LPS nosediving, help please.

Omega0397 · Oct 17, 2014

I have a wide selection of different LPS species and a few SPS in my current tank and many of the LPS now seem to be receding and dying off. It started with my Acan Lords and now I see it happening on my chalices, one of my blastos, a gonastrea, and a favia.

All of the acans have now died or are in really rough shape, the polyps seem to just start shrinking up and within a few days either melt or detach. The other corals mentioned are just receding and showing their skeletons bit by bit. The strange part is that all of the SPS (acros and some montis) seem to be unaffected whatsoever.

My parameters:
77 degrees
9 Alk
420 Ca
1400 Mg
Nitrates undectectable
Phosphates 0.02

Everything has been stable lately except for the Mg which was elevated for about a month as I was treating for bryopsis, which I have done before without any ill effects on the tank. I did a large water change this week and stopped with the Mg dosing a few days before that.

I plan on doing some Iodine dipping on the affected coral, but beyond that I'm at a loss for what is happening and how to fix it. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Reefing Madness · Oct 17, 2014

Only things I see are that your Nitrates and Phosphates are to low for LPS.

currentking · Oct 17, 2014

i have 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates and my acans are puffy and seem to be doing good.

tigerdragon · Oct 17, 2014

How long since water change

dgrigor02 · Oct 17, 2014

Something sounds off in water chemistry and test kits are pretty crude and so many other things that can cuase. When in doubt, more frequent water changes and run some carbon.

Have you ruled out fish ? rabbitfish, angels, and I'm sure many others turn and find them appetizing. Camel shrimp can be mistaken as pepperments and cuase havok. Other inverts can be a possiblity.

I supose no silicone or spray paint used recently that may cause issues.

Omega0397 · Oct 17, 2014

My last water change was Tuesday. The problem has been going on for about 2 or more weeks though. I agree that test kits don't tell you that much, but the algae growth in the tank, while not ideal, isn't out of control either, so I don't think i have water that is too "clean" or too "dirty".

My livestock includes two false percula clowns, a chromis, a orange spot sleeper-head goby and a canary blenny. I don't have any shrimp, but do have some blue and scarlett legged hermits.

that Reef Guy · Oct 17, 2014

Reefing Madness said:
Only things I see are that your Nitrates and Phosphates are to low for LPS.

What Nitrate Level and Phosphate Level do you recommend for LPS?

that Reef Guy · Oct 17, 2014

I have had the same thing happen to me many times in the Past.

I call it the "LPS Plague".

It travels from one LPS to another untill they all Recede and Die.

My SPS and Softies are never affected.

I do not know what exactly causes it but this time I was told to Dip everything in Bayer and it Worked!

I was also told to Dose the Tank with Chemi-Clean but I did not since the Bayer worked so I cannot comment on the Chemi-Clean.

Reefing Madness · Oct 18, 2014

LPS 10-20 Nitrates and Phosphates right around .05, can go a bit higher also. Heck, even SPS will color up better with a bit of Nitrates. I believe they like em around 5ish and not 0.
When I had LPS, they were the first ones to let me know when my system was running to clean.

Dextereef · Oct 18, 2014

Where is the tank located? Is it possible that it could have been exposed to any chemicals, aerosols, cat boxes, etc...? I would do a thorough cleaning of your mixing containers, etc... Anything that may come in contact with the tank or tank water. The test kits arent telling enough except that the water may be too clean. If you have some Revive it is less stressful on the coral compared to Iodine and will refresh it. Do a good dip with the Revive and inspect every inch of the coral for pests or things that may be dying or dead on the base/skeleton.

Next, if your lps are on the sandbed or near it have you noticed the goby, blenny or hermits getting sand all over the LPS? I had a couple acan colonies get super stressed because my blenny had been sifting sand over it.

Next, have you altered your photoperiod in anyway? Have you altered flow in any way? Are you using GFO and is it tumbling correctly? I have had GFO tumbling to fast release fines into the water column that irritated LPS.

Sorry for the ramble just trying to think of every factor.

Connie · Oct 18, 2014

Could a fish be eating them? I had a butterfly fish once for aiptasia. It ate the aiptasia, but also almost wiped out all my LPS before I realized it was him.

Vaughn17 · Oct 18, 2014

What is your lighting?

Tab28 · Oct 18, 2014

It sounds like something with water is off. Your perimeters sound fine. Once i had an issue with copper in my tank. Did not even know i had it. Sent it to lab to get full readings. Came back with copper. Is there anything that could have gotten into water? I would do a few WCs as well as run some carbon. Lighting can always be a surprise issue if it is new.

Shrimp are a good indicator of bad chemicals in water. Things we do not test for They are sensitive most things.

DFW · Oct 18, 2014

Stray electrical voltage in water maybe?

Omega0397 · Oct 18, 2014

that Reef Guy said:
I have had the same thing happen to me many times in the Past.

I call it the "LPS Plague".

It travels from one LPS to another untill they all Recede and Die.

My SPS and Softies are never affected.

I do not know what exactly causes it but this time I was told to Dip everything in Bayer and it Worked!

I was also told to Dose the Tank with Chemi-Clean but I did not since the Bayer worked so I cannot comment on the Chemi-Clean.

That's some good advice. I'm afraid of using the Bayer stuff, but I will dose with chemiclean as I have done a few times in the past for redslime.

Omega0397 · Oct 18, 2014

Dextereef said:
Where is the tank located? Is it possible that it could have been exposed to any chemicals, aerosols, cat boxes, etc...? I would do a thorough cleaning of your mixing containers, etc... Anything that may come in contact with the tank or tank water. The test kits arent telling enough except that the water may be too clean. If you have some Revive it is less stressful on the coral compared to Iodine and will refresh it. Do a good dip with the Revive and inspect every inch of the coral for pests or things that may be dying or dead on the base/skeleton.

Next, if your lps are on the sandbed or near it have you noticed the goby, blenny or hermits getting sand all over the LPS? I had a couple acan colonies get super stressed because my blenny had been sifting sand over it.

Next, have you altered your photoperiod in anyway? Have you altered flow in any way? Are you using GFO and is it tumbling correctly? I have had GFO tumbling to fast release fines into the water column that irritated LPS.

Sorry for the ramble just trying to think of every factor.

Rambling is fine! You mentioned a few things I hadn't considered. I don't have any revive, but I do have CoralRx, I could try that instead unless you think that Revive offers something that CoralRx doesn't. I've been watching to see if anything was picking at the corals and so far I have nothing. The Canary Blenny is the only one I see inspecting rocks, etc., but I don't see him nipping any corals. I don't have any issues with sand on the LPS that are on the substrate and there have been no photoperiod changes. I did alter flow recently, but just set it back to what it was a couple of days ago to see if that was the issue. I do run ROX carbon, but no GFO since I don't seem to have phosphate issues. I scrubbed out the mixing tank that I use just because it looked to be about time, but that was just a few days ago so i will have to wait to see if that changes anything. No chemicals or aerosols in the house lately that I can think of either.

Omega0397 · Oct 18, 2014

Vaughn17 said:
What is your lighting?

Maxspect razor.

that Reef Guy · Oct 19, 2014

Reefing Madness said:
LPS 10-20 Nitrates and Phosphates right around .05, can go a bit higher also. Heck, even SPS will color up better with a bit of Nitrates. I believe they like em around 5ish and not 0.
When I had LPS, they were the first ones to let me know when my system was running to clean.

OK, second part of the question.

How do I raise Nitrate?

I try to overfeed and it stays Zero in all 4 of my Tanks.

that Reef Guy · Oct 19, 2014

Dextereef said:
Where is the tank located? Is it possible that it could have been exposed to any chemicals, aerosols, cat boxes, etc...? I would do a thorough cleaning of your mixing containers, etc... Anything that may come in contact with the tank or tank water. The test kits arent telling enough except that the water may be too clean. If you have some Revive it is less stressful on the coral compared to Iodine and will refresh it. Do a good dip with the Revive and inspect every inch of the coral for pests or things that may be dying or dead on the base/skeleton.

Next, if your lps are on the sandbed or near it have you noticed the goby, blenny or hermits getting sand all over the LPS? I had a couple acan colonies get super stressed because my blenny had been sifting sand over it.

Next, have you altered your photoperiod in anyway? Have you altered flow in any way? Are you using GFO and is it tumbling correctly? I have had GFO tumbling to fast release fines into the water column that irritated LPS.

Sorry for the ramble just trying to think of every factor.

I wouldn't use revive.

I did that on my Chalices and some of them turned Black and still continued to recede.

I did it when I was instructed to use Bayer.

I then did Bayer a week later.

I really wish that I would have listened as I lost all the color in a bunch of my Chalices.

Chalices are sensitive.

that Reef Guy · Oct 19, 2014

Tab28 said:
It sounds like something with water is off. Your perimeters sound fine. Once i had an issue with copper in my tank. Did not even know i had it. Sent it to lab to get full readings. Came back with copper. Is there anything that could have gotten into water? I would do a few WCs as well as run some carbon. Lighting can always be a surprise issue if it is new.

Shrimp are a good indicator of bad chemicals in water. Things we do not test for They are sensitive most things.

If it were Copper or any other Chemical like someone else posted the SPS would be the first to show it.

Remember he said the SPS were fine.

Something is targeting the LPS Specifically.