SPS bleach immediately after WC

[Jgoal55]

Hey everyone,

Well after 7 very lucky years in the hobby Ive possibly experienced my first major die off.

Last night I did a 45g WC on my 160 (about 200 total volume with sump). The tank is a mixed reef of LPS and SPS.

When I woke up the next morning 95% of my SPS were totally bleached. The other 5% lost a lot of color but weren't totally gone. all LPS corals are perfect as are all other animals.

After speaking with a good friend of mine, it seems that what may have happened is that I did not allow the salt to dissolve long enough in my mixing tank (it stirred for about 3hrs). It was a rare cold night in Miami so perhaps the temperature of the water prior to adding salt didn't let it mix appropriately. I monitored PH and temp in the display throughout the change and they were stable so this was the only conclusion he or I could come up with.

At any rate, according to him the undissolved salt crystals may have bleached the corals. I didn't even know this could happen.

Usually I let my salt mix overnight but I had to do my WC last night and didn't have time to do so. However, on the bucket of reef crystals it says that the salt CAN be used immediately. If what happened to my corals is a possibility, why would the bucket say that? But I digress.

Anyway, as of now, it looks like the SPS are still extending their polyps so it doesn't seem as if they are completely dead. I didn't run my halides all day and just ran the actinic t5s for about 2hrs to see if a bit less light may help some of them recover. If I don't notice any improvement in a day or two I'll frag anything that looks salvageable.

Have you guys seen bleached SPS recover in the past? Is there anything else I should do? Should I alter my lighting for a longer while?

Thanks.

[sslak]

Have you used this bucket of salt before?

Any chance your refractometer is off and you botched up the salinity one way or another?

Sorry about your bad luck :(

[James404]

Bleached corals will recover if the initial cause is corrected in time. In the future never use new saltwater that hasn't been mixed for at least 24 hrs, if you are rushed just put the change off until the next day or weekend, the tank will be fine :)

[Anemonebuff]

I usually only mix my saltwater for a few hours, never 24. I would look at some sort of parameter being out of whack.

[Reef Bass]

Might there have been some sort of residue in the bucket that was used to mix?

I often use water shortly after mixing and have never had a bleaching incident afterwards.

[The Velvet Sea]

That is a pretty decent sized water change; over 22% if your system has 200 gallons of water. I generally mix my water overnight, but I've also done quick mixes without problems. With a such an extreme reaction from your SPS, I wonder if a parameter swing occurred, possibly the salinity as others mentioned, or even an alkalinity swing. With sensitive SPS I try not to do very large water changes all at once, and if I do I take extra care to ensure that the parameters of the new water are very close to the aquarium. If they are just bleached, you may still be able to save them though. Good luck!

[DLANDINO]

Hi, sorry for your issues. I had this happen to me in June of this past year, literally the same thing that you describe. My problem was due to a burned out salt mixing pump that went unnoticed as I use 2 at a time. If you have some PE then you are likely going to be ok. MY sps recovered in 2 months time. I attribute its fast turn around in part to my beginning using Brightwel's Amino acids as well as Brightwell's Restor. Good luck and feel free to PM me for questions.

Dave

[Fish4Me2]

That's odd. I've performed emergency water changes in the past with less mixing time than that, and had no problems. Is it possible there might have been some contamination in your mixing container, or on whatever pumps you used to get water in and out of the display? I once caught someone using Windex next to the pump and tubing I use for water changes, which might have caused some issues.

[Michael7979]

I would think that there is residue in the mixing bucket or some radical swing in something like your ALK.

Sorry to hear. Good Luck.

[Jgoal55]

thanks guys...

I know it wasn't the salinity because that was my initial guess and I made sure to recalibrate my refractometer and try again and sure enough...pinpoint 1.025.

As far as the ALK, its a possibility, I didn't test for it.

This morning there seemed to be even more PE on the corals but that may just be me being overly positive.

Is there anything I should do to help the corals recover?

[James404]

I agree it definitely could have been a major parameter swing. The main reason it is advised to let water mix for 24+ hrs is so the PH balances out. Newly mixed saltwater can be caustic as well. Yes you can get away with mixing it for a few hours possibly but to me it is not worth the risk, especially in an SPS tank.

[The Velvet Sea]

Is there anything I should do to help the corals recover?

It will depend a bit on what you feel the true cause was. If there was some contaminant in your mixing container that got into the water, running some fresh carbon would probably be smart. If it was a parameter swing, then monitoring and stabilizing the parameters in your aquarium would be the best help. SPS can be sensitive to changes, but give them proper stable parameters and they can recover from a lot especially if they are just bleached and not losing tissue. Good luck!

[DLANDINO]

Here is a link to my thread on RC. It contains a ton of advice and kept me sane during my experience. If you go to page two I posted pics once I got the nerve to actually look in the tank. LOL. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1859914&highlight=bleached