PDA

View Full Version : My SPS dead after going on vacation, trying to figure out what it was


SexyRob
03/05/2014, 03:25 PM
So as the title reads, I go on vacation, gone for 4.5 days. I come back and see my SPS is dead. I can't blame the guy who was watching my house as I'm sure he had no idea what SPS is, he was simply told to feed my fish once a day.

I have a few theories on what caused it, but not exactly sure. I'm trying to figure it out because right now I want to give up on SPS. I hate seeing things die, especially knowing that it was at my hand.

First, the last time I recorded parameters was over 3 months ago, back on December 27th, 2013. At this time I had an Acropora frag, it had been living in my tank since July, 2013. To be honest, I wasn't sure it was alive, it wasn't showing any growth, but after seeing how white SPS get when they die, I knew it was living up until yesterday. My last recorded parameters are as follows:
Sal: 1.024
Cal: 360
DHK 13
PH: 8.13
Phos\Nitrite\Nitrate\Amon: 0\0\0\0
MG: 1350
Temp: 76F

also, the tank has been up and running since Feb, 2013 without issue.

All softies were seemingly thriving under these conditions and supporting SPS life. A bit over a month ago, I got an awesome birdsnest frag that I was so proud of. I also started using carbon in a reactor with some GFO sprinkled in. There was some talk about how my tank could do better if I started this. Over the next couple weeks I watched the tank get clearer than ever and the birdsnest seemed to be doing quite well. I was happy thinking my mixed reef was going to work.

2/16/14 - I added two anemones that I picked up from petsmart on a sale. Apparently I'm a big sucker for them and they had gigantea and haddoni for $20 each. I knew my tank already had a lot of bubble tips, and a mini maxi that came in on a rock but I figured everything would be ok.

3 weeks ago I changed the temp of the tank to 77F, wanting to see how the corals react. Didn't really notice a change.

2 weeks ago. I lost a fish, trying to find it I make a rash decision to tear apart the rocks to locate it. I began moving each rock slowly and placing it on a isolated spot, being careful not to damage any corals. Finally, I found it, he had got himself stuck in a rock and my guess is starved out. I broke the rock and removed the body and placed the pieces of rock back in the tank. not wanting to cause any more damage for the night, I left everything spread out across the tank so the fish would calm down.
The next day, I noticed everything in the tank looked fine, maybe even better than normal. I was worried about stirring up too much detritus and causing any parameter spikes. However everything, including the birdsnest seemed to be unaffected. I assembled the rocks in a new formation, one that I liked better and that I felt offered flow/light better suited to each.

I watched the tank carefully for the next week before I left and everything seemed to be doing better than ever.

The morning before I left, I did a slightly large water change, probably about 25% but this is more than I usually do (around 10% every month.) I was using this water to seed another aquarium I was starting up on the side, so I could have all the anemonies separate, and possibly start propagating.

So I leave for vacation, worrying about the tank, because apparently that's what I do now and when I get back I see this white skeleton. I'm sad and try to figure out whats wrong.

I test my parameters and notice a few things, but not sure if it's enough to kill off my corals so quickly.

Sal: 1.026
Cal: 360
DHK 8
PH: 8.2
Phos\Nitrite\Nitrate\Amon: 0\0\0\0
MG: 1350
Temp: 77F

first thing is salinity is high, I guess the new water I used was higher than I thought. I take some water out and put some RO/DI in. Bring it to 1.025 relatively quickly. Next is the DKH.. this seems quite low to me. not sure how it changed so much It's always been around 10-13 since I setup the tank. I watch the PH (probe on reefkeeper) every day looking for fluctuations since I dose cal\alk. over the past 3 months it's been on a steady climb to 8.2 from 8.13, which is where I want it.

I'm just mad because I feel like if I was there I could have seen the change and fixed it quicker. I know parameter changes are never good for SPS but could the salinity be enough to kill them off? or the decline of the DKH? or something else I missed?

2/23/14 (mid day lighting)
http://i.imgur.com/QOzlptV.jpg?2

3/5/14 (sorry for cellphone camera, also this is during the morning lighting)
http://i.imgur.com/zVmmiVy.jpg?1

RedStangGA
03/05/2014, 04:15 PM
My guess is the alkalinity. Mine nosedived after some RC went bad. I didn't think to check my water change water for months. Just kept doing water changes. My alk dropped down to the 4-5 range though.

SexyRob
03/06/2014, 07:47 PM
no one else has any idea?

xtm
03/06/2014, 08:10 PM
Ask the tank sitter if there was a power outage while you were gone. I'm just going by my experience here.. but usually the main culprits when SPS die this quickly are:

-Extreme temp swings for prolonged periods of time (3+ hrs)
-Sudden spike in Alkalinity
-Kalk overdose
-Topping off with unfiltered tapwater
-Pump malfunction, releasing some oily chemicals (I've experienced this with a Rio pump)

My salinity swings from 1.010 to 1.030 all the time, and corals have no issues with that.

The fact that your softies are still alive tells me somehow that it's not medication related.

How old is that SPS colony? Did your other SPS die too or just that one piece? How many of your soft corals died (if any) while you were gone?

If I were to make an educated guess, I think that the addition of GFO cleared up the water so much, that the seriatopora "birdsnest" did not acclimate well with the suddenly strong lighting.

ST1Doppelganger
03/06/2014, 08:29 PM
I lost 70% of my SPS coral in me edge when I was gone for a week because of not accounting for the fact that I wasn't running the AC while I was out of town.

I over looked this because I have an led set up and never had any issues with the tank but forgot I would be using AC while the family was home to make it comfortable for us.

It might have been a temp swing if you weren't running heat or AC.

SexyRob
03/06/2014, 08:57 PM
no softies died, in fact, my duncans that weren't doing so good appeared to be doing better than ever! the rest of the tank really looks fine. maybe the anemones aren't as perky as usual but they always seem to be somewhat moody.

I had two SPS die, the acro frag and the birdsnest. Whats weird is, I've had some pink pavona that is doing fine.

Dapg8gt
03/06/2014, 11:54 PM
Did any of the roses decide to move? An anemone will wipe out sps if it touches them. Pretty unlikely though that the entire corals from both sensitive corals in the tank but you never know.

SexyRob
03/07/2014, 10:40 AM
nah, roses all in the same spots... my new thought is, after moving the rocks around the flow in the tank probably changed, I thought all SPS needed a lot of flow so I put it in a spot that may have had a bit more than normal. The lighting shouldn't have been much different but I guess it's possible that both the additional flow and light wasn't good for it.

xtm
03/07/2014, 12:50 PM
It could be the flow. SPS want random, chaotic flow but not a direct or powerful one. If the flow is too strong, it will strip off their flesh.

SexyRob
03/07/2014, 01:36 PM
ahhh I'm afraid that probably what it is then, they moved closer to a power head after I rearranged the tank. the powerhead isn't pointed at them but they are still pretty close, my guess is flow is very directional.

I can't believe I murdered my corals like that! :( I'm going to cry now, oh well.. live and learn.