Red Sea Reef Energy Plus (AB+) Bleached my coral!

[guppyexpress]

I dont know if this has happened to anyone else. But let me start the story I started dosing my tank with AB+ yesterday, After watching several videos showing how, and talking to several people who have used it, I went out bought some AB+. followed the dosing amount and how to dose to a T and did a dose. The reason why I purchased it is to help some of my coral that I was given that had STN that I have been recovering. Upon dosing my tank with AB+ I noticed by Brain coral, candy cane coral, and my duncan coral retracted entirely into their skeletons and released a thick defensive mucus, that is when I started to get very concerned, I asked my friend who recommended me to get AB+ he said that on his corals they release a mucus net to help capture more every time he feeds. So I trusted his word and went on with it. I woke up this morning, my corals were still retracted and covered in a thick mucus, had me worried but I had to go to work so I couldn't do anything at the time. I get back from work and check up on my tank. my corals are still retracted into their skeletons . a lot of the tissue is gone, and a concerningly large amount of the skeleton is all that is left over. I will now be throwing away the rest of my AB+. And will never touch another product from RedSea again. If anyone has also experienced this. or something similar, please let me know. Seeing as my brain coral is now dying from the very thing that was supposed to help it. Aside from keeping params stable? what else can I do to help my poor brain coral recover faster?

 

[blaxsun]

AB+ needs to remain refrigerated - you knew that, right? Also, how much were you dosing? (I add 12.5ml daily on my 200-gallon system)

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

AB+ didn't bleach your Coral, bad water quality did. If you've had STN then that's your first indication of poor water quality.

AB+ is just an amino acid. It isn't a cure for ailing corals. It will raise your phosphates and if they were already high, it raises them higher.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Well don't throw it away, i'll take them. You have to keep them refrigrated after opening or it will go bad. It's amino acid for your corals. works great for me

 

[Uncle99]

Used it twice a week for a year now. Used the separate A/B stuff before the mix.
All my corals puff up, never a problem.

 

[jmichaelh7]

I think you had a issue already and causing phosphates to fluctuate might have sealed the deal.

 

[guppyexpress]

AB+ didn't bleach your Coral, bad water quality did. If you've had STN then that's your first indication of poor water quality.

AB+ is just an amino acid. It isn't a cure for ailing corals. It will raise your phosphates and if they were already high, it raises them higher.

I didn't already have STN
I was given a coral by someone which that coral came with STN and I have been healing it.

 

[ScubaShane]

My blood type is AB+ and I'm still alive!!

 

[pixelhustler]

This is interesting. Did you spot feed pure AB+? I have observed some correlation between heavy spot feeding and tissue peeling back, especially in montipora and favia. But it could be a different issue.

My theory is that, being a concentrated on product, it might be very acidic or have certain compounds that can cause bad reactions in those concentrations. The label does recommend diluting it in aquarium water if used to spot feed.

 

[blaxsun]

Refrigerate, shake well before using and start out with half (or even less) of the recommended amount and recommended number of times a week.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

I dont know if this has happened to anyone else. But let me start the story I started dosing my tank with AB+ yesterday, After watching several videos showing how, and talking to several people who have used it, I went out bought some AB+. followed the dosing amount and how to dose to a T and did a dose. The reason why I purchased it is to help some of my coral that I was given that had STN that I have been recovering. Upon dosing my tank with AB+ I noticed by Brain coral, candy cane coral, and my duncan coral retracted entirely into their skeletons and released a thick defensive mucus, that is when I started to get very concerned, I asked my friend who recommended me to get AB+ he said that on his corals they release a mucus net to help capture more every time he feeds. So I trusted his word and went on with it. I woke up this morning, my corals were still retracted and covered in a thick mucus, had me worried but I had to go to work so I couldn't do anything at the time. I get back from work and check up on my tank. my corals are still retracted into their skeletons . a lot of the tissue is gone, and a concerningly large amount of the skeleton is all that is left over. I will now be throwing away the rest of my AB+. And will never touch another product from RedSea again. If anyone has also experienced this. or something similar, please let me know. Seeing as my brain coral is now dying from the very thing that was supposed to help it. Aside from keeping params stable? what else can I do to help my poor brain coral recover faster?

I don’t think ab+ did this. Likely bad timing. So I would really try to figure out what is going on because there is likely something going on with your water, temp, salinity, alk, calcium, magnesium, etc. Really try and think hard on what it could be.

 

[mike550]

@guppyexpress I’m sorry to see what happened to your corals and if the only thing that changed was adding AB+ to your system I can see why you’d point to it as your culprit. Lots of great comments here which I won’t repeat, and I’ve been using AB+ for about a year. A couple of thoughts.

First, was the bottle you purchased sealed and within the expiration date? AB+ is organic so maybe it was spoiled?

Second, AB+ is super powerful so I dose about 25% of the recommended and I broadcast feed through my return pump. I learned that if I dose too much I get a biofilm on my glass pretty quickly.

Good luck!

 

[brandon429]

Those pics aren't bleached

Those are two white light pics, and a blue light pic showing florescent zones of a closed up polyp still full of flesh and not bleached

That being said, I'll stop dosing right into my tank, I'll pre dilute it. Good thread, glad I saw this. My brain coral too closes up and AB used to make it put out feeders. It opens up shortly after, but I'll be pre diluting from here on out.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

@guppyexpress I’m sorry to see what happened to your corals and if the only thing that changed was adding AB+ to your system I can see why you’d point to it as your culprit. Lots of great comments here which I won’t repeat, and I’ve been using AB+ for about a year. A couple of thoughts.

First, was the bottle you purchased sealed and within the expiration date? AB+ is organic so maybe it was spoiled?

Second, AB+ is super powerful so I dose about 25% of the recommended and I broadcast feed through my return pump. I learned that if I dose too much I get a biofilm on my glass pretty quickly.

Good luck!

I also dosed 1/2 a dose and would just broadcast feed as necessary for the same reasons.