Dying acan colony mystery

[bearman88]

Hello - my fluffiest, healthiest, acan out of about 7 acans in my 65g, suddenly died over the past 5 days. It was sitting next to 4-5 other small acan frags, which are all fine. All other acans are healthy looking.

I thought it was due to a small Lobo frag next to it so I moved lobo - but again all other frags OK.

I am battling some cyano and GHA, fyi.

Parameters are:

1.026/1.027 salinity - bringing back to 1.025
Nitrate 3ppm
Calcium 450
Alk 9.8

Triton results from 1 month ago with some deficiencies of Iodine, also showing Lithium and Iron levels higher: https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/icp-oes/119194


I did a coral RX dip of the Acan colony yesterday. It seemed to perk up after that and I thought I was in the clear. Then woke up this morning to find more decay and slime.
Also did a 12g water change yesterday.

1) Should I just toss it out now? Don't want to crash anything else..
2) Doesn't look like I can frag off any healthy polyps at this point. All seem either dead or dying.
3) Should I put a bag of carbon in my filter sock?
4) Should I just chalk this up to a random death?


Thank you guys.

 

[Lavey29]

Probably slowly starved to death because of your low nitrates level. This can take weeks or months to show the effects but then the end comes quick.

High alk level with low nutrients is bad for the whole tank also based on your numbers.

 

[bearman88]

Probably slowly starved to death because of your low nitrates level. This can take weeks or months to show the effects but then the end comes quick.

High alk level with low nutrients is bad for the whole tank also based on your numbers.

Ok this kinda makes sense then. I was up to 10ppm, then had cyano /gha outbreak and then backed off reef roids and feeding, and nitrate dosing. Nitrates bottomed to 1ppm a few days ago. Now I am dosing nitrate to get back up to 5-10.

I swear its always a battle getting everything in perfect balance, I could cry lol.

I just noticed my large bicolor blenny nipping at the dying acan... but I have never seen him nip corals previously. I don't think he killed it.


So the only weird thing, I have two other 'large' acans with 15-20 heads each.. they all seem unaffected by the nutrient swing.. but maybe since this guy was the fattest, he demanded the most nutrients...

 

[Lavey29]

Ok this kinda makes sense then. I was up to 10ppm, then had cyano /gha outbreak and then backed off reef roids and feeding, and nitrate dosing. Nitrates bottomed to 1ppm a few days ago. Now I am dosing nitrate to get back up to 5-10.

I swear its always a battle getting everything in perfect balance, I could cry lol.

I just noticed my large bicolor blenny nipping at the dying acan... but I have never seen him nip corals previously. I don't think he killed it.


So the only weird thing, I have two other 'large' acans with 15-20 heads each.. they all seem unaffected by the nutrient swing.. but maybe since this guy was the fattest, he demanded the most nutrients...

Sometimes when corals are dying they get algae forming on them so he is probably nipping film algae off it. If you factor in the error rate for our test kits then your nutrients might be very low. What is phosphate level? I have a mixed reef. I try to keep nitrates at 10 to 12 and phosphate at .05 to .1. Phosphate is one that I have to watch close because a lot of stuff we add to our tanks raises this number. When my tank was younger I had to double dose neophos and neonitro for months to maintain measurable numbers.

 

[bearman88]

Sometimes when corals are dying they get algae forming on them so he is probably nipping film algae off it. If you factor in the error rate for our test kits then your nutrients might be very low. What is phosphate level?

Hanna phosphate ULR just read .11, which surprised me. I'm usually around .01-.02

Considering I am battling cyano (seems to be improving slightly), GHA, and a little bit of dinos, should I be trying to get phosphate back down to 0.02'ish? Like is there a chance my phosphate levels are really super high and the cyano and GHA are consuming it (and nitrate for that matter)?

 

[bearman88]

Also my CuC has been downsized thanks to a stone crab I finally removed this week. So I'm about to restock turbo snails, astreas, and hermits. As well as reseeding pods.

 

[Carson b]

It could have been the lobo. They can be very aggressive and I have had corals melt away even after moving the coral away from lobos. How close was the acan to the lobo?

 

[DHill6]

I also had declining acans, I was ready to toss them until I realized my MG was low, once I bumped it up they inflated, total comeback.

 

[bearman88]

I also had declining acans, I was ready to toss them until I realized my MG was low, once I bumped it up they inflated, total comeback.

I will double check mag, ty

 

[bearman88]

It could have been the lobo. They can be very aggressive and I have had corals melt away even after moving the coral away from lobos. How close was the acan to the lobo?

The lobo was bunched up right next to it in my acan garden. but the lobo never seemed to bother the other acans. the lobo frag is only about 2in wide

 

[Lavey29]

Hanna phosphate ULR just read .11, which surprised me. I'm usually around .01-.02

Considering I am battling cyano (seems to be improving slightly), GHA, and a little bit of dinos, should I be trying to get phosphate back down to 0.02'ish? Like is there a chance my phosphate levels are really super high and the cyano and GHA are consuming it (and nitrate for that matter)?

Some people interpret numbers like that meaning the algae is consuming nutrients so that is why my nitrates or phosphates is X amount. Algae does consume nutrients but so do corals. If you don't keep your numbers at appropriate levels your corals will struggle. .1 phosphate is fine. You want .05 to .1 for LPS corals. There are other natural ways to battle your algae. Cut lights to 6 hours with blue and uv only no whites. Increase flow to cyano on the sand. Siphon weekly, diverse cleaner crew, dose phytoplankton and pods, dose good bacteria weekly like PNS probio.

 

[bearman88]

@Lavey29 this morning, a new acan now appears to have a brownish jelly/clear film on half of the frag, see pic. It isn't stringy/clear yet like how the other acan died.

Getting more concerned now.. advice anyone? should I trash the 95% dead original acan, and trash this newly infected one now before anything else can spread?

My two other largest acan colonies look fluffy and great still. All other coral appear fine.

 

[Lavey29]

@Lavey29 this morning, a new acan now appears to have a brownish jelly/clear film on half of the frag, see pic. It isn't stringy/clear yet like how the other acan died.

Getting more concerned now.. advice anyone? should I trash the 95% dead original acan, and trash this newly infected one now before anything else can spread?

My two other largest acan colonies look fluffy and great still. All other coral appear fine.

It's hard for me to tell in the picture. Algae will adhere to dead or dying corals. BJD typically affects euphyllia but any LPS might be affected. BJD develops when corals are struggling and stressed such as lack of nutrients. The stress causes the corals immune system to fail thus allowing BJD to form and eventually kill the coral usually one head at a time and fast like 24 hours. I have first hand experience watching BJD devastate my euphyllia. If you suspect BJD remove and isolate the coral frag off diseased portion and iodine dip what's left.