Slow Continuous Coral Death

[meschaefer]

There is some information in the organics article by Ken Feldman (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/8/aafeature3) regarding coral mortality and carbon dosing. Apparantly carbon dosing can increase the corals own bacterial population to the extent that it results in coral mortality. He also discusses an experiment where bacteria was added directly to the coral (as opposed to adding carbon that resulted in an increase in bacteria) that resulted in almost immediate coral mortality.

I know very litte about Prodibo, but believe that it is bacteria based, perhaps an increase in bacteria population is causing your problem. Although you have since stopped Prodibo, and started doing water changes, it is my understanding that the vast majority of bacteria are not found in the water column and it could just be taking some time for your tank to come to equilibrium again.

Just a thought.....

 

[marrone]

From the posts on RC I wondering if all these loses has something to do with a disease or bacteria infection from some of the corals coming from Australia. A lot of new Australian corals have been coming in recently, especially Acans, and I'm wondering if they are carrying something.

 

[aaron23]

stepping away from the possibilities of some kind of pathogen, what kind of alkalinity kit are you using? I've had a few that were bad, but when tips start to turn and recede i blame it on alkalinity. I started using a LaMotte kit.

 

[Wes]

i use elos. purchased a new test kit and it gave me the exact same test results. No blennies.

Nothing has shown up in the poly pad, no color change. Temperature fluctuation is only +/- 2 degrees.

Whatever this is it only affects stony corals.

It's been about 3 months now since I stopped using prodibio and multiple water changes.

If this is bacterial maybe an antibiotic like "red slime remover" could help...I am running out of ideas. Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[mshur]

Wes,
If you using prodibio then what is your PO4/no3 level? reason i ask, cause i run zeo/ BW system and i have very low nutrients in my tank.I keep Alk very low compare to other reefers. my Alk never go above 8 on lamotte . Tip burn can be from hi ALK level or element imbalance witch is very important with low nutrient systems.
A few month ago i had alk spike and i had the same problem on few corals.
MY present ALK-7.7 --and no issues with tip burn.

JME

 

[Wes]

Mshur,

I havnt used prodibio in over 3 months. But when i was running it i kept alk at 7.5. No3 was 0, pO4 was 0.02. When the problems started i stopped using all products...That was 3 months and many dead corals ago so i don't think the Prodibio had much to do with it.

 

[mshur]

I never said Prodiboi has to do with it.. I actually pretty much sure that is not a problem.. what is your ALK now? did you ever add potassium?

 

[Wes]

i never said you said Prodibio had anything to do with it lol. just pointing out my experience it didnt seem like you read the entire thread.

alk right now is 10.5. A couple months after quitting prodibio, i started added a little bit of kalk to my top-off water to help keep pH up at a healthier level. it resulted in the dkh rising up slowly and settling around 10.5.

Ive never added potassium. but I have changed my entire talk volume several times through many many water changes and assumed that would probably take care of any potential potassium deficiency.

 

[mshur]

hm... 9 is good level.. try to talk to KIP ( guy on RC) he got similar problem last year . I know Careefer ( marshal) from zeo.com had similar problem and his solution was DI media.
Sorry you have this problem, i am just trying to help a little.. Also,maybe call to Chris at Brighwell aquatics, he is expirince guy..maybe he got some ideas how to fix this problem

 

[Wes]

thanks for the tips

 

[NYreefNoob]

wes since vodka dosing my alk is sky high and sure the prodibio had it up also but never had tested it then, alot of things no matter how hard we look we cant find the answer in this hobby, so as of now everything is doing good ?

 

[Eznet2u]

Hi Wes, I went through the same thing recently. Lost 90% of my coral. Sps, Lps and some softies.

I racked my brain for solutions/causes. As a last resort I changed my bulbs.
Everything started to turn around and come back quickly.

Seems that the bulbs shifted.

Might be worth a try.

 

[wrasseman]

i think that you need to treat your system with interceptor , i lost $7000.00worth of stuff before i was told about this treatment .when we buy corals most are not dipped and quarrinteened properly and they bring in a myriad of intruders "hitchhikers" that are sometimes very bad for our tanks . in the wild they are kept in check with other preditors but when we put them in a closed system they can reek havok ! interceptor will kill snails,crabs and alot of other crustations so be carefull .after treating my tanks they sprung right back into life but alot of damage had been done already . interceptor will kill redbugs and many other "bugs" that attack our corals.you need to read up on this subject and be cautious when using but if you have any australlian corals they are known to have thease bugs on them . good luck

 

[Bob 1000]

How's your ro membrane and Di resin???

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

I lean towards the pathogen theory.

and did I miss that, I still have not seen your PH4, NO3, NO4 values.

Oh do you have a duncan around the time frame of this sightings? Don't ask me why-just a wild wild shot.

 

[ellebelle]

You know Wes, I had a similar problem. Months went by and my different corals bleached and died. My aussie acans shrunk. Even my soft corals seems affected. The only thing that fixed it was a 100% water change.

 

[wrasseman]

Interceptor ,listen Up Use It Or Watch The Demise Of Your Tank ! Australlian Corals Are Awesome But Thet Have Little Coral Killers On Them ! Research The Use And Get To It Ok Thats All I Got To Say ,been There ,done That,so Listen Up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Phyl]

You know Wes, I had a similar problem. Months went by and my different corals bleached and died. My aussie acans shrunk. Even my soft corals seems affected. The only thing that fixed it was a 100% water change.

We had this happen recently and also did a 100% water change. Anything still alive at the time of the change all recovered perfectly. I still don't know what it was.

 

[jackson6745]

My 2 cents
Wes, trash the carbon dosing kits and do it old school. Big skimmer, phosban, water changes and GAC. Have your fish and feed them too . Keep it simple. Over the past few years I have seen a bunch of guys screw up their reefs because of a small error in dosing or an unexplained reason like you're having. Not worth it especially since you can have awesome colors and growth, along with less maintence......without carbon dosing.

 

[Wes]

My 2 cents
Wes, trash the carbon dosing kits and do it old school. Big skimmer, phosban, water changes and GAC. Have your fish and feed them too . Keep it simple. Over the past few years I have seen a bunch of guys screw up their reefs because of a small error in dosing or an unexplained reason like you're having. Not worth it especially since you can have awesome colors and growth, along with less maintence......without carbon dosing.

Rich,

I guess you didnt read. I ditched them 3 months ago with no improvements.

I dosed interceptor, so far nothing... I am going to send a sample to aquariumwatertesting.com to see if they find anything.