Is this the beginning of the end?

[Peach02]

So in the last two weeks my tank has gone from great to bad
my female mandarin starved (out competed by male)

my acropora colony bleached / turned almost completely white I'm not sure why

my stylophora frag bleached / turned almost completely white I'm not sure why

my torch coral has lost almost all of its polyps and the rest are a brown muck but still extending

my montipora frag looks like it has been damaged

my anemone has changed position

my male mandarin seems to be losing weight again since the female died

I'm planning on rescaping the tank to remove any coral aggression and give some coral better light, I'm going to test every parameter I can tomorrow night (I've got work tonight), I may add a wrasse to hunt down any pests if my LFS has any

 

[Katrina71]

Pics? Parameters?

 

[stahlja]

So in the last two weeks my tank has gone from great to bad
my female mandarin starved (out competed by male)

my acropora colony bleached / turned almost completely white I'm not sure why

my stylophora frag bleached / turned almost completely white I'm not sure why

my torch coral has lost almost all of its polyps and the rest are a brown muck but still extending

my montipora frag looks like it has been damaged

my anemone has changed position

my male mandarin seems to be losing weight again since the female died

I'm planning on rescaping the tank to remove any coral aggression and give some coral better light, I'm going to test every parameter I can tomorrow night (I've got work tonight), I may add a wrasse to hunt down any pests if my LFS has any

The first thing everyone will ask for is a full water test. Next, are you having temperature swings? Our tanks thrive on stability. Has anything changed rapidly?

 

[Peach02]

Pics? Parameters?

I'll post photos and parameters when I get home but I've only got a hour window at most between getting home from school and going to work so I'm not sure how much ill be able to test what do you think I should prioritise

 

[Peach02]

The first thing everyone will ask for is a full water test. Next, are you having temperature swings? Our tanks thrive on stability. Has anything changed rapidly?

temperature and salinity are the two things that I keep close tabs on and they are good and have been for a long time
I've got a ATO so no salinity swings and my heater has never failed me and temperature hasn't changed more than 1 degree from 26-27 degrees

 

[Katrina71]

You can post your last test results if they are recent.

 

[Peach02]

You can post your last test results if they are recent.

they are from about a month ago so not much help but salinity a few days ago was 1.027 and temperature was 27-28

 

[Paul Sands]

You’ll need to feed your mandarin 2-3 times a day in a tank that small. Does he eat frozen yet? If not, I’d suggest hatching baby brine shrimp continuously to fatten him up and keep him fed. It’s probably something you’ll need to do for as long as he’s in that tank.

 

[Katrina71]

I'd test everything.

 

[Peach02]

You’ll need to feed your mandarin 2-3 times a day in a tank that small. Does he eat frozen yet? If not, I’d suggest hatching baby brine shrimp continuously to fatten him up and keep him fed. It’s probably something you’ll need to do for as long as he’s in that tank.

ive seen him nip at mysis but spit half of it back out. Im in the process of ordering a white worm culture to feed him with as the brine shrimp feeder I tested the mandarin ignored and the clownfish loved

 

[Peach02]

I'd test everything.

ill try to get everything done in the time frame and post the results

 

[Peach02]

@Katrina71 @stahlja @Paul Sands
Temperature 27 degrees Celsius
Salinity 1.027
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
pH 8.0
Calcium 450-500
Alkalinity 8.4
Magnesium 1800 (didn't have time to retest before work)
No copper as all my inverts are fine

Torch coral died while I was at school and gsp seems hadly hurt but it fell so that's understandable

 

[vetteguy53081]

Generally when sps bleach, its associated with lighting or low nutrient.
I would guess and say your whites are bright?
If do, reduce them to about 20%. What if any components are you running that are reducing nutrients such as scrubber, skimmer etc?’

 

[Reesj]

I'm new and not much experince but imo.
Maybe coral warfare?
Can you try using soem Active carbon and see if it helps? They are quite cheap.

 

[Katrina71]

I'd say your coral is starving. Just my opinion.

 

[Katrina71]

Don't remove your torch! I'm betting it will come back. Give it 6 weeks.

 

[Hermie]

well no offense but you were warned about the Mandarins...

 

[Hermie]

Honestly, if you want my opinion, which you probably don't considering my last comment (which was honest although not helpful), in order to sustain enough copepods and microfauna for the mandarin, the tank needs much more nutrients going into it; enough nutrients to cause microalgae to grow which will host all the animals the mandarin fish needs to eat. This increase in nutrients may cause an increase in nuisance algae... but that's kind of the deal when trying to sustain a high level of microfauna for a mandarin to survive long term.

So I would say, start feeding all your animals more and increase the light. Expect algae to grow and possibly increase clean up crew to compensate.

 

[Peach02]

Generally when sps bleach, its associated with lighting or low nutrient.
I would guess and say your whites are bright?
If do, reduce them to about 20%. What if any components are you running that are reducing nutrients such as scrubber, skimmer etc?’

Just the aquaone skimmer that comes with the minireef 120 and chaeto

I'll turn down my shires aswell

 

[Peach02]

I'm new and not much experince but imo.
Maybe coral warfare?
Can you try using soem Active carbon and see if it helps? They are quite cheap.

Don't think the sps are coming back but I might add some carbon