How to stop sps bleaching from the base

[prsnlty]

Had a 6 hr power outage an my established acro and monti colonies are bleaching from their bases. I changed 54g after the outage was over. Of the 6 hrs we had the return running for 1.5 hours and bubblers for 3.5- 4 hrs. This happened in the middle of the night. Is there anything I can do to halt the bleaching. I already lost one colony, the garf bonsai is next. I fragged a few but not all. @Randy Holmes-Farley

Thank you

 

[Reefltx]

Had a 6 hr power outage an my established acro and monti colonies are bleaching from their bases. I changed 54g after the outage was over. Of the 6 hrs we had the return running for 1.5 hours and bubblers for 3.5- 4 hrs. This happened in the middle of the night. Is there anything I can do to halt the bleaching. I already lost one colony, the garf bonsai is next. I fragged a few but not all. @Randy Holmes-Farley

Thank you

First off, I would check the alk make sure it is still at a good level. Unfortunately there's not much you can do to stop tissue recession. My only advice is, if the stn continues, frag as much as you can. You can also try using some glue on the recession area to try and halt the recession. Most importantly make sure your parameters are back to normal and stable.

 

[prsnlty]

[emoji24] [emoji24] [emoji24]

 

[Reefltx]

Doesn't look too bad, at least it's not RTN. You have a good chance of recovery.

 

[GoVols]

@prsnlty
I am so sorry.
You did the right thing to frag them.

 

[prsnlty]

First off, I would check the alk make sure it is still at a good level. Unfortunately there's not much you can do to stop tissue recession. My only advice is, if the stn continues, frag as much as you can. You can also try using some glue on the recession area to try and halt the recession. Most importantly make sure your parameters are back to normal and stable.

Omg. Just realized that when I rushed to do the wc and tested, I didn't check the doser! Thank you for mentioning alk. That prompted me to test again. I didn't think the alk was off because my ph is fine.... my alk is waaaaaay low at 5.25 dkh [emoji26]

 

[prsnlty]

Doesn't look too bad, at least it's not RTN. You have a good chance of recovery.

My candlite concert rtn'd maybe because it's up high...

I think the low alk may actually be the main culprit

 

[prsnlty]

@prsnlty
I am so sorry.
You did the right thing to frag them.

Thank you... The day the power went out I also started getting sick. Still am but it hit me hard and I couldn't focus clearly. I know better to check the doser but didn't think of it since tests came out good and never saw ph drop either. Didn't think about it being because my house is wide open. Ugh...

 

[djreef]

Run carbon, polyfilter purigen - what ever you've got in addition to getting your alk up. RTN, STN has a chemical component that can cause other corals to begin the process. The adsorbents will create a potential second layer of defense, in addtion to water changes, to prevent these chemicals from igniting other colonies.

DJ

 

[prsnlty]

Run carbon, polyfilter purigen - what ever you've got in addition to getting your alk up. RTN, STN has a chemical component that can cause other corals to begin the process. The adsorbents will create a potential second layer of defense, in addtion to water changes, to prevent these chemicals from igniting other colonies.

DJ

Thank you DJ. Yes I have dual carbon reactors full and changing them out every couple of days. I have also fragged some of the worst ones in hopes of being able to erplace that coral if it dies. The lps are looking better today but only time will tell for the sps. Alk is also better.

 

[Hans-Werner]

The toxic Palythoa spp. and SPS might not be the ideal combination. Maybe the power outage has induced a release of Palytoxin which can cause problems especially in SPS.
Alkalinity was already mentioned. The corals look like they are adopted to high nutrient levels. Sinking phosphate concentrations may also cause this kind of problems.

 

[prsnlty]

The toxic Palythoa spp. and SPS might not be the ideal combination. Maybe the power outage has induced a release of Palytoxin which can cause problems especially in SPS.
Alkalinity was already mentioned. The corals look like they are adopted to high nutrient levels. Sinking phosphate concentrations may also cause this kind of problems.

Current parameters are
Ph 8.31 apex
Temp 77.4
No3 10 salifert
Po4 0 hannah
Alk 10.2 (I misread my test) salifert
Ca 490
Mg 1320

I have a HUGE amount of green slimer in my tank (5g buckets worth-besides my own) that I was holding for a friend at the time of the power outage. I definitely smelled slimer right away. After the 54g wc it wasn't so bad then with carbon changes I don't smell anything anymore. My skimmer is also working overtime. LPS are bouncing back great. Some of the bleaching/stn seems to have slowed.

*I have walking pneumonia which I thought was a bug. My foggy head is finally clearing because I'm on medication now. When I did the salifert alk test I forgot to x2 since I only used 2ml instead of 4. Doser is now running correctly as well.

Being sick and power outage panic does not go together very well

 

[Hans-Werner]

Pneumonia and foggy head sounds to me like it could be caused by palytoxin too. Please make sure that your Palythoa spp. are not affecting your health too! The problem is that toxic Palythoa spp. cannot be removed simply and should not even be handled or disturbed in any way without special precautions since this increases the release of palytoxin. If you have a highly toxic Palythoa sp. in your tank the task is to get it out completely without further affecting your health.

 

[peter fumo]

Do you have a link that identifies these very toxic ones?

 

[peter fumo]

Pneumonia and foggy head sounds to me like it could be caused by palytoxin too. Please make sure that your Palythoa spp. are not affecting your health too! The problem is that toxic Palythoa spp. cannot be removed simply and should not even be handled or disturbed in any way without special precautions since this increases the release of palytoxin. If you have a highly toxic Palythoa sp. in your tank the task is to get it out completely without further affecting your health.

Do you have a link that identifies these very toxic ones?

 

[Hans-Werner]

I don´t have a link at hand. In Germany we have discussed about Palythoa and palytoxin several times and I know there are discussions and articles about toxic Palythoa in the US too. They look like the ones with the green oral disc on the last image. Also the other ones with the green oral disc and reddish tentacles (image 6) are Palythoa sp. and could be quite toxic while the Zoanthus with the red oral disc are meant to be quite harmless.

Signs of palytoxin intoxication may be similar to a severe flu with stupor, nausea, chills and fever and other symptons. I may be wrong but I think also the respiration may be affected.

Please look at this article to find a good description of the symptoms from someone that experienced an intoxication himself.

Here is another report.

These are only the severe intoxications. Milder intoxications may occur after handling in a tank or maybe even through aerosols of skimmers.

 

[reefwiser]

Protozoan growing at the bases of the corals was discussed by Julian on Sanjay's issues last weekemd

 

[prsnlty]

Yes the last picture of palys I know about and have been trying to get rid of them. They just keep coming back like aptasia. The ones in the 6th picture are peacock palys (I was told) and they've been in my tank (s) 4+ years. Slow to spread. The other palys I have are purple death (very slow) armor of God and grandis. The red ones are fire & ice zoanthids (I've had these 7 years).
The peacock palys have more of a brownish/lavender skirt. Here's a better picture.
I have 3 other zoas still on plugs. I hope the peacock palys below are not the ones that you were thinking of because I would have to tear my tank down to get rid of them as they're on my rock return column.

 

[prsnlty]

I don´t have a link at hand. In Germany we have discussed about Palythoa and palytoxin several times and I know there are discussions and articles about toxic Palythoa in the US too. They look like the ones with the green oral disc on the last image. Also the other ones with the green oral disc and reddish tentacles (image 6) are Palythoa sp. and could be quite toxic while the Zoanthus with the red oral disc are meant to be quite harmless.

Signs of palytoxin intoxication may be similar to a severe flu with stupor, nausea, chills and fever and other symptons. I may be wrong but I think also the respiration may be affected.

Please look at this article to find a good description of the symptoms from someone that experienced an intoxication himself.

Here is another report.

These are only the severe intoxications. Milder intoxications may occur after handling in a tank or maybe even through aerosols of skimmers.

I haven't handled them however with the power outage I changed water and fragged some of my more favorite acros in case the colony dies. So my hands were in the tank water. But I was beginning to get sick a day or 2 before the power outage and thought I was getting the virus that people near me had contracted. When it didn't get better I went to the doctor yesterday and he said I had walking pneumonia. I am now on antibiotics and taking other cold medications for my other symptoms. My foggy head is now gone as is the sneezing but I do have congestion.
Supposedly I had this sneezing because I also had the virus that was going around.

 

[GoVols]

@Hans-Werner
Good to see you over here and helping out.

Regards, GoVols