Talk me down from the ledge please!

M

Monti

Two of my favorite corals are dying, and its got me really depressed, to the point that I'm half considering just breaking it all down. I haven't even looked at this site for about two months now, because I've been so frustrated with my tank, and I just haven't been able to muster up the interest. I used to be a near constant lurker here and at RC, and I finally became a member here a few months back. But now I've been considering breaking my tank down because I just don't feel like I'm as into it as I should be, considering how much time I still have to commit to the tank doing water changes, feeding, cleaning equipment, etc. Everytime I look at my tank and see my huge ORA blue tort colony that I've had for 6 years slowly wasting away it just kills me. I'm about to throw out the other colony, my prized turquoise tort that's done for at this point. My only guess as to why they're dying is due to some kind of infection. It's basically a STN that's been slowly taking the colonies. Everything else is perfect, just these two corals. It's too late for my turquoise tort but I'm wondering if I should bother trying to dip my blue tort as a last ditch effort. Any suggestions on what to dip it with? In the past I've done Lugols dips, but I've also got some TLF Revive, anybody have any suggestions? I've been doing this for about 11 years now, I've suffered a tank crash, a leak, red bugs, monti nudis, infections, and I've bounced back from all of them, but this one is really beating me down for some reason. I hope I don't come off as being too whiney but I'm hoping some support from my fellow reefers might do me some good. TIA!
 
Remember that the rest of your tank is doing great and just these two colonies are in trouble. You can try to cut out the dead areas if you like, and dip/glue down the healthy sections, or write them off. It can be very frustrating trying to grow certain species in your tank, especially if others do it so easily. For years, I couldn't keep blue tort, green slimer, etc... Yet everything else in my system grew great. Still, I wanted those particular corals too. Something in my water simply wasn't right.

I've had some tort in my tank for the past 1.5 years, but it barely grows. I have a green slimer that is doing something for the past few months too.

This hobby has its ups and downs as you pointed out, and we just have to look at the bigger picture sometimes to keep things in perspective. Keeping the entire system clean is a big motivator for me, because it allows me to focus on the beauty of the tank and try not to notice the flaws.

Don't jump!
 
We have all been there... some of us multiple times. My first was a RIO pump that burned up and nuked my tank, the second was a Kalk incident. Both caused wide spread damage and death.... both caused me to reconsider. Each time it happened, I came to the same realization that this is a difficult hobby at times and when its going great it is wonderful, but those times will be off-set by the low points. The love the hobby and the joy in the successes kept me going, along with unpleasant idea of just giving up.......

My advice is to frag what you think you can save. Dip it in Revive and leave them to be. Constant fussing or dipping with cause more harm than good and in the end you may be surprised by what survives, even though it will end up being a much smaller piece. Corals grow back and can be hardy, I've brought some montis and other corals back from the brink a number of times.

Hang in there and remember why you got into the hobby to begin with... these are living beings and death is part of the cycle of life. After all this is over, you'll appreciate the ones living more.
 
Thanks guys, appreciate the support. I cut some frags and did a Revive dip, if they survive I'll try removing the mother colony and dip it as well. Like you said Marc, everything else is doing awesome, its just the attachment to this particular coral was bumming me out. Its funny, I've never been able to keep green slimer either for some strange reason, but my tort I grew out from a small frag and now its a huge colony. Oh well, fingers crossed. Thanks again!
 
Now I'm not saying 'go mess with your setup' but do realise that flow and lighting requirements change as the coral grows - I'm sure you know that but sometimes it takes a second look to notice when change is slow. Instead of moving a powerhead, try adding one to add current into the coral structure. Perhaps the new growth on top is now shading the bottom. It also sounds like you might have some toxin wars going on somewhere? Do you run a good activated carbon and change it often? How about CA/ALK demands being met? Again, that can change as time goes by and if it's set to an automated system/reactors, it can go unchecked. I would also take a second/third look at temperature - heater problems/faulty thermometers/weather changes cause more problems than we'd like to admit. Another issue may be stray voltage leaks. Is there a grounding probe in the tank?
 
I don't think it has anything to do with flow, I have pretty crazy flow in the tank (about 40x turnover), and I don't think its shading because the coral looks sickly all over, not just towards the bottom.The other thing that helps rule those things out is that all my other corals are doing perfectly. I've checked my params several times and think I've ruled that out, I test my water often and I keep a back up thermometer in case my AC jr. temp sensor craps out. I don't mess with grounding probes since I've read they can do more harm than good. I haven't tried any carbon yet, so I'll give that a shot. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
im glad you are giving something a try and not giving up, i went through that when i first started sps with just a stupid basic birdsnest. it grew to the size of a volleyball or so and my other montis and a tenius were a quarter of that since they are such slower growers in comparison and it rtn'd over night while everything checked out and the others were fine. i did what you did and broke some off, cleaned up, and remounted and two of the 3 frags made it and are growing strong today. good luck with it, hope ya stick around.
 
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