Dying Coral

Mountain Coralist · May 7, 2019

I have a few different coral species that are dying or have died in the last few weeks...

Kenya Tree (One is fine - "A" in the picture; one is almost dead - "B" in the picture)
FrogSpawn (Died. Was fine for 8-months and then died in about 2-weeks)
Red/Brown Polyps (Has slowly been losing polyps over the last month)

Other corals are doing fine.

I tried dipping the FrogSpawn and Kenya Tree in R.O. water for 5 seconds to remove any parasites but nothing came off and it didn't help the corals.

Tank specifics
The tank is over 10-years old
I feed the corals 1/2 teaspoon of Reef Roids once a week
Water Temperature: 76 Degrees Fahrenheit
There are four fish in the tank...

2 Clown Fish
1 Wrasse
1 Goby

Kessil Tuna Blue LED Light Settings
Time Color Intensity
8:00 a.m. 10% 20%
9:00 a.m. 20% 30%
10:00 a.m. 40% 40%
4:00 p.m. 20% 30%
6:00 p.m. 20% 20%
10:00 p.m. 0% 0%

Chemistry
Salinity: 1.025
Calcium: 420
Alkalinity: 11.60
Magnesium: 1,290
Nitrite: 0
PH: 7.80
Phosphate 0.08

Evan28395950 · May 7, 2019

Evan28395950 · May 8, 2019

Evan28395950 said:
Bump

Wonder if #ReefSquad could help with this

Crabs McJones · May 8, 2019

Welcome to R2R @Mountain Coralist

#WelcometoR2R

Have you introduced anything into the tank recently that could have brought a pest with it? Have you made any recent lighting changes (brand or intensity) I see you posted Nitrite above, i assume you meant nitrate?

Thanks

Crabs

Mical · May 8, 2019

Tank looks nice! My thoughts dipping Kenya might have made it mad (they are a type of leather that give off toxins when irritated), you might want to up the temp to 78-79 degrees and alk seems a little high and ph seems a little on the low side. JMO

BellaCoop · May 8, 2019

It almost looks more like bleaching.

Mountain Coralist · May 8, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Welcome to R2R @Mountain Coralist

#WelcometoR2R

Have you introduced anything into the tank recently that could have brought a pest with it? Have you made any recent lighting changes (brand or intensity) I see you posted Nitrite above, i assume you meant nitrate?

Thanks
Crabs

No new additions, no changes in lighting. I did move the Kenya Tree to the top of the live rock stack a few weeks ago because it kept bumping into the FrogSpawn and the Kenya Tree didn't seem to like that. I have since moved it back to the bottom of my tank thinking maybe the Kenya Tree was getting too much light at the top of the live rock. I'm now waiting to see if that helps things.

Mountain Coralist · May 8, 2019

Mical said:
Tank looks nice! My thoughts dipping Kenya might have made it mad (they are a type of leather that give off toxins when irritated), you might want to up the temp to 78-79 degrees and alk seems a little high and ph seems a little on the low side. JMO

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try increasing the tank temperature. I have been adding AquaVitro's "8.4" buffer to the tank over the last month or so (once a week) to increase the PH but can't seem to get it all the way up to 8.4. I do 10 gallon water changes once a month.

JohnMzreef · May 8, 2019

I think your lighting is too dim. I run the kessil a360 about 10 inches off the water of my 29 gallon tank which I do not believe is as tall as your tank. I run the blue channel at 62% and the whites at 30%.
Your light is smaller and your water column looks much taller...
Also, what salt are you using and does it really mix at 11 dkh?

Ron Reefman · May 9, 2019

I see some string like stuff in a few of the pics. Any chance you've got a pest in there that is an issue? Possibly some vermetid snails?
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/vermetid-snails-harm-coral-reefs-with-multiprong-attack

Mountain Coralist · May 9, 2019

Ron Reefman said:
I see some string like stuff in a few of the pics. Any chance you've got a pest in there that is an issue? Possibly some vermetid snails?
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/vermetid-snails-harm-coral-reefs-with-multiprong-attack

I don't see any pests like the snails mentioned but I'll keep an eye out.

Thanks for the feedback!

Mountain Coralist · May 9, 2019

JohnMzreef said:
I think your lighting is too dim. I run the kessil a360 about 10 inches off the water of my 29 gallon tank which I do not believe is as tall as your tank. I run the blue channel at 62% and the whites at 30%.
Your light is smaller and your water column looks much taller...
Also, what salt are you using and does it really mix at 11 dkh?

The salt water comes from my local aquarium store. I buy it premixed from them. It is the same salt water they use in all of their fish and coral aquariums.

As for the lighting, I have definitely struggled with trying to find the right combination. I'm surprise Kessil doesn't provide recommended settings. My current settings are based on what one of the guys at my local aquarium store suggested. I'll try increasing the blue channel to see what that does and then maybe try the white.

Thanks for your feedback!