Back to basics - Reefing woes

[Mark_C]

Yesterday my wife mentioned the corals looking washed out.
Today most of my SPS, including some big stylo and acro colonies, are mostly dead (within 48-72 hours).
Yet, my BG digi is doing fine, as are all zoas, montis, a scroll, and fish.
Parameters seems fine. Not perfect, but not bad.
I'm pretty sure this hobby gets bored sometimes and decides to ^&%$ with us to keep itself amused.

So, going back to basics in the 35g.
Sump gone. Dosing pumps offline. Skimmer out. Reactor gone.
No more chasing things, no more app tweaking.
Ordered some new T5 bulbs and changed out the RODI media.

Now it's just floss, an ATO, a heater, 2 powerheads, a small bag of Chemipure Elite, and 5g water change a week.
I'm going to forego any testing aside from making sure the water change is at 1.026.

 

[myrjon]

Keep it simple

 

[deepblue68]

Yesterday my wife mentioned the corals looking washed out.
Today most of my SPS, including some big stylo and acro colonies, are mostly dead (within 48-72 hours).
Yet, my BG digi is doing fine, as are all zoas, montis, a scroll, and fish.
Parameters seems fine. Not perfect, but not bad.
I'm pretty sure this hobby gets bored sometimes and decides to ^&%$ with us to keep itself amused.

So, going back to basics in the 35g.
Sump gone. Dosing pumps offline. Skimmer out. Reactor gone.
No more chasing things, no more app tweaking.
Ordered some new T5 bulbs and changed out the RODI media.

Now it's just floss, an ATO, a heater, 2 powerheads, a small bag of Chemipure Elite, and 5g water change a week.
I'm going to forego any testing aside from making sure the water change is at 1.026.

Sorry to hear about the setback sometimes keeping it simple is the best way.

 

[eholceker]

Sorry to hear about the setback sometimes keeping it simple is the best way.

Check for black bugs.

 

[Romanhawk]

Sorry man. I have a bunch of purple stylo that I will donate to your reboot to help get it back going again.

 

[mickeysreef <*))))<]

I do this on my 29 biocube. 5 gallons a week no tests. just run filter floss and bag of carbon. softies and some lps. 4 fish

 

[Mark_C]

No worries folks, and thanks Steve.
I'm probably going to go back to the basics for a couple of months and see what happens.
I'll let the tank dictate what it wants to do. Still have some monti, scroll, digi, and paly/zoa so we'll se what wants to grow under the new regime.
My big acro and purp stylo still have some polyps, so we'll see if they pull through.

Looking forward to playing a basic game as opposed to a chemical and app based approach.

Saying that...
My pest tank is now approaching (or may have just passed) 6 years without a water change, and it is drawing more attention than my MD and looking amazing.
May have to take some pics tomorrow.

 

[Justin]

No worries folks, and thanks Steve.
I'm probably going to go back to the basics for a couple of months and see what happens.
I'll let the tank dictate what it wants to do. Still have some monti, scroll, digi, and paly/zoa so we'll se what wants to grow under the new regime.
My big acro and purp stylo still have some polyps, so we'll see if they pull through.

Looking forward to playing a basic game as opposed to a chemical and app based approach.

Saying that...
My pest tank is now approaching (or may have just passed) 6 years without a water change, and it is drawing more attention than my MD.

My tank that I keep as basic as possible is the one that is doing the best, seems my corals like me the most when I stay the hell out of their tank lol. But sorry man that sucks, I'll have some SPS frags in a few weeks most likely, if your looking to repopulate I got you covered

 

[ericrodriguez]

Sorry to hear that..
I wish you good luck now

 

[amado]

Some times you just need to reset and leave the tank alone.
Good luck

 

[erics210]

Sorry to hear.

And yes we love your pest tank!

This post kinda scares me.
Got my skimmer back online Thanksgiving. Changed salt a few days later and think I have things dialed in pretty well.
Started dosing to maintain 8.8dKh on the 10th.
I feel my tank has done better in the past 11 days than it ever has...
Based on your post- I am due for disaster at any moment...lol

 

[DEL]

damn!!!!! that sucks mark!! 3 day death?? hmmmmm. keep us posted on how everything works out. let me know if you need anything.

 

[MadReefer]

That sucks. Why this hobby drives me crazy. No change and stuff starts dying.

 

[Mark_C]

This has really got me stumped.

This guy was neon green on Friday...
.

And this Purple stylo is dying while bg digi is fine...

(and note the small frag to the right is also deceased)

Paly's, zoas, and scrolls are all great, as are the fish...




This guy was so full it was like a mop a few days ago...



Literally 2/3 of the SPS in my tank wiped within 72 hours. Everything else is fine. Parameters seem normal.

I did mention to Ryan last night that I had used a very high VOC acrylic cement in the area on Saturday, but surely it wouldn't effect only certain corals?
Also found I had a jammed powerhead, but cant see that being responsible for random SPS death.

/scratching head

 

[MadReefer]

It is possible the VOC cement caused the problem but I would take small coral and check for bugs first.

My wife sprayed Lysol every where I was sick and tank was fine.

 

[Deleted member 27248]

I w

This has really got me stumped.

This guy was neon green on Friday...
.View attachment 33773

And this Purple stylo is dying while bg digi is fine...
View attachment 33775
(and note the small frag to the right is also deceased)

Paly's, zoas, and scrolls are all great, as are the fish...
View attachment 33776
View attachment 33777
View attachment 33780

This guy was so full it was like a mop a few days ago...
View attachment 33781


Literally 2/3 of the SPS in my tank wiped within 72 hours. Everything else is fine. Parameters seem normal.

I did mention to Ryan last night that I had used a very high VOC acrylic cement in the area on Saturday, but surely it wouldn't effect only certain corals?
Also found I had a jammed powerhead, but cant see that being responsible for random SPS death.

/scratching head

ill try to find a better and fact based article. But I have read that having VOC in the air will be sucked up by the skimmer, resulting in contaminated air being directly sucked into tank. I also read that contaminated air near a tank can even deplete oxygen in a system.

 

[diana a]

did you add any corals to the tank in the last 3 weeks?

 

[Mark_C]

did you add any corals to the tank in the last 3 weeks?

Nope. Everything has been remarkably happy and stable.
No additions, no brand changes, no change in husbandry habits.

 

[eholceker]

Nope. Everything has been remarkably happy and stable.
No additions, no brand changes, no change in husbandry habits.

The VOC's can definitely cause an issue. The stylo is in the same family as a birdsnest. When something goes wrong they are the first to show. With any RTN event your going to have bacteria that multiply that end up eating the coral tissue. You also have chemical signals from one coral to another triggering a chain reaction. Only other thing that would cause it was would a rapid PH or Alk swing.

 

[Sponge]

Any VOC can cause a reaction, discomfort and even death. And yes it can and will effect different corals differently. Since no changes have been made to the tank I think the VOC is more than just likely what happened. Very sorry to hear Mark. Hope it all bounces back. One thing concerns me. I understand you want to go back to basics. But understand. All the things you mentioned may be ok in the long run. But that is in its self a major change and may affect more corals. Or prevent ones that just got sick from the fumes from getting better. If you really want to make all those changes you should wait a week and change one thing every week or two until all changes are made.