Corals dying

MattW33 · Dec 7, 2020

As someone who has previously had a lot of experience killing corals, recession from the base of sps whilst retaining colour and retracted lps, doesn't immediately scream low lights to me. Do try raising them, but as previously said, do one thing at once.

You said your parameters have been stable for about a month, how long has the tissue loss been going on? It can take a couple of weeks for sps to show the effects of parameter swings. Although I might have expected the lps to pick up by now.

Do you do water changes? Two large (50% ish) water changes a week apart followed by a couple of weeks focusing stability (testing alk and salinity every day) would probably tell you if it's a water parameter / contaminant issue rather than a light / flow issue.

islanderjunkie27 · Dec 7, 2020

MattW33 said:
As someone who has previously had a lot of experience killing corals, recession from the base of sps whilst retaining colour and retracted lps, doesn't immediately scream low lights to me. Do try raising them, but as previously said, do one thing at once.

You said your parameters have been stable for about a month, how long has the tissue loss been going on? It can take a couple of weeks for sps to show the effects of parameter swings. Although I might have expected the lps to pick up by now.

Do you do water changes? Two large (50% ish) water changes a week apart followed by a couple of weeks focusing stability (testing alk and salinity every day) would probably tell you if it's a water parameter / contaminant issue rather than a light / flow issue.

I have been changing about 10% every 2 weeks. The sps has been doing pretty bad for about a month. The Lps just started going south within the last few days.

MattW33 · Dec 7, 2020

islanderjunkie27 said:
I have been changing about 10% every 2 weeks. The sps has been doing pretty bad for about a month. The Lps just started going south within the last few days.

That's probably fine long term as a way to help keep the tank clean but it's unlikely to have a significant affect on any contaminants or depletions. It would be good to deduce whether it's a water issue early on, some big water changes followed by daily testing for a couple of weeks should rule that out. That's just how I would approach it though.

vetteguy53081 · Dec 7, 2020

Light -flow- salinity- alk/ca plays an important role here
Test and verify all are within norms as well as phosphate and nitrate

Fernthereefer · Dec 7, 2020

As you can see from the posts, we can go everywhere from here. When you see that many corals faring badly, it is likely a systemic issue.

My recommandation is to send for an ICP test... don't wait for the result and do a big water change (if possible 50%). It can range from high nutrients, lack of trace elements to metal contamination.

You could discuss lighting and nutrient issues afterwards.

islanderjunkie27 · Dec 7, 2020

Fernthereefer said:
As you can see from the posts, we can go everywhere from here. When you see that many corals faring badly, it is likely a systemic issue.

My recommandation is to send for an ICP test... don't wait for the result and do a big water change (if possible 50%). It can range from high nutrients, lack of trace elements to metal contamination.

You could discuss lighting and nutrient issues afterwards.

Thanx for all the advice. Its almost like drinking from a fire hose. I like the idea of an ICP test. I will get one of those straight away and do the water change.