SPS help

[peytonk]

Hey guys, I've been having a hard time with some of my corals lately.
I had about 5 frags of acro that did great for about a month, then piece by piece they completely RTN'd overnight, or so I thought. They would die one piece at a time, and now that they're all gone, my monti cap started to do the same thing. I have 2 sexy shrimp in my tank, I believe one is pregnant and has been eating like CRAZY. Could this be the culprit? Thanks in advance for any advice or comments

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[jcusmarine]

How have you been managing your parameters, and dosing/water changing? Do you have an ATO for replacing evaporated water?

How old is the tank?

What equipement do you have? Lighting, etc?

SPS are generally harder to keep species that require sufficient water flow, lower nutrient systems and high quality lighting - not to mention stable Alk/Ph/Ca among other parameters.

Tell us more and post up your water test params.

 

[peytonk]

Tank is 18g so water changes are how I keep my parameters in check. I also dose CA and keep that around 420ppm. Everything is stable, ph is 8, alk is 12, no nitrates etc.
I have a refractometer that I use very regularly and top off with RO.
My filtration is an Eheim 2213 canister filter which I clean every week when I do a water change; I run filter floss and Chemi-pure elite in that.
My lighting is a 4x24 TEK fixture.
Everything in this tank started in a 10g over a year ago, and this past December I moved everything into an 18g. While there should have been a small cycle from disturbing the sand bed, everything should be pretty established and stable.

If my parameters were off, wouldn't I see a broader effect, rather than one piece getting destroyed every night? It only happens at night and it's never more than one piece. My monti was perfectly fine until all the acro were gone, I also noticed a bit of damage on my meteor shower that was right next to the monti cap. It seems like targeted damage rather than overall unhealthy coral?

thanks for the quick reply!

 

[lilrobb]

I am in the same boat, my 225gal frag system does that to SPS, despite perfect conditions.
LPS and softies thrive - until today I was unable to locate WHAT the problem is...

 

[peytonk]

LilRobb;608513 wrote: I am in the same boat, my 225gal frag system does that to SPS, despite perfect conditions.
LPS and softies thrive - until today I was unable to locate WHAT the problem is...

Did you figure out what the problem was?

 

[lilrobb]

LilRobb;608513 wrote: I am in the same boat, my 225gal frag system does that to SPS, despite perfect conditions.
LPS and softies thrive - <u><span style="color: red">until today I was unable to locate WHAT the problem is...</span></u>

Umm...

 

[peytonk]

I'm sorry, I thought "until today" meant you couldn't figure out what the problem was before today. my bad..

 

[lilrobb]

Nah, that could be my English, haha

No clue still - SPS are doomed in that tanka nd thrive in my other system with identical setup...

 

[raisedonnintendo]

Peytonk;608528 wrote: I'm sorry, I thought "until today" meant you couldn't figure out what the problem was before today. my bad..

Me to.

 

[peytonk]

Hm, well I moved my sexy shrimp into a pico, and it's confirmed pregnant. I'm still suspicious of water quality problems so I'll try to test every possible thing. If anyone has any other suggestions or can think of any possible causes please let me know. All input is greatly appreciated

 

[peytonk]

this morning about 80% of the monti cap was gone. My acan was also moved, upside down on the sand bed, my hammer was knocked off its normal spot, my ricordeas were moved all over the place and my gsp frag was moved across the sand.

I have a tiger pistol shrimp, porcelain crab, and emerald crab in my tank. I'm guessing one of them (probably the shrimp) moved everything, but I'm not sure if that's related to the coral eating. I fragged the remaining monti into 5 small frags so I guess I'll just wait and see how that goes.

 

[peytonk]

So a little update, all of my monti frags completely died. I had my water tested for nitrates, phosphates, alk, calc, and everything checked out fine. I have no clue what could be causing this..

any help would be awesome

 

[rjrgroup]

Could it possibly be the shrimp stirring up the sand bed? Have you changed the flow significantly? I have experienced a lot of difference in coral serenity by changing the flow patterns:confused2:...meaning if one coral is "downstream" from another type. My zoas are very sensitive to this. Not sure about the acros yet because their still growing out on racks.

 

[peytonk]

Amici;609524 wrote: Have you checked your temp throughout the day and night time? It could be temp swings with a 4x24 fixture on an 18g. Past that I would say to run a broad array of media in your canister.

My light is pretty high above my tank and my heater seems to run all day just to keep it at 78. Other than chemipure and filter floss, what else should I be running?

 

[peytonk]

Amici;609847 wrote: How accurate is your thermometer? A lot of the cheap better power ones have a +/- of 2 degrees and sometimes do not register swings as much. Is your heater on a controller and what brand is it?

My thermometer isn't digital, its the old school alcohol+glass kind. My heater is a marineland stealth pro (I think) I know this heater has been known to have issues so I ordered a Hydor Eth in-line heater and when it arrived the size was wrong and didn't fit my 1/2" tubing, so I'm shipping it back tomorrow and finding a replacement soon.

 

[peytonk]

I made an order with Marinedepot today, I got Seachem reef salt, a mag test, replacement in-line heater, and new 24" bulbs for my tek fixture.

 

[peytonk]

I've been buying my sw from a LFS and I'm thinking that might be the problem. Hopefully the higher mag and calc levels, along with other trace elements in the seachem reef salt will help with that issue.

 

[peytonk]

FlJoe13;610389 wrote: You might Have some pest. monti nudbranchs. I have had them They come out at night.

I was thinking the same thing, but would it eat acropora and monti?

 

[peytonk]

So here's a little bit of an update -
overall my tank is looking much better and things are opening up. All that's left of that monti cap is a dime sized frag (if that), but it's been alive for a week or two and seems to be turning around. I got new bulbs, 3 ATI Blue + and an ATI purple +, this combo looks good and hopefully my tank responds well to the change.
I finally got my salifert mag test, and it looks like it's currently at 1140ppm. Seems like that's a little low, especially for sps. Maybe that was the problem?

My new in-line heater came as well so my temp should be more stable now. My seachem reef salt came too and I'm mixing my first batch so hopefully with a few water changes my mag and calc will be on track for sps.