slivacki
Community Member
Hi fellow reefers
Aggressive coralline algae or some type sps? Sorry for the read!
Been in the hobby now over 12 years. The last 8 years I have done corals in my tank. This is what my old 75G looked like over 2 years ago. I out grew it and finally had approval (wife) to move to 180g tank.
No this isn’t same coralline that is on the back all of above photo. This stuff is thicker and also way more pink with white around edges of it. So right before moving I acquired some corals from a local hobbyist. One of these pieces had a very pink looking coralline growing on it. After about a month sitting in the tank the zoa that were on the plug closed up and with a month this pink coralline started to grow over the shrank down zoa. After about another month the zoas where covered over with this stuff and you could see the bumps where the zoa where under the coralline. I remember this coralline stuff as I asked other hobbyist if they ever heard of coralline coating over a zoa while it was shrank up.
Didn’t think anything bad about this stuff but yesterday looking at old photos I noticed one thing in the photo and had to cut it down from original to see this stuff is now in the display tank back two years ago.
So over the last two years I have slowly lost almost every coral in my tank. It don’t matter the type as they slow will melt away. All parameters are the most stable they have ever been in my time reefing. Most start out with in the middle of the coral and some the base but everything has melted some. The stn will stop and start so it will melt some then go a month or two with no more melting then melt more. But in those weeks to months between this Pink coralline will coat the hole dead spot. Within two months of coral total death the coral is then covered in this coralline.
So here is a current photo of my tank under 5k light. All that pink isn’t painted rocks that is this pink coralline stuff on them. As you noticed what corals I do have great colors but aren’t growing at all anymore.
Here is a some current zoa on my rocks. As you can see they are all shrank in and it almost fully dark in this area. But once you turn on a flash light you notice this stuff runs an inch or so down under the rocks into the shaded area of the rocks.
So last August I decided to redo my rocks structure after all the dead coral colonies where all over my tank. Took out all the old rock and stuck into a frag tank that was hooked to main system for a few months and add all new rock back making rock structures with pond foam this way to seed new rock in DT. The overflows are already coated in it and the center rock with zoa and the to chalice rocks stayed threw the transfer and both have blotches of this stuff all over it already slowly taking over my tank. But only 6 months later all rocks are now covered in this stuff and even next to a milliapora it is slowly growing over it edge.
So what is this stuff? I know it probably some type of coralline but is very aggressive towards other corals and seems maybe to do some kind of chemical warfare with other corals possibly. It is slimy to the touch also like a sps. Also never seen a coralline algae grow so fast. Yes probably an urchin would help maybe combat this stuff but I feel it only a band aid as this stuff is very aggressive. Ever since about 3 years ago when getting this coral into my tank is when my tank slowly has went down hill. It also seems like I am having to have CaRx high flow for what coral I have left. It sitting at effluent flow of 70ml per min and ph 6.5 the media is cribsea arm extra coarse.
My current numbers are
Alk 7.7 dkh
calcium 400
Mag 1200
po4 0.03
no3 4
Again sorry for the read. But any advice what this stuff is? I am also already figuring that I will have to drain this tank and treat hole system with acid and start over. But how do I keep this stuff from coming back in off what coral I do have left in to the tank as I would like to save my coral and fish I have as some this stuff is very old.
Aggressive coralline algae or some type sps? Sorry for the read!
Been in the hobby now over 12 years. The last 8 years I have done corals in my tank. This is what my old 75G looked like over 2 years ago. I out grew it and finally had approval (wife) to move to 180g tank.
No this isn’t same coralline that is on the back all of above photo. This stuff is thicker and also way more pink with white around edges of it. So right before moving I acquired some corals from a local hobbyist. One of these pieces had a very pink looking coralline growing on it. After about a month sitting in the tank the zoa that were on the plug closed up and with a month this pink coralline started to grow over the shrank down zoa. After about another month the zoas where covered over with this stuff and you could see the bumps where the zoa where under the coralline. I remember this coralline stuff as I asked other hobbyist if they ever heard of coralline coating over a zoa while it was shrank up.
Didn’t think anything bad about this stuff but yesterday looking at old photos I noticed one thing in the photo and had to cut it down from original to see this stuff is now in the display tank back two years ago.
So over the last two years I have slowly lost almost every coral in my tank. It don’t matter the type as they slow will melt away. All parameters are the most stable they have ever been in my time reefing. Most start out with in the middle of the coral and some the base but everything has melted some. The stn will stop and start so it will melt some then go a month or two with no more melting then melt more. But in those weeks to months between this Pink coralline will coat the hole dead spot. Within two months of coral total death the coral is then covered in this coralline.
So here is a current photo of my tank under 5k light. All that pink isn’t painted rocks that is this pink coralline stuff on them. As you noticed what corals I do have great colors but aren’t growing at all anymore.
Here is a some current zoa on my rocks. As you can see they are all shrank in and it almost fully dark in this area. But once you turn on a flash light you notice this stuff runs an inch or so down under the rocks into the shaded area of the rocks.
So last August I decided to redo my rocks structure after all the dead coral colonies where all over my tank. Took out all the old rock and stuck into a frag tank that was hooked to main system for a few months and add all new rock back making rock structures with pond foam this way to seed new rock in DT. The overflows are already coated in it and the center rock with zoa and the to chalice rocks stayed threw the transfer and both have blotches of this stuff all over it already slowly taking over my tank. But only 6 months later all rocks are now covered in this stuff and even next to a milliapora it is slowly growing over it edge.
So what is this stuff? I know it probably some type of coralline but is very aggressive towards other corals and seems maybe to do some kind of chemical warfare with other corals possibly. It is slimy to the touch also like a sps. Also never seen a coralline algae grow so fast. Yes probably an urchin would help maybe combat this stuff but I feel it only a band aid as this stuff is very aggressive. Ever since about 3 years ago when getting this coral into my tank is when my tank slowly has went down hill. It also seems like I am having to have CaRx high flow for what coral I have left. It sitting at effluent flow of 70ml per min and ph 6.5 the media is cribsea arm extra coarse.
My current numbers are
Alk 7.7 dkh
calcium 400
Mag 1200
po4 0.03
no3 4
Again sorry for the read. But any advice what this stuff is? I am also already figuring that I will have to drain this tank and treat hole system with acid and start over. But how do I keep this stuff from coming back in off what coral I do have left in to the tank as I would like to save my coral and fish I have as some this stuff is very old.
