All LPS and mushrooms look bleached/dying. Potential causes?

[bubba005]

I upgraded my 5g Fluval Evo V into the 13.5g Evo. Though the corals experienced somewhat of a temperature swing during the move, they were looking great up in terms of color and extension until yesterday and today. As can be seen, my LPS are all shrunken and potentially bleached as well as many of my mushrooms. I already checked for voltage in the water and temperature is 79.7, which is where I have kept it stable. As for other parameters, I cannot check these at the moment but I will be able to in about an hour and will update accordingly. I am terrified of my tank crashing so any advice is welcome. Could this potentially be the change in lighting or reduction of nutrients? If anyone can recognize what is happening that would be a huge help.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

What light is it? Do you know the wattage?

Also, your lights are very white which doesn't show the corals fluorescence as well. Try if you can, make it more blue and see if looks better.

 

[bubba005]

What light is it? Do you know the wattage?

Also, your lights are very white which doesn't show the corals fluorescence as well. Try if you can, make it more blue and see if looks better.

It’s the Evo stock light, so I don’t think it’d be so strong as to cause bleaching but I know it is an adjustment regardless

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

It’s the Evo stock light, so I don’t think it’d be so strong as to cause bleaching but I know it is an adjustment regardless

No, I doubt it would be too strong. What are your parameters and flow like? I don't see anything too bad besides 2-3 corals.

 

[bubba005]

Nitrate was 25, alk 9, calcium 460, salinity 1.026. Softies are looking good other than mushrooms. LPS look awful, they are pale, shrunken, and some have slime. Weirdly, it is only my rhodactis and Discosoma mushrooms unhappy. My ricordeas look fine. Could it be chemical warfare from my leathers? Zoas are also closed

 

[bubba005]

Nitrate was 25, alk 9, calcium 460, salinity 1.026. Softies are looking good other than mushrooms. LPS look awful with exception of Duncan, Chalice, and candy cane

, they are pale, shrunken, and some have slime. Weirdly, it is only my rhodactis and Discosoma mushrooms unhappy. My ricordeas look fine. Could it be chemical warfare from my leathers? Zoas are also closed

 

[bubba005]

Could this be the result of elevated salinity? It was pushing 1.027 and I slacked off on keeping it topped off unfortunately. Do corals slime up like this when it is elevated? Mushrooms are spitting out filaments as well so clearly something is stressing them. I’m leaning towards either salinity or softie warfare. What do you think?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Could this be the result of elevated salinity? It was pushing 1.027 and I slacked off on keeping it topped off unfortunately. Do corals slime up like this when it is elevated? Mushrooms are spitting out filaments as well so clearly something is stressing them. I’m leaning towards either salinity or softie warfare. What do you think?

It could possibly be warfare. I'd run activated carbon just in case there is some pollutant or toxin in the water. I don't think the salinity would cause that many problems. One time my ATO failed while I was away and my salinity got all the way up to 1.034.

 

[bubba005]

It could possibly be warfare. I'd run activated carbon just in case there is some pollutant or toxin in the water. I don't think the salinity would cause that many problems. One time my ATO failed while I was away and my salinity got all the way up to 1.034.

One of my leathers looks like it’s shedding now. I’ll do a water change and add some more carbon, even though I’m already running some that’s only a week old

 

[bubba005]

One of my leathers looks like it’s shedding now. I’ll do a water change and add some more carbon, even though I’m already running some that’s only a week old

Update: this morning, things are looking better. Some corals may be on their way out, but others are looking a lot better such as the mushrooms and the zoas. Either chemical warfare or some other pollutant was likely the culprit. Do these corals look salvageable?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I'm thinking your light might not be putting out enough par, they are slowly dying of lack of light

 

[bubba005]

I'm thinking your light might not be putting out enough par, they are slowly dying of lack of light

Pretty much everything is getting 50-150 par from the stock light, shouldn’t be the issue, especially since water change and carbon improved conditions somewhat

 

[franklinnadal]

My guess is the rodi water are not good quality and may have metals, maybe test tds of rodi water you use.

 

[franklinnadal]

Pretty much everything is getting 50-150 par from the stock light, shouldn’t be the issue, especially since water change and carbon improved conditions somewhat

Mushrooms can thrive in a wide range of light, shouldn't be a big issue.

 

[bubba005]

My guess is the rodi water are not good quality and may have metals, maybe test tds of rodi water you use.

I don’t have a TDS meter as I get my RO and salt from the same fish store and I always have. My other tank that uses the same store’s water is not having similar issues which leads me to believe that it isn’t that. I’m just trying to rule everything out by process of elimination and it is really starting to seem that my softies may have been trying to nuke my tank, though I’ve never heard of that happening so suddenly and drastically. Could Anthellia, a toadstool, a Kenya tree, and a devil’s hand in a 13.5 gallon tank cause this?

 

[Daz_1978]

I didn't see how long it had been since you did the move. Was it 2 days ago or 2 weeks ago?

They could just be pouting!

 

[bubba005]

I didn't see how long it had been since you did the move. Was it 2 days ago or 2 weeks ago?

They could just be pouting!

It was a week ago today, last Tuesday. It could potentially be moving stress though there were no signs of anything amiss until Sunday and yesterday. Would that be a realistic amount of time before stress sets in?

 

[Daz_1978]

The old rule of 'make a change and wait a month to see how things react' might be in play here! Sometimes a week or two just isn't enough time for something to react negatively or positively.

Realistically, what's changed? Deeper water, more water, different lights?
The new water could have diluted the old water and caused a few parameters to change, but I can't imagine too drastically. If your nitrates/phosphates ran typically high, the sudden drop in that could have made some corals mad.

Check your parameters, compare them to what you usually ran in the 5g, and if it's close... let them pout a couple days and see what happens.

 

[bubba005]

The old rule of 'make a change and wait a month to see how things react' might be in play here! Sometimes a week or two just isn't enough time for something to react negatively or positively.

Realistically, what's changed? Deeper water, more water, different lights?
The new water could have diluted the old water and caused a few parameters to change, but I can't imagine too drastically. If your nitrates/phosphates ran typically high, the sudden drop in that could have made some corals mad.

Check your parameters, compare them to what you usually ran in the 5g, and if it's close... let them pout a couple days and see what happens.

Fingers crossed that everything bounces back, though it’s looking like there will be a few casualties. I did another roughly 8% water change today and added poly filter to help me diagnose any potential heavy metal toxicity and remove more softie toxins. Parameters are in check with the old parameters, though I’m sure the move itself was a decent shock. I am also using whiter light in this tank which may be contributing even if it didn’t excessively strong. I will continue updating this thread and hoping for the best. Would it be advisable to evacuate some of the corals that are struggling the most into my stable 31g reef?

 

[bubba005]

Update: Everything seems to be bouncing back, even some of the frags I didn’t think would make it. Carbon + 20% water change really does seem to be a savior in crises like this, so that is definitely a valuable lesson learned. I think the most probably cause was my salinity creeping too high, thus upsetting my softies and triggering an all-out chemical war. I have an ATO coming tomorrow to prevent this and will stay on top off carbon from here on out. Thanks to everyone who offered advice! I care very deeply about my critters so I’m very thankful for a decent outcome