STN despite perfect parameters...

[AcroFan144]

Hello everybody,

As the title says, I am having STN on my SPS frags. I've added 10 frags of easy SPS (Montiporas ,Stylophoras, Seriatoporas...) 3 weeks ago. At the time of writing this post, most of them losing a lot of tissue, and are almost dead.

For the first 2 weeks everything was fine, as they were starting to encrust and change their color for the better. About 1 week ago, polyp extension gradually got worse, and they have started browning and slowly losing tissue. Today, they are mostly white skeletons, with spots of tissue hanging on.

Setup info:

-5 months old tank, 55gallons display + 20 gallons sump, started with 90% dry rock and 10% live rock. Dry rock was cured for 2 months prior. I did NOT add any bacteria in the bottle.
-40 pounds of reef saver dry rock
-ATI sunpower 6x39w (3 Blue+ + 3 Coral+ bulbs)
-50x effective turnover achieved with 2 Jebao wavemakers
-6x /hour turnover from sump
-skimmer
-10% total volume refugium lit for 6h by LED grow light

Parameters:

-Sg 1.0264
-Temp 25.5 C
-KH 8.3 dkh
-Ca 450
-Mg 1400
-NO3 2.5 mg/dl
-PO4 0.03 ppm.... (all tests are by Salifert, and Hanna ULR phosphorus for PO4)

Maintenance:

-8 fish fed 3 times a day, flakes and frozen food
-10% WC every 14 days, on the clock

I have not been dosing anything so far.

The tank is growing coralline algae well, which I have taken as a sign to try with SPS.

I need advice on how to procede. I was thinking of getting some bacteria in the bottle to boost the populations. Any tips? This is really frustrating.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Dipan Desai]

With those parameters everything seems to check out and there should be no issues. Maybe take a closer look at your dying corals. Do they maybe have pests such as red bugs or flatworms? fish picking at them? Could be worth sending in your water to confirm your test results to ATI to get a full look at your water parameters as a second opinion.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Those are not what I would consider perfect parameters for sps frags. I would feed your fish more and get the no3 closer to 5-10 and po4 0.08-0.15. An Icp is worth trying to rule out any contamination issue and checking and dipping for pest is a must for sps. I would also check for stray voltage and install a grounding probe.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Have you checked your par?

 

[Crustaceon]

N&p seem a bit low to me. I’d shoot for 5-10 ppm nitrates and .05-.08 phosphates if I were over 8dkh.

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

Tank is fairly new as you already know, I mention this because it's possible that the bacteria populations are still fluctuating and trying to establish colonies. These changes don't show up on test kits and I feel like a lot of reefers suffer from situations like this.

It is also possible that there could be a magnet or other metal rusting somewhere in the tank, thus would explain all of the sps being affected.

Source water could also be a cause of contamination, rodi filters and resin could be depleted rapidly if the source water is really dirty.

 

[ScottB]

Agree with advice so far. More nutrient. More time for the biome to mature.

What was your acclimation & dipping process like?

While sometimes SPS will RTN overnight from shocks, more often they STN many days even a couple weeks after stress. Particularly if their previous environment was different. Where did they come from and what were those parameters? ALK, PO4, NO3 in particular.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Tank is fairly new as you already know, I mention this because it's possible that the bacteria populations are still fluctuating and trying to establish colonies. These changes don't show up on test kits and I feel like a lot of reefers suffer from situations like this.

It is also possible that there could be a magnet or other metal rusting somewhere in the tank, thus would explain all of the sps being affected.

Source water could also be a cause of contamination, rodi filters and resin could be depleted rapidly if the source water is really dirty.

Dang it. I forgot about the most important variable. Make sure your source water is perfect.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

What did the skeleton look like as the flesh came off? Was it bright white or brown?

 

[AcroFan144]

Hello, lets talk about each suggestion

-NO3 /PO4 levels - I am actively trying to raise them. A week ago I got the first reading that was not 0/0. I feed way more than my fish eat, and they are all really fat.

-age of the tank - I know the tank is still young. I was looking into dosing bacteria - Prodibio Biodigest looks good to me. I might give it a try.
I have taken the advice od BRS/WWC to try SPS when coralline starts taking off. I have coralline covering my bare bottom and powerheads. Suprisingly, rocks have just started to develop a few spots days ago, despite coralline being present for 2 months on the bottom ABS.

-water supply - I have just changed my prefilters and DI resin a week ago, TDS is 0.

-acclimation and dipping - I didnt drip aclimate them, just floated the bags to match the temperature (found the suggestion here on R2R). Should I change the procedure?
Corals came from a system that runs levels simillar to mine.
I then dipped all corals in Coral Rx and Iodine.

-stray voltage - no voltage picked up on my multimeter

-PAR - unfortunately, in Europe it is very hard to get a PAR meter. From what I’ve heard with people running the same lights over similar tanks, PAR should range from 250-300 where the corals were placed.

Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming!

 

[AcroFan144]

What did the skeleton look like as the flesh came off? Was it bright white or brown?

Skeletons were bright white, with tissue peeling off.

 

[bobby.w.hodges]

Did you change the filters before or after things got bad? Timeline suggests it was about the same time as stn

 

[ScottB]

CoralRX is a great dip, but a very strong dip especially for some smooth skin acros. I limit time in it to 4-5 mins but baste pretty good.

 

[jerrod]

I recently has a similar issue and it was salinity. Have you checked the calibration to make sure its good. Mine had gone down to 1.022 and all coral were stressed and some RTN'd.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Skeletons were bright white, with tissue peeling off.

I’ve got a hunch that bright white means parameter swings/contamination and brown means bacterial infection.

 

[Softhammer]

Skeleton color has zero bearing on cause of death, just on how soon you see it. All coral skeletons will turn brown at some point as algae and coralline overgrow it. If you rock work is still bright white it’s too early for sps. Coralline growth is a good indicator but I’d keep doing what you are doing and get that rock to be live. Too sterile of an environment can be far worse than too dirty.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Skeleton color has zero bearing on cause of death, just on how soon you see it. All coral skeletons will turn brown at some point as algae and coralline overgrow it. If you rock work is still bright white it’s too early for sps. Coralline growth is a good indicator but I’d keep doing what you are doing and get that rock to be live. Too sterile of an environment can be far worse than too dirty.

Okay genius, explain watching de fleshing, in progress, with BROWN skeleton underneath.

Dont be so quick to dismiss others observations in this hobby.

 

[X-37B]

I run very similar parameters on my 120. Tanks almost 10 months old.
I started with 50/50 blend of caribsea dry and 2 year old live rock from my nano.
I added a couple bottles of turbo start at the begining and thats about it.
Started with same lighting too.
How far off the surface are your lights?
Mine are only 4".
Just took this pic. Post a pic or 2 so we can evaluate.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

There are so many variables that could be the culprit, I do think that your dkh was a bit high for the N and P levels, with low nutrients like that I would've stuck around 7.5-8.0.

Bacteria and tank maturity plays a huge role in success with SPS as well. Funny how some tanks can immediately have success while others have to wait 18 months before they have success. There's a lot going on inside your tank that testing will not show you, you could have some heavy metals that will slowly kill your inverts.

Stability is another, fluctuating parameters is going to stress your corals out as well, of course stability comes with time. It's a slow mans game, patients is key.

 

[Softhammer]

Okay genius, explain watching de fleshing, in progress, with BROWN skeleton underneath.

Dont be so quick to dismiss others observations in this hobby.

Thats not something I would freely admit. I watch my corals grow, not die. After 20 years growing SPS, currently supplying thousands of home grown corals to my local store, and several hundred dives on real reefs and I have still to this day yet to witness a brown skeleton. Brown DEAD TISSUE, yes. Different thing. Cool your jets my man. It’s a relaxing hobby for some..