dying hammers

[menglish]

So over the past months I have been loosing my hammer corals very slowly. One head at a time would just "melt" away. At first i thought nothing of if, but it has continued and i have loss several colonies, including some very expensive gold and orange hammers, both wall and branching.

The tank has been up for about a year and parameters are stable

Alk ~8

Ca ~500 (a bit high)

Mg ~1300

Nitrates always read 0 (API)

if fact, I have been having problems grown LPS ( acans die, welso, lobo all struggle)

I have a few SPS frags that are really looking good

Any suggestions?

If fact, I would love to have an experienced refer (s) stop by and take a look at my set up.

I am in the Wheaton area of silver spring

 

many thanks

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Look at the corals at night and make sure there are no large predatory worms hunting them. Often you never k ow you have one til something like this happens.

[AlanM]

Any chance your alk test kit might be off?  When my alk has risen without me noticing it cause damage to my LPS.  I'd test with a different test if possible.  And you must be pretty close to Marco, maybe he'd have time to swing by and look?  He knows a lot about LPS.

[menglish]

I have spent many a hrs at nite looking at the tank, the only thing i have seen are a few bristle worms. Nothing on the corals.

 

Regarding the alk, I use a Hannah checker and I test every week. The range is  between 7.8 and 8.5.  I recently re test using the Red Sea Pro kit. That reading was about 8.0

[surf&turf]

What size tank and what kind of bio load do you have?

[AlanM]

Regarding the alk, I use a Hannah checker and I test every week. The range is  between 7.8 and 8.5.  I recently re test using the Red Sea Pro kit. That reading was about 8.0

 

OK.  Doesn't sound like alk.  Maybe a voltage leak somewhere?  Or any magnets inside the tank that might be oxidizing inside their plastic coverings?  There were some well publicized instances of Neptune and TLF magnet holders getting pretty bad.

 

One other possibility is euphyllia eating flatworms.  Huly and Pez had that problem a few years ago: http://wamas.org/forums/topic/58001-euphyllia-eating-flatworms-and-treatment-eefw/ 

[WheresTheReef]

Brown jelly disease can also spread on euphyllia. Look it up to see pics online.

[menglish]

The tank is a 180g with a very light bio load. only about 15 small fish.

Not sure how to check for voltage leak, but all the equipment are fairly new.

As for the magnet, I can take a closer look at the flipper i use. Looks pretty good though.

 

I did thought it was some kind of disease. In fact i considered Brown jelly disease and proceeded to take out all the euphyllias and dip them in Bayers insect killer for a good 15 min. Not sure it made a difference as i just loss another head yesterday.

 

Did not considered euphyllia eating flatworm, but reckon the dip would have taken care of them too

[AlanM]

Yep, bayer would get EEFW off them if they were there.

[gmerek2]

How often do you feed? Maybe tank is too clean

[menglish]

Ive thought of that too.

I feed about once a day. between LRS, Rods, spectrum pellets and PE mysis. I do have plans to increase the bio load (kole and naso tangs) soon. They are in QT

[paul b]

Sorry to hear that. My hammer seems fine

 

[mogurnda]

From where I sit, your Ca and Mg seem at the high end, which makes me wonder if your specific gravity is also high.  What is your salinity, and what are you using to test it?  Just grasping at straws here.

[Joshifer]

Sorry to hear that. My hammer seems fine

 

(DeNiro voice) You. I see what you did there. I like you.

[menglish]

My salinity is 1.025. It may fluctuate up to 1.026. I use a refractometer

[zygote2k]

euphylliads are branching corals. the flesh of the coral, if it's healthy, should extend all the way to the intersection of the next branch. many instances of fragged euphylliads where the base flesh is cut along with the skeleton which allows water to get inside the skeleton and ultimately causes the death of the coral many months later.

wall hammers are particularly sensitive to temperature and seem to prefer cooler water. 75-78

[treesprite]

many instances of fragged euphylliads where the base flesh is cut along with the skeleton which allows water to get inside the skeleton and ultimately causes the death of the coral many months later.

 

Thanks, Rob. This is good to know if I ever need to frag mine "on purpose".

[menglish]

I do not thing fragging is the issue in my case. I have had colonies that have been growing for over two years just start dying one head at a time. I thought it was an issue of shading, but even colonies that are directly under the light would start to dissolve away. I have also had newly fragged pieces also die of my.  

I thought it was some kind of disease but even after dipping in Bayers, I did not see anything (other that a few pods) fell off.

I am also running a UV 24/7 on my system. The bulb is only a few months old.

 

the mystery continues.

Thanks all for the suggestions

[DeepBlue45]

How often do you feed? Maybe tank is too clean

 

This was my first thought also.....hard to get an accurate reading of nitrate below 5ppm even with best test kits but if it's really reading zero you might be too low nutrient.  I initially was thinking maybe some other chemical or something leaching in the tank but if your SPS are good then assume that's not it either.  I almost always run around 5ppm nitrate even on biopellets with 0 ammonia and LPS and SPS doing great.

 

Have you ever tried any supplementation.  I've had a good response in low nutrient environment with KZ Amino Acid LPS.

 

What about flow....if you have SPS in the tank are you blasting any of the euphyllia directly?  I've seen frogspawn start to melt sections where they're getting direct flow constantly.

 

 

 

J

Edited September 8, 2016 by DeepBlue45

[zygote2k]

whats the temperature?

[menglish]

The tank temp is averaging 79 degrees but low of 78 and high of 80.

 

I do not usually target feed the corals, but i do broad feed them when i feed the fish (LRS, Rods, Mysis). I usually feed the fish every day and i change 35 gallons of water (system volume @250G) every 2 weeks.

I am seriously thinking nitrates may be too low. I will be adding two tangs to the system by the end of the month.  That should help.  I am having a hard time determining nitrate levels.  By API test kit, it has always been 0. Just got a Salifert kit, but I have a really hard time reading that thing. I would guess <10, but i am not betting a finger on that.  What are people using out there for nitrate?

 

I have not thought about doing any supplementation. Perhaps i need to start thinking about that.

 

As for flow,  I have 2 MP40s and a gyre 150 (running at a max of 50%). I noticed some dead spot that i will address this weekend. But the hammers are not being blasted

[DeepBlue45]

I use Hanna checker's for everything I can but in case of nitrate I've settled on the Nyos kit that seems to work well.  I can usually see a clear difference between 3 and 5 ppm for example without having to look real hard.

 

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/nitrate-reefer-nyos.html

[treesprite]

Try feeding phytoplankton.

[zygote2k]

I'm thinking that you're cooking them slowly. Most of the tanks that frogspawn does well in  that I maintain are in the 72-75 degree range.

Could be you're also starving them. 

[menglish]

I am thinking that the temp is not the problem, as some of the colonies have been at that them for over 2 yrs.

 

Certainly they could be starving. Will look into feeding them.

Any suggestions besides KZ Amino Acid LPS?

 

Many thanks