View Full Version : This is driving me insane!!!!!
About two months ago I experienced excellent growth from the Acropora and Montipora in my tank. It was so good in fact, that I actually started to believe that I had this reef tank thing down. To my dismay I watched one Montipora plate start to lose color and then tissue began to die. Then the same thing happened to another Montipora, but a third Montipora kept growing. After a couple of weeks the same issue befell the third montipora plate. Over time all of their color has faded to a light lime green. I'll watch as tissue grows back over the exposed skeleton, it holds for a week or so, but then falls to another recession event. This grow/die cycle is currently ongoing in my tank with these Monti, and it has started to affect one of my Acropora as well. The tissue edge on the Montipora is a light purple color, while on the Acropora, it is a bleaching of an area followed by tissue necrosis. What is going on here?
My system specs are as follows (sorry, but it is long).
My current system has been up and running for one year now. Actually, that isn't entirely true. The system begain its life in 2006, but it had to be broken down and moved two times before making it to its current location. All of the live rock and sand, and many of the invertebrates are from the initial set-up over three years ago.
Fish in the system consist of the following:
- Yellow Tang
- Six Lined Wrasse
- Watchman Goby
- 2 Damselfish
- 3 Bar Gobies
Non-Cnidarian life consists of the following:
- 1 Crocea Clam
- 2 Tiger Tail Cucumbers (one split)
- 1 Pink and Black Cucumber
- 2 Black Cucumbers
- 1 Blue Linckia Sea Star
- 2 Sand Sifting Sea Stars
- 3 Emerald Crabs
- 2 Blue Legged Hermit Crabs
- 2 Scarlet Hermit Crabs
- 2 Halloween Hermit Crabs
- numerous Trochus,Nassarius, and Ceriths Snails
- several bundles of Chaetomorpha (refugium and sump)
- naturally occuring serpent stars, amphipods, feather dusters,worms, etc.
Cnidarians include the following:
Stony Corals:
- several Acropora species
- several Montipora species
- 1 Seriatopora
- 3 Pocillopora
- 1 Stylophora
- 1 Anchor Coral
- 1 Torch Coral colony
- 1 Favites(I think)
- 2 Trachyphyllia
Soft Corals:
- 1 Xenia colony
- 3 Sinularia
- 2 Toadstool Leathers (silver dollar diameter)
- 1 Leather or Finger Leather??? (a fairly big coral)
- 3 Kenyan Tree corals
- Green Star Polyp colonies here and there
- 6-8 Zooanthids scattered here and there
- 6-8 Parazooanthids
System Hardware
Tank and Sumps:
117 gallon tank measuring 7'x18"x18"
2 sumps
1 15 gallon refugium
1 remote 20 gallon Brute garbage can deep sandbed (12" aragonite depth)
Taking away the volume occupied by rocks and hardware, I estimate the system's water capacity to be about 100 gallons.
Water Moving/Treatment Hardware:
2 Eheim 1260s serving as return pumps w/48" of head pressure (635 gph @ 0 head. I'm guessing no less than 500 gph/pump based on performance curve)
1 Mag Drive 7 circulating water from the deep sand bed to the refugium.
2 Tunze 6100 Powerheads run off of a Tunze controller. Pumps run from 1/2 - 3/4 power. Flow is cycled back and forth every 5-10 seconds by the controller.
1 ASM G2 Skimmer
RODI system to treat tap water. TDS readings always kept below 6 ppm.
1 Korallin C-1502 Calcium Reactor. Manual adjustments are made as needed.
Pinpoint pH Monitor to measure reactor effluent.
Paristolic dosing pump for evaporative water make-up (float in sump activation)
Lighting Hardware:
2 250 MH HQI Lamps Driven by a Sunlight Supply Dual Ballast (my most durable lighting hardware to date).
1 150 MH HQI Lamp Driven by a PFO Ballast
All MH lamps are 10,000 K, and all are replaced every 12 months.
The pendants are placed in the following order over the tank: 250W - 150W - 250W
2 72" UV Lighting Co. Super Actinic VHO lamps driven by an IceCap 660 ballast (installed last month)
The Actinics run for 12 hours a day, and the MH lamps are on for 10 hours per day.
The refugium and the main sump have the requisite Lights of America 65W 6700K compact fluorescent fixture. The one over the refugium is on when the tank's lights are on, and the sump's light is on a reverse photoperiod. Both lights grow Chaeto.
Water Chemistry/Quality Measured Today and Nearly Always:
Salinity: 1.026 SG
Morning pH - 8.17
Evening pH - 8.32
Ca - 400 ppm
dKH - 9
Mg - 1350
PO4 - 0
NO3 - 0
Temperature - 78.5 F + - 0.5 degrees (Medusa Controller, fan cooling, filimant heaters)
Iodide - 0.0025 ppm (This was a new measurement for my system, so I have no history for trending or troubleshooting purposes).
Husbandry and Maintenance Techniques:
15-20 gallon water change weekly with a synthetic salt mix (Instant Ocean w/RODI mixed for 2 days min before water change. Salinity and temp. are dead on).
1" sand bed in tank is siphoned at least every other water change to mix up/suspend organic matter which is dumped with the wastewater.
Deep sand bed surface is siphoned every 6 months to remove settled detritus.
Sumps and refugium bottoms are siphoned as needed to remove detritus.
Fish are fed Formula II every evening. All pellets are eaten.
Corals are fed (I started to do this in the last 2 months) 2-3 times week with ZoPlan or Coral Frenzy.
The protein skimmer cup is removed every two or three days and cleaned out.
All pumps have spares which allows me to take them apart and soak them in vinegar over the course of a week or two. This gets them very clean.
I do not run mechanical filters of any kind.
If you actually read to this point, thank you for taking a genuine interest. Now, can someone tell me what is going on here? I'm out of ideas.
Lou :mad2:
Maxxumless
06/28/2009, 09:39 PM
This sounds almost exactly what happened to me a few years ago. What I did was remove the Montipora at first sign of recession and placed it in a FOWLR tank in one of those net breeding thingies. It went back and forth until it eventually died. The rest of my corals didn't seem to get effected.
My thoughts are disease or extreme stress being caused by something not testable (like poisons or other chemicals). I would run carbon and a pad at the very least. I haven't really kept up with advancements in coral care though - so no help there :(
woodiecrafts
06/28/2009, 09:40 PM
Sorry to hear about your monti's Lou. You have sure given a very detailed description of your tank and parameters and nothing to me looks out of the ordinary with the exception of no carbon mentioned. If that was an over sight, then my self I have no clue what to tell you given that they were fine and growing for months and then just started to receed like that.
On the other hand, if you don't use any type of carbon, depending on how close some of your softies are to the montis, you might be having a bit of a chemical warfare going on. Probably a stretch on my part, but for now it is the only thing I can come up with.
es1887
06/28/2009, 09:44 PM
where the tissue is receding is there a white or black band? it the place of necrosis followed by slime algae? it could be white band disease. white band is a form of necrosis it is just a lot slower than rtn. they think that it has to do with a bacterial infection, but still not too sure where it comes from or what causes it.
aquariumclown
06/28/2009, 10:16 PM
I didn't read all of your post, but scanned through it. I didn't see that you looked for pests. There are red bugs that eat acros and nudis that eat montiporas, be sure you look these pests up and look for them, they will devastate your livestock rapidly. I had problems with all my acros till i treated for red bugs and everything is doing great now. Last week i found Monti nudis eating my Montis, so i chopped up all my montis and got rid of any infected parts (left with very small frags, but at least i know they are pest free, for now. I keep a watch for them everytime i look at my tank now.
VacavilleFC3S
06/28/2009, 11:50 PM
it's your alkalinity
dynomight
06/28/2009, 11:51 PM
Maybe try an iodine dip? Also +1 on the pests inspection.
Toddrtrex
06/29/2009, 12:15 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15273776#post15273776 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by VacavilleFC3S
it's your alkalinity
Why do you say that? 9 for dKH is fine.
I would take a closer look at the montis, since it seems like those are the only ones being affected, might be nudis.
Percula9
06/29/2009, 12:23 AM
I agree that possible coral warfare with your leathers is a possibility. Leathers produce toxins that acropora don't like. RTN and STN doesn't seem to have a clear explanation. I would remove the leathers to a different tank and see if this helps.
sanababit
06/29/2009, 01:03 AM
This is almost what happened to a fellow reefer of mine, his monties died (digitata, capricornis, encrusting, etc), they lost color and stn'd, he found out that his system had a potassium deficiency which made them really fragile and pale, soon after they died....check it out you might be surprised
another thing to look for are predators (like someone stated earlier), they will eat and kill your monties.....
disease, i have never heard off white band disease before, maybe a google is in order....
i know that everybody has different opinions on what to do, this hobby is different for everybody, so we are just trying to help you....good luck and keep us posted
sana
redfishsc
06/29/2009, 05:39 AM
I had an issue with my orange and purple monti caps starting to fade, and all my numbers checked out good.
Out of "desperation" I did a series of 30% water changes in a week (30% every day or two) and they colored back up in a week or two after that. Now, two months later, they look better than ever.
My suspicion is that some nutrient was depleted that I can't test for.
And as Sanababit mentioned, potassium could be the issue.
woodiecrafts
06/29/2009, 07:04 AM
It looks like 15-20 gals a week would keep potassium and other trace elements that we never test for in tact, but you never know, it might not hurt to test as some of the others have stated.
Thanks for all of the insignt guys. In response to your posts, I can comment on the following:
1. My primary focus is on alleopathy with the soft corals. I might have to remove them.
2. I've seen no evidence of "red bugs" or other predators/parasites.
3. I run about 4 oz. of carbon (dry) and change it out every 2 or 3 weeks.
4. I'm trying to do big water changes. My goal is to turn over 100% of the tank's volume in a two week period of time.
5. I borrowed a light meter from a fellow reefer, and I found that his tank has 2-4 times the light intensity as mine (location dependant), and my Monti frags came out of his tank. Perhaps they are light starved? His tank has two skylights over the tank and a 1000W MH bulb. During mid day, the light meter measured near full strength sunlight over his tank.
I'm going to lower the pendants over the next couple of weeks to get surface levels as close to his tank's lighting intensity as is possible.
That's about where I'm at. Anyone have any other ideas?
aquariumclown
06/29/2009, 12:49 PM
1. I've never encounter anyone telling me that their 110gal tank had to be sps only or lps only. Yes there are some allelopathy going on, but unless you have some uncommon unknown species doing weird things, mixed isnt usually a problem. Plus you are running plenty of carbon to take care of that. Take a look at people's tanks, I would say 90% or more are mixed reef. Mine included.
2. Just because you havn't seen predators/parasites don't mean they're not there. Take some macro pics and let others inspect your problem corals. Monti nudis do not like light, they will only munch on the underside of the coral or inside a hole where it's dark.
4. If your problem is chemistry, then yes water changes will certainly help to get back to square one. But if your problem is parasite, no amount of water change will get rid of your problem.
5. 2x250w plus 1x150w mh is more than plenty for Montis for a 7' tank that's only 18" tall. Even if your using all 20k bulbs. Provided the bulbs are good.
Sorry you are having problems with your corals, it's frustrating and I certainly have been there myself. With persistence you will find the answer. HTH.
Thanks for your insight aquariumclown.
I've read a lot of information on why you should not mix SPS corals with leathers, and I know some successful SPS reefers who recommend that you shouldn't do it. Then again, look at this month's Tank of the Month. There is a huge leather in that tank, and the SPS look good. I see way too much conflicting information in this area. That's why I'm considering the removal of my soft corans. If they aren't in the tank, then they are one less variable in the troubleshooting process.
The only thing in my chemistry that was off was Iodide. I'm going to start dosing Lugols to remedy that situation. Otherwise, everythig else looks great.
Howe do you identify the parasites mentioned?
I'll post pics tonight when I get home from work.
Toddrtrex
06/29/2009, 02:01 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15276397#post15276397 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LouH
.........
The only thing in my chemistry that was off was Iodide. I'm going to start dosing Lugols to remedy that situation. Otherwise, everythig else looks great.
Howe do you identify the parasites mentioned?
I'll post pics tonight when I get home from work.
What salt mix to you use? If you use a name brand, and do regular water changes you should have enough iodide/iodine in your tank. Most test kits (( unless you get some high end ones )) aren't all that accurate when it comes to iodide/iodine. It is fairly easy to over dose Lugols, and might cause more issues.
As for IDs, here is a search I did on montis and nudis
http://reefcentral.com/forums/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=11016688&sortby=&sortorder=
luther1200
06/29/2009, 02:21 PM
I don't know about other people. But I had a huge Sarcophyton ( toadstool leather). And I had a few bleachings. I have removed it and haven't had a problem. And I was running carbon in a reactor the whole time. So "chemical warfare" is a very real possibility, IMO.
aquariumclown
06/29/2009, 02:46 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15276397#post15276397 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LouH
Thanks for your insight aquariumclown.
I've read a lot of information on why you should not mix SPS corals with leathers, and I know some successful SPS reefers who recommend that you shouldn't do it. Then again, look at this month's Tank of the Month. There is a huge leather in that tank, and the SPS look good. I see way too much conflicting information in this area. That's why I'm considering the removal of my soft corans. If they aren't in the tank, then they are one less variable in the troubleshooting process.
The only thing in my chemistry that was off was Iodide. I'm going to start dosing Lugols to remedy that situation. Otherwise, everythig else looks great.
Howe do you identify the parasites mentioned?
I'll post pics tonight when I get home from work.
Your right, it wouldn't hurt to remove your leathers. I'm just pointing out that it may not be your problem.
Water changes should always be your #1 option to get back to square one. Provided your salt water source is good.
aquariumclown
06/29/2009, 02:52 PM
BTW, ck out this link for red bugs info.
http://www.melevsreef.com/redbugs.html
aquariumclown
06/29/2009, 02:55 PM
Don't forget these guys too. The world is dangerous for sps...
http://www.melevsreef.com/aefw.html
Rich D
06/29/2009, 03:03 PM
4. I'm trying to do big water changes. My goal is to turn over 100% of the tank's volume in a two week period of time.
BAD IDEA!!!!
i suggest 25% a week at most.
and your lighting shouldnt be too low, 250s with 10k are plenty.
you could try an iodine dip or other commercial dips. In my experience, iodine had little affect on montipora nudis for they are notorious for having a high threshold for toxins.
aquariumclown
06/29/2009, 03:04 PM
Info on Monti nudis
http://www.farms-of-thesea.com/catalog/includes/languages/english/html/Devistating%20Coral%20Predators.pdf
seapug
06/29/2009, 03:59 PM
sounds like monti eating nudis to me too but you should be able to see them with the naked eye. They look like tiny white fluffy snowflakes that typically congregate at the edge of the healthy tissue. They stripped both my big monti cap colonies down to bare skeleton in about a week.
Your alkalinity/calcium levels seem fine, but tissue loss on SPS can be caused by big swings in Alkalinity. What are you using to maintain Alk & Calcium on this tank?
luther1200
06/29/2009, 04:24 PM
He said it also happened to an Acro. So I don't think its Monti eating nudis.
luther1200
06/29/2009, 04:25 PM
Quote from the OP's origanal post
"and it has started to affect one of my Acropora as well. The tissue edge on the Montipora is a light purple color, while on the Acropora, it is a bleaching of an area followed by tissue necrosis"
aquariumclown
06/29/2009, 04:33 PM
I was under the impression it was both montis and acros.
Sorry for the confusion guys. The tissue recession on the Montis does not look like the recession on the Acro. Don't forget that all of these corals have fought back from their initial recession event, and one Monti in particular has grown significantly since the first event. The Acro is also recovering lost ground on its skeleton and showing some color again.
I've also wondered if one of my cukes died and bombed the tank. They're pretty reclusive, and can go for weeks without being seen.
I run a calcium reactor to maintain alkalinity.
I use Instant Ocean batched with RODI water. TDS on RODI is always 6 ppm or less.
aquariumclown
06/29/2009, 04:53 PM
Well if your cucumber died you could test for a spike in amonia, nitrates, or phosphates, or even nitrites. If you wait too long to test of course you will probably end up with high nitrates.
aquariumclown
06/29/2009, 04:54 PM
btw, if you want to keep sps long term. You'll want to run your ro/di to be 0ppm on the output.
luther1200
06/29/2009, 05:15 PM
Its possible it could be totally separate issues with each coral. Have you seen any signs of any kind of pests?
Nope, no signs of pests. I'll look tonight. To be honest, it hasn't been a focus. I thought that I gave up pests when I moved away from fish. ;)
aquariumclown
06/29/2009, 05:27 PM
Also I would recommend you post some pictures of your tank, the corals in question. This would help greatly in the diagnosis.
AquamanE
06/29/2009, 06:01 PM
I thought that I gave up pests when I moved away from fish
No such luck. Corals have their own pests. :(
Let's see if I can get this to work. I put my pics on an album in Photobucket. Try this:
http://s452.photobucket.com/albums/qq245/LouH_album/Aquarium%20Pics/
aquariumclown
06/29/2009, 10:05 PM
Nice tank. How long has it been up?
Percula9
06/29/2009, 10:08 PM
I guess if you remove the leathers and things improve well you solved your problem. Process of elimination.
Toddrtrex
06/29/2009, 10:13 PM
Couple of things;
In this picture I notice a star -- pretty much right in the center of the picture on the coral --- some of those stars have been reported to bother/eat SPS.
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq245/LouH_album/Aquarium%20Pics/SickAcro.jpg
Also, have you tested at all for stray voltage?
aquariumclown
06/29/2009, 10:18 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15279152#post15279152 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Toddrtrex
Couple of things;
In this picture I notice a star -- pretty much right in the center of the picture on the coral --- some of those stars have been reported to bother/eat SPS.
Also, have you tested at all for stray voltage?
I've never seen stars bother sps. Can you post links to information about these stars bothering/eating sps?
Thanks.
The tank has been up for about a year in its current location. The tank was initially set up in late 2006. I had to break it down and move it to another city when I had a change in employment in July of 2007. I lived at that location for 9 months, and then moved again to my current residence. Needless to say I do not want to move the tank again.
The sea stars are only seen on the corals when algae starts to grow on the newly exposed skeleton. The same goes for snails and my tang. Actually, I believe that the combined algae nibbling by these creatures gives the corals the chance to fight back and recover lost turf.
I have not measured for stray voltage. What is considered a hazardous level? Do I put one lead in an outlet ground and the other in the water?
I hate to remove the leathers, because they look realy good in my tank, but it might have to happen.
Lou
aquariumclown
06/30/2009, 08:16 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15280387#post15280387 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LouH
I have not measured for stray voltage. What is considered a hazardous level? Do I put one lead in an outlet ground and the other in the water?
Lou
Yes
I hate to remove the leathers, because they look realy good in my tank, but it might have to happen.
You can move it out to a temporary tank/tub or to a friend's tank and see if your situation improves. If not, then you know that's not your cause and you can move it back in.
sanababit
06/30/2009, 09:35 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15273935#post15273935 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sanababit
This is almost what happened to a fellow reefer of mine, his monties died (digitata, capricornis, encrusting, etc), they lost color and stn'd, he found out that his system had a potassium deficiency which made them really fragile and pale, soon after they died....check it out you might be surprised
Oh i made a mistake it wasn't potasium it was a strontium deficiency, i talked to my friend and noticed the error sorry...
sana
I haven't measured strontium. Shouldn't I be getting enough strontium from my calcium reactor?
K' Family Reef
06/30/2009, 10:27 AM
although may recoms have already been made
it wouldnt hurt to run POLYPAD
to see if there might be some 'metals' etc in the water column perhaps leaking out of some of the rock or sandbed etc... polypad is good stuff and imo good practice to run occasionally to remove any 'nasties' from the water column!
good luck.
regards
Agreed on the poly pad. I need to get some.
Besides metals, what other compounds (good ones) will it remove from the water?
CeeGee
06/30/2009, 12:02 PM
I don't have much to add but I thought I would chime in with a few things for you to think about.
First off redbugs. I bought a frag at a fragswap in January. My father was injured the previous day and I only went to pick up a frag that I promised I would buy from a fellow reefer. While there I thought I might as well pick up a couple more so I did. I got home and needed to get to the hospital and put them in the newly set up tank without dipping because I was in a hurry. These corals all looked fantastic so I figured they were safe.
I noticed redbugs on one of the acros bought from the other guys. Colors quickly faded. I have not seen redbugs since and they were plain as day. I assume they didn't go away on their own and my colors have not returned on the pieces.
Outcome: I need to get some interceptor. I believe just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there. These things are common and all frags are suspect as far as I am concerned.
Your TDS should never read more than 0. I would replace your di resin and do large waterchanges (and run a polyfilter) and keep that water clean from here on out. .006 ppm doesn't sound like much but who knows what that .006ppm is? Could be a big part of the problem.
I don't think this is part of the issue at hand but that skimmer is way undersized for the amount of water you have. I would think about replacing it once you get things back on track. I was running a modded G3 on a 75 gallon and it didn't pull anywhere near the amount of nog as my newer skimmer does.
Good luck with fixing your tank up. Otherwise it looks great!
aquariumclown
06/30/2009, 12:22 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15281725#post15281725 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CeeGee
I don't have much to add but I thought I would chime in with a few things for you to think about.
First off redbugs. I bought a frag at a fragswap in January. My father was injured the previous day and I only went to pick up a frag that I promised I would buy from a fellow reefer. While there I thought I might as well pick up a couple more so I did. I got home and needed to get to the hospital and put them in the newly set up tank without dipping because I was in a hurry. These corals all looked fantastic so I figured they were safe.
I noticed redbugs on one of the acros bought from the other guys. Colors quickly faded. I have not seen redbugs since and they were plain as day. I assume they didn't go away on their own and my colors have not returned on the pieces.
Outcome: I need to get some interceptor. I believe just because you don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there. These things are common and all frags are suspect as far as I am concerned.
Your TDS should never read more than 0. I would replace your di resin and do large waterchanges (and run a polyfilter) and keep that water clean from here on out. .006 ppm doesn't sound like much but who knows what that .006ppm is? Could be a big part of the problem.
I don't think this is part of the issue at hand but that skimmer is way undersized for the amount of water you have. I would think about replacing it once you get things back on track. I was running a modded G3 on a 75 gallon and it didn't pull anywhere near the amount of nog as my newer skimmer does.
Good luck with fixing your tank up. Otherwise it looks great!
I agree with the above, but in order of priority I would say pests (red bugs), then tds, then skimmer.
I've had acros come fully back to life after I treated for red bugs. It was amazing to me how devastating they were. Such little creatures, such big impact.
As if it's not enough to think about/deal with, upon looking at your tank. I don't see that it's overstocked at all. Good thing, this means there should be enough nutrients to go around and doesn't get sucked up too quickly. But what concerned me the most is that it doesn't seems to be very mature and also seem a little too "sterile". You might look into dosing beneficial bacteria for your tank such as prodibio, vodka, amino acids. But use this stuff with caution, know what your putting into your tank and why.
On the red bug subject, I have had the opportunity to look at the donor colony multiple times since I received my frags, and there is no evidence of parasitic activity anywhere on this coral. This Montipora occupies the area of a frisbee and has up-shoots coming off of it that are 4-5" in height. It is a spectacular specimen. Also, the parent colony's color is outstanding and growth a problem for the owner at this point. So, I'm not too inclined to lean the direction of parasites at this point, although I'll keep my eyes open.
I agree with you on the TDS. I plan to change out all media in my RODI system soon.
A bigger skimmer would be nice, but how do you know what size is the right size? I'm trying to stop spending money on hardware, if you know what I mean.
dalston
06/30/2009, 04:41 PM
I have to agree with Todd here. I found the exact same looking asternia star on the base of a birdsnest frag, there was a small amount of tissue gone just around where it was.
I've had asternia stars in my tank from day one, and I've never had this problem before. Do the stars eat the tissue, or do the stars eat the algae/slime that opportunistically grabs a hold of the fresh substrate?
There have been no stars on the Montipora.
aquariumclown
06/30/2009, 05:31 PM
You should read this...
http://www.garf.org/STAR/starfish.html
And people's posts in this....
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f190/sps-eating-starfish-100375.html
...before you decide what you got there.
dalston
06/30/2009, 07:03 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15283549#post15283549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LouH
I've had asternia stars in my tank from day one, and I've never had this problem before. Do the stars eat the tissue, or do the stars eat the algae/slime that opportunistically grabs a hold of the fresh substrate?
There have been no stars on the Montipora.
From what I understand, there are hundreds of different types of asternia, some do eat coral tissue. Finding out which are which is near on impossible from what i've read apart from looking at where they hang out.
It's in the zoa forum, but still relevant to this topic. A couple people have mentioned they have caught asternias eating SPS (me being one of them)
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1653097
I'll need to read up on all of the links you guys have provided. I'e been doing this long enough to know that just because I haven't seen it does not mean that it does not exist/happen. Thanks for your help on this guys. I appreciate it.
CeeGee
06/30/2009, 07:36 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15281829#post15281829 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aquariumclown
I agree with the above, but in order of priority I would say pests (red bugs), then tds, then skimmer.
I've had acros come fully back to life after I treated for red bugs. It was amazing to me how devastating they were. Such little creatures, such big impact.
As if it's not enough to think about/deal with, upon looking at your tank. I don't see that it's overstocked at all. Good thing, this means there should be enough nutrients to go around and doesn't get sucked up too quickly. But what concerned me the most is that it doesn't seems to be very mature and also seem a little too "sterile". You might look into dosing beneficial bacteria for your tank such as prodibio, vodka, amino acids. But use this stuff with caution, know what your putting into your tank and why.
If you read my post they are in that exact order of priority ;)
Also if you read my post it states that I blatantly saw red bugs and they seem to have vanished. I know they didn't just go away and I have been told that they can hide and still be present wreaking havoc.
As far as a skimmer I am trying to stop buying hardware myself but after seeing what other peoples skimmers pull out and what my ASM (that was larger than yours on a smaller system) was pulling I decided to get with the newer better technology in todays skimmers. I consider ASM and Euroreef yesterdays skimmers. I decided on a cone skimmer actually a ATB. After months and months of waiting for ATB to get more small models in stock I found the i-Tech's which have just as good performance, much cheaper prices, and are made in America with great craftsmanship (a rarity). Forgot to add that the customer service was top notch. The guy was packing it in the box to ship it to me before he had my payment information. It was a no brainer.
i-tech, I've never heard of them, buy I'll take a look. Thanks for the tip.
BTW, none of my algae has ever been special.
CeeGee
06/30/2009, 11:20 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15284783#post15284783 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LouH
i-tech, I've never heard of them, buy I'll take a look. Thanks for the tip.
BTW, none of my algae has ever been special.
Neither was mine as it wasn't algae it was a bacteria that literally drove me nuts for over 3 years. Read all about it here. (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1590050)
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