***** Dying Corals Please HELP

[TheGrimReeferTx]

I am in dire need of help to save the corals I currently have in my care. All my corals seem "***** and dying" lately. I've included pictures of ones that are pretty bad, but this seems to be a common issue throughout the tank. I am hoping someone can provide direction on what could be the issue and help me get to the bottom of it to save the specimens I have now.

Please see the pictures I have included as a reference.

On my Acan - there is a part of the center-left polyp on the right side of said polyp that is not extending and I believe it to be the beginning of the end. I am wondering what would cause this and how to fix?

Black Torch - This coral is "Stringy" and curling at the ends. I lowered the amount of flow it was getting about two weeks ago. I havent seen any improvement.

Golden Torch - On the right side you can see it had another head coming in that died off, and the skeleton is exposed on the bottom. What would be causing this, and can I stop it from getting worse?

Scoly Frag - This guy is receding as you can see. The par and flow should be right. So I don't understand why.

Wall Hammer Torch - I didnt include a picture of this guy. His polyps are not extending and his skeleton on the bottom is starting to show. The weird part is I have another hammer right by him that is doing just fine. Any ideas?

Tank Parameters:

Salt - 35.4 PPT (was 33.9 for a week while I was out of town, have brought it back to the correct amount)
Alk - 9.5 (working on lowering this to 9.0)
Nitrates - 5ppm-10ppm. (This is typically pretty stable at 5ppm, but I am giving some allowance to 10ppm)
Phos - Undetectable although has to be present (I feed reef roids and foods that contain phos, it is just being absorbed by something)
Calc - 450ppm
Mag - 1450 ppm
Water Change: Has not been kept on like I should. I did two 15% water changes. One two days ago, one yesterday. For a total 30% water change.

What should I do? I really want to save these guys and the other corals I have. It is worth noting that I do have corals that are happy, just some that are not.

Should I dim the lights? Lower the flow? Change light spectrum? Pray? You tell me.....

Thank you in advance for the help!

 

[TheGrimReeferTx]

Feel free to ask any questions, Ill answer them all!

 

[Lavey29]

2 of those corals appear to have BJD. Pull them out and if strong foul odor with jelly like substance in dying head you need to take quick action.

 

[Lavey29]

Your nitrates need to be 10 to 15 for LPS corals and phosphate. 05 to .1 not undetectable.

 

[TheGrimReeferTx]

2 of those corals appear to have BJD. Pull them out and if strong foul odor with jelly like substance in dying head you need to take quick action.

Which two so I can check? If they have this, what do I do?

 

[TheGrimReeferTx]

Your nitrates need to be 10 to 15 for LPS corals and phosphate. 05 to .1 not undetectable.

I am having lots of Algae growth. If I had to guess it is a bit higher, but due to algae consumption it is getting used up. I can work on getting it up though for sure. Any other ideas?

 

[Lavey29]

Which two so I can check? If they have this, what do I do?

Scoly and the torch

 

[Lavey29]

I am having lots of Algae growth. If I had to guess it is a bit higher, but due to algae consumption it is getting used up. I can work on getting it up though for sure. Any other ideas?

Yes it may be getting consumed by algae but still needs to be available for corals too or they slowly starve to death

 

[TheGrimReeferTx]

Yes it may be getting consumed by algae but still needs to be available for corals too or they slowly starve to death

Ill up my target feedings from 2 times a week to 4. It is pretty Phos heavy and should be directly to the corals (hopefully).

Testing for BJD now.... Stand by....

 

[TheGrimReeferTx]

Scoly and the torch

Both the Scoly and the Golden Torch do not have a bad smell. In fact, they smell a little sweet lol.

 

[afrokobe]

Im not sure if I see any bjd. Your parameters seem fine for the most part. Have they been stable? I know you mentioned the salinity fluctuation, but I don't think it would cause that much recession.

I did have some weird issues with tissue recession linked to a rusty magnet.

 

[TheGrimReeferTx]

Im not sure if I see any bjd. Your parameters seem fine for the most part. Have they been stable? I know you mentioned the salinity fluctuation, but I don't think it would cause that much recession.

I did have some weird issues with tissue recession linked to a rusty magnet.

The only instability there has been within the last month (to my knowledge) is the salt level and corresponding Alkalinity. At the worst the salt got to 33.9, and Alk got to 10.1. I did a 20% water change and got this to 34.5-Salt, and 9.3 Alk, I did another 20% water change and got to 35.4 salt and 9.8 Alk.

Wouldnt be a rusty magnet or something as I dont have any magnets in my tank. The only metal I have in the tank is a Reefwave 45, MP40 (Less than a week old), return pump, skimmer, and ato. I havent seen any signs of rust, or likely rust sources.

I did just lower the intensity of the lights by 20% (From 50% to 40%) and decreased the wave makes output by 50%. Planning on keeping these lower conditions until we nail down what is the likely issue.

 

[afrokobe]

The only instability there has been within the last month (to my knowledge) is the salt level and corresponding Alkalinity. At the worst the salt got to 33.9, and Alk got to 10.1. I did a 20% water change and got this to 34.5-Salt, and 9.3 Alk, I did another 20% water change and got to 35.4 salt and 9.8 Alk.

Wouldnt be a rusty magnet or something as I dont have any magnets in my tank. The only metal I have in the tank is a Reefwave 45, MP40 (Less than a week old), return pump, skimmer, and ato. I havent seen any signs of rust, or likely rust sources.

I did just lower the intensity of the lights by 20% (From 50% to 40%) and decreased the wave makes output by 50%. Planning on keeping these lower conditions until we nail down what is the likely issue.

Yea I don't think any of those fluctuations would have caused that much tissue recession especially in lps. How long has the tank been set up for?

 

[TheGrimReeferTx]

Yea I don't think any of those fluctuations would have caused that much tissue recession especially in lps. How long has the tank been set up for?

The tank has been set up for 6 months

 

[afrokobe]

The tank has been set up for 6 months

Corals were fine previously?

 

[TheGrimReeferTx]

Corals were fine previously?

To my knowledge yes. Early on I had an Acan and a plate coral die. Not sure 100% why. But those died over 1 month ago. Everything else has been fine without recension other than when this problem started about a week ago to 2 weeks ago.

 

[afrokobe]

yea its an odd issue since your parameters look ok. Do you have a lot of nuisance algae? Phosphates could be detectable because they are getting taken up by other algae. Mag is slightly high, but I know people with torches that run above 1400.

Honestly, I would calibrate your hydrometer/refactometer or take it into the lfs to confirm. If it is reading correct, I would just do another water change to see if it helps. I have a milwakee refracto if you need to confirm since you are also in dallas.

 

[Aiptaisia anemone]

I am having lots of Algae growth. If I had to guess it is a bit higher, but due to algae consumption it is getting used up. I can work on getting it up though for sure. Any other ideas?

Ye its probably your nutrients being way too low for the corals to survive. Imo i would start by physically removing gha and adding snails to help you get rid of them then slowly increase nitrates and phos

 

[TheGrimReeferTx]

yea its an odd issue since your parameters look ok. Do you have a lot of nuisance algae? Phosphates could be detectable because they are getting taken up by other algae. Mag is slightly high, but I know people with torches that run above 1400.

Honestly, I would calibrate your hydrometer/refactometer or take it into the lfs to confirm. If it is reading correct, I would just do another water change to see if it helps. I have a milwakee refracto if you need to confirm since you are also in dallas.

PM sent, I appreciate the help. It means a lot.

 

[Lavey29]

Both the Scoly and the Golden Torch do not have a bad smell. In fact, they smell a little sweet lol.

Ok maybe it's just dark shadows in your pics but the way you described sudden die off combined with the visual was my first thought.