Help! German blue monit digi branches turning white

[Dayclone]

Hey guys, could you help me identify what the issue could be here and why the branches are starting to turn white.
Its done great in my tank for awhile but about 4 days ago it started to turn white.

Par is between 250 - 250
Alk 9.4
po4 is close to 0

I've been doing water regular changes 15% every week

 

[JoJosReef]

They don't like PO4 that low, generally. Some tanks run low PO4, but I'm willing to bet they have a large input/consumption rate keeping low--in that way the corals stay "fed".

You didn't mention nitrates or what light you are using/settings. Also tank size and age helps. Live rock or dry rock. These details help. Blue digis are extremely robust, so something has got to be off.

 

[Dburr1014]

Par is between 250 - 250
Alk 9.4
po4 is close to 0

These 3 things are the problem.

Par should be a tad higher.

Alk should be lower for low nutrient systems.

Zero po4 is a no go. Starved coral.

Welcome to R2R BTW.

 

[Dayclone]

These 3 things are the problem.

Par should be a tad higher.

Alk should be lower for low nutrient systems.

Zero po4 is a no go. Starved coral.

Welcome to R2R BTW.

Hmmm, I think I may remove one of my phosguard bags then, I suspect its low due to that.

I'll try a higher brightness of blue, I find if I increase white, I get a lot of algae. Running a Nicecrew 150W light in a small nano tank 13.5G Fluval.

It's been going strong since June.

Nitrates, Nitrites, and Ammonia is 0 or near 0.

 

[JoJosReef]

Hmmm, I think I may remove one of my phosguard bags then, I suspect its low due to that.

I'll try a higher brightness of blue, I find if I increase white, I get a lot of algae. Running a Nicecrew 150W light in a small nano tank 13.5G Fluval.

It's been going strong since June.

Nitrates, Nitrites, and Ammonia is 0 or near 0.

That's a big problem. Nitrates and Phosphates at zero are 1) starving your coral, and 2) setting the stage for dinos to take over. Do you know why nitrates are so low? Do you have fish? What are you feeding them?

I would usually say stop doing water changes for a while--you need less export. But, I imagine you're using water changes for replenishing ALK/Ca/Mg/trace elements. Do you know how fast your ALK/Ca/etc are going down?

 

[Dayclone]

That's a big problem. Nitrates and Phosphates at zero are 1) starving your coral, and 2) setting the stage for dinos to take over. Do you know why nitrates are so low? Do you have fish? What are you feeding them?

I would usually say stop doing water changes for a while--you need less export. But, I imagine you're using water changes for replenishing ALK/Ca/Mg/trace elements. Do you know how fast your ALK/Ca/etc are going down?

I used the API Saltwater test kit and confirmed again that they're pretty close to 0.

PH is 8

I have two clownfish, a small melanurus wrasse. A bunch of CUC, 4 nassarius snails, bunch of trochus snails, sea hare, tuxedo urchin, and pin cushion urchin.

Also have a bristleworm infestation from my cousin, even though I dipped, it didn't kill them. I also have these tiny skinny small black worms about 1-2cm that apparently only eat algae.

 

[JoJosReef]

I used the API Saltwater test kit and confirmed again that they're pretty close to 0.

PH is 8

I have two clownfish, a small melanurus wrasse. A bunch of CUC, 4 nassarius snails, bunch of trochus snails, sea hare, tuxedo urchin, and pin cushion urchin.

Also have a bristleworm infestation from my cousin, even though I dipped, it didn't kill them. I also have these tiny skinny small black worms about 1-2cm that apparently only eat algae.

Do you mind posting a full tank shot? An Evo is a small tank for that much CUC, especially the sea hare and the pin cushion.

Recommendation is to graduate from API tests to higher quality like Salifert (my fav), Red Sea or the dreaded Hanna.

Pull the PhosGuard (it's doing too much) and try feeding more to get those nitrates up. Reduce the water changes. If NO3 and PO4 are staying stubbornly low, but your elements are dropping, try dosing something like All For Reef inbetween less frequent water changes.

To help your corals and perhaps your tank all around, you might try spiking some bacterial diversity in the form of Fiji Mud. You can just get a quarter to half teaspoon, mixed it up in tank water and pour it into the tank. Once a week till the tank starts looking like it's improving. The good stuff will settle into your rocks/sand and start seeding new life that will overall benefit the tank--SPS corals tend to appreciate the mud. The old Walt Smith Fiji Mud is no longer available, but mud from Fiji can still be bought from AquaForest. Note that there are magnetic particles in the mud collected from that part of Fijian waters, so best to remove them before dumping into the tank. See my post about how I do it:

Build Thread - JoJo's No Funny Business Office Tank Thread

Big batch of baby brine shrimp, but the wrasses hit the sand today when I cleaned the glass. Oh well, Fuego the firefish is enjoying it at least. https://photos.app.goo.gl/39RhLn5fmYaA18oDA

www.reef2reef.com

Note: an Evo is much too small of a tank for a melanurus. You'll have a bit of time while that guy grows, but he won't be happy about the cramped quarters when he gets 5 inches long.

Bristleworms are just ugly, but they put in good work. Watch out for Oenone fulgida worms, some Eunice worms and fireworms (naturally, also watch out for flatworms). Those are the bad guys.

 

[VintageReefer]

Echoing above

Your alk is a tad high, and high alk only works with high nutrients.

Your nutrients are near zero, so, the balance is off.

Recommend combination of increasing phosphate and nitrate slightly, and lower alk to 8-8.5

Also feel this is all speculative based on your results, which come from test kit brand that I don’t trust. For sps care, reccomend higher accuracy test kit, Hanna being easiest to use. salifert is cheaper but just as good And both are much better than api

 

[Dayclone]

Do you mind posting a full tank shot? An Evo is a small tank for that much CUC, especially the sea hare and the pin cushion.

Recommendation is to graduate from API tests to higher quality like Salifert (my fav), Red Sea or the dreaded Hanna.

Pull the PhosGuard (it's doing too much) and try feeding more to get those nitrates up. Reduce the water changes. If NO3 and PO4 are staying stubbornly low, but your elements are dropping, try dosing something like All For Reef inbetween less frequent water changes.

To help your corals and perhaps your tank all around, you might try spiking some bacterial diversity in the form of Fiji Mud. You can just get a quarter to half teaspoon, mixed it up in tank water and pour it into the tank. Once a week till the tank starts looking like it's improving. The good stuff will settle into your rocks/sand and start seeding new life that will overall benefit the tank--SPS corals tend to appreciate the mud. The old Walt Smith Fiji Mud is no longer available, but mud from Fiji can still be bought from AquaForest. Note that there are magnetic particles in the mud collected from that part of Fijian waters, so best to remove them before dumping into the tank. See my post about how I do it:

Build Thread - JoJo's No Funny Business Office Tank Thread

Big batch of baby brine shrimp, but the wrasses hit the sand today when I cleaned the glass. Oh well, Fuego the firefish is enjoying it at least. https://photos.app.goo.gl/39RhLn5fmYaA18oDA

www.reef2reef.com

Note: an Evo is much too small of a tank for a melanurus. You'll have a bit of time while that guy grows, but he won't be happy about the cramped quarters when he gets 5 inches long.

Bristleworms are just ugly, but they put in good work. Watch out for Oenone fulgida worms, some Eunice worms and fireworms (naturally, also watch out for flatworms). Those are the bad guys.

So I may have found the issue to be my dosing pump.

I've been using the RedSea 4 part complete reef care and setup a Jebao 4 head dosing about Thursday before I left out of town. I thought I had calibrated it but clearly it wasn't and was dumping 1ml more of everything.


I appreciate all the recommendations and insights. I will also take those into consideration.

I'm going to setup a 91G probably in the new year and hopefully by then the melanurus doesn't get too big because it sleeps in a small crack in the rocks.

As for the worms, I don't think they're fireworks because the tips aren't red but I've been manually removing them as I see them. They're more brown and thr body is a little red.

If it is a oenone fulgida worm I hope the melanurus can get it?

Also how does one know they're a high nutrient tank?

 

[JoJosReef]

So I may have found the issue to be my dosing pump.

I've been using the RedSea 4 part complete reef care and setup a Jebao 4 head dosing about Thursday before I left out of town. I thought I had calibrated it but clearly it wasn't and was dumping 1ml more of everything.


I appreciate all the recommendations and insights. I will also take those into consideration.

I'm going to setup a 91G probably in the new year and hopefully by then the melanurus doesn't get too big because it sleeps in a small crack in the rocks.

As for the worms, I don't think they're fireworks because the tips aren't red but I've been manually removing them as I see them. They're more brown and thr body is a little red.

If it is a oenone fulgida worm I hope the melanurus can get it?

Also how does one know they're a high nutrient tank?

If you are running ALK at 9 or 10+ dKh, then it is understood that our corals can handle NO3 and PO4 a bit higher. If you are running low(er) nutrients, like NO3 < 5 or PO4 < 0.1, then lower ALK is meant to be a bit easier on the corals. I don't understand it. You have the opposite problem of a high nutrient tank. You've got NO nutrients. And you have very little algae that could be explaining the bottomed out nutrients, so I can only assume you are not feeding all that much and that the corals are consuming everything. That's generally the idea, but you have to be careful around zero. Is that Xenia in the bottom left corner? If so, that's a soft coral that proliferates rapidly and even sucks up nutrients quickly--might be keeping your nutrients low. Some people even use Xenia in a refugium instead of macroalgaes like Chaeto.

First thing I'd do is buy new test kits so you know for sure if you are zeroed out or not. API is just a bit too unreliable IMO.

Also, looks like you have a sixline wrasse, not a melanurus. VERY different fish. Can you get a closer photo of the wrasse?

 

[Solo McReefer]

So I may have found the issue to be my dosing pump.

I've been using the RedSea 4 part complete reef care and setup a Jebao 4 head dosing about Thursday before I left out of town. I thought I had calibrated it but clearly it wasn't and was dumping 1ml more of everything.


I appreciate all the recommendations and insights. I will also take those into consideration.

I'm going to setup a 91G probably in the new year and hopefully by then the melanurus doesn't get too big because it sleeps in a small crack in the rocks.

As for the worms, I don't think they're fireworks because the tips aren't red but I've been manually removing them as I see them. They're more brown and thr body is a little red.

If it is a oenone fulgida worm I hope the melanurus can get it?

Also how does one know they're a high nutrient tank?

Me

I would do frequent water changes on that tank

And feed it very well

I can't tell from the pics if that's tissue bleaching, or tissue dying off

That German Blue is not happy regardless

 

[Dayclone]

Ok so its been probably two weeks here.

It's bleaching from the looks, tissue seems to be intact when I blow it with water through a pipette, and scrape lightly.

Alk is now 8.5 and seems to be stable.
Phosphate is 0.03 more between 0.1 and 0.03

Didn't scrub the glass until today but you can see lots of algae around.

Been dosing Reef Complete the 4 part program

Calcium & Magnesium+ 2 ml daily
KH/Alkalinity & pH Stabilizer 3.9 ml daily
Iodine & Potassium+ 1 ml daily
Iron & Bioactive elements 1 ml daily
Reef Energy Plus 2 ml daily

Aiming for:

Salinity
34
ppt

Calcium
450
ppm

Magnesium
1350
ppm

Alkalinity
8.5
dKH

Nitrate
2
ppm

Phosphate
0.1
ppm

 

[Dburr1014]

Ok so its been probably two weeks here.

It's bleaching from the looks, tissue seems to be intact when I blow it with water through a pipette, and scrape lightly.

Alk is now 8.5 and seems to be stable.
Phosphate is 0.03 more between 0.1 and 0.03

Didn't scrub the glass until today but you can see lots of algae around.

Been dosing Reef Complete the 4 part program

Calcium & Magnesium+ 2 ml daily
KH/Alkalinity & pH Stabilizer 3.9 ml daily
Iodine & Potassium+ 1 ml daily
Iron & Bioactive elements 1 ml daily
Reef Energy Plus 2 ml daily

Aiming for:

Salinity
34
ppt

Calcium
450
ppm

Magnesium
1350
ppm

Alkalinity
8.5
dKH

Nitrate
2
ppm

Phosphate
0.1
ppm

Um, that phosphate color looks like 1.0 in the picture.
Camera could be deceiving.

 

[Dayclone]

Um, that phosphate color looks like 1.0 in the picture.
Camera could be deceiving.

1 is way too dark, only thing that was similar was between 0.03 and 0.1

 

[Dburr1014]

1 is way too dark, only thing that was similar was between 0.03 and 0.1

Gotcha, the color looks* like 0.5 or 1 in the picture as posted is all. I find pictures don't do justice sometimes.

 

[Dayclone]

Gotcha, the color looks* like 0.5 or 1 in the picture as posted is all. I find pictures don't do justice sometimes.

If it is 1 is that too high?

 

[Dburr1014]

If it is 1 is that too high?

Yes.
I shoot for 0.1
Lately I've been 0.18ish which is okay but don't like to be over 0.2

On a side note, I've always found color tests to be hard to read. Even the light used to read will change the test.
I now use hanna, it's been pretty accurate for me.