SPS losing color and dying

Str8linespeed · 03/22/2018, 07:15 PM

I bought 3 pieces of SPS about 4 months ago. Sorry I only know one of them is an acro, but the other 2 I have no idea. Regardless, all 3 were doing well, nice color, starting to branch, good polyp extension etc... I just took the Acro out of the tank and tossed it today, it was completely white, and all the holes where the polyps are located were empty. One of the other corals, is starting to wash out and turn white, but still has good polyp extension.

I noticed the change after I swapped in new bulbs. I have a 6 bulbs T5 setup and changed 2 bulbs every 2 weeks as not to burn the corals. The last set of bulbs was changed 3 weeks ago.

My water parameters are as follows.
Salinity 1.025
PH 7.97
Kh 9.3
Mag 1350
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Calcium 325
Phosphate .03

What could be causing this?

Chris918 · 03/22/2018, 07:20 PM

It could be the change in lighting. SPS like consistency and stability. Sometimes with the more difficult SPS an increase in Nitrate, Phosphate, or even something has simple as a bulb change can spell trouble, if the light change is drastic of course. Even then I don't think I'd expect to see such quick bleaching. Best of luck to you. I'm sure others will have additional advice that is more helpful.

ramseynb · 03/23/2018, 02:49 AM

Are your parameters stable? Keeping them stable is way more important than a one time test. Also, if you’re carbon dosing, your alk may be a bit high. Are they bleaching from the tips or from the base?

Uncle99 · 03/23/2018, 06:09 AM

Nitrate of 10 ppm is to much for SPS
These corals need strong light and flow and nutrient poor water, so nitrate and phosphate virtually zero

mcgyvr · 03/23/2018, 07:21 AM

There is some very needed data missing from your post..
A timeline..
Did they go from great to white overnight? in 2 days? in 3 weeks? what?

Did they also just go from nice to losing skin the next day to white skeleton or did they go brown for a while then start to get covered by algae then died,etc...

Timfish · 03/23/2018, 01:39 PM

+1 to Mgyvr, a timeline would be nice. My two cents: your calcium is low at 325 mg/l, it needs to be above 360 mg/l. Your phosphate is at the borderline of being to low, research (links below) shows .03 mg/l PO4 is the threshold at the point corals are more suceptable to bleaching with changes in temperature and lighting.

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.or...enrichment.pdf
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles...015.00103/full
https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...601?via%3Dihub

Str8linespeed · 03/25/2018, 07:56 AM

Sorry for the delay getting back to everyone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ramseynb

Are your parameters stable? Keeping them stable is way more important than a one time test. Also, if you’re carbon dosing, your alk may be a bit high. Are they bleaching from the tips or from the base?

Parameters have been consistent for the past year. The corals are bleaching on any surface that is facing the light, this includes the base tips and entire sides.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle99

Nitrate of 10 ppm is to much for SPS
These corals need strong light and flow and nutrient poor water, so nitrate and phosphate virtually zero

I have not been able to lower my nitrate below 10. I feed 1 cube of mysis once per day and the fish usually eat that in less than 1 minute. I do blow my rocks off with a baster to loosen and thing hiding in the crevis's. Im just not sure what to do to get it lower.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

There is some very needed data missing from your post..
A timeline..
Did they go from great to white overnight? in 2 days? in 3 weeks? what?

Did they also just go from nice to losing skin the next day to white skeleton or did they go brown for a while then start to get covered by algae then died,etc...

I would say once I did the bulb change they have ever been slowly turning white. Time frame of about 3 weeks now. Like I stated above, anything that is not facing the light still has nice color. The acro I just took out, turned white first, then got a brown coloring and was green with algae, thats when I took it out. A few of the others are just turning white, but I can still see the polyps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timfish

+1 to Mgyvr, a timeline would be nice. My two cents: your calcium is low at 325 mg/l, it needs to be above 360 mg/l. Your phosphate is at the borderline of being to low, research (links below) shows .03 mg/l PO4 is the threshold at the point corals are more suceptable to bleaching with changes in temperature and lighting.

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.or...enrichment.pdf
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles...015.00103/full
https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...601?via%3Dihub

I'll bump up my calcium and I'll read through the links you provided. Thank you.

03/22/2018, 07:15 PM	#1
Str8linespeed Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Oakdale, MN Posts: 461	SPS losing color and dying I bought 3 pieces of SPS about 4 months ago. Sorry I only know one of them is an acro, but the other 2 I have no idea. Regardless, all 3 were doing well, nice color, starting to branch, good polyp extension etc... I just took the Acro out of the tank and tossed it today, it was completely white, and all the holes where the polyps are located were empty. One of the other corals, is starting to wash out and turn white, but still has good polyp extension. I noticed the change after I swapped in new bulbs. I have a 6 bulbs T5 setup and changed 2 bulbs every 2 weeks as not to burn the corals. The last set of bulbs was changed 3 weeks ago. My water parameters are as follows. Salinity 1.025 PH 7.97 Kh 9.3 Mag 1350 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 10 Calcium 325 Phosphate .03 What could be causing this?

03/23/2018, 02:49 AM	#3
ramseynb Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: New Braunfels, TX Posts: 630	Are your parameters stable? Keeping them stable is way more important than a one time test. Also, if you’re carbon dosing, your alk may be a bit high. Are they bleaching from the tips or from the base? __________________ How do you make an octopus laugh? Ten tickles!

03/23/2018, 07:21 AM	#5
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	There is some very needed data missing from your post.. A timeline.. Did they go from great to white overnight? in 2 days? in 3 weeks? what? Did they also just go from nice to losing skin the next day to white skeleton or did they go brown for a while then start to get covered by algae then died,etc... __________________ Who me?

03/23/2018, 01:39 PM	#6
Timfish Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 1,985	+1 to Mgyvr, a timeline would be nice. My two cents: your calcium is low at 325 mg/l, it needs to be above 360 mg/l. Your phosphate is at the borderline of being to low, research (links below) shows .03 mg/l PO4 is the threshold at the point corals are more suceptable to bleaching with changes in temperature and lighting. http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.or...enrichment.pdf https://www.frontiersin.org/articles...015.00103/full https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...601?via%3Dihub __________________ "Our crystal clear aquaria come nowhere close to the nutrient loads that swirl around natural reefs" Charles Delbeek

03/22/2018, 07:20 PM	#2
Chris918 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2016 Posts: 174	It could be the change in lighting. SPS like consistency and stability. Sometimes with the more difficult SPS an increase in Nitrate, Phosphate, or even something has simple as a bulb change can spell trouble, if the light change is drastic of course. Even then I don't think I'd expect to see such quick bleaching. Best of luck to you. I'm sure others will have additional advice that is more helpful.

03/23/2018, 06:09 AM	#4
Uncle99 Crab Free Zone Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 2,906	Nitrate of 10 ppm is to much for SPS These corals need strong light and flow and nutrient poor water, so nitrate and phosphate virtually zero