What have I done...RTN/STN?

[Johnson556]

Before I went on a 6 day vaca I did a water change. Made the water, went to BJJ, got home two hours later and did a 30G change on a 200G system. The issue is, the water was probably 5+ degrees hotter than the tank water (77), I never checked with a thermometer (idiot) but could tell by hand. My thought was, oh its not that much in regards to the entire system and went for it.

I got back the 1st to a bunch of dead tips on my acro's and a few peeling from the base. I have no idea how severe it will be at this point as its happening very slow. I just began stocking up a few weeks back after dealing with AEFW, there's only a green slimer, green tenius, pink lemonade, garf bonsai, and bubble gum milli. The slimer seems to be doing the worst followed by the milli.

Every other parameter has been rock solid, I believe the temp is the only thing that could have caused this. Is there anything I should do to help prevent anymore tissue loss, or just hope for the best and make sure things stay stable. So far I've just reduced lighting 10%. I was dosing AcroPower but recently stopped due to a small patch of Dino's starting. I've been broadcast feeding Reef Roids 1-2 times a week as well.

Salinity: 1.026
Alk: 7.8
Calc: 440
Mag: 1500
NO3: 5ppm
PO4: .02

 

[thaveteran]

Short answer is no, "IF" it was a temp situation there's nothing to do. Personally I would look for another culprit. In the summer months here in Florida I routinely do 45 gallon water changes with water way hotter than five degrees above my tank water.

 

[Johnson556]

I cant think of anything else, I have not adjusted lighting in months and Alk has been stable at 7.8 since July. The only real fluctuations have been in PO4/NO3 to try and get them up, I started feeding an extra cube a few months ago to bring them from undetectable to where it is now. I dosed PO4 once a month back and it jumped to .06 for a day but I haven't read anything that states that could have caused this. The only media I run is carbon (brs rox).

 

[marlinmon]

+1 I doubt the temperature hypothesis. I've dumped hotter water right on top of my coral before (not on purpose) and nothing about the coral changed. What's the lighting situation?

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I just don't see how 30 gallons of water into a 200 gallon tank would do that. Maybe if it was substantially higher and poured directly over the colony? Doesn't seem likely. How did you treat the AEFW?

As far as what to do, I'd cut some frags off the good areas for back up stock, continue water changes, and cross my fingers. On frags I've had luck stopping STN by covering the affected area + a little more with super glue or epoxy putty.

 

[CoralWealth]

I cant think of anything else, I have not adjusted lighting in months and Alk has been stable at 7.8 since July. The only real fluctuations have been in PO4/NO3 to try and get them up, I started feeding an extra cube a few months ago to bring them from undetectable to where it is now. I dosed PO4 once a month back and it jumped to .06 for a day but I haven't read anything that states that could have caused this. The only media I run is carbon (brs rox).

I just had this exact same thing happen, the tips burning part on a couple of my SPS when I added carbon and it was BRS ROX. I will NEVER run that again. I only used 1/4 a cup on a 240 gallon system too with really slow flow. I talked about it in my build thread. luckily it only affected my cheap corals so I do not care that much as I caught it and took it offline but that would be my first thought. I doubt it is the temperature unless you poured the really hot water right on the acros, which I assume you didnt do

 

[Johnson556]

I just don't see how 30 gallons of water into a 200 gallon tank would do that. Maybe if it was substantially higher and poured directly over the colony? Doesn't seem likely. How did you treat the AEFW?

As far as what to do, I'd cut some frags off the good areas for back up stock, continue water changes, and cross my fingers. On frags I've had luck stopping STN by covering the affected area + a little more with super glue or epoxy putty.

Well, the way I treated AEFW was rip every piece of SPS out of my tank and put them in a bucket of shame.....kind of regret that one. Went fallow for almost 70 days.
That was my initial though but there's really nothing else I can think of. The water was being returned directly into the prop of an MP40 so it would quickly disperse it, didn't work.

I just had this exact same thing happen, the tips burning part on a couple of my SPS when I added carbon and it was BRS ROX. I will NEVER run that again. I only used 1/4 a cup on a 240 gallon system too with really slow flow. I talked about it in my build thread. luckily it only affected my cheap corals so I do not care that much as I caught it and took it offline but that would be my first thought. I doubt it is the temperature unless you poured the really hot water right on the acros, which I assume you didnt do

Hearing this makes me want to leave work and shut it off, but at the same time I have been running this stuff for 3 years and have not had an known adverse effects since. Well, maybe it was the cause of an Acan's polyp ejection but that was it, I think/hope...Do you think yours could have burnt from the sudden increase in water clarity/rise in par? I've heard of that being the actual issue.

 

[CoralWealth]

Well, the way I treated AEFW was rip every piece of SPS out of my tank and put them in a bucket of shame.....kind of regret that one. Went fallow for almost 70 days.
That was my initial though but there's really nothing else I can think of. The water was being returned directly into the prop of an MP40 so it would quickly disperse it, didn't work.



Hearing this makes me want to leave work and shut it off, but at the same time I have been running this stuff for 3 years and have not had an known adverse effects since. Well, maybe it was the cause of an Acan's polyp ejection but that was it, I think/hope...Do you think yours could have burnt from the sudden increase in water clarity/rise in par? I've heard of that being the actual issue.

It could have been that but I have heard other people who do not like to run ROX because of how potent it is but if you have been running it for 3 years then that definitely shouldnt be the easy unless you just added brand new stuff before you left or shortly before. It took mine about 1-2 weeks to show bad signs. I know it was that as I did not change anything else and I have a KHG that controls my alk very steady. Could have been the light shock from more clear water, but I just know I wont be using it again. Obviously some people use it with no problem. Just giving you my thought and what happened to me.

 

[Johnson556]

+1 I doubt the temperature hypothesis. I've dumped hotter water right on top of my coral before (not on purpose) and nothing about the coral changed. What's the lighting situation?

Lighting is 3 Kessil a360W's and Six 80W T5's (B+B+ C+ C+ B+ B+)
Kessil turn on at 11AM at 20%, ramp up to 60% at 2PM, the begin to ramp down at 8PM back to 20%. I reduced the max output to 50% on Tuesday (the 1st)
T5's turn on ad 2PM and shut off at 8PM.

 

[lolgranny]

Stray voltage?

 

[Johnson556]

Stray voltage?

Something I have not yet tested, I'll check that out tonight.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

If it was temp related corals will bleach not TN. I do think itmwas a temp issue since 30g in a 200g system would not change anything really, unless it was REALLY hot water. The ROX is a suspect for sure, carbon can be harmful if too much is used. I would look to anything you did in the last 2-4 weeks. Changing the carbon or gfo, dosing something new, maybe your water change water had higher alk and caused a spike, sudden nutrient spike or drop like going for undetectable to .06 could cause STN or RTN.

 

[Johnson556]

If it was temp related corals will bleach not TN. I do think itmwas a temp issue since 30g in a 200g system would not change anything really, unless it was REALLY hot water. The ROX is a suspect for sure, carbon can be harmful if too much is used. I would look to anything you did in the last 2-4 weeks. Changing the carbon or gfo, dosing something new, maybe your water change water had higher alk and caused a spike, sudden nutrient spike or drop like going for undetectable to .06 could cause STN or RTN.

I forgot to mention, I change carbon the 1st of every month. So I did not change carbon until after this issue began. I did spike phosphates from undetectable to .06 weeks ago which could have been it but I think that’s more so why one random acro I have is back to brown.

I only run carbon and dose esv b-ionic. Nothing else other than a skimmer and a scrubber. Skimmer and scrubber have been tuned back for a few months now to help things get detectable.

 

[Johnson556]

I did compare a few photos from Monday to Today, from what I can see the bonsai and pink lemonade are already starting to recover. Pretty sure I’ll lose the slimmer however. I’m unsure on the tenius and milli.

 

[DEWreefing]

What type of salt and what was the alk of the fresh mixed salt.

 

[Johnson556]

Red Sea Blue Bucket, mixes at a lower calc but alk is usually spot on with the tank. Maybe .1 higher.

Don’t really test it anymore

 

[JDtimk]

I am sort of leaning toward the phosphate spike. I haven't run carbon in years, but I seem to remember abandoning it and GFO for what i felt were negative effects on the coral vitality and resilience to fluctuations in water when they occur. It just seemed that acros were more hearty and resilient in my tank after I stopped carbon and GFO, although I stopped them together so it's hard to say if it was carbon or GFO or the combination.

Also while you were away on vacation did the nutrient levels drop?

 

[jda]

I am not buying the temp change as an issue either. Did you let the water change water mix thoroughly?

Most burnt tips are from too-low building blocks and high alk causing the skeleton to outgrow the organic tissue of the coral - this does not look like that with 5 N and .02P being more than enough to not trigger faster calcification. The other way is LED light burn, but this has not been as large of an issue since most of the fixtures with the suspect (arguably) white didoes are out of favor for a while - this is possible, but also suspect without any recent changes.

I would lean towards a masse of issues stemming from AEFW treatment (or move) that just left the coral weakened combined just bad circumstance. I gotta think that otherwise super healthy coral could withstand anything that you posted. It can sometimes take months for coral to recover from stress.

 

[DEWreefing]

What does the coral look like right now. I'm leaning towards alk burn.

 

[Rick.45cal]

So my bonsai does that same exact thing when my phosphates dip to undetectable for a period of time. I suspect your corals have aquired damage from a phosphate deficiency. Unlike a bleaching event the tissue itself is damaged. Just my guess.