Mystery coral die off

[madweazl]

You mentioned GFO; have the phosphate levels been relatively stable? Larger sudden drops (typical when the GFO is replaced) can add stress and lead to issues with your corals as well.

 

[brandon429]

agreed, and with the algae challenge in play there's no need to run gfo, its not helping it can only hurt by adding variables to the troubleshooting aspect

 

[jsker]

9/17

No test results yet, but as soon as the results are posted I will share them for your feed back.

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

I think that our tanks are microbial and bacterial complex systems that overtime find a balance of both good and bad pathogens. If there is stress added to the system that weakens either fish or corals I believe that the negative microbial or bacterial pathogens have a greater chance to take hold and cause havoc. Periodically I would lose montis to RTN after months of solid and rapid growth. When I noticed the RTN I would inevitably find my salinity or some other parameter way off and go about to correct it and would see the corals bounce back. For the past two months I was losing corals left and right! Both LSP and SPS in large numbers. I kept checking all my parameters and everything looked great! I began to notice flatworms in large numbers and a white film around the edges of my corals develop that would slowing kill them. After dipping, dosing, and a full tank reboot with no effect I thought I should check my refractometer. IT WAS OFF BY .07! My tank was sitting at .031-.032 for months! I slowly corrected the problem and the tank is now making a full recovery...

 

[jsker]

I think that our tanks are microbial and bacterial complex systems that overtime find a balance of both good and bad pathogens. If there is stress added to the system that weakens either fish or corals I believe that the negative microbial or bacterial pathogens have a greater chance to take hold and cause havoc. Periodically I would lose montis to RTN after months of solid and rapid growth. When I noticed the RTN I would inevitably find my salinity or some other parameter way off and go about to correct it and would see the corals bounce back. For the past two months I was losing corals left and right! Both LSP and SPS in large numbers. I kept checking all my parameters and everything looked great! I began to notice flatworms in large numbers and a white film around the edges of my corals develop that would slowing kill them. After dipping, dosing, and a full tank reboot with no effect I thought I should check my refractometer. IT WAS OFF BY .07! My tank was sitting at .031-.032 for months! I slowly corrected the problem and the tank is now making a full recovery...

Good points, and I have in the past some swings of parameters and made the corrections This has been going on for about a year now. In the past two months I have added corals with the same results. The system has been pretty steady except for the phosphates for the past 4 months

 

[jsker]

Test results, is this the correct view of result from ICP? I was thinking there would be a nice graph?

 

[brandon429]

there's nothing wrong with your params, we have algae challenges that present independent of params constantly. no, standing algae doesnt just absorb all nitrate and phosphate because some algae is there.

nobody with a standing ATS is exporting waste either, they have to be actively growing and removing/regrowing in order to cycle out the wastes. this tank hasn't been manually gardened, and that can fix it. I recommend we apply what works in big tank rework threads that have pics of tanks getting fixed to completion.

you should take out one single test rock. We do our will to it.

put it back among the others, this is harmless. I get full say over the test rock, you let others choose what the water and other rocks go through, we race to best looking compliant substrate, you upscale the winner to the whole tank. we waited five pages to test params, now everyone agrees they're good. hesitation ends, we should work a test rock correctly. here's the exact job no variation:
take out rock use kitchen knife tip to debride it off, roughly, like the CUC you wanted to be doing this all along. catch up.

the whole rock is tip-debrided into clarity. no more algae. it was rinsed off in saltwater only along the way. the entire test rock has zero target on it bc you spent an hour detailing it that well, excluding all invader with steel not hopes.

on the clean surface, apply peroxide 3% out of a bottle right on target, avoiding corals, hitting former growth spots. wait 3 mins

rinse in saltwater, put back.

chart this among all the other things going on that will take days, months and years to look like the test rock. reconsider any approach that led to this takeover, dont use that alternate method for sure until you're ready to experiment again.

 

[jsker]

there's nothing wrong with your params, we have algae challenges that present independent of params constantly. no, standing algae doesnt just absorb all nitrate and phosphate because some algae is there.

nobody with a standing ATS is exporting waste either, they have to be actively growing and removing/regrowing in order to cycle out the wastes. this tank hasn't been manually gardened, and that can fix it. I recommend we apply what works in big tank rework threads that have pics of tanks getting fixed to completion.

you should take out one single test rock. We do our will to it.

put it back among the others, this is harmless. I get full say over the test rock, you let others choose what the water and other rocks go through, we race to best looking compliant substrate, you upscale the winner to the whole tank. we waited five pages to test params, now everyone agrees they're good. hesitation ends, we should work a test rock correctly. here's the exact job no variation:
take out rock use kitchen knife tip to debride it off, roughly, like the CUC you wanted to be doing this all along. catch up.

the whole rock is tip-debrided into clarity. no more algae. it was rinsed off in saltwater only along the way. the entire test rock has zero target on it bc you spent an hour detailing it that well, excluding all invader with steel not hopes.

on the clean surface, apply peroxide 3% out of a bottle right on target, avoiding corals, hitting former growth spots. wait 3 mins

rinse in saltwater, put back.

chart this among all the other things going on that will take days, months and years to look like the test rock. reconsider any approach that led to this takeover, dont use that alternate method for sure until you're ready to experiment again.

What should I do with the rock after it is pulled??

 

[brandon429]

I edited back in the rest for sure it'll work great just by letting us know the exact regrowth characters of the actual target on the rock.

it stinks to have to upscale it I agree, maybe a better way will emerge before then. but at the close of that test rock, you now have 1 surface acting like you want it to, we watch for regrowth characters and then imagine if the whole tank behaves this way/like it yes or no

this beats experimenting with the whole tank, its forced compliance, one rock

if after true mechanical rasping, true dislodge of holdfasts and then peroxide after, on the clean spot any algae grows back, youll know not to waste your time doing this to the whole tank.

Its likely to be the only thing that works, however. we w soon find out w little effort and no system risk, this is why I think all tank challenges should start with a test rock.