Milli's Browning

[alvieman]

Buddy of mine (cbau45) is on the road and wanted me to start this so he can see what people think when he gets home. He's got i think 4 milli's all close to one another in area, but 3 are all browning, no idea why. The Green is perfect, but the others are all brown EXCEPT for the growth tips. They grow great, no problems there, just are brown.

Any ideas would be great so he can start trouble shooting. Thanks!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Hmmm lots of potential things.

1. Nutrient Rich Tank
2. Not enough light
3. Not enough Flow
4. Alk, Calcium, Mag??

 

[ss7]

Millis tend to prefer higher flow, and since they are close they could all be suffering from lack of it. Also, pests - AEFWs love millis.

SS

 

[alvieman]

Dont know his params off the top of my head but once he gets home he's gonna update with the more specifics, thanks for any ideas guys!

 

[Poseidon]

Craig just left a little while ago, it sounded like everything was "normal" parameter wise. The only question was Mg, which I don't test for myself, but I have not heard much about Mg affecting color.

He has lots of light, nothing real obvious comes to mind, other then nutrient levels, which Craig will have to answer later...

 

[cbau45]

My parameters are as follows:

Alk: 8.5
Calc: 420
pH: 8.2
temp: 80.9
PO4: 0ppm (according to API test kit, they're not the most accurate)

As for lighting they are all at the top of my tank under a 250w HQI, running a 14K phoenix bulb on a Blue Wave 3 mag ballast and it sits about 10.5" off of the water. In addition I am also running two ATI Blue Plus bulbs on retro T5 setups with a workhorse ballast.

Flow is definately not the issue, I have my return pointed right at them and I get lots of water movement, full polyp extension, and great growth.

Oh yeah, and no pests here. I dip all of my corals prior to entry and I check on a regular basis for pests.

I'm really stumped on this one. The only things I can think of would be Mg or PO4, that's about it.

 

[ss7]

how are your other stony corals doing in the system? SS

 

[reefboy]

I have seen Acro eating flatworms brown out milli's better check if you can.

 

[cbau45]

ss7, my other stonys are doing great and have excellent color / polyp extension. All are showing signs of new growth.

As for flatworms I haven't seen anything of the sort on or around any of my corals. I check a few times per week with a flashlight and I haven't spotted any pests of any kind yet (knock on wood)

 

[alvieman]

I'm leanin towards po4, have you checked your nitrates lately either? I know generally in an established system its not an issue, but cant hurt to check!

 

[cbau45]

I'm leanin towards po4, have you checked your nitrates lately either? I know generally in an established system its not an issue, but cant hurt to check!

Yeah, nitrates are at 0ppm

 

[alvieman]

Yea you need a hanna meter or someone with a high end po4 test kit, may or may not, dunno, but thats all thats commin to mind. UNLESS you got a lil chem warfare goin on, but your carbon shoudl take care of that.


(Lets just blame Tony)