Steps after frag RTN?

[tenurepro]

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice. I have a 1 yr old reef tank with mostly sps frags, which where all heathy and growing. I went on vacation for the last 4 days. I came back to my SSC frag totally white.

All they frags look good
Parameters are oddly stable - not smoking gun. Alk 8.75 same as before vac, ditto with calcium (445) mag (1325) potassium (420) salinity (35 ppt) . Nitrates 3 ppm (been dosing KNO3 to raise nitrates, but have ramped up to this level over a month). The only two things that seem a bit out of wack are phosphates, which were undetectable but now at 0.03 ppm (Hanna ULR). ph got a bit high with us away from the house (less carbon dioxide) but never went up above 8.4.

Another oddity; my skimmer, which is usually rock solid, started skimming wet, as if something on the water changes viscosity.

Not sure what to do to troubleshoot...
Water change? Do I remove the dead SSC in case it stripped from a disease?

Thanks for your help ?

 

[tenurepro]

Another thought... I picked up a milli frag a week ago. It got dipped in revive and added to display. Any chance that the milli was carrying something that led to the SSC RTNing? Is rtn contagious?

 

[jason_mazzy]

anyone watching the tank while gone?

 

[tenurepro]

anyone watching the tank while gone?

Yes, I was checking in via webcam, also checked Apex logs twice a day, and a family member visited every other day. Nothing obvious! Other than skimmer cup filling very quickly prompting me to shut it off via apex

 

[IxTCxI]

If is all white is probably dead.

 

[tenurepro]

Yes I think the SSC is toast. I am just wondering if there is something that I should be do it now as a means to prevent other frags from RTNing (in case it is contagious

 

[zhuisken]

People tend to cut off the parts of the coral that are suffering from RTN cutting into new tissue to make sure the diseased parts are completely removed.

I've seen research that shows that coral polyps are all connected so the disease could most likely travel throughout the coral whether it is cut off or not.

Just a hypothesis but could be the answer to why the above technique may not work.

 

[Reefltx]

Could be your no3 dosing. When dosing you need to monitor your po4 level as well, as it will drop.

 

[tgionet]

If my phosphates hit 0 my montis start to pale and will die first. If they remain that way stn/rtn eventually set in on other sps

 

[tenurepro]

Hmm, woke up to this my trocus snails mass spawning making the water very cloudy

This is probably why my skimmer overflowed while I away.
Wondering if all the snail junk is reducing water quality and oxygen, causing RTN

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

If skimmer is going nuts then there is something in the water

 

[markalot]

If nothing else is showing stress then carry on with your normal routine, clean up anything that went wrong, and otherwise completely ignore it. Sometimes frags die for no known reason. SSC's can be finicky so I would completely ignore it. Making changes based on the death of a single coral can lead to more bad things.

 

[tenurepro]

If nothing else is showing stress then carry on with your normal routine, clean up anything that went wrong, and otherwise completely ignore it. Sometimes frags die for no known reason. SSC's can be finicky so I would completely ignore it. Making changes based on the death of a single coral can lead to more bad things.

Thanks Mark