What is wrong here? RTN

[Greg B.]

Good morning everyone. Looking for a little bit of insight or a little knowledge. I have a 40gal br with some newly added corals. Zoanthids stylophora platygyra and some chalice. Corals have been doing great the last two weeks. Color is great, polyps are open and looking great. Yesterday I leave for work ( I work 24hr shifts) and I get home this am and my chalice has necrosis starting from the bottom of the frag up. First I thought we'll let me check water parameters and see what has changed over the last few days. Salinity 1.025 Alk 9.6 mag 1260 cal 420 was the day before my shift. Today my tests show salinity 1.025 alk 9.4 mag 1050 and cal 360. Nitrates are low. No changes in my lighting schedule or intensity. All other coral are great and look happy. Tank has been up and running nearly a year. Has a few clown fish and 2 striped damsels and a large anemone. Any thoughts why this coral may have necrosis and why it's starting at the bottom of the frag. I was thinking if it were water parameters it would show necrosis all around the outside and work its way in not from the bottom up.Pic shows the frag.

 

[jda]

If everything else looks good, then sometimes one coral just dies. I would not chase too much for one coral.

Youw uill need to find a way to supplment your big 3 - calcium, alk and magnesium. They will continue to fall as they get consumed by all manner of things in the tank.

 

[Lavey29]

Magnesium way low and calcium slightly low. I would retest to confirm. That's a big mag drop.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Could be infection, looks like a recently fragged coral. Try an iodine dip. Could also be stress from moving. There might not be much to do

 

[Greg B.]

I have

Magnesium way low and calcium slightly low. I would retest to confirm. That's a big mag drop.

I have a bottle of all for reef but I didn't want to add that and it spike my ALK so I did a 10% waterchange as to not cause a huge change in parameters all at once.

 

[Lavey29]

I have

I have a bottle of all for reef but I didn't want to add that and it spike my ALK so I did a 10% waterchange as to not cause a huge change in parameters all at once.

That's fine but if mag is really that low then you need to dose it back to 1350 to 1500 and also dose calcium to 420. Test again after water change. Magnesium does not deplete much at all so I wonder if your test is accurate. What does your salt mix at?

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

That's fine but if mag is really that low then you need to dose it back to 1350 to 1500 and also dose calcium to 420. Test again after water change. Magnesium does not deplete much at all so I wonder if your test is accurate. What does your salt mix at?

Definitely test again. Also IMO 1260 isn't that low

 

[Greg B.]

I find it odd that it's all of a sudden. I check corals every morning before I go to work because I'm gone from home for so long. Including blowing them off( sometimes I hate the tiny sand) gets all over everything.

 

[Greg B.]

That's fine but if mag is really that low then you need to dose it back to 1350 to 1500 and also dose calcium to 420. Test again after water change. Magnesium does not deplete much at all so I wonder if your test is accurate. What does your salt mix at?

Alk is usually around 9.8 mag 1335 cal 425 @1.025sal. I use IO salt. I use salifert test and I know there is alot of room for user error with tests like that so maybe I need to start double checking tests

 

[Lavey29]

Alk is usually around 9.8 mag 1335 cal 425 @1.025sal. I use IO salt. I use salifert test and I know there is alot of room for user error with tests like that so maybe I need to start double checking tests

Those numbers are fine but if you have alk near 10 just make sure you have appropriate nutrients levels to support it to.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Magnesium way low and calcium slightly low. I would retest to confirm. That's a big mag drop.

The magnesium testing is likely an error. It is certainly wrong in one or both measurements as it cannot drop 210 ppm in 24 h (or even a month).

RMM time.

 

[Lavey29]

The magnesium testing is likely an error. It is certainly wrong in one or both measurements as it cannot drop 210 ppm in 24 h (or even a month).

RMM time.

Yes, agree

 

[Dburr1014]

Good morning everyone. Looking for a little bit of insight or a little knowledge. I have a 40gal br with some newly added corals. Zoanthids stylophora platygyra and some chalice. Corals have been doing great the last two weeks. Color is great, polyps are open and looking great. Yesterday I leave for work ( I work 24hr shifts) and I get home this am and my chalice has necrosis starting from the bottom of the frag up. First I thought we'll let me check water parameters and see what has changed over the last few days. Salinity 1.025 Alk 9.6 mag 1260 cal 420 was the day before my shift. Today my tests show salinity 1.025 alk 9.4 mag 1050 and cal 360. Nitrates are low. No changes in my lighting schedule or intensity. All other coral are great and look happy. Tank has been up and running nearly a year. Has a few clown fish and 2 striped damsels and a large anemone. Any thoughts why this coral may have necrosis and why it's starting at the bottom of the frag. I was thinking if it were water parameters it would show necrosis all around the outside and work its way in not from the bottom up.Pic shows the frag.

When was the last time you calibrated your refractometer? And how do you calibrate it?

 

[Kerbash]

Just my experience but I had 2 of those type of chalice frags, the ones with really big eyes, and both time, they just melted on me for no reason, never figured out why.

 

[Greg B.]

When was the last time you calibrated your refractometer? And how do you calibrate it?

I use distilled water and make sure it is set to zero. And I just got this one because I dropped my other one and broke it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I use distilled water and make sure it is set to zero. And I just got this one because I dropped my other one and broke it.

What brand refractometer? Some should not be calibrated that way for seawater use, even when the manufacturer seems to recommend doing so.