Montis (only) are Looking Bad

pa1ntbru5h · Sep 17, 2016

I couldn't keep montis in my tank. They would always die off and I had no clue why.
I did find 1 monti nudi and quickly removed him and inspected for eggs but haven't seen any sign of them since. I gave up on Montis in my DT, but in the frag tank I could keep them perfectly fine. And the DT was way more mature than the frag tank. Same salt mix, same maintenance schedule and everything.

rovster · Sep 17, 2016

sawdonkey said:
Thanks, yes, I run biopellets and have for 2-3 years.

With alk, I do use Hannah, and I'm well aware of their reagent issues. I also check with Salifert from Time to time. One of my torts did have some burnt tips recently, so maybe you're on to something.

Where do you keep alk? In MY tank anything above 152 would cause what you are describing. Been running my alk under 7 lately and things seem to be better. 8-8.5 seems to be upper limit with carbon dosing and you are flirting with that ceiling again imho

sawdonkey · Sep 17, 2016

rovster said:
Where do you keep alk? In MY tank anything above 152 would cause what you are describing. Been running my alk under 7 lately and things seem to be better. 8-8.5 seems to be upper limit with carbon dosing and you are flirting with that ceiling again imho

I shoot for about 130 ppm, which is somewhere abound 7 I think.

Live Water · Sep 17, 2016

sawdonkey said:
No, but I did just turn them down a hair and shortened the photoperiod by 45 minutes. Although if been using the same lights at around the same intensity for about two years, so I don't know what might have changed.

What type of lighting? I've noticed after about two years with AI leds that they need to be ramped up by about 10 percent, also what are you using to dose? Calcium could be dropping at night during growth period

erk · Sep 17, 2016

Steviereefs said:
How long has you setup been running ?

Going on 3 yrs now. I've got my Mg levels back up above 1400 and my surviving Monti are beginning to look better.

Graffiti Spot · Sep 18, 2016

Low magnesium, low potassium and low nutrients all will affect montipora first. I would test potassium for sure especially if your using instant ocean and if your using a carbon source the bacteria seem to eat up potassium as well ime.
Low salinity will also affect them as well.
Patches of white makes me think of nudies though. They can come in on any coral so pick up any montis and look under them for hiding nudibranchs. Black bugs also affect montis badly as well and are hard to see on encrusting Montis which get affected badly by them.

jazonPartij · Sep 18, 2016

I've having the same problem with my mystic sunset. I fragged it and put the frags in different lighting thinking that I was bleaching it. I hope it doesn't die

sawdonkey · Oct 15, 2016

So I have a theory. I recently did a water change about a week ago. Afterwards, my digis puffed up with PE and looked good for about a week, but has gone back to looking unhappy. It seems that something in the salt replenished whatever my tank is lacking? Some trace element? I only do about a 15% water change every six weeks or so. Maybe my tank has depleted itself of something that the salt takes care of? Thoughts?

Wilsoni · Oct 15, 2016

+1 on Potassium. Even with using RedSea CP salt which has a high K content, I have to dose Potassium weekly to maintain it. You could order a Salifert Potassium kit for $18 and Brightwell "Potassion" Potassium for around $10. Even if that's not the exact reason for the issues you're encountering, I can gaurntee you if your Potassium is too low, upon raising it, you'll notice a significant improvement in the coloration and overall health of your montis.

Wilsoni · Oct 15, 2016

Next to Magnesium, I personally believe Potassium is the 4th most import element to test/dose.

sawdonkey · Jan 6, 2017

I'm still having this problem. My monti caps have almost completely died, my digis look terrible, and my encrusting Montis look bad too. Im going to do a 45 gallon water change tonight and another tomorrow. That will be about 35% TWV. I'll see how they respond. All acros are still doing fine.