Corals seem stressed ever since I dosed some phytoplankton

[Stelioshah]

Hey guys, a few days ago I bought some "live phyto" to dose and cultivate. It was shipped within a day. When I opened it, it smelled like Sulphur. I read that some phytoplankton produce dimethyl sulfide (dms) as part of their metabolic cycle. Ever since I dosed the phyto my acanhas been really stressed (I tried to target feed it). Along with the acan my cyphastrea and a zoa frag have gotten stressed as well. My alveopora and another zoa frag are fine (fully extended all day long, until yesterday at least, I have yet to check today). I read in an article that the presence of dms causes a stress response to corals. Has anybody had a similar experince? Parameters are all in check. I noticed this behaviour ever since I dosed the phyto. The cyphastrea stays with its mouths open all day long (stress sign) with much less polyp extention than it used to, while the acan stays partially retracted all day long. I will do a water change today to remove whatever was added.. I also noticed the skimmer removing the phyto, it should remove DMS as well since it is organic..

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

Hey guys, a few days ago I bought some "live phyto" to dose and cultivate. It was shipped within a day. When I opened it, it smelled like Sulphur. I read that some phytoplankton produce dimethyl sulfide (dms) as part of their metabolic cycle. Ever since I dosed the phyto my acanhas been really stressed (I tried to target feed it). Along with the acan my cyphastrea and a zoa frag have gotten stressed as well. My alveopora and another zoa frag are fine (fully extended all day long, until yesterday at least, I have yet to check today). I read in an article that the presence of dms causes a stress response to corals. Has anybody had a similar experince? Parameters are all in check. I noticed this behaviour ever since I dosed the phyto. The cyphastrea stays with its mouths open all day long (stress sign) with much less polyp extention than it used to, while the acan stays partially retracted all day long. I will do a water change today to remove whatever was added.. I also noticed the skimmer removing the phyto, it should remove DMS as well since it is organic..

Curious what the source of the "live phyto" is, where did you get it? do you know what species you purchased?

 

[Stelioshah]

Tbh I just read that dms helps to ease stress in corals.. So it must be something else. The only thing I know for a fact is that the acan is really "sad" ever since I target fed it phyto. You can see it fully extended in a picture I posted in my platygyra post. It is not like that any more and I had this frag sinxe December.

 

[Stelioshah]

Curious what the source of the "live phyto" is, where did you get it? do you know what species you purchased?

It is a commercial product. The nyos phytomaxx if I remember correctly. I don't know for how long the reef store had it in stock though..

 

[Stelioshah]

That's how it used to look for months. When I target fed phyto, it was the first time I have seen it retract when target feeding it..

 

[Stelioshah]

The only other thing that I can think of is that it gets really hot here and there are some tempratures fluctuations thorughout the day. From 81F-78F for example.. But I have now managed to keep it more stable..

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

It is a commercial product. The nyos phytomaxx if I remember correctly. I don't know for how long the reef store had it in stock though..

According to a quick web search the nyos phyto is nannochloropsis which should not have a sulfur smell. A live culture should have a fresh seawater algae type smell. It definitely wont smell bad.

Its my guess that the reef store had it too long and/or possibly did not store it correctly. It was likely spoiled. A larger water change will be your best course of action and throw away the remaining phyto.

 

[Stelioshah]

That's how it looks ever since I fed it.

 

[Stelioshah]

It doesn't get through the camera but the mouths are a bit open.

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

The only other thing that I can think of is that it gets really hot here and there are some tempratures fluctuations thorughout the day. From 81F-78F for example.. But I have now managed to keep it more stable..

its my experience that a temp fluctuation of a few degrees during the day will not have an effect on most LPS. My temperature fluctuates from 78-82 degrees F during the summer months. I house a large variety of meaty LPS and dont see them affected by the temp shifts.

Is temp a possibility sure, but not in my experience.

 

[Stelioshah]

its my experience that a temp fluctuation of a few degrees during the day will not have an effect on most LPS. My temperature fluctuates from 78-82 degrees F during the summer months. I house a large variety of meaty LPS and dont see them affected by the temp shifts.

Is temp a possibility sure, but not in my experience.

I put a lot of though to this and I seem to have found the issue. During the winter months I would never need to top off the aquarium because I was using a plexy glass cover. Ever since summer begun I have been using an air cooler which evaporates a lot of water so I am topping off regularly. My ro/di membranes must have gone bad and by topping off again and again and again the concentration of whatever escaped trough the ro/di built up, while it was harmless at a lower concentration. I am expecting some membrane replacements and a tds meter within the next few days to check this out. Hope this helps... Alkalinity as been a stable 8.5 for the past month, can't think of anything else.