Single Acro STN - JF Fox Flame

[prcardinal91]

I have a JF fox flame that starting to look bad out of no where about a week ago. Washed out looking and just not that deep red. Yesterday I noticed some STN going on.

I know this can be a number of things and can be extremely difficult to identify a single or multitude of causes. Just curious if anyone running SPS dominant systems has had single acros that seemingly start to die for "no reason". I'm thinking its probably a bacterial infection of some sort. Everything else looks good.

My calcium was a little low (367) and since has been brought up (415), but I do not think that would really have that drastic of an effect on the coral. This was about a month ago.
Par on the Fox Flame roughly 300


I did start Reef Moonshiners about 2 months ago and have seen overall positive results. ICP testing done every 4 weeks. I attached my most recent test.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

I have a JF fox flame that starting to look bad out of no where about a week ago. Washed out looking and just not that deep red. Yesterday I noticed some STN going on.

I know this can be a number of things and can be extremely difficult to identify a single or multitude of causes. Just curious if anyone running SPS dominant systems has had single acros that seemingly start to die for "no reason". I'm thinking its probably a bacterial infection of some sort. Everything else looks good.

My calcium was a little low (367) and since has been brought up (415), but I do not think that would really have that drastic of an effect on the coral. This was about a month ago.
Par on the Fox Flame roughly 300


I did start Reef Moonshiners about 2 months ago and have seen overall positive results. ICP testing done every 4 weeks. I attached my most recent test.

You may get a response on the RM FB Group page.

 

[prcardinal91]

Thanks, I'll post my question there as well

 

[X-37B]

I have a JF fox flame that starting to look bad out of no where about a week ago. Washed out looking and just not that deep red. Yesterday I noticed some STN going on.

I know this can be a number of things and can be extremely difficult to identify a single or multitude of causes. Just curious if anyone running SPS dominant systems has had single acros that seemingly start to die for "no reason". I'm thinking its probably a bacterial infection of some sort. Everything else looks good.

My calcium was a little low (367) and since has been brought up (415), but I do not think that would really have that drastic of an effect on the coral. This was about a month ago.
Par on the Fox Flame roughly 300


I did start Reef Moonshiners about 2 months ago and have seen overall positive results. ICP testing done every 4 weeks. I attached my most recent test.

Yes I think we all have had such issues the longer your in the hobby.
Bacterial is always what I think when it happens.
What lights do you run?
It also looks like its may not be getting enough light and may be fading from it.

 

[prcardinal91]

I have 3 coral care gen 2s over the tank which is 5 ft long 150. I run them at 85 percent. I mapped the par and at the top of the rocks its about 550 par at peak. Where the Fox Flame is at 300 ish. Sould be plenty of light

 

[prcardinal91]

Unless fox flames like higher light?

 

[X-37B]

I have 3 coral care gen 2s over the tank which is 5 ft long 150. I run them at 85 percent. I mapped the par and at the top of the rocks its about 550 par at peak. Where the Fox Flame is at 300 ish. Sould be plenty of light

Yes 300 par should be good.
Mine was under 500ish in my 120. But it was halide lit and directly under a 250 14k.
Its now in my frag system under 16hds and is slowly starting to show the color at the tips.

Looks to be pretty well encrusted so you cant move it.
Also saw your iodine is low.
I do not have any experience with moonshine system but do dose trace elements that has iodine.

If you havent already I would get it back in range and see if it helps.
I like mine to be at the higher end of the range per my last icp test.

One other thing I like to use is KZ flatwormstop. I dont have them but it dose help with keeping corals healthy from my experience.
I

 

[prcardinal91]

Yes 300 par should be good.
Mine was under 500ish in my 120. But it was halide lit and directly under a 250 14k.
Its now in my frag system under 16hds and is slowly starting to show the color at the tips.

Looks to be pretty well encrusted so you cant move it.
Also saw your iodine is low.
I do not have any experience with moonshine system but do dose trace elements that has iodine.

If you havent already I would get it back in range and see if it helps.
I like mine to be at the higher end of the range per my last icp test.

One other thing I like to use is KZ flatwormstop. I dont have them but it dose help with keeping corals healthy from my experience.
I

Thanks for the feedback. I do dose iodide from brightwell and have been slowly bumping it up. I've heard from a few reef moonshiners to do this slowly. I've also heard other refers talk about the kz flatworm stop. What benefits does it have?

 

[X-37B]

Thanks for the feedback. I do dose iodide from brightwell and have been slowly bumping it up. I've heard from a few reef moonshiners to do this slowly. I've also heard other refers talk about the kz flatworm stop. What benefits does it have?

Quote from their site:
"Rapid regeneration of harmed corals as well as increased basal encrustation".
I only dosed 5ml a day in my 120.
Now 3ml a day in my 80 that replaced the 120.
1ml a day in my nano and 3ml a day in my 45 frag system.
My 120 before I broke it down.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

Thanks for the feedback. I do dose iodide from brightwell and have been slowly bumping it up. I've heard from a few reef moonshiners to do this slowly. I've also heard other refers talk about the kz flatworm stop. What benefits does it have

I'm currently dosing 5 drops in a 175

 

[prcardinal91]

Thanks I'll definitely pick some up!

 

[SamMule]

You sure there is a problem? That piece looks fine to me. Mine is about that color and grows like a weed. I think if you want the deeper red color, it needs to be in lower light.

 

[prcardinal91]

You sure there is a problem? That piece looks fine to me. Mine is about that color and grows like a weed. I think if you want the deeper red color, it needs to be in lower light.

I'm not as worried about the color, but if you look closely on the left you will see some tissue loss. There are a few.spots like this

 

[SamMule]

I think I see what you are talking about. Take a good look at everything else in the tank. If it's just that one piece, I wouldn't get in a hurry and start changing things in the tank. Focus on what things are specific to that piece. I see that it has encrusted off of the plug, so it was happy there that one point. The color still looks good, so that is encouraging. Every time mine has been stressed, it lost the yellow tips and turned purplish. Could it be damage from a fish or invert? Have you made any changes to lighting or flow that could affect that area of the tank?
Also, keep in mind that it is an acro. Even the pros have a piece go south sometimes for no apparent reason.

 

[prcardinal91]

I think I see what you are talking about. Take a good look at everything else in the tank. If it's just that one piece, I wouldn't get in a hurry and start changing things in the tank. Focus on what things are specific to that piece. I see that it has encrusted off of the plug, so it was happy there that one point. The color still looks good, so that is encouraging. Every time mine has been stressed, it lost the yellow tips and turned purplish. Could it be damage from a fish or invert? Have you made any changes to lighting or flow that could affect that area of the tank?
Also, keep in mind that it is an acro. Even the pros have a piece go south sometimes for no apparent reason.

No changes what so ever since the start up of this tank other than RM method. Just going to monitor at this point and try the KZ flatworm stop

 

[SamMule]

Can't hurt, right? Best of luck!

 

[ScottB]

In answer to your opening question: Yes. I have many times over the years had an acro piece or even colony just die on me. Sometimes overnight while the rest of my acros just keep cruising. Maybe one death every 4-6 months. Some were newer pieces while others I have had for years. Unexplained.

Only once can I recall a pattern building up with some accelerating loss levels. Base recession that would work its way up on several different Millis. I was advised to dose Interceptor for a white bug infestation. That seemed to level the wings for me.

But for one piece/colony to die every six months or so does not change my methods.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

I'm currently dosing 5 drops in a 175I should've worded this as I dose 5 drops of Seachem Iodide in a 175.

 

[DMG Reef]

Your Fox Flame does look very stressed out. The only things that stood out to me on your ICP test is that your PO4 is extremely low at .01 and your Flourine is very low. I'm guessing you probably did your correction dosing to get Flourine back up. I keep mine at 1.50. My PO4 is also higher than yours at .09.

My Fox Flame is in 475 PAR. It's done well there.

 

[ScottB]

Your Fox Flame does look very stressed out. The only things that stood out to me on your ICP test is that your PO4 is extremely low at .01 and your Flourine is very low. I'm guessing you probably did your correction dosing to get Flourine back up. I keep mine at 1.50. My PO4 is also higher than yours at .09.

My Fox Flame is in 475 PAR. It's done well there.

Gorgeous!

Good catch on PO4 levels. Bouncing around zero is a dangerous place.

That said, phosphate measures by way of ICP are notoriously low relative to a Hanna ULR value. I wish I could recall the author of an article here on the subject. His paper was tagged into a thread I started on the subject. I will dig around for it.

But moral of the story is trust Hanna ULR for phosphates. Yes, it has an error range of +-.02 but my ICPs were coming back low by .06 to .09