Dieing SPS

[cwatkins]

I'd blame the bulbs. I had the spectrum on both my MH 150's go at the same time (thus I didn't notice it because each looked identical) until 2 Acro's bleached whiter then white. After a week or so they turn into a algea farm

[untamed]

Death of a single coral/colony will sometimes spread to nearby corals. This has led me to conclude that there may be a bacterial component at work.

I'll provide an example...

I was running two isolated systems. Both had healthy populations of SPS. A colony began to die in tank A. So, thinking that tank A had some kind of problem (lighting, CA, Alk etc.)... I moved the colony into tank B.

When I returned to tank B less that 24 hours later, 4 SPS closest to the imported colony had died.

There was nothing wrong with any SPS in tank B. The addition of a single piece of dying coral killed others within 24 hours and it killed corals closest, first.

It has nothing to do with tank parameters.

[Milad]

WTH!
I just lost another SPS. This one was 12 inches directly under a 150w MH. White in under 24hrs. It was about 6inches round.

Im thinking I better get the new light over this tank ASAP.

[apexifd]

had that happened to me few months back.

I believe it was the low alk cause the initial die off. And since I was away from home during that time, more SPS was dying. Came from from holiday, only to find that I already lost 1/2 of my SPS and die off continued for another week of so.

not sure what fix my it. since I did a multiple thing at that time

1. lots of water changes
2. correct the low alk issue
3. add in carbon reactor

hope any of these helps

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by untamed

It has nothing to do with tank parameters.

Going with this as well. It's not the light, which should be changed anyway, and Ca and alk are not at levels that I would consider harmful. I've run my Ca close to 500ppm before, and alk anywhere between 5 and 14dkh is fine (as long as it's stable). I've had colonies that just go, and often take others with them, even when moved to another tank. Anytime this happens now, I quickly remove the colony, try and salvage a frag from the tip furthest from any recession, and pray to the reef gods. Sometimes SPS just do this, and too much mucking around with tank parameters can make it worse. Go for stable water, get a new bulb because you should have last year, and ride it out. A nice water change never hurts either.

[Milad]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

Going with this as well. It's not the light, which should be changed anyway, and Ca and alk are not at levels that I would consider harmful. I've run my Ca close to 500ppm before, and alk anywhere between 5 and 14dkh is fine (as long as it's stable). I've had colonies that just go, and often take others with them, even when moved to another tank. Anytime this happens now, I quickly remove the colony, try and salvage a frag from the tip furthest from any recession, and pray to the reef gods. Sometimes SPS just do this, and too much mucking around with tank parameters can make it worse. Go for stable water, get a new bulb because you should have last year, and ride it out. A nice water change never hurts either.

Well I consider my parameters stable but within the next couple months ill have my new fish room up and running so that should be a extra few hundred gallons to stable it out.

What i dont get is all these colonies that have died were flourishing the day before. Just doesn't make sense. The one that just died was a small 1 inch frag and it grew into a 6in ball in under a year. SPS is starting to drive me nuts. None of my LPS/softies have died

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Milad

SPS is starting to drive me nuts.

Welcome to the club IME, when one goes poof, it often takes others with it. In my tank I have about 80 pieces of acropora. One day I get up, check tank, all's good. Go out for the day and come home to a large colony completely gone. Just went poof. Everything else was and still is fine. Who knows why this happens, but again, IME, mucking around trying to fix an unknown is just asking for more trouble. Do a good water change, clean your filters/skimmers, etc, and replace carbon. Then hope it stops. I've gone through this and lost half my tank, then everything was fine.

[tang daddy]

From my experience, sps rtn isn't caused by pests because no animals can consume a large colony in one day. I had some sps rtn before, some were wild colonies and others was due to heat in the summer with temps rising above 89f. I also had a tank crash because of meds and disturbing the sand bed. But since you don't have wild colonies and run a chiller there's definitely something in the water. Have you been dosing anything new when you started to notice the symptoms of rtn? Something in the water that the sps don't like for them to die off so suddenly. Hope you get the problem rectified soon, I would say like others have suggested maybe some water changes to dissipate whatever is poisoning the sps.

[Milad]

Originally Posted by tang daddy

From my experience, sps rtn isn't caused by pests because no animals can consume a large colony in one day. I had some sps rtn before, some were wild colonies and others was due to heat in the summer with temps rising above 89f. I also had a tank crash because of meds and disturbing the sand bed. But since you don't have wild colonies and run a chiller there's definitely something in the water. Have you been dosing anything new when you started to notice the symptoms of rtn? Something in the water that the sps don't like for them to die off so suddenly. Hope you get the problem rectified soon, I would say like others have suggested maybe some water changes to dissipate whatever is poisoning the sps.

The interesting part is Ive been messing with the tank much much less. Since I got the pellets online and my nitrates and phosphates are zero, Ive basically left the tank alone except for emptying the skimmer every few days. My zoas are growing like wildfire, only one colony died which was attacked by a aptsia. The purple death i bought from you at last year's frag meet has gone from 3 heads to about 40ish and its in a low light zone.