Sps were doing great for about 8 months and now STN for 3 months

[Doubleu1992]

I have a Red Sea 950 peninsula The tank is one year old today and the rock is about two years old.

For the First 8 months any sps frag I put in would start to grow very fast and would do just fine, from my Montiporas to Acros nothing was dying and they were thriving.
About 3 months ago my red Montipora digita started to show white and a few weeks after other SPS started to STN and over the last 3 months I have had some die very fast (my chalice corals) and others like the red monti digita are still half alive and dying very slow.
A little over a month ago I did a Triton ICP and it showed nothing negative. Nothing was to low or to high

I just put a stylophora frag in last week and it got burnt tips yesterday just like my bigger Stylophora colonies, and I have had no changes in parameters in the last week so its not a swing causing this its the current water. Only SPS not affected yet are my pocillopora colonies they are doing fine.

So my question is what could cause a thriving tank to now not allow mostly all sps, a lot of people say it takes time to mature but why would all the SPS grow for the first 7 months if it was not mature enough.
Any help is appreciated!

here are my parameters that go back a year https://aquaticlog.com/aquariums/bfamaquarium/3/parameters


Here are some pictures of my tank I have a lot of soft corals at one point I had over 60 different corals in here.

This is when my chalice coral started to die and went within a few days

This is the tank as of now

 

[moosevandyke]

Thank you! and Iv been scared to dose antibiotics but probably cant kill more SPS thans already dying

yeah I dosed chemi clean about a month ago was also nervous I had some cyano I couldn't shake. I had no ill effects on any my sps or lps.

 

[moosevandyke]

yeah I dosed chemi clean about a month ago was also nervous I had some cyano I couldn't shake. I had no ill effects on any my sps or lps.

here is the tank lots of different lps and sps with no issues with chemi clean then big water change and ran carbon after a week

 

[Lavey29]

I have some big leather corals mixed in with all my SPS and LPS. They can release turpenes into the water but it will generally just irritate nearby corals then diluted so other corals show no affects. I run chemipure blue to. Turpenes are not what's slowly whacking your SPS.

 

[Matt Bravo]

I don’t think I’ve seen others mention it yet, so I will. When was that last time you changed your rodi systems filter/carbon?

 

[Doubleu1992]

I don’t think I’ve seen others mention it yet, so I will. When was that last time you changed your rodi systems filter/carbon?

I change it every time the DI gets exhausted so more than I need to for sure and when I started having this problem I changed it all out.

 

[Doubleu1992]

I have 2 bags mixed with carbon and GFO and change one every 2 weeks.

I know it’s a big tank, but I would see how things respond to a series of water changes.

Nice looking tank.

Thank you!
I do a 40% water change once a month. But I get no response except zoa die off if my nutrients were a little low

 

[Doubleu1992]

I have some big leather corals mixed in with all my SPS and LPS. They can release turpenes into the water but it will generally just irritate nearby corals then diluted so other corals show no affects. I run chemipure blue to. Turpenes are not what's slowly whacking your SPS.

Well hopefully the two separate ICP test will show me something. Maybe this weekend ill go through my pumps and stuff and look for rust. All the equipment is a year old except my return pumps are about two years old I would hope nothing is broken so fast

 

[X-37B]

It is in the media compartment on the reef mat 1200 a reactor would be more efficient right?

Yes.

 

[ryanjohn1]

I have not! do you think that would be a good idea?

It takes a month or so to get back but it may help give you an idea what’s going on bacteria wise in your tank. Can’t hurt to know. Otherwise everyone here including yourself is just guessing. I would check pumps and such for rusting equipment. As suggested. Because imo everything else looks good. Is there many vermitid snails? I’ve seen problems like that in my own tank. Sps is fine then stn and usually I’ll see them snail near one.

 

[Alazo1]

I was going to suggest to do some big water changes but you mention that you do a 40% every month. However, do you trust the salt that you are using?. Can it be a bad batch?. Also I would check tds before the di to make sure the membranes are not exhausted. What is the tds of your source water? I'm in San Jose, Ca. and the tds here can be as high as 450.

Your fish and specially your tangs look healthy so I am assuming that your tank is getting enough nutrition.

I would for sure turn the lights way down until you figure out the issue. Specially if you are now adding activated carbon.

You did not mention that you are carbon dosing but if you are I would stop it for now.

Also, if things are going down fast, I personally would not hesitate adding Chemi-Clean as has been mentioned.

Good luck, I love your tank.

 

[Tuna Melt]

I would look into Oxylinic Acid, it seems like a better alternative to Cipro. There was a very comprehensive article on it in the latest edition of coral magazine. Its what I would do in your shoes. It does not look like an Abiotic stressor is the cause here. Maybe warfare but I would think LPS would also be suffering also, which leaves bacterial infection as the front runner.

Seriously check out that article, it was very well done, has dosing recommendations and input from industry heavyweights and a vet. etc.

On another note, gorgeous tank! Sorry to hear about your troubles :/

 

[Doubleu1992]

I was going to suggest to do some big water changes but you mention that you do a 40% every month. However, do you trust the salt that you are using?. Can it be a bad batch?. Also I would check tds before the di to make sure the membranes are not exhausted. What is the tds of your source water? I'm in San Jose, Ca. and the tds here can be as high as 450.

Your fish and specially your tangs look healthy so I am assuming that your tank is getting enough nutrition.

I would for sure turn the lights way down until you figure out the issue. Specially if you are now adding activated carbon.

You did not mention that you are carbon dosing but if you are I would stop it for now.

Also, if things are going down fast, I personally would not hesitate adding Chemi-Clean as has been mentioned.

Good luck, I love your tank.

Thank you so much! would you mind explaining you recommendation for turning the lights down?

 

[Doubleu1992]

I would look into Oxylinic Acid, it seems like a better alternative to Cipro. There was a very comprehensive article on it in the latest edition of coral magazine. Its what I would do in your shoes. It does not look like an Abiotic stressor is the cause here. Maybe warfare but I would think LPS would also be suffering also, which leaves bacterial infection as the front runner.

Seriously check out that article, it was very well done, has dosing recommendations and input from industry heavyweights and a vet. etc.

On another note, gorgeous tank! Sorry to hear about your troubles :/

Thank you very much! I will definitely look at that article.

 

[Alazo1]

I would turn lights down at least 25%.

 

[Charles Zinn]

I did the Triton ICP a month ago after having issues for a month or two and I just bought an ATI and Triton ICP im going to do them soon. Will an ICP test show the byproduct of Magnets or equipment rusting and polluting the water? Or will I just have to pull everything out and look at it.

Did the ICP test show Fluoride element? And was the ne coral you put in Wild compared to the other corals? Have heard alot of Podcasts lately mention warfare between maricultured and wild corals in same tank. I would also do an Aquabiomics test. To test for any bad bacteria or pests. The test will also tell you how balanced your tank is.

 

[muffinmanXL]

I would turn lights down at least 25%.

But why?

 

[Northern Flicker]

Personally, I would wait and see the what the ICP says before making big moves.

Like @Lavey29 , I am not sold on this being toxins from soft coral (has anyone ever proven that they will actually kill other coral in an aquarium? lots of mixed reef tanks say otherwise).

As for rust, both myself and @Troylee have found rust in our tanks and did not really see negative affects. I don't even run carbon, and still no die off. Not saying it's not a chemical/metal pollutant, i just think this gets tossed around often but not sure it really aligns in most cases. ICP will give you a better answer on that front.

One small thing you may want to consider is to buy a glass thermometer and just check your temp controller/heaters aren't out of calibration. SG will be checked by ICP.

Can you list your full livestock list?

I have a Bicolour Blenny who was a model citizen in my reef for 9 months, but I recently caught him nipping my LPS.

As an emergency action, you could try FM's RTN/STN - X product. I've heard it really does work.

 

[Doubleu1992]

Ok I got my Triton ICP results and here they are!

 

[Doubleu1992]

Personally, I would wait and see the what the ICP says before making big moves.

Like @Lavey29 , I am not sold on this being toxins from soft coral (has anyone ever proven that they will actually kill other coral in an aquarium? lots of mixed reef tanks say otherwise).

As for rust, both myself and @Troylee have found rust in our tanks and did not really see negative affects. I don't even run carbon, and still no die off. Not saying it's not a chemical/metal pollutant, i just think this gets tossed around often but not sure it really aligns in most cases. ICP will give you a better answer on that front.

One small thing you may want to consider is to buy a glass thermometer and just check your temp controller/heaters aren't out of calibration. SG will be checked by ICP.

Can you list your full livestock list?

I have a Bicolour Blenny who was a model citizen in my reef for 9 months, but I recently caught him nipping my LPS.

As an emergency action, you could try FM's RTN/STN - X product. I've heard it really does work.

I have 2 cardinals
2 nasos
1 blue tang
2 sailfin tangs
1 orange shoulder
1 Ruby Red Dragonet
3 clowns
1 melanurus wrasse
1 candy hog fish
1 diamond goby
1 red starfish
1 blue starfish
I think thats it lol
I have an inkbird, hydros and redsea ATO sensor all three say same temp

 

[Doubleu1992]

Did the ICP test show Fluoride element? And was the ne coral you put in Wild compared to the other corals? Have heard alot of Podcasts lately mention warfare between maricultured and wild corals in same tank. I would also do an Aquabiomics test. To test for any bad bacteria or pests. The test will also tell you how balanced your tank is.

New ICP test that I just posted in here shows Fluride is a little low. I did notice I had this die off after adding 4 wild SPS corals from Indonesia