Monti-Cap bleaching

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piznac

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Hey,.. I got a problem. I have been slacking on my tank,.. but recently have been trying to get it back in line. So far everything has looked fine. My alk got pretty low so I've been using a buffer to raise it up a bit.

After about two weeks of cleaning and trying to get things right, seemingly over night my monti-caps turned ghost white. I will get some pictures later.

My softies dont seem to have a problem nor do my fish, but it seems all my sps & lps are looking pretty bad. But the monti going white like that is the most shocking,.. the night before it looked great. Anybody got any advice?.. I ran a full set of test so here we go:

PH - 8.2
Cal - 380ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm
Phos - 0ppm
DKH - 7
Salinty - 1.024
Temp - 79-80
Ammonia - 0ppm

I didn't test for nitrite. Also I would assume the nitrate & phos are actually higher as I do have some hair algae growth.

I have put fresh carbon and an anti-phos medium in my canister in hopes this will help.

Any suggestions?
 
It definitely could have been your ALK. I had a similar issue that started some of my Monti Cap RTN. Once it starts its hard to stop it. Try breaking off the RTN parts. Good luck!
 
Yeah,.. but it did seem to happen overnight. It was looking great the night before. It's wierd,..

I don't think there is much left to salvage there,.. I had planned on just waiting it out. What are the chances of it recolonizing the skeleton?
 
I aquired a piece with some live rock that had just a little bit of colored polyps left on it and it came back just fine without doing anything in particular. i wouldn't give up on it if it has any color.
 
What I can't touch it?? Whats the fun of having corals if I cant take them out and play with it. They wouldn't let me have a dog,.. so I gotta take something for a walk ;)
 
Alk is often the big culprit in these types of problems, but I am pretty convinced that when running a mixed softie (depending on the coral species) and SPS tank water changes become pretty important.
 
Cam,

Can you explain this further,.. I'm a bit confused. I try to do weekly water changes,.. but sometimes I slip to bi-weekly or even monthly. Why is there more importance because of the different types of corals?
 
I would think that if you adjusted you alk or ph too quickly, that would be your problem. at this point there is very little you can do. I would frag off any living flesh and hope for the best.
 
How much would be considered to fast for ALK changes? I went up 1 dkh in two weeks. Thought I was doing it slow enough. But it's the only thing I can think of cept maybe some of the heavy cleaning I did to powerheads and whatnot.
 
1 dkh in 2 weeks doesnt sound too bad, but I don't know.

it won't recolonize. The only thing to do in this case is water changes and not mess with it much more than that (as in no ph, alk adjustments...).

I've had colonies rtn for no reason at all in my tank; all parameters were in check and nothing else was affected. I call it scds, sudden coral death syndrome.
 
Weekly to monthly water changes is more than enough. 1dkh shouldn't be a problem. Something else is likely going on in there.... hows the temp swings?
 
Temp has been ok,.. stable at 79-80. It never really changes. Although I never look at it at night. Is it possible that something got contaminated while I was cleaning. I really don't se how it could,. but thats why I put the carbon and stuff in to try to get any impurities out,.. I'm mixing up another water change now,.. is there any other way of telling if some other chemical has been introduced?
 
piznac;135553 wrote: I have been slacking on my tank,.. but recently have been trying to get it back in line. My ALK got pretty low so I've been using a buffer to raise it up a bit.

it seems all my sps & lps are looking pretty bad. But the monti going white like that is the most shocking,.. the night before it looked great.

Also I would assume the nitrate & phos are actually higher as I do have some hair algae growth.
Click to expand...

SPS will never live under those conditions. Sorry!

Stonies require stability, and the stability must be in range of acceptable numbers. They don't tolerate phosphates either, but drop in ALK, PH (depending on how low) or wide ranges will kill them.


here's a few articles:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php">http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php</a>

[IMG]http://web.archive.org/web/20021127040526/http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm">http://web.archive.org/web/20021127040526/http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm</a>

[IMG]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php">http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php</a>
 
piznac;135608 wrote: How much would be considered to fast for ALK changes? I went up 1 dkh in two weeks. Thought I was doing it slow enough. But it's the only thing I can think of cept maybe some of the heavy cleaning I did to powerheads and whatnot.
Click to expand...

that wouldn't be an issue.............(alk)
 
mysterybox;135642 wrote: SPS will never live under those conditions. Sorry!

Stonies require stability, and the stability must be in range of acceptable numbers. They don't tolerate phosphates either, but drop in ALK, PH (depending on how low) or wide ranges will kill them.
Click to expand...

This I can understand,.. which is why I was trying to get it back right., But the alk has been low for like 6 months now,. why all of a sudden is it a problem? (not trying to be rude in any way,.. Im honestly asking)
 
piznac;135647 wrote: This I can understand,.. which is why I was trying to get it back right., But the alk has been low for like 6 months now,. why all of a sudden is it a problem? (not trying to be rude in any way,.. Im honestly asking)
Click to expand...


while I was typing my first post, you were explaining more about your alk, so my post did not have that info as of yet!
 
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