Please Help! All Acropora are melting away

[Cell]

You mentioned citric acid and pumps. Might want to pop them open and check for corrosion.

 

[kagisexton]

Possible metallic sources in tank:

fan drip
Brs 600w titanium heater & sensors
2 Nero 5s
Sicce syncra 2.0
Jebao dct8000
Ice cap 4k gyre
Eschopps s200 skimmer
trace colors over dose (doubtful)

 

[kagisexton]

You mentioned citric acid and pumps. Might want to pop them open and check for corrosion.

I had opened everything during cleaning and closely inspected and didn’t see any signs at all

 

[vetteguy53081]

It’s a bad pic and hard to see but the ora frog skin in the top right is just about destroyed and that’s a tough acro.

Did lighting or water flow change?
+Some reasons SPS will die off/melt:
High or low alk
Po4 should be <.04
water temp too warm
salinity high
Pests or bugs (inspect for these)
False readings from test kits expiring or API tests

 

[kagisexton]

Did lighting or water flow change?
+Some reasons SPS will die off/melt:
High or low alk
Po4 should be <.04
water temp too warm
salinity high
Pests or bugs (inspect for these)
False readings from test kits expiring or API tests

No changes to flow or lighting. I have had to reduce alk dosing as there has been less uptake because corals are not growing the same.

 

[kagisexton]

Bump to see if anyone has any thoughts?? Could it be the salt??

 

[Wasabiroot]

What about salinity? Do you normally keep it at 33?

 

[Cell]

I had opened everything during cleaning and closely inspected and didn’t see any signs at all

I was thinking vinegar for some reason, not citric acid which is safer on the equipment, but good thing you checked anyway!

 

[Dennis Cartier]

What about salinity? Do you normally keep it at 33?

^^^ This

You salinity seems low in both your parameter list and the ICP. Corals will react negatively to too high or low salinity and become stressed. That opens them up to RTN and STN.

Your manganese being elevated may only be part of the issue. I would double check your salinity and cross check your means of testing.

Update: 33 ppt translates to 1.0249, so not really very low, your salinity in your parameters must be missing some digits, lol.

 

[kagisexton]

I’m not sure why my ICP Testa in my

^^^ This

You salinity seems low in both your parameter list and the ICP. Corals will react negatively to too high or low salinity and become stressed. That opens them up to RTN and STN.

Your manganese being elevated may only be part of the issue. I would double check your salinity and cross check your means of testing.

Update: 33 ppt translates to 1.0249, so not really very low, your salinity in your parameters must be missing some digits, lol.

I’m not sure why my ICP test that and my initial post was a typo. I keep salinity at 1.026. 35.5 on the Hannah checker and 1.027 on refractometer. I double checked the same day ICP results were sent in.

 

[kagisexton]

Regardless, nothing changed on my end. Acros seemed to literally brown out overnight, some are still fine but are starting to get worse and worse. I’m sure the manganese is climbing. I am out of town for work for the week now and my tank is sitting back home just melting away, so devastating.

 

[jfoahs04]

Regardless, nothing changed on my end. Acros seemed to literally brown out overnight, some are still fine but are starting to get worse and worse. I’m sure the manganese is climbing. I am out of town for work for the week now and my tank is sitting back home just melting away, so devastating.

Sorry to hear it. It's always frustrating, but especially so when you can't drill down what the issue is/was.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

Bump to see if anyone has any thoughts?? Could it be the salt??

What salt are you running? It may help to search for similar reports. You mention doing a big water change just before sending in the ICP.

I am not sure if you were able to get a metal absorbing resin online before you left for the week. I have used Cuprasorb in the past. It binds a lot of metals, not just copper.

It sucks that you are going through a crash. I have been there, and sadly will probably be again at some point in the future. Acros can be heart breakers.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Lots of cuprisorb / polyfilter until you can pinpoint the issue would be my move

 

[kagisexton]

What salt are you running? It may help to search for similar reports. You mention doing a big water change just before sending in the ICP.

I am not sure if you were able to get a metal absorbing resin online before you left for the week. I have used Cuprasorb in the past. It binds a lot of metals, not just copper.

It sucks that you are going through a crash. I have been there, and sadly will probably be again at some point in the future. Acros can be heart breakers.

Red sea blue bucket. I searched for issues and searched the ICP of the batch and saw nothing out of the ordinary.

thank you and all others for the help. I am going to order some cuprisorb right now and run it along with metasorb as soon as I get back home. I unfortunately did not receive anything before leaving town and just left the chemipure blue, which obviously didn’t do much.

edit: The only other thing I can think of is maybe I’m using the salt to soon after mixing and getting some of the crap that would normally stick to the container into the tank? I usually wait about 2-3hours

 

[Dennis Cartier]

I have not heard of any reports of issues with the Red Sea salt either. Now, the Tropic Marin Pro from Turkey, which I unfortunately have a couple of buckets of, that one has issues. Sad, it was such an awesome salt in the past.

In good quality salt, you don't normally get too much crud left over. Though I would wait until it is clear. Your manganese is so elevated that for it to come from the salt, your salt would have to have many thousand times the intended amount in the bucket.

I would move the fan if there is any chance that the corroded bits are able to drip into the sump.

You could try another ICP with a different company just to cross check the result and confirm that the issue is really the issue.

 

[kagisexton]

I have not heard of any reports of issues with the Red Sea salt either. Now, the Tropic Marin Pro from Turkey, which I unfortunately have a couple of buckets of, that one has issues. Sad, it was such an awesome salt in the past.

In good quality salt, you don't normally get too much crud left over. Though I would wait until it is clear. Your manganese is so elevated that for it to come from the salt, your salt would have to have many thousand times the intended amount in the bucket.

I would move the fan if there is any chance that the corroded bits are able to drip into the sump.

You could try another ICP with a different company just to cross check the result and confirm that the issue is really the issue.

I moved the fan immediately after someone pointed that out. I just got back into town and filled a huge BRS reactor full of carbon, added metasorb and cuprisorb. I inspected every piece of equipment again and cannot find the source. Very frustrating. Upon returning, the Montis are now starting to melt, all three cleaner shrimp died and 75% of snails dead. I’m sure there is a nutrient spike because of it but I’m too ticked to clean the glass or test anything.

 

[minus9]

Unless your refractometer is made for seawater, then it’s probably off. Most are designed for a brine solution and not seawater. Salinity should be 35ppt. If you’ve been using Chemipure long term, then you’re stripping your water of vital elements. I’ve never been a fan of chemical filtration 24/7. I would much rather have higher PO4, than not enough. You should have measurable NO3 too. Magnesium is low and I thought I saw some copper in your results, which should be zero. Maybe lower your temp a degree as well.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

I moved the fan immediately after someone pointed that out. I just got back into town and filled a huge BRS reactor full of carbon, added metasorb and cuprisorb. I inspected every piece of equipment again and cannot find the source. Very frustrating. Upon returning, the Montis are now starting to melt, all three cleaner shrimp died and 75% of snails dead. I’m sure there is a nutrient spike because of it but I’m too ticked to clean the glass or test anything.

The fact that all inverts are dying is pretty telling, looks like copper or heavy metal for sure.

 

[kagisexton]

The fact that all inverts are dying is pretty telling, looks like copper or heavy metal for sure.

Agreed, for sure heavy metal but where from?? And if a pump housing was cracked or something wouldn’t there be other detectable heavy metals as well? Instead of just Manganese which is at 2000-4000x what it should be?

I’m gonna run to the store and grab an ICP test later today from a different company and send it out to see what I get. It just sucks because time is of the essence.