Why are my corals dying?

[MarcosTacos]

Hi, recently corals in one corner of my tank have been dying and I need to know why. Mostly euphillya but also a montipora digitata.

I noticed my hammer corals weren't doing great, they were less extended by the day and the skeleton started to show at the base. Now my frogspawn is doing the same thing and my digi is bleaching out.



I had a BTA in that area that hasn't been doing good lately, also shrinking and I decided to remove it today before it died and poisoned everything.

My parameters are stable: 8.7 dkh alk, 400 ppm calc, 1350 ppm mag, 1.026 salinity, 10ppm nitrate and 0.1 ppm phosphate, pH is around 8.15 when I test around 4pm.

Now I have some hypothesis:
- I have a Prorocentrym dino outbreak, I know they are poisonous and run carbon to counter this. Problem is, my other corals are fine, including a torch coral so I have doubts about this causing the problem. I am in the process of treating the dinos by raising nutrients, ordered waterglass to cause a diatom bloom, 5 micron filter socks to siphon some of the dinos and recycle water, going to dose pods, phyto and bacteria.

- I have not been doing water changes because of the dinos, I dose kalkwasser, magnesium and nutrients to keep my levels stable each day. Again, other corals don't seem bothered so I don't think this is the issue.

- My bta was releasing toxins because it was dying near those corals, affecting them more and such killing them. I'm not sure this is possible but something I thought of.

- Disease of some sort, although these corals have been in my tank for a long time and have been doing good, I did notice my digitata getting a white spot that grew a bit every week on its underside. I looked for some nudis at night but didn't see anything. Again, I am no expert and am not sure if a disease could affect both Euphyllia and SPS.

I would love to get some input on other reefers and their experience, I don't think this is a coincidence and would like to take action before all my other corals die.

 

[sfin52]

Your numbers look good. What's around around the candycanes? Possible warfare? What are you using for tests?

 

[jabberwock]

How old is the tank?

 

[MarcosTacos]

Your numbers look good. What's around around the candycanes? Possible warfare? What are you using for tests?

This is a hammer coral, not a candy cane coral. Both my hammers retracted like crazy and then puffed up like that making them look like candy canes. Never seen that before.

Only hammer corals in that area as I tried to build a garden. Some alveopora frags a couple inches away but not concerning. Like mentionned I did have a bta below them on the rock but they couldn't make direct contact

How old is the tank?

Tank has been running for 2 years, but I bought it from someone a couple months ago and did a full rescape using some of the old and new rock and added some sand about 2 months ago.

 

[jabberwock]

So it is behaving like a new tank. You have the "establishment", now it seeks equilibrium. As always, patience is key. I believe the tank needs time to find balance. I would not do much beyond regular maintenance and water changes. Maybe add a bit of live rock from another source to boost diversity.

 

[sfin52]

Tank has been running for 2 years, but I bought it from someone a couple months ago and did a full rescape using some of the old and new rock and added some sand about 2 months ago.

This right here. was it dry rock rock you added? Agree jabber you tank is trying to find a balance again. It may take some time.

 

[MarcosTacos]

Yes I added some dry rock and used some of my live rock (which I kept live), so the tank still has the bacteria and fauna it accumulated in the last 2 years, I just added some more rock.

If this causes a ''mini-cycle'', I see how it could affect corals because the tank is seeking a ''balance''.

However, the corals affected are all in the same corner of the tank, wouldn't all my corals be affected? Seems like a big coincidence that all the ''sick'' corals are in the same area. Also lighting has been measured there and is around 130-150 par which is what these corals have been in for a long while. Flow seems about right for hammers, maybe a bit low for the digi.

In any case, I was thinking of adding some bacteria and phyto with pods to combat the dino, hope this will help with the tank's ''balance''.

 

[MarcosTacos]

Been monitoring the issue.

My small hammer is definetly a goner, only a little flesh left and is receding everyday.
My larger hammer is not doing good either but not as bad as the other one. My frogspawn is in the same boat.

I also did notice my xenia and gsp are more closed up than usual.

I think the dinos or no water changes due to dinos might be the culprit. I will send out an ICP test today to confirm my water has good parameters and nothing off.

Hopefully I don't lose anything else.

 

[PensacolaReefKeeper]

Sorry to hear about your tank. Perhaps you could look for evidence of a mini cycle by seeing if your nitrates are accumulating faster than normal? But you'd only be able to see this if you continued your same routine of dosing, etc.

 

[MarcosTacos]

I have sold off alot of my more expensive corals to a local to recuperate most of the money I spent on them. I currently have a couple hardier corals and they seem to be doing good, not great but they are not getting worse. I will focus on beating dinos and then might rethink my tank a bit. I love reefing but find that I have over complicated my tank by adding a doser and lots of lps and sps.

I will probably stick to mostly softies and maybe a couple lps once everything settles down and the dinos are gone. I'd like to only run on weekly water changes.