Pink Floyd dying from bottom up

[SeeFu]

Should I just take the living part off and remount it onto a new plug?

 

[Crustaceon]

It’s STN. Leave it alone and make sure your system has at least some phosphates in it or if not, your corals are getting fed periodically.

 

[landlubber]

It’s STN. Leave it alone and make sure your system has at least some phosphates in it or if not, your corals are getting fed periodically.

i can't say its worked for me in the past but i think this is still the best advice

 

[Crustaceon]

i can't say its worked for me in the past but i think this is still the best advice

It’s probably more of a symptom of rapidly bottoming out nutrients (carbon dosing or massive cheato growth) and less of gradually starving corals. I’ve always found it really hard to ride that .03ppm phosphate “razor’s edge” without having to test almost daily for fear of suddenly bottoming out and getting STN which is what always happened in my system. I started running P04 at .08ppm and eliminated that issue but wasn’t seeing the growth I wanted with the matching 10ppm nitrates. I’m not running undetectable N&P but I’m feeding my corals daily and I’m not just seeing improved growth, I’m not seeing any STN. Just some food for thought.

 

[SeeFu]

i'm way higher than .03 po4. prob around .1

 

[landlubber]

It’s probably more of a symptom of rapidly bottoming out nutrients (carbon dosing or massive cheato growth) and less of gradually starving corals. I’ve always found it really hard to ride that .03ppm phosphate “razor’s edge” without having to test almost daily for fear of suddenly bottoming out and getting STN which is what always happened in my system. I started running P04 at .08ppm and eliminated that issue but wasn’t seeing the growth I wanted with the matching 10ppm nitrates. I’m not running undetectable N&P but I’m feeding my corals daily and I’m not just seeing improved growth, I’m not seeing any STN. Just some food for thought.

i completely agree.
my tank was the easiest to manage when i had a load of coral outcompeting the algae for nutrients despite phos being .008-.010 and nitrates up to 20.
its seems as though new reefers go into the hardest battle right at the start when nothing is working in your favour biologically. thankfully it does generally get easier!

 

[ScottB]

I had a huge issue with this kind of necrosis. Very slow, but inexorable.

In my case, it was aefw, acro eating flatworms. Your situation could be different, but it is worth investigating.

I would remove, dip and inspect for eggs with a magnifying glass. I dip acros in potassium chloride for 7-10 minutes.

 

[ScottB]

Here is a pic of what the eggs look like. Very hard to see.

What Are Acropora Eating Flatworms And How To Treat Them | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

Acropora Eating Flatworms (AEFW) are an SPS reefers nightmare. One day you can go from a pristine reef to a fully blown out plague just by introducing them with one coral. Amakusaplana acroporae…

reefbuilders.com

 

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You could load the lower area with superglue. Could help avoid it going up further.

 

[SeeFu]

I had a huge issue with this kind of necrosis. Very slow, but inexorable.

In my case, it was aefw, acro eating flatworms. Your situation could be different, but it is worth investigating.

I would remove, dip and inspect for eggs with a magnifying glass. I dip acros in potassium chloride for 7-10 minutes.

thanks, but i dont think that's my issue. it's literally just dying from bottom up at an extremely slow rate. no circular patches, just slowly the layer of dead stuff get's higher an dhigher.

 

[schuby]

If you're sure that your tank isn't bottoming out on nitrate and phosphate, then consider dosing some iodide. I read somewhere on here that it can help prevent STN from the bottom up.

 

[jda]

Do you have point-source only lighting? If so, this is why people add T5s to them.

If you have rock and sand, it will buffer the phosphate and you never have to worry about getting too low unless you are using too many chemicals or media. If you are using chemicals and media, then I would stop.

 

[Softhammer]

I have experienced that before. I disagree with all above. For me in my humble experience I’d point toward too high of Alkalinity and too low water flow. Low flow helps nothing. The tell tale is the coraline encroaching on living tissue. I’d bet you alK is 10+ Given the pictures.

 

[SeeFu]

just measured parameters today

alk, 8.5
cal 410
mag 1410
p04 0.13
no3 12
ph 8.2-8.35

i've got 2 gyres running at 80% and a few mp40's running at 50%

 

[Johnny Slayton]

It’s STN. Leave it alone and make sure your system has at least some phosphates in it or if not, your corals are getting fed periodically.

Yep, no phosphates will definitely cause stn. I'm going through that right now. I've lost a couple nice acros including my rr jawdropper acro.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

just measured parameters today

alk, 8.5
cal 410
mag 1410
p04 0.13
no3 12
ph 8.2-8.35

i've got 2 gyres running at 80% and a few mp40's running at 50%

What are you doing for nutrient export?

 

[SeeFu]

filter sock, skimmer, small amount of gfo.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

filter sock, skimmer, small amount of gfo.

Dump the gfo and your Stn will stop

 

[Softhammer]

Agreed GFO has caused nothing but problems for me.

 

[SeeFu]

ok i'll try turning it off tonight