This week sucks

JAG107

JAG107

Reef enthusiast
So far in the last 6 days...
--my green monti cap bleached 50% from the outside in. Somehow it stopped and hasn't died anymore in 24 hrs
--My blue polyp digitata began bleaching and the entire encrusted plug + half the main stalk has died in 48 hrs
:death:--My Koran Angel (favorite fish... :( ) went MIA 2 days ago. Was totally happy and eating, healthy 3 days ago. Must be lying behind the LR :pooh:
:death:--Today my psychedelic mandarin went carpet surfing while I was at work. I had it for over a year.
All my params are the same, there have been no changes other than my RO membranes 2 weeks ago. TDS is still high at 23ppm. WTF is going on!?
I'm really nervous now about taking a 10 day vacation next friday. I wouldn't be surprised to come home to a boneyard of white sticks at this rate. Weird though, ALL my acros are growing and coloring up like mad. The other montis are doing well also.:grumble:
OK sorry just venting.
 
Jag,

Are you getting temp swings in the evening?
With winter, you may have to check.
I just replaced my heater. Things started looking bad for a bit. The temp during the day was 79. I figured the heater was fine. Checked it one night on a whim and it was 74!!!
Heater was DOA. Changed it out and now I am consistently 79 degrees and all is back to normal.
 
A cap bleaching from the outside towards the inside and a digitata bleaching from the base up sounds like an alk issue. Monti's can be very sensative to rapid up or down swings in alk.
That wouldn't affect the fish tho. Do you have a DI cart on your filter? 23 TDS after RO/DI is pretty high.
 
Have you added any new montis that could have hitchhiked a nudi in on. How long do you run your ro before testing? I let mine run for a few minnutes to get all of the old water out of the filter before using it.
 
Thanks for the input everybody. I think capt is spot on with the alk, I went from 8 to 12 from an accidental baking soda OD, then it slowly dropped back to 8 dkh within 8 days or so. The bleaching started when it hit 8. The Digi is almost all the way gone, after doubling in size since sept.
The green cap has stopped bleaching, and is down to its size from august or so...about half what it was. From now on, I'm going to have to do a much better job watching the alk.
Calcium has also dropped from 480 to 380 during this alk swing, and even with oceanic-salt water changes it's not rising much. Daily dosing with brightwell calcion and also dripping kalk.

No, there's no temp swings out of the ordinary. My tank never falls below 25.9c (78F) on the coldest nights, and never rises above 27.7c, (81ish) even during this current heat wave (yeah I know, thats about 3 or 4 degrees F, but typical for my tank)
OK the Koran was very small when I got him in March (2" or so). He was the biggest fish in the tank once he passed up the yellow tang around sept. I'd say he was 4 or 5" long before he disappeared this week...was also beginning to show the change from juvy to adult, yellow face and blueness fading away. On the bright side, maybe my SPS won't get nipped as much now.
As for the RO, I don't have DI. Its a 3 stage, and 2 of the filters (outside ones) are the same kind. TDS going in is 370ppm or so, and I've run it for 2 weeks now with the new membranes. Levels dropped from 30 after the change to today, 21ppm. Funny, it read 9ppm before the change, which is what prompted it in the first place, as I want as low a number as possible. I think I'll be checking out purewaterclub soon.
I think the korans death and the mandarin jumping is a separate issue from the alk & calc changes. BTW this was the psych mandarin that miraculously jumped from the DT, boucing off the wall and into the fuge under the stand a few months ago. Bad luck this time...
 
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Oh also, no way it's monti eating nudis, I dip all my corals in TLF revive for 8 minutes before adding them. Kills every hithhiking pod, and I haven't seen a nudi or flatworm exit a frag yet. I also check the frags over closely before I drop them in.
 
Bleached SPS sux,no matter what causes it.
Glad to hear you got it under control tho.
Hate to read about your mandrine and angel too.
 
We'll see if my emergency-digi frags make it. Sooooooooo...What's me next fish, you guys? I'm kinda diggin those fairy wrasses. Would one of those get along with the red coris wrasse?
 
Thanks simpleman.
hmmmm leopard wrasse, that sounds like an excellent choice! Great suggestion Biff. Now, to find one...
What else? I'm definitely staying away from the angels.
 

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