Acro Blood Bath

[ReefAddict]

Have you looked at any of the dying acros under a microscope?  @telegrahamis dealing with something similar and is suspecting vibrio and Philaster as the cause.  I’d never heard of either before today.

Edited February 14, 2021 by ReefAddict

[smokythemattman@gmail.com]

I just posted a thread of something similar. Except mine is slower occurring. I am strongly suspecting a bacterial infection like vibrio or so in my case. Sorry for your losses man. I would offer some corals but I am holding off on giving anyone any SPS for a little while until I sort out my own 

[telegraham]

My ICP showed low iodine, too. Interesting. It looks like I've halted the STN/RTN event, as my last remaining tenuis survived mid-STN. Not 100% certain it's over, but fingers crossed. Happy to share my throw the darn kitchen sink at the problem measures. 

 

Kind regards,

 

Jim

[smokythemattman@gmail.com]

@telegraham I'd love to hear what you did tbh. I'm having a similar issue at a slower but still occurring pace. I have another thread where I posted my ICP results. I am really running out of things to try. I was low Ca, sort of low strontium and Iodine. Ive slowly raised the Ca and have followed the dosing for Strontium. About to start with Iodine and weekly water changes. 

[epleeds]

What’s your nitrate and phosphate?  I just went ultra low nutrient and didn’t realize it until it was too late. Lost some large colonies of old school stuff. All my smaller pieces and frags are doing okay. But trying to get the nitrate and phosphate in check. My ICP test told me nothing other then low iodine and high lithium like everyone else in the world. 

[smokythemattman@gmail.com]

@epleeds same here. My nitrates are 2 and my phosphates .08. The i have a decent amount of algae though so I feel like I may have had a fluctuation when I cleaned a bunch out. What were your death's like? 

[epleeds]

I have lost several really large colonies. All my high end stuff is much smaller and have been fine. I did a 3 day lights out and my phosphate jumped from .06 to .24 due to the algae die off. Now I am running a little GFO and doing multiple water changes to get that back in line. 
 

my nitrates were at 0 or just a hair above. I have been dosing nitrates for the last week and now it’s up to about 3.5. 
 

just gotta get my phosphates back down. 
 

it’s weird though. Some of my SPS have never looked better. It’s super weird. But hopefully things have turned the corner. It has been slow and mainly the old school stuff died. 
 

The good thing is now I have room for more high end SPS. hahaha 

[smokythemattman@gmail.com]

Sounds similar to me. Some SPS look amazing. Others like total garbage though it seems Im mostly past the bulk of my problems. I suspected that may have been a trigger for some of my deaths that I did a big tank cleanup and then let the algae grow back. Probably swung my levels a bit. I had mostly tips down death in my case

[epleeds]

Yea. My tips were never the problem. It always started at the base and then slowly the flesh just melted off. But I have the same corals next to each other and one died and one thrived. It’s super strange. No clue why. Some times this hobby just makes you wonder What. HAHAH

[wildcrazyjoker81]

As Eric @epleeds is already aware I am dealing with a tips down STN on almost all my acros as well as of recent and lost quite a few. ICP was not telling of much besides high silicate which I kind of already knew since I hadn't changed my DI Resin in a while (still a strong 0 TDS though) and surprisingly low iodine which seems to be the common thing between many of us. It is really hard to believe that could be what is wrong though. I ended up moving my acros to another stable tank and some started to recover while others kept dying off. I just accepted it as an "it is what it is'" scenario. Also had high Aluminum, but I don't pay attention much to that...could be the fabled Marine Pure bio balls in my system.

 

Like others though some of my acros looked the best ever while others STN out of nowhere. It makes no logical sense at all!!  Alk has been steady at 7.9-8.0, NO3 at 10-15 (I don't want dino's so I stay elevated in nutrients), and PO4 at .06-.08. 

 

 

[smokythemattman@gmail.com]

Very bizarre the quite a few of us who have been rolling good for years all of a sudden have had similar experiences. I wonder if its the aluminum or iodine but that would surprise me. Mine was yellow on the ICP test. Same with Iodine. Doubt we all share a water source but geographically we all are sort of close 

[Cris]

I am so sorry-that's truly awful!  Cris

[Javed Aman]

Although my tank isn't anywhere as near as established as the ones mentioned here (it's only 18 months ago). I am experiencing the same symptoms as much of what is being mentioned here. High Aluminum (Marine pure large block in sump), low iodine, slightly low strontium from my ATI-ICP test. All of my SPS have died over the course of two months. Mostly bleaching, then eventually STN/RTN. I personally believe my tank is too low nutrient or there is some bacterial/dino issue as whenever I blow the rocks with a turkey baster all of the corals close up and the fish freak out. It's almost as if there is a contaminant that it annoying everything. 

Also is anyone aware of chloramines in the water supply? I believe I purchased the correct filters from BRS to handle for that, but maybe could be an issue.

Edited March 17, 2021 by Javed Aman

[smokythemattman@gmail.com]

@Javed Aman thats my same exact issue! I wonder if seeing others with the same issue if that combo is a super recipe for disaster. But ive also suspected something bacterial or in the source water