Help!!! SPS dying

Reefhaven · Jun 30, 2015

Hi fellow reefers,

I am in need of some help. My sps have been dying slowly. Most are losing tissue at the tips and some at the base. Most of the polyps on the corals are closed. Does those signs mean that i have some sort of bugs in the tank? I have interceptor that I can dose and RPS as well. My parameters are listed below

Alk 10
Cal 480 (lower dosage)
Mag 1250
Salinity 1.026
Temp 78 - 80

Thanks

Chris Adams · Jun 30, 2015

Do you have frags you can take out and inspect under magnify glass or something

How do you dose? Manual or on pump etc
What are you dosing
water changes
RO/DI?

Do you have other corals LPS etc and how are those doing

PS what kind of test kits do you use and have you had anyone cross check #'s

Reefhaven · Jun 30, 2015

Chris Adams said:
Do you have frags you can take out and inspect under magnify glass or something

How do you dose? Manual or on pump etc
What are you dosing
water changes
RO/DI?

Do you have other corals LPS etc and how are those doing

I have a bubble magus dosing pump. Currently, dosing Alk, Cal and Mag. I have a 3 stage RODI unit. The TDS reading was at .008 so i changed the resin and filters so hopefully it will go back to 0.00. The LPS seems to be doing fine. When I feed the fish my meat corals open up. I can take a few frags out and examine them more closely. The colors on the sps are fading as well.

deerhunter06 · Jun 30, 2015

lights? Phosphates? Nitrates? How bout a picture.....

Reefhaven · Jun 30, 2015

deerhunter06 said:
lights? Phosphates? Nitrates? How bout a picture.....

i havent check the phosphate or nitrate levels but will do it as soon as i get home from work. i have evergrow A8 nova that runs from 8am to 10pm timed intervals.

ironman31 · Jun 30, 2015

Might want to double check salinity

Chris Adams · Jun 30, 2015

Also any recent changes to tank, light (intensity, height) etc etc.
How long have you had the SPS for and assume things were running good for a while and now taking a turn for the worse?

ReeferBean · Jun 30, 2015

How stable has your alkalinity been and are you carbon dosing?

Reefhaven · Jun 30, 2015

Chris Adams said:
Also any recent changes to tank, light (intensity, height) etc etc.
How long have you had the SPS for and assume things were running good for a while and now taking a turn for the worse?

i have been having sps for a few years now and had a crash around a year back in a 110 gallon and decided to upgrade to 210. things have been doing good for a while polyps fully extended and growing pretty well and all of a sudden things just started going down hill from there. havent done any major changes to the tank.

Tahoe61 · Jun 30, 2015

How old is the tank?
What test kits are you using?

Reefhaven · Jun 30, 2015

ReeferBean said:
How stable has your alkalinity been and are you carbon dosing?

its been somewhat stable from 9.5 to 11. I am using chemipure carbon

Reefhaven · Jun 30, 2015

Tahoe61 said:
How old is the tank?
What test kits are you using?

tank is about 1 and a half years old. I have been using Elos test kits at home and also been having my LFS test as well just to make sure

Reefhaven · Jun 30, 2015

Do you think its a pest issue??? Can i does with interceptor or should i make sure everything else is on point? I cant go through other crash. Lost over 4K last time and have some high end pieces in now.

hinovak · Jun 30, 2015

I do not think it is a red bug issue, I have had red bugs for over a year now, they can affect some species of acros, especially validas, and they will slow growth, but they do not cause tissue loss. I would tend to believe you could have experienced an alk swing. Or some other parameter is off. I would recommend a water change. I am attaching a horrible cell phone picture of my tank, because I do not post much, and I think no one ever takes my advice or believes anything I say half the time...lol, I hate red bugs, but hold off on the interceptor.

Reefhaven · Jun 30, 2015

hinovak said:
I do not think it is a red bug issue, I have had red bugs for over a year now, they can affect some species of acros, especially validas, and they will slow growth, but they do not cause tissue loss. I would tend to believe you could have experienced an alk swing. Or some other parameter is off. I would recommend a water change. I am attaching a horrible cell phone picture of my tank, because I do not post much, and I think no one ever takes my advice or believes anything I say half the time...lol, I hate red bugs, but hold off on the interceptor.

the water change is coming tonight when i get home. btw...u have a beautiful tank

ReeferBean · Jun 30, 2015

Reefhaven said:
its been somewhat stable from 9.5 to 11. I am using chemipure carbon

I meant carbon dosing as in Biopellets, Vodka, or Vinegar?

9.5 to 11 is a bit of a swing, but not sure that is what's causing your problems. Alkalinity is most often times the culprit though.

Chris Adams · Jun 30, 2015

Couple things

1) breath.. we all forget to do this
2) you can go ahead and do interceptor but remember crabs, snails, inverts need to be pulled. However personally I would look over some frags that have issues first. I am not a fan of doing WC any more than have to.
3) your params are looking good(some on higher end) but as suggested check you PHOS and Nitrate.
4) Are you seeing any burnt tips?
5)When you make up water for WC have you checked the levels in it before using it? Worth a check.

6) get some pics of the sps with issues.. macros would be good if you have them

hinovak · Jun 30, 2015

Reefhaven said:
the water change is coming tonight when i get home. btw...u have a beautiful tank

Thanks! I lost allot of sps in the beginning to to alk swings. Alk, will even change with feeding routines. I was over feeding at one point, and in turn, was dosing allot of alk, once I corrected the feeding my alk. Levels increased dramatically. What finally helped me get over the acro hump, was when I started checking alk. Every other day. That and increasing flow big time. I am amazed how much flow acros want, allot of time if I am not getting good growth from an acro, I will increase the flow for that spot, and within several weeks, it will start growth again.