Orange Monty fading.

[Mjc092]

Hello, I’m having a problem with some of my orange Monty’s fading. It started about 2 weeks ago and it’s getting worse. Now the weird thing is that I have 2 encrusting monty frags which are not fading but the plating orange montys are the ones fading. To test out if placement is the problem I have placed several frags from the same colony throughout the tank. All of them are turning a light pink color. Any ideas? I also have lost a green birds nest frag which was great for about 3 weeks and slowly started to turn white, the ployps gradually died off over the coarse of a month. And I got a little pink goni frag that has closed up about 4 days ago. My other corals are doing just fine but I’m started to worry. My baby aka tank is primarily an lps, softy tank.

On a side note I have a brown film sludge in my sump. It’s been building up over the past month. Any ideas on what it is?

My levels are:
Salinity: 1.025
Mag: 1300
Nitrate and phosphate: undetectable.
Alk: 10
Cal: 450
Black box led: blues 100% and whites lowest setting.
Temp: 78.
Rodi water. Phosphate reactor. 2 pp4 wavemakers. 3 fish.

The photos show the 2 encrusting frags looking normal. And the others are of the fading frags. Also include a pic of the brown stuff.

 

[diana a]

How old is the tank and what/when did you add the last coral? Did you have an alk swing? Look underneath for evidence of nudi's at night. You may be starving you coral if phos and nitrate are 0. Do you have algae?

 

[Mrx7899x]

+1 on the zero nitrates and phosphates

 

[Mjc092]

Alk fluctuated a little about a week ago, it was bouncing from 8 to 10 due to me trying out 2 part instead of using kalk in my top off. But I stopped the 2 part and went back to the kalk. The tank is about 1.5 years old. I have cheato in the sump and some green hair algae on a one of my rocks. My nitrates became undetectable about 3 months ago when I tried sugar dosing to get the nit down. The tank was at 10 nit after dosing 2 teaspoons of sugar over the coarse of a week I haven’t had any nitrates. Any ideas on how to raise the nitrates? I already feed about 1 cube of mysis every other day and flake food every day. I just started dosing seachem reef plus this week, 2 ml 3x week.

 

[diana a]

Alk fluctuation and low n and p would cause the problem. I don't see any fish. Are there any? You could order seachem nitrogen.

 

[Trio91]

Is it white or pale?

 

[Mjc092]

It’s turning a pink color and I can see white on the outer edges. Some of the deeper grooves in the coral are turning white. Ive been using a filter sock and protein skimmer, is it possible I’m filtering out the nitrates? If I turned off the skimmer and removed the sock would the nitrates go up? I do have 2 clowns, 1 damsel, 1 cleaner shrimp, assortment of snails/hermits.

 

[diana a]

Well a protein skimmer helps maintain low nitrate levels by retarding nitrate buildup. They remove organic waste before it has a chance to break down and release nitrogen compounds. The use of a protein skimmer is essential in reef aquariums where a very low nitrate level is crucial for coral health. Yes you can totally over skim and pale your corals even when nitrates are present. phosphates are usually the first to drop when your over skimming; Corals are exposed to less nutrients and the light intensity becomes too much so they pale. Nitrates once your tank is mature (8+months), tend to remain stable and won't fluctuate as fast. Based on my testing phosphates and observing the glass, if I don't see some haze on the glass after 1-2 day I know my phosphates may be low so I feed a little more and sometimes turn of the skimmer for 4 hours.

 

[DangerDave]

Reef energy is a good way to feed corals with a low nutrient system. Best of luck!

Dave

 

[Mark_C]

My 2c is worth less than 1c, but, regardless...
I'd put the skimmer on a timer for now, maybe running 8-12 hours a day to allow some nitrates phosphate to build (yet, be controlled).
I'd clean the brown gunk out of the sump (maybe look at a dose of Chemipure if warranted).
I'd start feeding a coral specific food every 2-3 days (Coral Candy, Marine Snow, Coral Frenzy, Reef Roids, etc..). I mix 1/8tsp coral candy with 10ml of Marine snow and its an SPS feeding frenzy.
Also agree with Diana, I expect to clean the glass every 2-3 days from a light haze, if I don't see it, I just up the food a little, if I see it after 24 hours I cut the food back a little.
If you're understocked on fish, add a couple (slowly) - coral loves fish poo.
JMHO

 

[diana a]

Here is a great thread that I have read a few times. the secret to colorful,healthy corals....obvious to some,elusive to many - Reef Central Online Community

 

[Mjc092]

Thank you everyone for the great info! I started to increase the feeding for now and will start to shut off the protein skimmer for a few hours a day to see what happens. I like the tip about checking the glass for algae. I haven’t had to clean my glass more than 1 every week or sometimes longer. That link was also super informative. My birds nest finally lost the last of the remaining polyps today. I just hope it’s not too late for the rest of my corals.

 

[Mark_C]

Coincidentally I'm about to clean my glass.
Here's an example of what Diana and I were talking about.
I last cleaned my glass 2 1/2 - 3 days ago.

Tip: Look at the front glass through the side panel.
Here's why...

View straight on, can't tell much...


Now view looking through side glass at front panel, you can see the film. This is about what I expect every 3 days or so...