LPS issue driving me nuts

[MaccaPopEye]

Parameters update:
Nitrate: 5ppm
Phosphate: 0.05ppm
Alkalinity: 8dKH
Calcium: 430ppm
Magnesium: 1320ppm
PH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.026
Temp: 27

2 more torch polyps dropped overnight.

Currently feeding 1 cube of cyclops in the morning and 1 cube of cyclops + 1 cube of shrimp in the evening. As well as 1/2-1 sheet of Nori throughout the day.

Skimmer is off completely for now. Will turn it back on for 12hrs per day when nitrates get up to 10ppm.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Nitrate: 10ppm
Phosphate: 0.1ppm

Nutrients are up but another torch and hammer polyp both bailed over the last 24hrs. And 2 others not looking good. Also dosed some amino acids on Friday, will be dosing as per the instructions on the tub once per week. Tomorrow skimmer is going back on 12hr per day.

The polyp bail out has slowed down, but is still occurring. My Seneye arrived this afternoon before I had to go to work so hopefully tomorrow or the day after I will be able to get some PAR numbers.

What range of PAR is recommended for LPS?

 

[MaccaPopEye]

So checking my PAR levels was interesting to see, I thought it would be a lot higher than it was. The Seneye seemed to work well but is a little touchy, if the sensor isn't directly facing the light source PAR numbers in some cases varied a lot. I also realized half way through that I had forgotten to turn off all the flow so that certainly changed my "before" numbers a little bit but the after number seem pretty accurate.

I have 3 Mars Aqua 165W LEDs around 30cm above the waterline, when these issues started I turned the lights down a bit as I was worried there was too much light. I'm not 100% sure what PAR levels are ideal, but I think it would have been better for me to have left them alone, I have since turned them back up to where they were a couple of months ago. I think they still need to be turned up a bit more over the next few weeks/months. PAR also drops quite a lot in between the lights even though they look like there is good spread.

What is an ideal PAR to aim for at the sand bed for softies/LPS? Eventually I would also like to add SPS to the higher areas of the rock work.

PAR levels before (this morning) and after adjusting the lights (this afternoon):
Zoas on the sand front left of tank (were doing ok but not doing well the last couple of weeks) - was 100, now 150
Morphs up on fake ship (doing ok the whole time) - was 75, now 125
Maxima clam in the center sand bed (looks great no matter what) - was 170, now 300
BTA on the right rock structure (no issues at all) - was 100, now 360
Zoas on the sand at the right edge of tank (doing quite bad recently) - was 25, now 40
Rock shelf where one of the acans died - was 50, now 100
Sand bed where most of the torches were when the issues started - was 75, now 170

When I turned the lights down AND moved some of the torches to lower light areas they must have been in areas where PAR was as low as 50-75 which I assume is far too low.

The 1 torch I had left in it's original place still has 1 polyp left (currently in PAR 150). I moved the only other torch left back into a PAR 150-170 zone (it only has 2 polyps now as one bailed when I picked it up to move it). The hammer is still in its original place (currently PAR 150) also only had 1 colony left and that is barely hanging on so I think it's done.

I picked up another large hammer from a tank shutdown, I am really hoping that with higher nutrients and better PAR this one wont die. One of the two remaining torches is also a really nice one so I am hoping that it pulls through

 

[1987]

I've had issues in the past with LPS and tanks being too clean. It was a mixed reef, and when I changed things like a better skimmer my SPS would take off. My lps would sit and do nothing.

Same with flow. If I upped the flow for the SPS, the LPS would never be happy. I lowered the flow and my LPS took off.

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

I recently had kinda the same issue I'm pretty sure it was a bacteria infection I lost torches and hammers even with dips I was only able to save a favia and my prized brain is still losing flesh I will be dipping it again tomorrow and h202 dipping it hoping for the best. I dip everything now that goes in the tank

 

[MaccaPopEye]

I recently had kinda the same issue I'm pretty sure it was a bacteria infection I lost torches and hammers even with dips I was only able to save a favia and my prized brain is still losing flesh I will be dipping it again tomorrow and h202 dipping it hoping for the best. I dip everything now that goes in the tank

Is there any symptoms of a bacterial infection I can look for? I thought it was possibly a parasite but when breaking up one of the skeletons there is no bore holes or anything. And I haven't ever dipped coral before, I have strongly considered starting to though, any recommendations in a dip to target infections?

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

at first I noticed my brain coral losing some tissue and the favia and a few of the torches just didn't look happy not coming all the way out then one by one they all started to die even after dipping the favia lived I was shocked some stuff got it others did not it was very odd and out of no where. it was not brown jelly or white ring and nothing new was introduced so either it was dormant or some kind of stress triggered it and a local store owner was telling me that a lot of ephylia lattely has had it and it just runs it course

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Ok so this is still going on. Really not happy.

Now lost ALL of my torches. I have one large hammer colony left which I only added a month ago and just added a moon coral and a favia. The torches all also started looking bad after a month.

It can't be my nutrients, they have been pretty stable at 10-20ppm NO3 and 0.5ppm Po4 since I upped feeding (3 cubes per day while I raised it and 2 cubes per day to maintain it). ALK is stable at 8.5-9dKH for the last month and Cal 450ppm.

I don't seem to have any of the symptoms of brown jelly but it has to be some kind of infection, could still be brown jelly. Ive bought some melafix (antibacterial) to dip my remaining coral but am having issues finding instructions (instructions on the bottle are for treating a whole tank).

Would really appreciate any suggestions on what strength and times to dip coral with melafix? Or is Detol better? I've heard Detol is good for a dip as well.

And do I dip all remaining coral or just the sick looking ones?

1 month ago

Tonight (looks the same as all the torches did before they started bailing)

 

[Frop]

Don't know. But my alk always sits at 7.8 and just recently I rose it to about 8.5 and right after I lost my purple gonniapora which has been alive for probably 6-8months. I've heard under 1 dKh change per day is fine but that .7 killed it.

What do you measure alk with?

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Don't know. But my alk always sits at 7.8 and just recently I rose it to about 8.5 and right after I lost my purple gonniapora which has been alive for probably 6-8months. I've heard under 1 dKh change per day is fine but that .7 killed it.

What do you measure alk with?

Yeah pretty sure it's not Alk. I use salifert to test, used to use red sea pro but they are a terrible kit.

Ive only just raised it up to 9 dKH about a month ago, for the last few months before that it's been quite stable around 7.5-8dKH and I had the exact same issues then.

 

[Mario P.]

Ive been dealing with similar issues in my tank. Started with a small acan I bought from a lfs (and dipped prior to adding to my tank). It basically lost all its tissue in a matter of days. From there, all but one of my acans started dying off. Now my torches and hammers are slowly dying one head at a time. Not sure what the issue is as all my parameters have been stable. I suspect its some sort of bacterial infection thats making its way through my tank. Im ready to give up with LPS and just grow sps as they seem to be doing great.

 

[Mario P.]

 

[Esage]

Ive been dealing with similar issues in my tank. Started with a small acan I bought from a lfs (and dipped prior to adding to my tank). It basically lost all its tissue in a matter of days. From there, all but one of my acans started dying off. Now my torches and hammers are slowly dying one head at a time. Not sure what the issue is as all my parameters have been stable. I suspect its some sort of bacterial infection thats making its way through my tank. Im ready to give up with LPS and just grow sps as they seem to be doing great.

I had the same issue months ago, ended up losing ever LPS in the tank. Nothing I tried stopped it from spreading through out the tank. I was so frustrated, I almost gave up on the hobby.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Ive been dealing with similar issues in my tank. Started with a small acan I bought from a lfs (and dipped prior to adding to my tank). It basically lost all its tissue in a matter of days. From there, all but one of my acans started dying off. Now my torches and hammers are slowly dying one head at a time. Not sure what the issue is as all my parameters have been stable. I suspect its some sort of bacterial infection thats making its way through my tank. Im ready to give up with LPS and just grow sps as they seem to be doing great.

I had the same issue months ago, ended up losing ever LPS in the tank. Nothing I tried stopped it from spreading through out the tank. I was so frustrated, I almost gave up on the hobby.

Sorry to hear you guys are going through / have been through a similar issue still with no "answer" as to what, why or how to stop it. Hopefully this thread may eventually lead to some answers.

My my remaining hammer coral still hasn't had any polyps bail, although a different one looks sick each day, some "recover" in 24hrs some look sick for a week. But so far none have bailed.

This week I collected (all quite plain) a fairly large acan, a medium heliofungia and a small moon coral, we will see how they are doing in a months time as that seems to be the rough time frame before coral is effected.

I also sought advice on an aussie fb page. It seems that the overwhelming majority of experienced reefers (who took the time to comment) are sure this is caused by heavy metal contamination and not a bacterial infection (they think it's likely from bad pumps leaking into the water even if they look and work fine). Apparently with bacterial infections polyps bail out much faster than one or two a day.

I'm not convinced my pumps are leaking heavy metals and don't know any other way metal could have gotten into my tank but to make sure I have ordered a triton test. I live "rural" so it will take a week to get to me and then a week to get back and then a few more days to get to triton but I will put the results up here when I get them.

After I get the triton water sample shipped off I will also be giving at least my Hammer coral a dip in betadine (anti bacterial) if not the other corals too. Even if it's just to make me feel better.

Instructions I've been given are 40 drops to 1gal of salt water, leave in for 10-15min, swirl every now and then, rinse in fresh salt water and back into the tank.

 

[Esage]

I'll be very interested in to see your Triton results

 

[Cujo]

What kind of substrate do you have, was it in your old tank?

 

[Mario P.]

I'll be very interested in to see your Triton results

Same here!

 

[MaccaPopEye]

What kind of substrate do you have, was it in your old tank?

I have black sand in the tank and it is slightly magnetic (just like Hawaiian black) so I wouldn't be surprised if I have elevated iron. However it isn't from the old tank and is brand new (and rinsed multiple times and then soaked in RODI for days).

On top of that my issues started a good month or two before I added the sand as I ran bare bottom for a little while. So at worst it could just make the situation worse but it wouldn't be the cause.

The specific metals the reefers on fb were concerned about were tungsten, cobalt and aluminium (only if it is really, really high), they also believe low strontium could be an issue. But we will see! I don't know how but the reef shop interstate got the triton test to me in 2 days (one of which was a public holiday)! So when I finish work tonight I will be filling up the vials and will send them off tomorrow.

 

[Cujo]

I have black sand in the tank and it is slightly magnetic (just like Hawaiian black) so I wouldn't be surprised if I have elevated iron. However it isn't from the old tank and is brand new (and rinsed multiple times and then soaked in RODI for days).

On top of that my issues started a good month or two before I added the sand as I ran bare bottom for a little while. So at worst it could just make the situation worse but it wouldn't be the cause.

The specific metals the reefers on fb were concerned about were tungsten, cobalt and aluminium (only if it is really, really high), they also believe low strontium could be an issue. But we will see! I don't know how but the reef shop interstate got the triton test to me in 2 days (one of which was a public holiday)! So when I finish work tonight I will be filling up the vials and will send them off tomorrow.

Was the black sand added after the alk spike dosing issue or around the same time? Might be possible that the situation started with the alk spike and now its driven by the sand that is adding heavy metals?
Hopefully the Triton gives you some insight.

 

[MaccaPopEye]

Was the black sand added after the alk spike dosing issue or around the same time? Might be possible that the situation started with the alk spike and now its driven by the sand that is adding heavy metals?
Hopefully the Triton gives you some insight.

It was added a fair bit after. The alk spike was late November 2016 and the black sand wasn't added until Feb 2017 (alk quite stable the whole time).

I have also added half a dozen corals since adding the black sand (well after the alk spike) and so far all of them have had the same fate as the coral that was in the tank before the black sand even though alk has been quite stable the whole time.