coral toxin warfare

[airwaybill]

I have recently been having alot of troubles with my sps and some of my zoanthids and other polyps. They slowly recede and I can't figure it out. My parameters are all fine:

180 gallon with 125 gal sump refugium, 3 400 watt metal halide 14k, 4 36" T-5, Suncoast Protein skimmer works awesome, Cascade cannister filter for carbon and phosphate remover, Mag 12 return pump(slow for fuge) and Seio m1100's in the tank for flow.

Am: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: .1 or less undetectable
ph: stable at 8.3-8.4 due to 24/7 lit refugium
Alk: 2.8-3.2 meq/l or 9 dkh
Calcium: 400-420
mag: tested today: 1200ppm
Salinity 1.024
Temp about 79-81


Dripping Kalk, dosing a two part alk/ph and calcium. 30 gal water change every 2 weeks

Very little if any fluctuations of any kind.

My question and possible problem is Sinularia flexibilis. I have 3 rather large colonies. They are the size of a basketball. Has anyone had problems with this coral causing too much slime in the aquarium and choking out other corals? I would like to get some more sps again and start rebuilding. But not untill I figure this out. The tank always done very well untill recently and I realized the Sinularia was growing much faster than before.

It all started when we moved into our new house. The tank did great at the temporary location it was in untill the house was ready. When I moved it things recovered and then slowly declined. I also did the Red Bug treatment (properly). And that seemed to help for a short period of time and then all started going wrong.

Any questions or help would be appreciated.

[mr.wilson]

Leather corals are serious contenders in allelopathy, but it's more of a growth inhibitor that discourages corals from opening their polyps, than an outright killer. If mortality is caused by allelopathy, it's a slow death, not rapid tissue necrosis.

It sounds like you may have a bacterial infection or virus that effects SPS specifically. The stress of a move would confirm this as a likelihood. There are a few plagues out there that cause RTN in SPS, while leaving other corals alone.

You can remove toxic agents by stepping up protein skimming, ozonation, carbon, ion exchange resins, and polymeric absorbents.

If you follow these practices, and still have mortality, it's disease, not competition at the route of your problem. Is the necrosis starting at the base of the SPS? If so, it's bacterial or viral.

Try iodine dips or swabs, and antibiotic treatment. I would start with neomycin and chloramphenical at 250 mg/ 10 gallons (each), every second day for a total of three treatments.

[airwaybill]

The death was slow so I also think bacterial infection was my problem. The operative word is "was". Now I'm not sure what it is. It's been over a year and my skimmer is oversized I change carbon frequently and I do water changes. I can't figure it out.

I thought I had it under control but am still losing things. I've tried dips to no avail but I could try again.

I'm wondering if removing or drastically reducing the Sinularia colonies will increase my chances of success.

[mr.wilson]

At this point in time, removing the sinularia is worth a shot. With some problems it's imperative to find the cause, so changes must be slow and measured. In your case, I'd throw everything you've got at it, and place isolating the route of the problem as secondary.

Peter Wilkens reported in his 1986 book "Invertebrates: Tube-, Soft- and Branching Corals", that mushrooms greatly inhibited the growth of sinularia on natural reefs. He reported the same with a sarcophyton in his own tank. I've added new corals to tanks and had the existing residents close for days on numerous occasions. It's safe to say that if these corals cannot coexist in nature, then who are we to think we can do better.

Your experience is unique because of the time it took for the problem to arise, but the size of the sinularia colony is likely the reason for this.

Perhaps the sinularia colony got too big and started to emit more toxins than usual. It's likely that the toxins could cause a stress related, secondary bacterial infection as well.

I would still treat the affected corals with chloramphenicol to be safe.