Two sps colony declining, but why?

[Waters]

Typically corals bleach when they have too much light, I don’t think lighting is the issue

I don't think it is a matter of too much light....I think it could just be the change in intensity. That wouldn't cause bleaching necessarily but would contribute to a decline in coral health.

 

[bubbaque]

Double check your salinity.

 

[Matyas]

I had similar issues with increasing lighting as well. Especially the white and red spectrum.... Good luck.

 

[Reefer40b]

following... please keep us updated. Curious what salt mix your using?

 

[tenurepro]

I use the instant ocean - regular version

 

[Reeferdood]

I use the instant ocean - regular version

I know several folks that use that salt without issue.
So many suggestions so far, I hope you can find the smoking gun and share your findings.....

 

[hatfielj]

I too recommend you check for pests. That last picture shows some discoloration on the branches that looks a little suspicious for bite marks. Do you quarantine new arrivals in a separate system? If not, you can't be sure that you haven't added pests at some point in the past. In my recent experience, it is very difficult to tell if you have pests without removing the entire piece and dipping it to see what comes off. I had pieces that I would have bet money were fine, but when I took them out they had AEFW come off in the dip. Looking at one part of the coral under a microscope is not going to do it because they can hide under only a few branches or elsewhere.

I use Polyp Lab Reef Primer for dipping and it seems to work very well. The worms come off in about 30 seconds and it kills them. The corals are not bothered by it at all as long as you stick to the manufacturers dosing instructions. Best of luck! Hopefully it's not pests

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Slow color loss over time is usually pests in my experience. That being said, looking at your alk i'm shocked your SPS are alive as it is! Whenever I have alk swings it usually results in some type of tissue loss.

Turn your pumps off, blast your acros with a turkey baster and see if little worms come off. Add a little RODI water in the baster to help knock the worms loose.

My vote is pests. When I had AEFW way back in the day my corals did exactly what yours are doing, I basted them off daily and all the colors and growth bounced back.

I too recommend you check for pests. That last picture shows some discoloration on the branches that looks a little suspicious for bite marks. Do you quarantine new arrivals in a separate system? If not, you can't be sure that you haven't added pests at some point in the past. In my recent experience, it is very difficult to tell if you have pests without removing the entire piece and dipping it to see what comes off. I had pieces that I would have bet money were fine, but when I took them out they had AEFW come off in the dip. Looking at one part of the coral under a microscope is not going to do it because they can hide under only a few branches or elsewhere.

I use Polyp Lab Reef Primer for dipping and it seems to work very well. The worms come off in about 30 seconds and it kills them. The corals are not bothered by it at all as long as you stick to the manufacturers dosing instructions. Best of luck! Hopefully it's not pests

Even if he QT's it's still easy to miss an egg. We know so little about AEFW and he could have thought he was safe to put it in the tank and the eggs just took a while to hatch. Anyone with SPS should never assume they are pest free when things go south I don't care how good your QT setup is! Most reefers I know in person just dip and think they are fine. Dipping is a terrible way to prevent pests...it does not work long term. The fact that dips don't kill eggs makes them useless to me. The only thing I use dips for is to determine whether or not I throw a frag in the trash before it hits my QT. If pests fall off, trash. QT is for the potential eggs.

 

[lolgranny]

Slow color loss over time is usually pests in my experience. That being said, looking at your alk i'm shocked your SPS are alive as it is! Whenever I have alk swings it usually results in some type of tissue loss.

Turn your pumps off, blast your acros with a turkey baster and see if little worms come off. Add a little RODI water in the baster to help knock the worms loose.

My vote is pests. When I had AEFW way back in the day my corals did exactly what yours are doing, I basted them off daily and all the colors and growth bounced back.



Even if he QT's it's still easy to miss an egg. We know so little about AEFW and he could have thought he was safe to put it in the tank and the eggs just took a while to hatch. Anyone with SPS should never assume they are pest free when things go south I don't care how good your QT setup is! Most reefers I know in person just dip and think they are fine. Dipping is a terrible way to prevent pests...it does not work long term. The fact that dips don't kill eggs makes them useless to me. The only thing I use dips for is to determine whether or not I throw a frag in the trash before it hits my QT. If pests fall off, trash. QT is for the potential eggs.

“Dipping is a terrible war to prevent pests”

This is not true lol. It’s a great way towards prevention. Yea it doesn’t kill eggs, but it helps eradicate many unwanted pests and algae. I’ve had aefw in one of my systems years ago. I took all my colonies off their rock. Tossed all the rock, and put all the coral in a 40g tank that was connected to the system.

For the next 2 months I would take every coral out and put them in a shallow Rubbermaid with a 10x concentrated coral rx dip. I would blow off each one with a power head then take it over to another bucket and vigorously Shake them off.

After 2 months I was free. Never saw one again years later. I stayed on top of it. I’m sure tossing all my rock helped out a lot, but like you I had a few “indicator pieces” they would target. Any frags with eggs would be cut on their tips so I could try and save them.

They are able to be beat. Don’t get discouraged.

 

[Reeferdood]

Nice video, well put together.
Did you add anything new as far as corals go recently?

 

[tenurepro]

Thanks all for your feedback - depressing as it may be... I am planing to rip a big chunk of my shockahokic off the rock and do a dip in TLF Revive and see what comes off, and will report back. Are the flatworms obvious to the naked eye after a dip ?

One thing that is perplexing is that the affected corals are still growing... Is that consistent with the pest diagnosis ?

I guess we will find out soon enough

 

[Reeferdood]

Thanks all for your feedback - depressing as it may be... I am planing to rip a big chunk of my shockahokic off the rock and do a dip in TLF Revive and see what comes off, and will report back. Are the flatworms obvious to the naked eye after a dip ?

One thing that is perplexing is that the affected corals are still growing... Is that consistent with the pest diagnosis ?

I guess we will find out soon enough

Did you add any corals recently?

 

[29bonsaireef]

You can see them with the naked eye. Look like little tan FW pretty easy to distinguish once they fall off. I would say the coral certainly has a chance to keep living and growing with them. They will slow down the corals for sure, but they can keep living IME. A bad infestation might lead to casualties though..

 

[jda]

You can see them for sure. Baste them gently in the dip. They curl up and wrinkle when they hit a dip.

Instant Ocean is no issue - it is one of the best salts on the market.

 

[tenurepro]

Nice video, well put together.
Did you add anything new as far as corals go recently?

I added an ice fire echinata in Feb... I dipped it like I do with all of corals and nothing came out, but sadly, I haven’t qt’ed any of my sps. I typically remove frags from plugs, dip, inspect, then mount on new frag plug and into the tank it goes. The ice fire did RTN in March, but they are finicky so I thought nothing of it.

 

[tenurepro]

You can see them with the naked eye. Look like little tan FW pretty easy to distinguish once they fall off. I would say the coral certainly has a chance to keep living and growing with them. They will slow down the corals for sure, but they can keep living IME. A bad infestation might lead to casualties though..

Will take a vid for your guys to see... does it matter what time of day to dip.. I am thinking night time as I don’t see anything on the corals in the day Time

 

[Reeferdood]

So from Feb till now you have not added anything? If that is true then where would the AEFW's come from?
Strange that they would all of a sudden show up like that.
I watched the video and everything looked awesome before all of the parameter changes began.

 

[jda]

Remember that if you have AEFW, then you can see the bite marks. Google AEFW bite marks and you will get a bunch of examples.

 

[tenurepro]

Remember that if you have AEFW, then you can see the bite marks. Google AEFW bite marks and you will get a bunch of examples.

Yes I don’t see any bite marks using either naked eye and scope

 

[jda]

It is quite common to not be able to see them until you remove a colony for inspection... especially bigger stuff. I would not expect to see them in-tank from the front glass.