Cali Kid Corals

Help. Strange Tissue Recession

I have a question: does anyone here used Epsom salt to raise Magnesium ? I think their is something in the epsom salt that is causing this?, I had one green milli STN on me for no reason, and some other corals stressed and brown out after I added epsom salt. Since I stop using it, my tank is doing fine with no STN and the corals are coloring up again.

btw, RC was very low in mag so thats why I had to use epsom salt to raise mag.
 
I'm using Epsom salt to raise my magnesium as well and am still using it. The new bucket of RC salt Mg levels (1350) that I'm getting isn't bad, but the corals are using it up faster than the Ca or alk. Mg drops below to the 1100 level if I don't dose in between WC.
 
I still am using RC, and dosed mag flake for a little while.

I lost the Steve Ruddy blue tipped mini colony that was starting to turn back to blue from brown.
Fragging didn't help. It started when and ended when I took my return pump off line for about 24hrs and just used the Vortec as circulation. I didn't lose any other corals per se, but I do have a milli that isn't all great either.
 
Ok. Lost a whole colony. Got two frags hanging on. I do have an orange monti STNing. I did change bulbs recently and know it had an effect because some corals reacted the same way they did the last time I changed bulbs. Its not RC because its the same RC I have been using for the last 6 months.
I have dialed up the ozone.
Both the steve ruddy colonies I have are doing fine.
 
Why do you all talk about these things? You make me want to put a baby monitor on my fish tank. ;) If you pretend it doesn't exist and don't talk about it then it can't hurt you.
 
Webcam = Porn
Baby Monitor = Loving devotion. :-*

BTW, did anyone try Furan2 or other antibiotics to cure this problem? I know it worked for my zoa pox and it seems to be a "pocket" cure for many odd diseases.
 
What readings do you have for your water parameters?

What kind of setup are you running?

What's your maintenance routine?

Any variations in your routine in the past month or so?
 
I had a real bad outbreak about 6-8 months ago, lost a ton of tissue in short order, then the tissue that remained didn't stay healthy and regrow it just STN from there along with random corals still giving up on me.

I ripped my sump apart and cleaned the shit out of it, did a couple of back to back 25% water changes and added two Poly Filters. Since then everything has been peachy and some of the corals are even building tissue at the base where they receive very little light.
 
It's complicated - as much of this stuff is. I have a 225g main tank in my family room and the rest in the garage about 12 feet away. Set this up in Aug of 2009 - much from my old 100g and rock/sand from "Corals for Bill".The return dumps into a 30g with my skimmer - an old 200g rated reef Octopus skimmer. This overflows into a 30g with about 20g of it filled with sand 14 inches deep and the return Dart pump after. Above those two 30g is a 50g refuge with ~40lbs of rock and a frag rack, single 250W MH and several anemones and returns to the same 30g as the main tank. I have ~20 mostly smallish fish in total. All LPS and monties are happy. I have noticed that the alk was on the high side recently ~12.2 but the lowest was 8.3 back in January. I use a Ca reactor and run it 24/7 but it got a bit high recently- I dialed alk back to 10 4. I do 50g water changes ~every 3 weeks. I have been changing salts. I was using Seachem Reefsalt until Salinity came along. Used 2 buckets but 2nd I mixed with Microbe-Lift and noticed it dissolved better. Most recent is ESV B-ionic Seawater system salt mix. Not sure I like this stuff. I have seen several tanks that dose B-ionic and have been impressed. After a few skimmer overactions my salinity dropped to 1.024 but I recently returned to 1.0255. Mg is 1410ppm, Ca 440ppm, Alk 10.4, PO4 0.05ppm. Overall low nutrients I believe. I use filter socks - change every ~6 days. I may have some buildup in my refuges that I should pay attention to- thanks Jeremy. The problem started with a couple of my big acros growing into each other but some others far away are showing problems.
 
Jbon said:
It's complicated - as much of this stuff is. I have a 225g main tank in my family room and the rest in the garage about 12 feet away. Set this up in Aug of 2009 [...]
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Sounds pretty good.

What's the total system volume?

Might need more frequent water changes.

+1 on cleaning sumps and fuges. I have a low flow bare sump without baffles. I keep a Koralia in there that I turn on once in a while the return pump is off. Good for recirculating detritus for the skimmer to pick up. Gyres are good for sumps too :D

Nitrates ok? No algae?

What did the recession look like? What parts of what corals?
 
Total volume of water is about 300g. I just checked nitrates. My best guess is around 40ppm - higher than I would like. My "deep sand bed" in the 30g garage sump has calcified. Thinking I should try to break it up somehow - quite a brick. Thought it would help lower nitrates having this. Some of the recession started 1/2" from base and has been spreading out from there. On others it is at the base. I still have good polyp extension. I have some clumps of dark green algae in spots - not a lot. Most acros appear to be fine. Sorry about the flash - my lights were not on yet. These two large acros in the pic have been growing into each other. Does that stress them out or is there chemical warfare? The milli below is not doing well - it has been shaded under the two larger acros. The green slimer to the right is also receding at the base.


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Jbon said:
Total volume of water is about 300g. I just checked nitrates. My best guess is around 40ppm - higher than I would like. My "deep sand bed" in the 30g garage sump has calcified. Thinking I should try to break it up somehow - quite a brick. Thought it would help lower nitrates having this....
Click to expand...

Yeah, I tried an RDSB filter, and it worked for a while.
But I was glad I gave that up and switched to an algae turf scrubber.
Something to consider if you have Nitrate problems and like to tinker.
And 40 ppm might explain tissue recession issues.

I am not sure the Hydrogen Sulphide release fears are real or not,
but probably safest to disconnect the sump for a while if you break up the sand bed.
 
I'd yank the RDSB and start anew and do a boatload of water changes to lower nitrates. Right now the last thing you want to do is screw around with the setup and make things even more off kilter, the solutions to the most complicated problems are often times the most simple.
 
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