Need some help colony dying

littlebeard · Dec 14, 2023

Tank is not looking great. Lost some color on a few colonies/frags and of course I go away and one of my larger colonies has half bailed. Do I just frag it?

No changes in the last 2 months. (2 months ago I added some frags)

Just checked the params. All seem stable in the last month although alk has dipped slightly.

Alk - 7.7 usually keep it around the 8-8.5 but has occasionally has gradually dipped to this level
CA - 425
Mg - 1400
Phos - .15
nitrate - 15

I can't figure out why and I don't want to change fast.
Any advice?

Bacterial? Chemical? Ideas? thoughts?

EgotisticObeseChihuahua · Dec 14, 2023

What specific coral colony's are dying? any changes in equipment, dosing, and/or stocking? Your parameters look fine, but an ICP test wouldn't hurt. Have you tried a KFC dip for the corals that can go in one? If it is bacterial a KFC dip should help that.

Dburr1014 · Dec 14, 2023

littlebeard said:
Tank is not looking great. Lost some color on a few colonies/frags and of course I go away and one of my larger colonies has half bailed. Do I just frag it?

No changes in the last 2 months. (2 months ago I added some frags)

Just checked the params. All seem stable in the last month although alk has dipped slightly.

Alk - 7.7 usually keep it around the 8-8.5 but has occasionally has gradually dipped to this level
CA - 425
Mg - 1400
Phos - .15
nitrate - 15

I can't figure out why and I don't want to change fast.
Any advice?

Bacterial? Chemical? Ideas? thoughts?

Also, got a pic. (white light)

littlebeard · Dec 14, 2023

Was taking pictures... noticed these white sand things..

Who is giving me the bad news.. what is it and how do I treat it

Would it cause a colony to bail?

Reefkeepers Archive · Dec 14, 2023

littlebeard said:
Was taking pictures... noticed these white sand things..

Who is giving me the bad news.. what is it and how do I treat it

Would it cause a colony to bail?

Might be white bugs, which would cause this. Though I'm not confident with microscope IDs, @ISpeakForTheSeas?

ISpeakForTheSeas · Dec 14, 2023

I agree that knowing what specific colonies are struggling may help - if it's just a few types of corals that are struggling, then it could be parasites like black, gray, red, etc. bugs (which the pic looks like it could be); if it's a wide range of coral types struggling, then I'd personally look into things like potential changes or contaminants in the tank, potential diseases/bacterial infections, etc.

The below may help with figuring out if you think is what you're dealing with:

WheatToast said:
Pest copepods (red/black bugs of genera Alteuthellopsis, Parategastes, and Tegastes)?
https://reefs.com/magazine/aquarium...measures-and-a-review-of-treatment-protocols/
https://av.tib.eu/media/55499

littlebeard · Dec 14, 2023

The colonies that are struggling are:
Tyree pink lemonaide (half bailed. I fragged it)
wwc chrismas mirablis (lost it's pink color and is slowly receeding)
Battlecoral snipers blue
Unnamed acro (was the first batch of acros I got like 2 years ago)

Bunch that are unaffected thus far. Most of the struggling ones are on the same rock (all acro's although I do run acro heavy)

Other corals favia/favites, hammer, monti, Cyphastrea seem unaffected.

FTS

Tyree pink (fragged the top, this is the base)

wwc christmas mirablis (lost its pink hue,

snipers blue (mostly dead)

Unnamed acro (where I found the parasite. Should be green, it's now mostly brown)

Reefkeepers Archive · Dec 14, 2023

@ISpeakForTheSeas any thoughts now? I suspect white bugs.

EgotisticObeseChihuahua · Dec 14, 2023

Reefkeepers Archive said:
@ISpeakForTheSeas any thoughts now? I suspect white bugs.

Second this.

ISpeakForTheSeas · Dec 14, 2023

Reefkeepers Archive said:
@ISpeakForTheSeas any thoughts now? I suspect white bugs.

littlebeard said:
The colonies that are struggling are:
Tyree pink lemonaide (half bailed. I fragged it)
wwc chrismas mirablis (lost it's pink color and is slowly receeding)
Battlecoral snipers blue
Unnamed acro (was the first batch of acros I got like 2 years ago)

Bunch that are unaffected thus far. Most of the struggling ones are on the same rock (all acro's although I do run acro heavy)

Other corals favia/favites, hammer, monti, Cyphastrea seem unaffected.

FTS

Tyree pink (fragged the top, this is the base)

wwc christmas mirablis (lost its pink hue,

snipers blue (mostly dead)

Unnamed acro (where I found the parasite. Should be green, it's now mostly brown)

Yeah, if it's only impacting acros, then I'd guess it's a parasitic pod species; the article in the quote I shared above (I'll share the article again here) talks about a few different kinds of parasitic pods (the Black Bugs, White Bugs, Gray Bugs, and Red Bugs mentioned above) and a few different treatment methods for them. I haven't used any of the methods myself, but you should be able to find feedback on at least some of them on the forum here: