STN So much info... can someone narrow it down

[OCDreefer]

So after my tank tear down and setup, several coral, mostly Acros are showing tissue loss near the base. I thought this was due to stress from the tear down. I added a couple other SPS to the tank and they started doing the same thing. So I went online and looked up STN. There seems to be lots of discussion about it but not so much solid information. Thought I would put it out there for the RF crew and Kevin to help me out in clearing up all the BS and give me just the info I need.

I dose Cal and KH every other day and over the last two weeks I have been testing everyday to help in setting up the correct amount to dose.

Here is my tank information:

Sal 1.25
Cal 400
KH 10
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Po: 0

Flow: is one MP20 @ 100% and K2/K1

lighting 250watt 20k

MY QUESTIONS:

1. Best solution to stop STN is to frag above tissue loss and pray?
2. Could it be the new type of glue I'm using?
3. Should I be worried about stray electricity
4. Why are the corals that are STN look great minus the STN?
5. Why are only some corals effected
6. DO the SPS gods hate me?

 

[returnofsid]

Because Kevin may need the information, to diagnose your issue, do you test for and dose Magnesium? What are your Magnesium levels?

 

[OCDreefer]

I do test for Mag: not often though, it was reading 1300. I think that was last week this time. I'll test right now and post it.

 

[PCFishman]

Sometimes the problem is as simple as salinity... what are you using to measure your salinity? If it's a refractometer, has it been correctly calibrated with a base solution?

 

[OCDreefer]

Mag reading at 1250 today... this is before my ever other day dosing of Cal

 

[OCDreefer]

i calibrate my refractometer with my RO water about ever two weeks

 

[OCDreefer]

btw Fishmen your SPS breeder is one of my inspiration tanks.... love it!

 

[PCFishman]

Thanks OCDreefer, glad I could inspire someone else to join the 40B club. I love the dims on that tank.

The reason why I bring up the refractometer is that I recently read this thread on reefcentral that talked about how to properly calibrate a refractometer. It's an interesting read.

In conjunction of the stress caused by the tear down a slightly high salinity could be the proverbial "straw that broke the camels back" and started the STN.


http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-12/rhf/index.php

 

[tamarindthai]

Thanks OCDreefer, glad I could inspire someone else to join the 40B club. I love the dims on that tank.

can i join the 40BDR club too,,i start to like the DIMS too,, a lot easy to take care.

 

[trido]

MY QUESTIONS:

1. Best solution to stop STN is to frag above tissue loss and pray?
2. Could it be the new type of glue I'm using?
3. Should I be worried about stray electricity
4. Why are the corals that are STN look great minus the STN?
5. Why are only some corals effected
6. DO the SPS gods hate me?

IMO.....
1. the best solution is to keep the water stable and leave the coral alone so it doesnt get stressed even more. I only frag a sick coral as an absolut last resort to save it.
2.Very unlikely
3. It never hurts to test for it
4.STN happens for a variety of reasons, alk swings, tank upgrades, lack of light at the base, it could be that the coral has grown and isnt getting enough flow at the base.
5. Every coral is different, some have stronger immune systems and quicker metabolism. Even two corals for the same genus will react differently to the same negative or positive stimulus.
6. At one time or another the SPS gods hate all of us. Its just part of the hobby.

My theory this year, is three months of growth, one month of panic and death followed by another three months of growth.

 

[IPisces]

My theory this year, is three months of growth, one month of panic and death followed by another three months of growth.

I dont so much like your theory, but it seems to be true.
I had an alk swing a couple weeks ago and only my purple plasma started stn'ing. I'm guessing that is what it was from. Got the alk under control and it stopped....so far. Everything else was fine.

 

[trido]

I dont so much like your theory, but it seems to be true.
I had an alk swing a couple weeks ago and only my purple plasma started stn'ing. I'm guessing that is what it was from. Got the alk under control and it stopped....so far. Everything else was fine.

Well, not so much of a theory. Unfortunately, its been the summary of my experience for a while. Despite this, my corals are growing and filling in.

 

[1fishkeeper]

i calibrate my refractometer with my RO water about ever two weeks

I know Im not a expert on this but Its alot better to use a known soultion for your refract.

 

[IPisces]

I know Im not a expert on this but Its alot better to use a known soultion for your refract.

What do you consider a known solution? I would think that ro/di water w/0tds would be a known solution.

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
The parameters you have posted are within range to support SPS corals. I would let the alkalinity drop to about 9 dKH but I have seen many healthy tanks at 10 dKH so it's just my opinion.
My highest success rate has been to move the coral to another tank.
The second best is to put a band of super glue around the coral at the line where the STN is occurring. Be sure to cover some of the living tissue with the glue. This will not upset the coral much and will give you a clear line to see if the STN is continuing.
Running the temperature slightly lower (75-77F) seems to help too.
Make sure there is plenty of pulsing and/or random flow.
In nature most areas where Acropora corals live the salinity does not swing much over the course of the day. I have kept corals in a salinity of 33-35 ppt (1.024 - 1.026 sg) successfully. I try not to let it swing more than .001 sg. over 24 hours.
My target is 1.025 sg. for Acropora dominated tanks.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[sgwill122]

STN tough to diagnose. My whole tank started losing color and STN'ing six months into my setup two years ago, ended up being my hydrometer which I had dropped. I figured it out when I put a new shrimp in and it immediately siezed up and died, only took me about 6 months to figure out. Now I own a refractometer and two hydrometers. RO water not the best thing to calibrate with but it puts you in the ball park so I would not guess salinity is your issue. You ought to pick up some water from someone who thinks they have a known tank salinity and compare results. While your at it have them test your alk with their test kit to make sure you are getting similar results. My last salifert alk test kits were way off. If you are ever in my area would be glad to do both. Another thing to check for is stray voltage, I believe all tanks with powerheads suffer from some stray voltage, a grounding probe only makes it worse on you tank inhabitants, but does keep you safe. If you have your stuff plugged into a GFCI it should be tripping occassionally if the voltage leak was high. The last thing I would check is big swings in water chemistry, the smaller the tank the more challenging it is to keep things stable.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

where did you get the corals? are they aqua or mari cultured with maricultured corals mine would look great and grow great but after a few months boom over night they would die. if auqacultured i would check and recheck and follow as most have already said the Params and also bring water to a LFS to double check. do you test at the same time everytime you test as in say night when the lights are on or morning when they are off which ever this is important so that you get good readings and not mixed readings testing all hours of the day.

 

[OCDreefer]

Thanks all for the good information. I will double check ALL suggestions. I still have no idea what was causing the corals to STN. If I had to guess I would just sum to up to multiple stressors. Out of the four corals showing Tissue loss I left two alone and put a big band of glue around the other two. The STN seems to have stopped but it's only been a day and a half so we will see. All the other corals look good. Fingers crossed.


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[KT535]

I too am suffering from STN. Lead me to look at things more closely, and this is what I came up with.

1. My PH was a little low. So instead of ATO straight from RO/DI, I set up a Kalc reactor
2. I was experiencing temp swings, about 4 degrees at night. So I bought more heaters
3. In my research I came across someone offering info on STN, and stressed the importance of proper feeding. I realized that I was not feeding much. Maybe twice a week. Now I feed once a day.
4. I built a plywood sump a few months ago and discovered the epoxy was peeling off the wood in a few spots. When I pulled off a piece of the epoxy it smelled like road kill. So I set up a glass sump.
5. Overskimming??? I have a 325 gal tank and a 50" tall, 8" dia. single beckett skimmer powered by an Iwaki 100. I had to reduce the height of the skimmer anyway do to the new sump and I throttled back the pump alittle.
6. For no special reason I am changing salt from IO to TM.

Some changes are too recent to say if they have helped, but the STN seems to have slowed. I attribute this to more frequent feedings and stablizing PH. The other changes will hopefully be an added plus to the system.

 

[barrierreefcf]

OCD...definately check the tank for any stray voltage. Even a small amount can cause stress on your SPS which makes any mild alk, temp, salinity problems that much harder on the corals. We have encountered small stray voltage issues and associated it with STN in the past. If you dont have a voltage meter you can borrow ours. I'm getting it a new battery and should have it at the store and operational by Thursday evening.

Good luck,
Cy