SPS help

delo978 · #1 08-16-2011, 09:54 AM

Need some help/suggestions for my SPS....never ran into this problem before and did everything I could think of. I upgraded from a 50gallon tank to a 90/130with sump tank and everything was perfect for the first 2 months of the transfer. I hadn't changed my routine and upped my dosing to a my new tank size all the same chemicals I was using prior. Starting a few days ago I lost 1 SPS coral (acro) within 24 hrs and I've lost 3 more in the last week. There was no symptoms they were fully open all day everything peachy and Just out of no wheres they turned white within a few hours. My parameters check and are as follows (as some may ask what exactly they are)
PH- 8.3
Salinity 1.024
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite -0
Nitrate -0
Phosphate - 0
Copper -0 tested just in case
DKH -11
Calcium -400
This is what I've been dosing for the last 1.5 years in my previous tank and have kept dosing since the upgrade.
Calcium, strontium/magnesium, iron, potassium, DKH buffer, and lugols....I might be missing one but not currently home to check. Here's what I've done so far to attempt to rectify the problem....water change, change the carbon, clean out all the filter pads in my return pump, cleaned out the entire skimmer, cropped out some cheato. I can't think of anything else I could do. all my softies and leathers are fine and the sps that are alive are all open with no sign of stress. The only measure I can think is to stop dosing everything except calcium and see if it's maybe it's a balancing issue since I don't have a test kit for stron/mag and hope that it sorts itself out. I've also checked for parasite like redworms and nudi branches however haven't seen anything. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

If you're inquiring about my tank setup It's a standard 90g drilled tank to a 30gallon sump with cheato night light cycle. I've got a wavemaker2 and a coralia 125 skimmer. lighting is 2 400watt MH 20k bulbs and my temp doesn't fluctuate more than 1deg by night. Night lighting is a 20 LED strip for visual effects only it's not bright enough for corals to stay open at night. light timing is 11 on 13 off. Not really sure what other info you would need but ask away and I'll provide what I can.

Cheers
and thanks for your help.

fishytime · #2 08-16-2011, 12:39 PM

DKH is high......whats your Mg at?

reefermadness · #3 08-16-2011, 01:22 PM

Nothing you have told us here would explain this event IMO. You alkalinity is higher than I like but if its been stable than I dont think it to be the cause.

Sometimes we never know the cause (although Im sure it's something/or a combination of things). All I can suggest is to do lots of water changes for a period and do not let the dieing SPS linger in the aquarium too long. Many people believe that it can be bacterial/virus and can go from colony to colony. I think its more likely that they are all in the same environment and react similarly to the negative stimulus, but you never know. And the dead SPS tissue can't be good for water quality.

delo978 · #4 08-16-2011, 03:08 PM

waiting on a mag test kit....... none are available in my area, so water changes and the waiting game is all I can currently do. Thanks for your input.

Milad · #5 08-16-2011, 03:35 PM

Tagging along, Im having the same issue

ScubaSteve · #6 08-16-2011, 03:44 PM

I've had this happen in the past and I later discovered it was caused by a dying birdsnest colony. As soon as I took the birdsnest out of the tank everything stopped dying. I suspect you may have something similar. As soon as you seer a colony start to go, cut your losses and rescue the healthy parts of the colony, if any, and toss the rest. Who knows what caused the die off in the first place.

Alk is high. While it's not catastrophically high, I've had mine this high before and found the colonies to be more susceptible to weird things... In fact I suspect high alk was the cause of my birdsnest collapsing that triggered everything else.

Aquattro · #7 08-16-2011, 03:58 PM

While I now believe a lower alk is better, I used to routinely run mine above 12dkh for years, no issues. I don't think 11 is going to trigger die-off.

tprowse0804 · #8 08-16-2011, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

I've had this happen in the past and I later discovered it was caused by a dying birdsnest colony. As soon as I took the birdsnest out of the tank everything stopped dying. I suspect you may have something similar. As soon as you seer a colony start to go, cut your losses and rescue the healthy parts of the colony, if any, and toss the rest. Who knows what caused the die off in the first place.

Alk is high. While it's not catastrophically high, I've had mine this high before and found the colonies to be more susceptible to weird things... In fact I suspect high alk was the cause of my birdsnest collapsing that triggered everything else.

What is a birdsnest colony? and what does dkh stand for?