Tussue loss. Dont know what to do.

[Pippz]

Ok so first some background. Im using read se pro salt for wc. Have a ai hd prime running saxby preset. Its a 45 cm cube. Total volume of tank in 90 l for display and 30 l for sump. Running a curve 5 , and bubble magus mini 60 in sump with seachem carbon and seachem phosgaurd inside. Have two media baskets one with seachem matrix and other with other bacteria stuf the look like brown bown or something. Have a gyre 2k wave maker and an ow 10 inside maint display.

Water peramters as follow:
Salt : 1.027
Phos : below 0.1
No4 : 5
Calcium : 420
Mag :1440
Alk : 9.5
Ph : 8.4

Ok so now to the problem. I have added 3 big rocks about twee weeks ago , and in the same week i added 2 digi frags and a birdsnest. So my hydno started to loose flesh even before the new rocks. So its started to loose even more now , its about 3 quaters of the way up the tank , same as digi. Two days back i noticed my one digi started to loose flesh in the middle , yesterday it lost a bit more . So was running my ow 10 full blast and gyre 70 %. So when i got home this morning i decided to half the flow before i went to bed. When i woke up the polyps was extended the best if seen so far , but now it looks like brownish stuff sticking to some of the polyps , must say aswell that i did have a diatomb bloom started just before i added the rock , but its cleared up mostly , or rather better now sinse i started running my uv 24/7. So was my flow to high that caused the tussue loss , is it to low now that im starting to see brown stuff on it ? Help me please , dont know what to do anymore.must also say my pico and all other lps is doing marvelous , great clolours and extenstions.

 

[Pippz]

Bumperino , anyone any idea ? Hydno got stung by my nem aswell btw , can it also kill al the tussue ?

 

[Pippz]

No one have any idea ?

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Hard to see anything in the pics but new looking rock. Can you get pics of the corals in question? If a hydnophora started dying before any changes were made Then something must be going on. Those corals are fairly easy to keep. Hopefully the new rock didn’t make the issue worse. How olds the tank and what all is in it?

 

[kyleinpdx]

What are you using to test no3 and po4? My hunch would be either:

• too high of alk for your no3/po4
• lighting intensity too high

 

[T-J]

Based on how clean the rocks are, I’m guessing this is a new tank?

 

[Pippz]

Hard to see anything in the pics but new looking rock. Can you get pics of the corals in question? If a hydnophora started dying before any changes were made Then something must be going on. Those corals are fairly easy to keep. Hopefully the new rock didn’t make the issue worse. How olds the tank and what all is in it?

Tank is running for 7 months , but nemmie def stung my hydno. And yes i added 3 new pieces of rock

 

[Pippz]

What are you using to test no3 and po4? My hunch would be either:

• too high of alk for your no3/po4
• lighting intensity too high

Using red sea test kits. And its only an ai hd prime hd.with saxby settings , mounted bou 6 inches

 

[kyleinpdx]

Using red sea twst kits

Honestly, this is probably the issue. Not the test kits themselves, but most all of the hobby grade titration based test kits do not do well measuring such low concentrations OR our eyes are just not sensitive enough to really discern the minute color differences between .01 and .005. I'd bet an ICP test would tell you that you are bottoming out your nutrients.

Also what is this:

other bacteria stuf the look like brown bown or something

 

[Pippz]

Honestly, this is probably the issue. Not the test kits themselves, but most all of the hobby grade titration based test kits do not do well measuring such low concentrations OR our eyes are just not sensitive enough to really discern the minute color differences between .01 and .005. I'd bet an ICP test would tell you that you are bottoming out your nutrients.

Also what is this:

Ceramic rings , forgot the name when i made the post

 

[Graffiti Spot]

When nutrients are very low or “bottomed out” it takes a bit of time for corals to start to peel flesh. First they loose color slowly and can hang on for a while like this before they actually start to die. As long as the tanks being fed the corals shouldn’t peel unless using carbon dosing or media.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

OP you did mean your no3 is at 5 and not nitrite right?

 

[kyleinpdx]

Ceramic rings , forgot the name when i made the post

Gotcha, My above guesses still hold true. I have a specific green stylo that whenever I forget to trim the macro in the fuge, (resulting in too low of nutrients) will loose some flesh. If the issues are corrected, the tissue can grow back with the normal growth of the coral.

Personally, I've found the best titration test for po4 to be the seachem and salifert for no3. Colorimeters such as a Hanna are more accurate and ICP testing best the absolute best method for detecting just about anything. Granted its not always feasible to send off an ICP test whenever something looks off, but I'd bet your test kits are providing false readings.

 

[Pippz]

OP you did mean your no3 is at 5 and not nitrite right?

nittates yes

 

[Pippz]

When nutrients are very low or “bottomed out” it takes a bit of time for corals to start to peel flesh. First they loose color slowly and can hang on for a while like this before they actually start to die. As long as the tanks being fed the corals shouldn’t peel unless using carbon dosing or media.

Am kinda stil using nopox aswell.

 

[kyleinpdx]

When nutrients are very low or “bottomed out” it takes a bit of time for corals to start to peel flesh. First they loose color slowly and can hang on for a while like this before they actually start to die. As long as the tanks being fed the corals shouldn’t peel unless using carbon dosing or media.

I disagree, I'm not saying what you suggest doesnt happen, but thats not the way it always plays out. It entirely depends on the species or coral in question and that corals overall health. With all due respect, take a look through the forums for bottomed out nutrients and RTN/STN, there is no shortage of cases where polyps will bail overnight or RTN will "devour" a frag in hours.

 

[Pippz]

I disagree, I'm not saying what you suggest doesnt happen, but thats not the way it always plays out. It entirely depends on the species or coral in question and that corals overall health. With all due respect, take a look through the forums for bottomed out nutrients and RTN/STN, there is no shortage of cases where polyps will bail overnight or RTN will "devour" a frag in hours.

The hydno is for a couple of weeks no tbh , but the digi was the mattwr of 2 nights , i had a thought that my flow might have been to high , reduced flow and pollops extended way more the next day , and didnt see anymore tussue loss on the digi

 

[kyleinpdx]

The hydno is for a couple of weeks no tbh , but the digi was the mattwr of 2 nights , i had a thought that my flow might have been to high , reduced flow and pollops extended way more the next day , and didnt see anymore tussue loss on the digi

I doubt that was the root cause, remember correlation does not equal causation.

Sure, flow can cause issues, if you had a direct jet of laminar flow pointing at the frag, it could in theory remove some flesh, but have you seen the absurd flow many SPS tanks run at? Too high of flow is much more common with LPS (such as hammers, goniopora, etc) where the sheer size of the polyp exposes them to significantly more drag/friction from that water movement.

Dont just take my word for it, lets get some #reefsqaud folks in here for another opinion.