Need help, STN?

Hardings_reef · Jan 26, 2023

I have been losing some coral now (mainly sps) since September 2022. Everything was growing great up until around September when a favia that had been growing really well suddenly just disintegrated over a week. Ever since I've lost 2 Monti caps, digis, seriatopora, pavona. Tissue receding on another favia and a Lobo. I initially thought STN but I didn't think it would take so long. On my stylo frag it loses sections at a time, really odd. Any ideas what's going on? I am thinking bacterial infection or pests.

Salinity -1.025
dKH - 8.0
Ca - 445
Mg - 1485
Nitrate - 5
Phosphate - 0.03 (sometimes 0)

T-J · Jan 26, 2023

Lot's of possibilities. Anything from parameters not being stable enough to corals just deciding to die.
I've been in the hobby 25 years and I'm convinced that some corals just decide to call it quits some times. Right now I have a small colony (SPS) that started to die. Nothing has changed. Nothing else has issues. I just chalk it up to trying to keep a piece of the ocean in my home.
But, if you have a number of things dying, then I'd start with monitoring your parameters really well, as well as looking at any changes you've made in the last month or two.

ScottB · Jan 26, 2023

0 phosphates is a real hardship on some corals. Others not so much. I keep a doser full of trisodium phosphate just in case. Stuff last forever. Phosphates in my system don't always hang around.

skimmerman · Jan 28, 2023

Might look into some emerald crabs to remove the bubble algae before it gets worse

Hardings_reef · Jan 28, 2023

skimmerman said:
Might look into some emerald crabs to remove the bubble algae before it gets worse

Yep I am battling the bubble algae. I got an emerald that did absolutely nothing and has since vanished. I have a tang that also doesn't touch the stuff so just going for manual removal. Did an ICP test and everything was ok, except slightly elevated zinc and quite low iodine.