duncans and monti not happy...

[tankedchemist]

So, my duncans are dying off one by one. In a similar (though higher up) area of my tank, a monti digitata is bleaching from the bottom up. The only thing I've changed in the past several months is the addition of a K4 at the opposite end of the tank, which I did about a week ago for cyano control. Also, I recently discovered that my RO membrane was bad, so the RODI water I was using had 20 ppm of TDS. Since this discovery, I started using other water while I wait for my new membrane.

Here are my params as of this afternoon, appx 3 hrs after lights came on:

temp: 77.9F
pH 8.2
salinity 1.025
NH3 0ppm
No2 0ppm
No3 5ppm
Alk 7 dKH
Cal 480ppm

Everything looks pretty okay to me... except maybe alk is a tad low, but that's probably because it's been about a month since I did a water change... ya know, 'cause my RO unit is bad. What do you guys think? why are these corals so unhappy?

 

[VAreef]

I can't tell you exactly why they are dying off but I would suspect that the RO filter may have let you put in a contaminant that we don't normally test for. I'd try to do some larger than normal water changes over the next few days with known pure water in hopes to dilute that down. But thats just a guess though.

 

[daugherty]

test your tds and how old are your lights

 

[yote]

I'm thinking along the same lines as Va on this one.

 

[SaltwaterNoob17]

It could be contaminants like Va said (or lights or anything else, idk). What "other" water are you using though? (that could be a potential problem) Also, it could be the Koralia. I had three acros dying off (bleaching bottom-up just like your monti) all because the Koralia 3 was too much for them to handle. I redirected the Koralia's flow, and now everything seems fine...

 

[tankedchemist]

Like I said, the TDS was 20ppm on top off water I was usiing for about a week. Now, that membrane is being repaired or replaced down in Cali. I'm using store-bought bottle DI water from walmart that tests at 0ppm TDS.

I can't exactly do "large" water changes.... I normally do 15gallons, and so carrying in 15+ gallons of water one at a time.... well, it just doesn't seem very plausible unless I can identify something wrong with the water. and, if it was water contamination, wouldn't some of my more sensitive stuff be affected sooner? Seems if it were a water chemistry problem, it would effect more than the hardier corals in my tank.... I think maybe SW noob is on to something, since the two unhappy corals are in appx the same area of the tank. Guess I'll mess with the water flow and see if that helps. If not... maybe I can hire some kids to carry in water, a gallon at a time. haha.

 

[reeffreak]

Do you have softies like leathers,colts?If so,run carbon and try not to have the monti down current from any softies especially leathers.

Do you feed the duncans?I consider them one of the corals that need spot feeding.

These are just a few more suggestion.Your parameters look okay to me,sometimes these things happen for no obvious reasons.

 

[tankedchemist]

I have leathers, but I run carbon all the time. All my leathers are arranged close to drains, away from SPS... good thought though.

I feed the duncans. They've been fine in my tanks for 1.5 years, basically. They reproduce like crazy. Now I've already completely lost half the heads from a large colony.

I tried moving the water flow around. The monti was even more bleached, and I noticed some cyano (or some other red slimey algae) growing all around it on the rock... so I broke off a cyano-free piece and have put it elsewhere in the tank. I don't know if cyano can do that, but I figured better to have a piece alive than watch the whole thing die....

 

[reeffreak]

Cyano can block the light but otherwise I don't think is harmful.

I'm at a lost,sorry amanda.

 

[tankedchemist]

gah. thanks anyway. we'll see what happens with the changed water movement...

 

[Bifferwine]

Well a TDS of 20 isn't that bad. I don't think that would have caused it.

 

[Reefrookie]

I agree 20 TDS is not bad at all, mine is usually that or above. Anything irritating the corals like vermetid snails? They played hell with my trumpet coral until I removed all of them under and around the coral.

 

[tankedchemist]

Are those the snails that are stationary and have little mucous nets? I haven't seen any over there, but I'll look.... there is some red sponge growing there, could that do it?

 

[yote]

There are some types of sponges that will engage in chemical warfare with corals.But those are extremely few and far between in the hobby.But then again,anything is possible too.