After months and months of stressing about what is going on with the tank, I think I finally figured it out(or at least I am on the right track for recovery).
I made some changes between Jan-March like adding Kalkwasser, changing Coral+ T5 bulbs to Aquablue Special, Running GAC, etc. However, I have used all of these over the years without the issues with Acro's like I experienced. I was at a loss for words as nothing I did should have caused what was taking place.
Out of nowhere 80%+ of my Acro's lost their color and either turned pale or browned out. Shortly afterward my nutrients shot up to a level I have never experienced before. Usually, my No3 is around 5-10ppm and Po4 is 0.03-0.09. After the loss of colors, my No3 shot up to 75ppm and Po4 to 0.35ppm. Months went by and the colors never came back and corals continued to decline and then started to STN one by one.
One thing I did a couple of weeks before the color issue was I removed the UV sterilizer because it started to leak and I planned on getting a new one with the new build anyways.
This is why I think I know what is going on. I believe I have a bad bacteria/pathogen in my system and the UV sterilizer was keeping it in check. Once I removed the sterilizer then it allowed the bacteria to take hold.
The reason why I am coming to this conclusion is I started to dose Cipro daily starting on 08/24 and so far I have seen positive improvements. STN seems to have stopped, Calcium demand is going up and the most obvious is my pH has improved big time. I could not get passed 8 for a LONG time. Well, see below. I hit 8.16 for the last two days.
Daily swings since 08/24
This is just a theory but something I have been thinking about and discussing with others. Aquabiomics is finding bad bacteria like Arcobacter, etc in tanks. I feel that over the last couple of years of increased growth with new hobbyists and especially the Frag game that has most hobbyists selling corals it is allowing bad bacteria strains to pass around to others. This could also explain the increase in ALOT of STN/RTN I seem to see daily on forum posts.
I am thinking there are bad bacteria/pathogens in our tanks that lay dormant like some viruses such as Herpes, Malaria, HIV, Salmonella, Streptococci, etc. Maybe the Pathogen is being passed around to hobbyists and not showing itself in the tank until something stresses the system out. Or, maybe someone has the pathogen and doesn't even know it because their tank doesn't allow it to thrive. They pass it to someone else via frags, etc and the pathogens' new host now has an environment that allows it to thrive. Mine might be an example by removing the UV sterilizer.
I sent off a sample to Aquabiomics two weeks ago before dosing with Cipro. I am curious to see what it comes back with. I will update when I receive the results.
This is a theory and just something I am thinking about. I could be completely wrong but so far, the results of dosing Cirpo have been promising.
I am not promoting anything and not telling anybody to turn to Antibiotics but there might be something to this. If everything else fails then this might be a good solution.
