Haaaalp

[dabandit]

Heres a pic of my last colony it was perfect yesterday,notice how the polyps are still extended. HELP! Please refer to my 'why the hell do my sps keep dying'' post for further info pleeeeeeese

[sphelps]

It's RTN, what's your alk at?

Only chance to save it would be to frag off a healthy section and remount it, better hurry though.

[dabandit]

10 is what i was getting,but I bought a new test thats saying 5 im taking the 5 as accurate. Should i be raising this?

[sphelps]

Yeah that's more than likely the issue. You need to use a buffer of some sort to raise the alkalinity to at least 8. If other corals are at risk I would attempt to raise it in one shot, others will likely advise more caution and recommend raising it slowly.

What kind of test kit were you using before, Salifert had a bad batch of ALK test kits which gave high false readings.

[untamed]

I have no proof of this... What I'm about to say is strictly my own opinion based on observation and personal theory..

I believe that there are naturally occuring bacteria that feed on dead/dying coral tissue. A crude analogy would be to compare these to what is called "Flesh eating disease" in our own bodies. They are going to be present in every aquarium and there is nothing you can do to eliminate their presence. Healthy coral has no problem with these bacteria, especially if the bacterial population is low and there is little decaying coral to feed on.

As system parameters change to unhealthy for coral (for many possible reasons), some coral becomes unable to defend itself and some of the tissue dies. This dead/dying tissue is food for this bacteria, leading to an increase in the bacteria population that feed on dead coral, putting more pressure on the remaining coral tissue and other coral in the tank.

A weakened coral can very quickly be overcome (RTN, STN), but the resulting bacteria population bloom can take out an entire tank in very short order.

Again, this is only my theory based on my personal observations of how RTN/STN events seem to unfold. This means that the best defence is to keep tank parameters in line as much as possible...and aggressively remove any dead/dying coral tissue from the system as quickly as possible.

When I see a coral that looks to be in trouble, I remove as much dead tissue as possible, and dip the remaining healthy portion in an iodine based dip (like TM Pro-coral cure). Carefully observe coral that is physically NEAR to a coral that is in trouble as these will be among to the first to show signs of trouble.

Anyway...that's my $.02 worth of opinion. Please be polite if you think I'm just a crackpot who doesn't know what I'm talking about.

[dabandit]

im desperate jacked it up to 7 so far today i'll take it to 8 tommorow,im not sure about the kit I've been using a mixture of several (bottles left over over the years) sounds like it might have been a bad batch though, it was waaay off. thanks for the help

[brizzo]

What are you doing to raise the alkalinity so quickly?? Seems awfully fast if you want things to remain stable....

Good read about the interactions of alkalinity and your reef system: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/alkalinity.htm

[dabandit]

I jacked it up fast because I only have 1 frag and 1 acro colony which is now 3/4 skeleton my fish have been moved to my wifes fowlr tank and my acro colony has been reduced to 3 1'' frags in my frag tank. At this point theres nothing left to lose 99% die off ....empty tank another grand down tha crappa lol

[muck]

Most if not all test kits have a shelf life and it probably wasn't the best idea to use a "mixture" of a bunch of left-over kits.