Salt Dreams Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 I have two corals that recently took a turn for the worse. I done a water change less than 2 weeks ago, other than that the only other change was the corals placement in the tank...I moved both corals into more light after an experience reefer seen my tank and told me that the coloration was not as bright as it would be if they were getting more light. My tank parameters as of today PH ~8.1 Nitrates 0 Phospates 1 Calcium 560 KH 10 Salinity 34 Specific Gravity 1.025 Temp 77 usually gets to about 79 on hot days I posted pictures please help me fix it before its too late. The third picture is just to show my entire tank and the other corals in the tank that are flourishing Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 I'm no SPS expert but I would think your phos reading might be the problem. Can you run some P04 absorbing media? Probably too late to get anything now, but Seachems phosgaurd can work(although plenty of people claim it can leach aluminum into the tank), polysorb can work too. In a pinch, a decent sized water change can have an impact. The end result is you need to find the source of the p04; flake food is a big contributor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Some other answers may help too. When did you add the corals? What type of light were they under in the original tank? Are they the only SPS you have? Any other corals added recently? Running carbon? Lots of LPS in there, might be having some chemical warfare occurring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt Dreams Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 I have a phos filter that could stand replacing...and i will do another water change tomorrow...the corals have been in the tank for a while at least a couple months or so. They are the only SPS i have and they were doing well until earlier this week. It started with the plate coral. I added a small blue hippo tang and a blue spot blenny recently no corals. I am not running carbon and I do have more LPS as that is what i prefer. i recently started using garlic enhanced flake food to entice my powder blue tang to eat cause i suspect he has ich. Now i have seen people with a lots of SPS and LPS and it seems to work so I will also try a new phosphate filter i seen one that was better. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Dip them and check for monti eating nudibranch, they are going around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt Dreams Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 Dip them in what and where the heck would i all of a sudden get a nudibranch... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Well you should dip them in 1 1/2 strength coral RX or an iodine type dip. I got them suddenly in my tank and I haven't bought a monti in months, there must have been some eggs on something that I got. They are very aggressive and the signs show up quickly so I haven't had them long. You probably don't have them but it doesn't ever hurt to check sick corals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt Dreams Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 i just read that macroalgae decreases phosphates...does anyone have some for me to throw in my sump? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 typically monti nudis wont affect acros BUT...by the pics it looks like its too late to save them. PO4 is defntly to high, i would get a two little fisheys reactor and put ROWAPHAUS in it, get the PO4 down then try SPS again. Dont give up on SPS yet,you will get everything going soon. JMO i am NO pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt Dreams Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 they were doing awesome on Monday of this week and now its already too late does it really happen that fast? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 typically monti nudis wont affect acros BUT...by the pics it looks like its too late to save them. PO4 is defntly to high, i would get a two little fisheys reactor and put ROWAPHAUS in it, get the PO4 down then try SPS again. Dont give up on SPS yet,you will get everything going soon. JMO i am NO pro Its a digi and a plating monti, not an acro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 they were doing awesome on Monday of this week and now its already too late does it really happen that fast? The digi might be a goner, you should frag off any areas that still have polyps. The plating monti looks like it could recover with better water parameters. Flip the plating monti over and look underneath if for nudibranch. Its either a change in water quality, shock from moving them closer to the lights, or pests for it to happen that fast. You might have stressed them from moving them up, depends on how strong you light is and how far you moved it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 i just read that macroalgae decreases phosphates...does anyone have some for me to throw in my sump? Phos of 1 isn't horrible. A reading of 1 shouldn't be causing those issues. And, It takes A LOT of macro to actually drop your phosphates AND it takes a long time for it to suck it up. You are better off with phosguard or Granulated Ferric Oxide to drop your Phosphates. Phosphate sponge (actually name of the product, NOT an actual sponge) is great for sucking them down quickly, but you can only run it for 30ish hrs then you have to pull it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Double check your phosphate readings and/or get someone else to check your water -- LFS -- before worrying about phosphates. I suspect the move into higher light may have caused your color loss. Montis (and others) can lose color quickly -- when you make a move in coral placement you have to be vigilant and move it back if it doesn't work out. I had an encrusting monti (pokerstar) I moved up too high too fast, lost all of its color and turned white within about two days. I quickly moved back into less light and over time the color and polyp extension returned. What lights are they under now and how close? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt Dreams Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 Ok let me be more clear the plate coral has been in my tank for about 2 months my orange digi has been in for months since the frag swap at Mc Callahans back in the summer some time. I technically moved both corals down lower in the tank but to a better lite position in the tank they were at the top of the tank with a over cast which did not allow full light. I moved them down lower but in full light and they have been that way for about 3 weeks or so maybe longer. All of my problems started about 4 to 5 days ago. The plate coral started to look like the picture but it was not as white and not as bad it has started to spread but...my digi was still doing great. then 2 days ago the polyps on my digi stopped extending but i can still see the polyps they are just retracted. It is not the same as when they are dying they are just unhappy and retracted even the places that are white still have polyps as of today ...i have been feeding my tank daily to help my tangs ich for the past week that is the only change that i have made just before the corals started doing this. I been feeding them frozen soaked in garlic and garlic enriched flakes. Flakes daily and frozen about 3 times a week. I usually feed frozen twice a week and pellets daily. Hope this doesnt make anyone more confused. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Have you added any other corals into your tank recently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoneroller Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 What lights are they under now and how close? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt Dreams Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 I have 2 400W MH and they are a little higher than halfway up to the top...look at the pic its a 135 gallon tanks 2 ft deep or so. no new corals only 2 new fish, the blue spot blenny and the teeny tiny little blue hippo bout the size of a nickel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt Dreams Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 I also have a blue and white actinic and moon lights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 400's are pretty strong, that could be it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt Dreams Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 so move it back to the shade or lower in the tank I am so not a SPS girl clearly...would it take a couple weeks to change it like this cause it appears that the coral got worse all in one week but the change in placement happened 3 weeks ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teg Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 3 weeks seems to be a long time for lighting shock to take effect, IMO. It could be some kind of bug that is bothering them, since you said the polyps are still on the white area. Try to look closely to see if you spot anything "moving" in the white area. One time my acans lost alot of its colors, while it still expanded with feeding tentacles, I tried moving it around the tanks (thinking it was a lighting issue). When I moved it closer to the front of the tank, I had the chance to look closely at the acan, and only at that point that i see hundreds of small "orange" bugs crawling around. I can only see this on the white area, they were so small that looking with naked-eye I could only see small "clouds" of orange thing moving around. I took the out the acan for a dig in coral-pro then put some of the solution under the microscope; these bugs looked like a helmet (almost lady bug like). After several dips the acan was cured. So even if you try to dip try to do it several time with several days to a week in between. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt Dreams Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 Thanks i will get to looking and see if i see anything actually i will go now...and report back in a minute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt Dreams Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 no i dont see anything on it at all it kinda looks like a sponge is growing on the edges...but i can still see the polyps on the digi and actually some of them are out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Did you look underneath them too? Its best to look at them undewater than taking them out and looking at them. I just bring the coral up to the front glass and look at it with a magnifying glass. Do you have any dip? I've never seen sponges grow on a live piece of coral, its probably dead there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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