutrients are kinda high now, I was hoping it would fix the issue. I've gone from unmeasurable Nitrates to about 25ppm and increased PO4 from .o1 to .1. The nitrate spike is probably due to an increase in feeding and the use of acro power. The odd thing I am experiencing, even with the increase in nutrients, is the lightening of some acros, not bleaching but definitely washed out a little.

At this point I'm confused and frustrated. I'm thinking of transitioning my tank to an lps, montipora and chalice display since those all look amazing.

That sucks I know how you feel. Sometimes taking a break and letting things settle can make the difference.

Syntax1235 · Mar 2, 2019

Did a battery of tests today. I sent out an ICP and a N-DOC test yesterday, so it will be interesting to see the results.

ALK: 7.8 (rose up from 7.3 in a little over a month, which I attribute to a slow down of growth in my tank)
CA: 440
MG: 1350
K: 370
NH3: 25
P04: .1

Syntax1235 · Mar 2, 2019

As you can see, some of the corals look great and others are receding and/or look pale. Hard to understand how a coral can look pale with nutrients so high.

KrisReef · Mar 3, 2019

I never saw my AEFW either, and the acros slowly came apart from the base similar to what you are dealing with. I treated with Purge, fragged the worst colonies, and things are looking a lot better.

SeaDweller · Mar 3, 2019

dang. I hope you figure this out. I had an issue of STN/RTN/whole crash a couple of years ago but it was probably my RODI ASO not shutting the unit off. Really scary since you can’t figure out what’s going on. Let us know

Oldreefer44 · Mar 3, 2019

Had the same issue. Tests by Red Sea and Salifert showed Alk at 7.8 and all other parameters in line. Got a Hanna tester which showed Alk at 5.8. Ordered an ICP which also showed Alk at 5.8. Used Hanna tests as a guide for raising Alk to 8.2. All of a sudden everything including acro's took off. Of course that raises the question of just who and what do we believe as a basis for all of our water readings?

Syntax1235 · Mar 3, 2019

KrisReef said:
I never saw my AEFW either, and the acros slowly came apart from the base similar to what you are dealing with. I treated with Purge, fragged the worst colonies, and things are looking a lot better.

I have three bottles of the stuff in my basement. I'm hesitant in trying it but I'm getting close to the limit of my patience.

TitanCi said:
dang. I hope you figure this out. I had an issue of STN/RTN/whole crash a couple of years ago but it was probably my RODI ASO not shutting the unit off. Really scary since you can’t figure out what’s going on. Let us know

I hope I figure this out too

OLDREEFER44 said:
Had the same issue. Tests by Red Sea and Salifert showed Alk at 7.8 and all other parameters in line. Got a Hanna tester which showed Alk at 5.8. Ordered an ICP which also showed Alk at 5.8. Used Hanna tests as a guide for raising Alk to 8.2. All of a sudden everything including acro's took off. Of course that raises the question of just who and what do we believe as a basis for all of our water readings?

That's scary. I have both salifert and hanna alk test kits... they both run close enough to not cause me any concern. I'm glad you were able to figure it out. This is really frustrating, lost so many acros.

KrisReef · Mar 3, 2019

I used 2.5 per the bottle instructions and during treatment I lost a few more sps but by the end of the course most of my acros looked much happier. Stuff has continued to recover. My plate corals seemed to enjoy the purge, maybe they ate the dying worms?

vio · Mar 6, 2019

Did you dose Vibrant ?
Why your Potassium is up and down ? need 400 -410 steady .
How about Alk. ?
Looks like you dose , what you use for Alk.
What salt ?

Syntax1235 · Mar 7, 2019

vio said:
Did you dose Vibrant ?
Why your Potassium is up and down ? need 400 -410 steady .
How about Alk. ?
Looks like you dose , what you use for Alk.
What salt ?

-No I did not dose Vibrant. I intentionally tried to raise nutrients to try to eliminate low nutrients as a potential cause of the stn. Bringing down nutrients is very easy for my set up, I just bump up the chaeto light to 12 hours and it will drop pretty fast. I do have a bottle of Vibrant on hand though.

-I'm not sure what is going on with my K, my tank seems to eat K fast, it has for four years now. I test using Salifert and dose when it hits 360 to get it back up to 400. Lower or higher K doesn't seem to change what's going on with the stn in the tank.

-I test alk using a Hanna Checker and I have a Salifert test on hand. The last time I checked my Hannah checker read 7.7 and Hanna 7.9.

-I dose using a Profilex doser using ATI Essentials, switching to PRO soon

-I only do water changes occasionally, usually once every few months and use Tropic Marin Reef Pro. There have been several times that I have done multiple larger water changes to try to kick start a tank turn around, doesn't make a difference though. The last time was two months ago when I did a 45-50 gallon weekly water change for three weeks in a row.

Thank you for your questions.

Syntax1235 · Mar 8, 2019

Latest Triton confirms that my nutrients are high. The majority of elements are really good.

https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/aquarium/auswertung-b/icp-oes/61197/

Syntax1235 · Mar 8, 2019

I'm not sure where CU an AL are coming from. I have been feeding quite a bit over the past couple of months, maybe the source? I'll have to check my pumps. Since I have been having issues for almost a year and this is the first test that has copper, it most likely has nothing to do with the recession.

The triton test I had sent out two months go was clean of all heavy metals.

一个中国玩家 · Mar 21, 2019

你好我是来自中国的玩家，我也有和你类似的情况。并且仍旧不知道造成这种情况的原因。我现在怀疑是不是鱼缸内有机物过低

Translation added by Moderation team:
"Hello, I am a player from China, and I have a similar situation with you. And still do not know the reason for this situation. I now wonder if the organic matter in the tank is too low."

Matt1508 · Jan 8, 2020

一个中国玩家 said:
你好我是来自中国的玩家，我也有和你类似的情况。并且仍旧不知道造成这种情况的原因。我现在怀疑是不是鱼缸内有机物过低

Translation added by Moderation team:
"Hello, I am a player from China, and I have a similar situation with you. And still do not know the reason for this situation. I now wonder if the organic matter in the tank is too low."

Did you find an answer? Stripping at the base to me suggests Potassium deficiency? Your other parameters seem ok nothing that would cause stripping anyhow