Only Losing Acros Please Help!

[bonomo53]

This has been going on for about a 2 months now i keep losing acros stn from the base up. The weird thing is they are still colored up and showing PE. I can't figure out what the problem is all other coral such as montis LPS and Softies are doing great.
If anyone can please help it is appreciated as i can't figure out what is wrong and its causing me to lose my mind :frusty:.
My current levels are

Alk 9 red sea
Calcium 400 red sea
Mag 1300 salifert
Phos 0 hanna i did have 0.06 last week but changed to hc gfo and there now 0
nitrate 0 api
salinity 1.024

 

[mike007]

You may want to raise salinity to 1.026 and you need to test your potassium. Also what Is your water temp? What type of lighting are you using?

 

[9balliw]

I'm not sure but I'm the same issues everything else doing great Only thing I can guess on mine is temp swing which isn't very much :sad:

 

[bonomo53]

Thanks i will raise my salinity and get a potassium kit tomorrow. My temp swings from 78-80.5 apex and my ph goes from 7.96 - 8.3 slowly through out the day. Im running a 6bulb tek elite t5ho

 

[Pete polyp]

I have noticed stn from the base up happens from lack of flow the majority of the time. Also, your nitrate and phosphate could be a bit higher. Mine do much better with a small amount of both compared to double 0.

 

[mike007]

Sps do like lots of flow. If your test results are correct with a low nutrient system dkh Is better In the 7 range ,but change It slowly . Sps like stable parameters so If you choose to lower alk. let It come down on Its own . They will not tolerate swings In alk. or other parameters.

 

[nova65ss]

Careful stripping the phosphate too quickly with gfo. Always best to start removing it slowly. Were they giving you trouble before you started dropping the phosphate?

 

[bonomo53]

i dont think its a flow issue because its also happeneing in my frag tank where theres lots of flow. My alk was floating around the 7.7 i thought it was a little low and casuing the stn so i slowly brought it up to 9. This was still happeneing before i lowered the phos.

 

[footballdude2k3]

With it going from the base up, any chance of AEFW?

 

[reefhappy]

With it going from the base up, any chance of AEFW?

That is what I was curious about or some other pest

 

[Stoneyman]

Ive unfortunately have had a lot of experience with the base of colonies bleaching out. Did tons of research and started threads like this all over the place. 75% sure its a nutrient issue. It cant be any kind of bug or worm and heres why. There is no random rtn. Its alwAys at the base. Unless aefm have maps or gps telling them where to eat, you should see rtn in random places on a colony. I noticed your nitrates and phos were zeros i believe? Sps need nutrients. When the water is stripped too clean ive seen this. I was obsessed with getting my nitrates to zero. The minute i achieved this i started getting the bleached out bases. I would suggest you dirty up your water a tiny bit. Maybe add a fish or two. Increase feedings a tad. Maybe skip a water change. I aim for a nitrate level around 2-4 and phos of 0.03. I havnt had the bleaching ever since. Good luk

 

[bonomo53]

I was petty sure it wasn't any kind of pest since I dipped everything before I added it to the tank, but I did remove some of the pieces that were bleaching yesterday for a dip in bayer and nothing came off. I'm starting to think that maybe its some kind of infection because some of my colony and frags don't have any stn and are still growing. Also would dosing aminos like acropower help stop the stn.

 

[-Logzor]

I had this issue once, the problem was those tiny starfish....

 

[that Reef Guy]

I have noticed stn from the base up happens from lack of flow the majority of the time. Also, your nitrate and phosphate could be a bit higher. Mine do much better with a small amount of both compared to double 0.

What do you consider a small amount?

As everyone I talk to says that you need Double Zero for SPS.

 

[Moonlightreef]

Ive unfortunately have had a lot of experience with the base of colonies bleaching out. Did tons of research and started threads like this all over the place. 75% sure its a nutrient issue. It cant be any kind of bug or worm and heres why. There is no random rtn. Its alwAys at the base. Unless aefm have maps or gps telling them where to eat, you should see rtn in random places on a colony. I noticed your nitrates and phos were zeros i believe? Sps need nutrients. When the water is stripped too clean ive seen this. I was obsessed with getting my nitrates to zero. The minute i achieved this i started getting the bleached out bases. I would suggest you dirty up your water a tiny bit. Maybe add a fish or two. Increase feedings a tad. Maybe skip a water change. I aim for a nitrate level around 2-4 and phos of 0.03. I havnt had the bleaching ever since. Good luk

+1
when i was using kalkwasser to keep my parameters steady i got to the point where my kalkwasser was not enough to do the job and i read that using vinegar will help get more out of kalkwasser , so i start mixing vinegar with my RO/Kalk water to get more help from the kalkwater until i get my dosing pumps setup , before i start using vinegar my nitrates where at 0.2 with salifert test kit .Me putting vinegar in my water got my nitrate to 0.0 that same day i start noticing color lose in my acros then the following day bleaching from the base started so you might wanna raise my nitrates a bit at list to 2

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Hard to diagnose an issue with no pics, everything will mainly be a guess til you post pics.

 

[Diesel]

0.0......................... will stuff grow in this..., just think about it for a minute, maybe two.......................

Understanding the PO4 in a reef tank can be a big topic but in your case you have nothing to lose than what some hobbyist said al ready.
Feed your fish more or slowly take off your GFO.
There are many success stories from coral growers out here with a PO4 of 0.10 or higher.
Corals need food especially SPS.
Now you said that you dipped all corals before introducing into your DT with Bayer............. you know that it doesn't kill the eggs of AEFW.
Red bugs need to be dipped in Bayer for more than a hour to be effective on them.
Just take a good look at the dead pieces on the coral, even take a pic and blow it up, Google and find out how bite marks or eating pattern works from AEFW.
Not saying you have a pest but we have to look here at all possibilities.
Will try to find a thread that I started a while back about PO4, good feedback from a lot of experience members on here.
Keep us updated!

Here you go, https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/general-sps-discussion/150804-we-all-know-do-we.html

 

[reggaedrummin]

Is it just STN Or do you see any bite marks, or round marks on the coral? AEFW will leave marks over time, also the corals will look healthier towards the tips and still usually have polyp extension. As stated, dips don't eradicate AEFW eggs so it is very common for them to survive dipping. (Always better to quarantine) do you have any pictures you can share? How is the coloration and polyp extension of the affected acros?

 

[bonomo53]

Thanks for all the responses. Ive worked in the retail aquarium a few years back and got the chance to see corals come in with aefw, red bugs ext. so i know what the bite marks and eggs look like and i don't see any of them on my corals. If i was starving the tank with 0.0 phosphates wouldn't this effect the softies and lps also?

 

[nova65ss]

Your original post said you were at .06 and then you mentioned you added gfo and a week later they were zero. I don't think running them at .0 is an issue per say (altho I never would I think some phosphate is beneficial) the problem I see is stripping the phosphate too fast .06 to .0 in one week even a few weeks in my opinion is way too fast and likely not good for your acros.