Help with Rapid Tissue Necrosis

[fixedwing]

So I've had a very frustrating 6 weeks and have lost 15-20 sps frags to RTN and I'm seeking any advice to stop the bleeding. Everything seemed to be going great for a couple months and then I lost one frag, which turned into two and now I've taking a beating. I'm an avid water tester and my parameters have always been in line, but I will say that since losing my first frag I've been trying to stabilize my alkalinity. Over the course of 6 weeks Alk levels have ranged from 8-10dKH. I don't know if this is the culprit, but I'm sure it hasn't helped things. I use Salifert and Hanna Checkers test kits.

A little background on my system:

90 gallon "Bare Bottom" (4 months old)
100+ pounds of Macrorock (which was seeded for 3 months prior to using)
12lbs of Fiji Mud
Refugium
Vertex Omega Skimmer
Lighting: 6x39 ATI with 2 Blue Reefbrite strips
UV Sterilizer (Runs for 12Hrs a day)
Reactor: BRS GFO
BRS Dosing Pumps: ALK and CAL ( I just switched to B-Ionic this weekend from BRS)
Fish (Blue Tang, Yellow Tang, Tomini Tang, 4 firefish, 3 Chromis)
Feeding Habit: dry pellets (daily), rods food/mysis mixture (daily), coral food mixture (2-3 times a week)

Current Parameters:

PH: 7.95 - 8.20 (Daily Swing)
Nitrate: 0-2 (I didn't register nitrates for almost 3 months)
ALK: 10.2 (I'd prefer around 9)
CAL: 430
Mg: 1350
Phosphates: 0
Salinity: .025
Temp: 78.0 - 80.5 (Daily Swing)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thx!!

[Troy Valentine]

Sorry about your losses,

All of your parameters look good. Have you checked for parasites? There have been a lot of Acro eating flatworms and redbugs going around recently.

[fixedwing]

Hi Troy, just the person I hoped would chime in.

It's funny you mention this because I've had it in the back of my mind as a maybe, but I really don't know what to look for. Any advice on when to look for them and if there is a good site to go to for info? I've been seeing small clear/white slug looking critters, but I don't know if these are bad. In all honestly my tank is full of little critters.

I don't know if bugs would cause this, but I literally see the flesh peeling off my sps. In most cases once it starts, within hours the coral is completely dead. Another example, I did a water change yesterday and I was able to suck polyps off my green birdsnest. It was like blowing on a dandelion.

[Scutterborn]

What do you mean on your Po4 (0-4)?


-Ben-

[fixedwing]

What do you mean on your Po4 (0-4)?


-Ben-

Hey Ben,

I changed that to zero, when I was typing it I was thinking about how high it's gotten up to over the past several weeks. Then after I posted it I realized these were my "current" parameters, so I changed it to zero. Sorry about the confusion.

[Scutterborn]

Ah, yes. I see that now. The alk swing is somewhat drastic. Is that a daily swing?


-Ben-

[Scutterborn]

For the most part, it seems like your parameters are on track. I had the hardest time keeping SPS corals up until recently. My tank was just still too new. SPS corals do better in a mature tank. While you had seated your rock for three months prior to using it, the tank itself may still be going through some type of small fluctuations that you can't measure that could be causing this problem.


-Ben-

[fixedwing]

Ah, yes. I see that now. The alk swing is somewhat drastic. Is that a daily swing?


-Ben-

It's not my daily swing, but where my ALK levels have been at over the coarse of the past 6 weeks. I would stay the largest swing has been a point over the coarse of a couple days.

[fixedwing]

For the most part, it seems like your parameters are on track. I had the hardest time keeping SPS corals up until recently. My tank was just still too new. SPS corals do better in a mature tank. While you had seated your rock for three months prior to using it, the tank itself may still be going through some type of small fluctuations that you can't measure that could be causing this problem.


-Ben-

I've been afraid of this as a possibility as well. As I mentioned in my first post, I didn't register Nitrates for almost 3 months and I was feeding my 7 fish like crazy. I felt like my tank was too sterile and there's a part of me that thinks it still is. Anything that you could recommend to help season it? I'd hate to watch the other half of my sps die.

[Scutterborn]

Unfortunately time seems to be the only fix. Allan has been holding my SPS and it's only now that my tank seems to be able to support them. My tank has been up since February.


-Ben-

[Troy Valentine]

Might be pests, however if flesh is just peeling off it sounds like another issue. Have you started using carbon or a carbon substitute recently? Sometimes when this is used it can have a deleterious effect on the system when their is a sudden chemistry change, coupled with the increased par from the improved water clarity.

[fixedwing]

Might be pests, however if flesh is just peeling off it sounds like another issue. Have you started using carbon or a carbon substitute recently? Sometimes when this is used it can have a deleterious effect on the system when their is a sudden chemistry change, coupled with the increased par from the improved water clarity.

I actually took carbon off line about a month ago.

[Troy Valentine]

I agree with Ben your system is only 4 months old and a BB. I think the system needs to mature a little more. I would down shift to very basic SPS, and see how they do.

[fixedwing]

I agree with Ben your system is only 4 months old and a BB. I think the system needs to mature a little more. I would down shift to very basic SPS, and see how they do.

So I guess I will either need to sell or find a baby sitter for my rarer sps? You know who could help baby sit some of my rarer frags for a few months?

Frags would include:

Mystic Sunset Monti
Atlantis Appleberry Monti
Reeftech Starburst
Hologram Monti
Upscales Mircolados
Copps Lemonade Acro
Shades of Fall Nasuta
Blueberry Limeade Acro
and a few others

[Bill S]

One more thought. Have you checked your test kits? When I had my big reef tank, I chased an alkalinity problem for months, that didn't exist. Take your kits and a sample to a LFS to verify. Both of you test your water.

That being said, SPS doesn't like a sterile environment. Reasonable levels of nitrates and phosphates seem to be OK, in my experience. That was the problem we had running a Hiatt filtration problem.

[fixedwing]

One more thought. Have you checked your test kits? When I had my big reef tank, I chased an alkalinity problem for months, that didn't exist. Take your kits and a sample to a LFS to verify. Both of you test your water.

That being said, SPS doesn't like a sterile environment. Reasonable levels of nitrates and phosphates seem to be OK, in my experience. That was the problem we had running a Hiatt filtration problem.

Hi Bill,

My Hanna Checkers are checked with my Salifert test kits and the readings are very close. I even went the extra mile and compared my numbers to Elegant Reefs and everything was within reason as well.

I completely agree with the sterile environment, but I promise it's not intentional. I may look into running my GFO / Skimmer 8-10 hrs a day instead of 24/7.

[allan]

Do you have the sps that you've lost in direct flow from one or more of your powerheads?

I've lost an entire colony due to having it directly in the path of a K4... I could see the skin peeling back and floating away in the current.

[fixedwing]

Do you have the sps that you've lost in direct flow from one or more of your powerheads?

I've lost an entire colony due to having it directly in the path of a K4... I could see the skin peeling back and floating away in the current.

One of the corals was, but the others are spread around. I have only one MP40 for flow.