Something going on! Any suggestions?

B

Bigbluebh

OK.... Some brown looking algae, or something, started showing up on my montipora caps a few weeks ago. I checked my parameters and everything was perfect except my alkalinity. It was at 2.0 mEq/L when I checked it back on 12/5. I started supplementing, drip method, with Reef Buffer from Seachem to bring my PH on up to 8.3 from 8.1 and raise my alkalinity. The alkalinity was at 2.5 on 12/6 and then 2.9 today. I was out of town between 12/6 and today so that's why I have only raised it by 1.0 mEq/L so far. Since then, I have noticed that my montipora digita's seem to be bleaching out slowly. I went out and bought a new test kit today to make sure I did not have a bad kit. The new kit measured the same. Everything else appears to be fine with the exception of my monti caps and digita's.

Some other things I have noticed:
- Water clarity seems to have improved
- The colors on some of my acro's have improved
- One acro seems to be loosing some of it's flesh. Maybe a high flow issue. It was directly in front of a power head.

I have been out of town and the temp in the house got a little cool my wife said. Could low temp, 73-75, have this kind of impact on a tank?

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.... Please note, my alkalinity has been at 2.0 mEq/L forever and this is the first time I have tried to raise it.

Current Parameters:
Ammonia = 0
Alkalinity = 2.9 mEq/L
PH = 8.1
Calcium = 400
Nitrate = 0
Specific Gravity = 1.025
Temperature = 79

Thanks,
Billy
 
Yes low temp could do that... a good friend who shall remain nameless :) recently discovered his tank was very low for quite some time, down around 70-72.... it knocked out several montiporas and some acros etc... fish did just fine.

Not saying that is your problem though..

Can you get a photo of the brown stuff... there is dino's to worry about, its a snotty looking brown/golden brown algae that is toxic to critters and it could cause problems with corals if it sits on them.

I would also check your Magnesium level. Magnesium is important to monti's and if MG gets low, they can stress out and die, usually by fading in color first and looking like they are sickly etc.
 
No cracked bulbs. They are only about a month old also. I picked up a phosphate test kit today and my phosphates are at 0.25ppm (mg/L). No pictures yet.... Have been traveling way too much. Anyway, I turned off my lights to clear up some of the brown algae. The only thing that has changed lately is the filters in my RO/DI system. I checked the top off water and it appears that the phosphates are somewhere around 0. We also made our own fish food for the first time a few weeks ago. Maybe something is going on there.? Still no magnesium test results since our local fish stores do not carry the test kit. I will order a test kit the next couple of days.

My alkalinity is also up to 3.2 mEq/L

Only the monti's are affected and continue to get worse.... I don't get it. I always thought the montipora's were hardier than other corals....

Thanks for the suggestions so far,
Billy
 
The brown stuff may be normal for a young tank or lighting that is running too long daily.

Lowered magnesium and stray electricity really hurt Montipora.
 
The tank is about four years old and has never given me any problems. The tank is a standard 75G tank with two T5 astinic bulbs and two 250watt MH bulbs. The T5's kick on at 12pm and the MH's kick on a 2pm. The MH's kick off at 10pm and the T5's kick off at 11pm.

Another point, I have recently purchased several sps corals, mainly milliporas and acroporas, to prepare for a 125g upgrade. Could my magnesium usage be more than my bi-weekly water changes are able to replenish? I won't know if magnesium is low until my test kit comes in but I am curious if that could happen.
 
Yes, or it may have been chronically low for some time now. Is the brown stuff getting on the corals? Can you post some pictures?
 
OK..... Lights back on today. I put together a DIY reactor to run some phosban and bring down my phosphates until my reactor arrives. I checked the stray voltage and it is at 40V with everything plugged up. I unplugged my pump, heater and powerheads and it dropped down to 12V. With the tip of the voltmeter out of the water it is at 2V. I have no idea where the 10V is coming from when everything but the lights are turned off. Also, I could not narrow it down to one single device. I could only drop the voltage when I unplugged everything. I am guessing that each one of them leaches a couple of volts each. ??? Now the big question, how do you remove the stray voltage?

Now for some pics....

Green Monti has lost its color
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Unknow acro began to bleach slowly and not its almost completely white
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Brown digita is beginning to bleach and notice how the polyps are not extended
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The entire album.....
http://s638.photobucket.com/albums/uu101/BillyHornsby/Coral%20disease/
 
Your light reflectors may need to be grounded as well. Turn off everything, remove the ground probe, and measure again. Whatever is leaking power into the tank is affecting your coral and fish. Some can tolerate it while others cannot.

Why not run up to your local fish store and ask them to test the Mg level of the water so you can start dosing?
 
Our local fish stores do not test for magnesium. Bad news this morning! The lights came on and one of my birdsnests were 80% bleached out. I cut a couple of frags to see if I could save some of it.... Headed to Tyler this afternoon to have my magnesium tested. I am going to have them test everything to see if I am missing something in my testing.

This is starting to get really aggravating!! :sad:
 
Just left the fish store. Magnesium is at 840

Now the horrible news. As I was leaving I noticed some type of worms all over my front glass. The store told me they were flatworms and hooked me up with some medication to kill them out.
 
You've got a few problems happening all at the same time. Magnesium is really low at 840ppm. You can bring it up gradually 100ppm daily for a week to get it up to 1350ppm.

The flatworm situation isn't critical, and you can siphon them out for now. Treat the tank later when things settle down, not right now while your corals are already in decline.
 
Update.....

I lost one acropora coral. Thankfully, I was able to frag a few pieces off of my ORA Hyacinth Bird's Nest. I cut off 10 pieces and two survived. It was one of my first corals so I was happy to save at least a piece of it. My phosphates have gone down considerably and calcium and magnesium are on their way up. My monti caps and digitas are looking much better. Before I get crazy with any flatworm eliminator I wanted to make sure that's what I am looking at. Check out the pics and give me your opinion. I only see them on my glass. I am thinking they might be some kind of snail because I cannot find any flatworm pictures that resemble what I have. ??

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White flatworms are usually benign and nothing to worry about. Here's my flatworm ID page:

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/flatworm.html

Click on the second one, which looks a lot like yours.
 
I wouldn't treat the tank if that is what you have.
 
Update.....

Parameters:
Phosphates = Near 0 it appears. Kit is not the best. Goes from .25 to 0. API Test kit.
Magnesium = 1340
Calcium = 380

I am working to bring my calcium back up now that my magnesium is coming in range.

I have one tiny frag of my ORA Birdsnest that is hanging in there. Some of the other corals that were affected have started recovering as well. However, I noticed today that my brown digita is continuing to die out. I found a starfish around the base earlier today so I monitored it all day to see what it was doing. Well, I noticed that the polyps were starting to disappear as the starfish was moving up the coral. I pulled the starfish out for closer inspection and I noticed that it was different from the other starfish I normally see hanging around on the glass. It has 6 legs while the others normally have four or five.

Some pics of my loss and the starfish....

Acropora Before
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Acropora After
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Starfish1
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Starfish2
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Starfish3
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Any thoughts....
 
Another update....

Parameters as of this morning:

Calcium = 400
pH = 8.0
Ammonia = 0
Phosphate = .10
Magnesium = 1400
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 0
Alkalinity = 8.0
Salinity = 1.0260

Everything seems to be fine but I have one monti cap that continues to look worse each day. Pictures below:

Monti Before
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Monti After
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I also have a Red Hot Chili Pepper frag that has turned grey also. Is this a response to my change in parameters? I must admit that this is the first time that all my parameters have been within range. Thanks to all those, especially DaveJ and Marc, that have offered suggestions and got me on the right track. Correct me if I am wrong, my plan now is to monitor my parameters for a few weeks to develop a sense of magnesium, calcium and alkalinity usage. With that data I can develop a daily dosing schedule to keep my parameters stable. Any suggestions welcome here. I simply let it be what it was before but my corals are screaming for stability I believe.

Thanks Again for all the Help!
Billy
 
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