Damage Control - 91 Degrees Dying SPS

Purkey Pets · Aug 16, 2020

Hello All, I've got sad news and looking for help and advice to nurse/heal corals exposed to heat.

Tank was 91 degrees Fahrenheit last night due to being out of town, another family member turned all A/C to the house off. Maybe two days exposure to the heat.

Turned lighting off
Performed a water change, dropped to 84
Set up portable A/C pointed at the tank, down to 81 within a couple hours.
Tank is now at 77 and house back to 72 this morning.

Definitely lost a blueberry acropora closest to water surface, two montipora as well. Other SPS corals are noticeably faded/bleached, soft corals and LPS closed up.

What is the best path forward to help nurse the corals back to their best?

Any and all advice appreciated. Thanks in advance!

ycnibrc · Aug 16, 2020

If the tank is at 77 then just maintain it. As long as the parameters is stable then do nothing just let the coral recover. The more u change to the tank the more u will stress the corals.

DSEKULA · Aug 16, 2020

Maintain the tank at your normal temp once it gets there, if coral is bleached I'd consider Turing your lights down or placing some layers of mesh over top to mute the light then slowly bring it back to normal over a few weeks as things look better.

vetteguy53081 · Aug 16, 2020

Ice pak or ice cubes in sump and Gradually bring it down. Tank or No tank- not sure why someone would alter thermostat. Time for a wifi unit.
I can monitor and increase/decrese temperature from my phone (Honeywell unit)

Purkey Pets · Aug 16, 2020

Thanks everyone, yes the SPS are bleached in varying degrees. The blueberry acropora near the surface is completely white.

I'll start an acclimation period with the lights tomorrow, they're off for now.

Will any dosing / feeding help?
Amino acids, carbs, Reef Roids, Reef Energy etc

SeaDweller · Aug 17, 2020

Purkey Pets said:
Thanks everyone, yes the SPS are bleached in varying degrees. The blueberry acropora near the surface is completely white.

I'll start an acclimation period with the lights tomorrow, they're off for now.

Will any dosing / feeding help?
Amino acids, carbs, Reef Roids, Reef Energy etc

I wouldn’t dose anything. I’d be inclined to do a simple WC although I don’t think that would help; just run your tank like normal and hope things get better, which it may not.

post some pics of your “bleached” corals. People say bleached but many turn out to be dead.

jda · Aug 17, 2020

Just keep everything stable. There is not much else that you can do. It might take weeks to see the full devastation of this, so be patient and do not freak out if you lose a piece in a week or two. Monitor your tank parameters since you might need to turn down your 2-part, or whatever, since the stressed corals are not going to be growing for a while. Like others have said, resist the urge to try and intervene with anymore more than just a stable environment.

lovemysps00 · Aug 17, 2020

Just hold 77. It should be fine for now. No further changes are required. I got similar situation the last few days. Mine spiked from 78 ish to 82 (compared to yours it's nothing)

BradR · Aug 17, 2020

I’ve had that happen before. Carbon could be helpful imho with any nasties from the corals that are irritated or die off. If you don’t usually run carbon then decreasing the light would be smart to compensate for the clearer water. If I had a uv sterilizer that’d be plugged in as well. Good luck

fishguy242 · Aug 17, 2020

hi,for future reference,do things slowly,..understand tank was 91 too hot,but dropping 10-15 degree to quickly can do more damage than good,sorry to hear, would like to see pics of coral,best wishes

Purkey Pets · Aug 17, 2020

Holding steady at 77.6F

A couple corals are showing slightly better color, another went completely white though. Torch is not retracted as far but still closed up. Zoas and mushrooms opening up slightly, but nothing looks happy yet.

I'm really glad I didn't lose either fish or the mantis shrimp. Some good news I guess!

Pictures of the algae forest:

fishguy242 · Aug 17, 2020

so far looks like minimal damage,hoping for the best

Purkey Pets · Aug 17, 2020

Definitely a couple dead sticks. Pictures are with lighting turned up a bit

Yeah, it could have been worse and I'm glad things are getting better so far!

Pistondog · Aug 17, 2020

Purkey Pets said:
Hello All, I've got sad news and looking for help and advice to nurse/heal corals exposed to heat.

Tank was 91 degrees Fahrenheit last night due to being out of town, another family member turned all A/C to the house off. Maybe two days exposure to the heat.

Turned lighting off

Performed a water change, dropped to 84

Set up portable A/C pointed at the tank, down to 81 within a couple hours.

Tank is now at 77 and house back to 72 this morning.

Definitely lost a blueberry acropora closest to water surface, two montipora as well. Other SPS corals are noticeably faded/bleached, soft corals and LPS closed up.

What is the best path forward to help nurse the corals back to their best?

Any and all advice appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Something else might also have happened to the bleached out ones, caused by the thermal stress: polyp bailout.
Google it
I saw this on the first acro I put in my tank, too close to a softie. Over a few hours, the polys wriggled out of their tunnels and free floated, hoping to escape to a better place to restart (no restarts found)
Makes sense from a survival of the fittest point of view.
If the polyps decide the current place is uninhabitable, get out of dodge.
Had a movie on the old phone.
Amazing.

Daddy-o · Aug 17, 2020

@Purkey Pets Bummer! My reef is in the garage and we have had a couple of over 100 degree days. I am bouncing from 78 to 86 daily. But the corals are still looking ok. If you are local to me, I would be happy to give you some corals once your reef levels out.
Cheers! Mark