Whats up with my A. Millipora?

[NanoReefWanabe]

had this coral for a very long time...well about a year...was growing okay i guess...nice and bushy and branching well...last two months nothing...all polyps recessed (no bushiness), when ever i stir up the tank or SB the filimentous things come out and my green millie looks white with strings...

to me it appears coincidental that it started this upon adding a GBTA to my tank but you never know...

78-80*, pH 8.0, SG 1.026, cal 450, alk 11, mag havent checked last month pre water change it was 2600:eek: , i will check again this weekend as it is WC time again, NO3 2.5 ish ppm, PO4 undetectable i run GFO but still have GHA left from bad lights i suspect, those are the only ones i monitor...

i feed very conservatively, once every three days(formula 1 pellets) and once a week 5 ml of marine snow...fish seem fat and happy, all coral look good, with exception of alk burn issue last month, but recovering...

should i try running a little bit of carbon to see if it is the nem?

[psteeleb]

yep - run some carbon. I run it 24/7 and as far as I'm concerned you almost have to when in a mixed reef to deal with chemical warefare and slimes that nems and softies put out.

[ScallopKing]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13776523#post13776523 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NanoReefWanabe
had this coral for a very long time...well about a year...was growing okay i guess...nice and bushy and branching well...last two months nothing...all polyps recessed (no bushiness), when ever i stir up the tank or SB the filimentous things come out and my green millie looks white with strings...

to me it appears coincidental that it started this upon adding a GBTA to my tank but you never know...

78-80*, pH 8.0, SG 1.026, cal 450, alk 11, mag havent checked last month pre water change it was 2600:eek: , i will check again this weekend as it is WC time again, NO3 2.5 ish ppm, PO4 undetectable i run GFO but still have GHA left from bad lights i suspect, those are the only ones i monitor...

i feed very conservatively, once every three days(formula 1 pellets) and once a week 5 ml of marine snow...fish seem fat and happy, all coral look good, with exception of alk burn issue last month, but recovering...

should i try running a little bit of carbon to see if it is the nem?

how often are you water changes and how much?

[IFbettas]

It could be the amnemone. Run some carbon and see if it gets better.

[NanoReefWanabe]

will do...i also just noticed that the top of my submersible heater had fallen off, and who knows for how long and what would have leaked out of one of them...though the millie is the only thing showing stress...

WC are monthly and 5 gallons

as for softies the only ones i have are zoas and they been there for ever, but there was also a frag of anthia (sp) when i added the nem as they where on the same rock...there are also a fungia and a hammer for LPS but that is it, rest is all acropora and montipora

[91yota]

if that Mg reading is correct, i'd suspect that as the culprit and it needs to be lowered, and fast!

could be the anemone... running GAC will tell you if it is but i seriously doubt it is the cause

[Gondore]

Is the millie still holding it's color?

[dwilly]

Do you have pics?

[NanoReefWanabe]

yeah it is still holding a very nice yellow base, and you can kinda see the green in it too...but mostly yellow like i bought it a year ago...

i can take a pic...

[gnarlyswine]

Is A. Millipora more delicate than other acros - i recently lost a fairly big frag for no obvious reason whne the rest of my acros have all been fine?

[NanoReefWanabe]

Supposedly it is of the hardier variety acro...

[NanoReefWanabe]

so i added carbon the other day and today just did a water change...slightly gaped out when doing it though...usually i fill a 5g waterbottle with dirty water from the tank VIA siphon...and then use my 5g pail of premixed water to refill...today i decided i better change my PO4 media too...(man my reactor looks ridiculous with only a tblspoon of media in it...LOL) but anyway...after refilling it i ran about 2 gallons of tank water through it into a pail to get rid of the "fines" ie rinse it..i then carried out my regular water change by filling my 5g jug...slowly pumped my new water into the return chamber of sump and flipped the pump back on...well holy gurgle gurgle...my water is 2 gallons low now...forgot about the extra PO4 water...so i basically did a 7 gallon change on a 25g system...almost 30%....that is a fairly large change...i am hoping it doesnt further stress out my millie...

i was smart this time though and did the change with the lights off...last time around the lights were on and a lot of my top corals were left exposed for a good 40mins in the halides...as much as i believe the corals can take it a bunch of them started a little spell of STN...all look fine now though...

[NanoReefWanabe]

well new barrage of tests:

pH 8.0 (API)
SG 1.026 (refractometer)
Temp 79* (Digital)
Cal 520ppm <---no idea why it is that high...test kit might be off (API)
ALK 10.2 dKH, 3.66 meq/L (Salifert)
NO3 <2.5ppm (RedSea)
PO4 undetectable (API)