HALP - Can this monti cap be saved?

[nim6us]

I've never had to deal with STN or RTN as a reefer, I've only been keeping SPS a little over a year, maybe I've been lucky... but I need some help.

It all started when I removed a giant birds nest colony. I got it as a frag just to test my tanks ablity to support SPS and a year later it was the size of a football! I took it out to make space for some more exotic SPS. Well when I removed it the milka stylo right next to it started to RTN the next day. By days end half of the stlyo was skeleton. I trimmed the dead part off and left it at that. Over the next week or so it started to recover and I can see polyps growing back.

Then out of the blue my little colony of pocilopora RTN'd. Same story within a day it was all skeleton aside from two branches. It's been about a week but since that day no more has died, I'm hoping it will bounce back.

Now this morning same thing is happening to my monti cap. And this one I really love! The center scroll has gone white and started peeling away!

I just don't get it, each time I've had an event I've tested my water and it's fine, listing below just in case...

Alk - 8.3dkH
Cal - 440ppm
Mag - 1330ppm
PO4 - 0.09ppm
NO3 - 10ppm
pH - 8.0 - 8.2
Sal - 35ppt
Tank has been up 3.5 years.

The only thing different is it has been a little hotter. The tank is set 77-78 but it's been hitting 80-81 lately.

The crazy thing is I've got other SPS, millis, acros, some digi, all the 'sensitive' stuff has got polyps out loving life! No issues with any LPS at all. And the RTN'ing corals are at all different spots of the tank, so it's not localized to one area.

From what I can find RTN/STN seems to be a total mystery no one know what causes it or how to prevent it. And with this monti cap, dipping isn't an option.

I feel so helpless, just watching years of growth go up in smoke! I don't know if there's anything I can do, but I felt like I should at least ask the question.

 

[Dburr1014]

I've never had to deal with STN or RTN as a reefer, I've only been keeping SPS a little over a year, maybe I've been lucky... but I need some help.

It all started when I removed a giant birds nest colony. I got it as a frag just to test my tanks ablity to support SPS and a year later it was the size of a football! I took it out to make space for some more exotic SPS. Well when I removed it the milka stylo right next to it started to RTN the next day. By days end half of the stlyo was skeleton. I trimmed the dead part off and left it at that. Over the next week or so it started to recover and I can see polyps growing back.

Then out of the blue my little colony of pocilopora RTN'd. Same story within a day it was all skeleton aside from two branches. It's been about a week but since that day no more has died, I'm hoping it will bounce back.

Now this morning same thing is happening to my monti cap. And this one I really love! The center scroll has gone white and started peeling away!

I just don't get it, each time I've had an event I've tested my water and it's fine, listing below just in case...

Alk - 8.3dkH
Cal - 440ppm
Mag - 1330ppm
PO4 - 0.09ppm
NO3 - 10ppm
pH - 8.0 - 8.2
Sal - 35ppt
Tank has been up 3.5 years.

The only thing different is it has been a little hotter. The tank is set 77-78 but it's been hitting 80-81 lately.

The crazy thing is I've got other SPS, millis, acros, some digi, all the 'sensitive' stuff has got polyps out loving life! No issues with any LPS at all. And the RTN'ing corals are at all different spots of the tank, so it's not localized to one area.

From what I can find RTN/STN seems to be a total mystery no one know what causes it or how to prevent it. And with this monti cap, dipping isn't an option.

I feel so helpless, just watching years of growth go up in smoke! I don't know if there's anything I can do, but I felt like I should at least ask the question.

Could be the heat.
Do you have a fan to blow across the top? Aids in evaporation and will cool the tank some.
Edit, watch it, you may have to frag it up if it continues.

 

[nim6us]

We've been running the celing fan day and night. But I can dig out a clip on fan if that would help.

 

[Dburr1014]

We've been running the celing fan day and night. But I can dig out a clip on fan if that would help.

Yes it will

 

[Sharkbait19]

Mine began to bounce back from a similar condition. Just to be safe, you should snap off a piece and frag it, in the worst case scenario that the entire colony melts.

 

[helmsreef]

My guess could be one the temperature, two there could be a chance you had something on your hands that could of caused the issue in the vicinity. Not sure if you had any type of glove protection but there is always that chance.

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

If it is not from coral warfare, the temp can absolutely cause bleaching and rtn. I just lost half a large colony of setosa from 81 degree water temp.

 

[nim6us]

Wow, I really didn't think temp could be the cause! I'll get a fan on there pronto!

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

Wow, I really didn't think temp could be the cause! I'll get a fan on their pronto!

Just note that it could be, and not guaranteed. But if you have a/c in your house, it will keep your tanks at the right temp in the summer better than fans, at 76 degrees F. Equipment and lights add a degree or two.

 

[nim6us]

Wow I feel really dim now! I was looking up coral temp issues and I came across numerous articles about coral bleaching events. All the articles were saying just 1-2 degrees change can cause a reef to bleach. I’ve been 2-3 degrees above my baseline the past few days. Luckily I keep notes and last time when the birds nest went up in smoke it was at the tail end of the last heatwave we had in mid July. So of course that makes sense!!

I currently live in the UK and we don’t have central AC here. It usually only gets hot enough to need it maybe 10 days out if the year. So I’ve put several bottles of RO in the freezer and tomorrow I’ll keep them rotating to keep the temp down.

Thanks for all feedback everyone!

 

[DieHardPhotog-Reefer]

If it is not from coral warfare, the temp can absolutely cause bleaching and rtn. I just lost half a large colony of setosa from 81 degree water temp.

Thanks for sharing that info. I didn't realize that a small amount of change could be so devastating.

 

[sculpin01]

Bleaching threshold on reefs is typically above 84.5 F and may even higher for inshore/shallow water corals. Spiking to 81 F seems unlikely to be the cause of your coral mortality. However, temps in that range can cause Vibrio coralliilyticus bacteria to become pathologic and cause white syndrome/RTN.

 

[Graemesreef]

Are you dosing trace elements, seems like you have some larger colonies and your well past the 2 year mark? Systems can flip almost overnight when depleted.

 

[nim6us]

I ended up losing the whole thing! Luckily I got a good silver dollar size chunk that I saved and is in my frag tank, but a years worth of growth just melted away.

However it does make me think it could be something bacterial because it seems to have spread to my green stylo. It took out two branches but then it just stopped. Nothing has spread further than the below for 6 days now.

Regarding trace elements, I do an ICP every 3-4 months and last test showed okay. I dose Tropic Marin AFR and it has some traces in it, so I think I’m okay there.