Burnt tips what to do?

SteelerMike · Nov 3, 2015

Thanks again for your replies. I'm really at a loss as to what to do. I am going to do water changes every few days for a little while and I put some Phosgaurd in a reactor to try to lower the PO4 a bit (although it sounds like that may not be the issue anyway). Do you think I should run fresh carbon as well? Also, my Mg was a bit low at 1180..would that cause issues? I ordered the triton test and some poly filters, hopefully they will arrive shortly.

evolved · Nov 3, 2015

SteelerMike said:
Do you think I should run fresh carbon as well?

Won't hurt.

SteelerMike said:
Also, my Mg was a bit low at 1180..would that cause issues?

Not besides presenting difficulty keeping your Ca level up.

jvb89 · Nov 3, 2015

what do you test your nitrates with?

jvb89 · Nov 3, 2015

could be possible that your nitrates are too low.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/help-my-sps-are-paling-and-i-dont-know-what-to-do.210035/

Triggreef · Nov 3, 2015

Have any access to a macro camera? Added some new corals, started in main tank, now moving to frag tank, white spots on coral, water tests seem fine for the most part... Aefw a good possibility.

jvb89 · Nov 3, 2015

Yeah I was thinking that when he said spots....

Triggreef · Nov 3, 2015

Alk would have to rise by about 1or 2 dkh pretty fast to get burnt tips. Is there any possibly it may have rose sharply like that and then fell back to normal prior to testing again?

SteelerMike · Nov 4, 2015

jvb89 said:
what do you test your nitrates with?

I typically test them with a Salifert kit and it was reading .5. I tested it it with a Red Sea kit the other day and it came back .25

Triggreef said:
Have any access to a macro camera? Added some new corals, started in main tank, now moving to frag tank, white spots on coral, water tests seem fine for the most part... Aefw a good possibility.

I really don't. I tried to take a closer pic of the stag. As you can see the tips actually still have some flesh on them and the spots are below the tips in some areas:

Triggreef said:
Alk would have to rise by about 1or 2 dkh pretty fast to get burnt tips. Is there any possibly it may have rose sharply like that and then fell back to normal prior to testing again?

It's always a possibility I guess. I test every 3 or 4 days and it hasn't deviated more than .5 in close to a year....

jvb89 · Nov 4, 2015

Have you checked for pests?

Triggreef · Nov 4, 2015

Tough to tell much of anything from the pics. If it was flatworms, you can see them as tiny spots usually off color just a bit. They are mostly clear so hard to see. I think eggs can be found at the bottoms of branches or base. I'm only going by what I've read here, I never had them knock on wood.

jvb89 · Nov 4, 2015

Take a syringe or turkey baster and blow on the colonies have issues and see if flatworms come off. You can also dip the coral in revive or Bayer and see what's at the bottom when the dip is completed

rovster · Nov 4, 2015

That is 100% a water chemistry issue. That is not from a pest. Like said previously alk is most likely culprit but could've something else. Stray electricity would be the only nonchemistry thing, but doubtful.

Kaba · Nov 5, 2015

+1 water problem. I had a big Rock covered in superman Monti and a bunch of random softies, and started to move to more acros since everything was doing great. Frags would do great for a few weeks, then stop growing, then slowly die. Superman colony was dying too. Softies had no issues at all. Turns out I had a macro algae that was going sexual and slowly releasing toxic gametes. Pulled it out, did a big water change, and ran some carbon and everyone looks way better and growing well.
So it very well could be something in the water that's bothering them that you can't even (realistically) test for.

SteelerMike · Nov 5, 2015

Thanks guys. I am leaning towards a water issue as well, though I'm not sure what caused it. I put fresh carbon in my reactor 2 nights ago and I have done 2 20% water changes a few days apart. I'm going to sit back and see for now as I don't want to shock the system too much. It is just really hard to come home and be scared to look in the tank.... I'll keep you guys posted as I progress. i really appreciate everyone's feedback.

Russ265 · Nov 5, 2015

SteelerMike said:
So, I tested my water at my Dad's house and came back with ALK of 7.7 DKH but phosphate of .18! Yikes! I retested with my Salifert and still showing 0. I'm assuming this is the culprit no? Here is a picture of a different stag and you can see it is affecting it more in the middle of the coral:

welcome to club red sea?
this is the EXACT reason i wont ever buy salifert. po4 always shows 0.

anyway. that looks like a case of high alk/low nitrate. my birdsnests would do this until i bumped nitrate up a lil and kept alk in the 7s. seems your alk is already in the 7s so i would want to cross check that test you got.

my .02

Christina · Nov 5, 2015

If there is polyps coming out of your white tips it is just fast growth. I would start by using the bulk reef supply dosing calculator to balance your calcium and alk and check salinity. We had a similar issue recently from a miscalculation when switching salts.