Winter Coral Woes.... Anyone Else

[o2manyfish]

Hey Folks,

In the last month or so, I have spoken with many people who seem to be having problems with their well established SPS tanks. Older colonies are being lost.

I was wondering if more peope than just those that I have spoke with have noticed this.

I know it's not always the easiest thing to admit a loss like this. This past week I lost a spectacular Efflo colony in my display tank. Perfect on Sunday Night, a huge white patch on Monday morning and not a bit of flesh left by Weds.

None of the surrounding corals were affected. I know several people local to me seems to be sufferring from what they are calling bacterial infections. Which don't seem to be controllable, or forseeable.

Wondering if others are experiencing similar woes.

Dave B

 

[thetedinator]

Dave,

Sorry to hear about the efflo. Anything else affected?

Ted

 

[clownnrnd]

I had a yellow samoansis do pretty much the same thing to me. It had been in my tank for about a year. I was just thinking how vibrant it looked a couple weeks before.The next week it started to not look right. I had just gotten a pink tipped Granulosa and was having some problems w/ red bugs and had given it a dip. This coral was located right next to the Samoansis. The next time I dipped the Gran. I dipped the Sam. as well wondering if it could be suffering from the bugs as well even though I had never seen them on it (Sam.). The next week I noticed a branch on the Samoansis starting to bleech. The next morning the white patch had grown so I fragged off the bad stuff. It was dead a couple days later. Who knows if it might be the same thing but it was kind of strange how your story sounds similar.
Take Care,
Chad

 

[middletonmark]

New introductions in these tanks, or same old livestock?

I'm knocking on wood right now ...

 

[Ed Hahn]

O2manyfish,
This is a thread I really liked. I wonder if this would help you. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4240 .
Good Luck,
Ed

 

[kevinpo]

From now until mid June is the good time of the year for me because of the cool temperatures which equal very stable temps for my tank. I noticed the last couple of weeks the tank runs 78.4F - 78.6F. I haven't added anything new in a couple of years though and have a pretty set routine so my situation may be different than yours.
I have removed 4-5 colonies that have gotten too large. I have the most problems in July, August, and September when the temperature swing becomes hard to control. I have added a larger exhaust fan (500cfm) and I hope it will help out next year.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[sberman]

so far i am having no troubles with the weather all corals are doing fine

 

[invincible569]

No problems here. My tank is indoors though.

 

[o2manyfish]

I am not sure if it's a temperature issue as much as perhaps a seasonal thing, or something nasty that might be spreading through the hobby.

I definitely handle more corals than most, and bring alot more funky stuff into my tanks than most.

But unfortunately know a large handful of people that are seing corals disintegrating, slowly - Not following normal (what a horrible thing to say) RTN.

Dave B

 

[LCLau]

Actually Dave, I have noticed something similar recently. I lost 2 of my hardier acros in my tank due to a nasty RTN. I would've never guessed these guys to go first, and it's only been recently. Hopefully it is not something nasty going around, and I definitely hope it's nothing like what I hear of happened quite a while ago with massive RTN'ing everywhere. I also tend to bring in a lot of funky corals from time to time.

 

[kylem]

I have had a green with blue tip started this last week to have a white patch on one side that seems to be growing. looks like it is bleaching...don't know what the problem is. I changed the location just in case some water circulation was effecting it being near some other corals but it continues to grow at a steady rate vertically on one side. I heard of people sealing it off with epoxy of nail pollish.

 

[gobie]

I know you are all talking about sps I am having problems with a red brain I've had for 8+ years now its fadding but it seems to be fighting. Im not a fan of coral dips but im thinking of doing it soon. last lps I dipped didnt stand a chance.

 

[boobookitty]

Crapples, now I'm paranoid.

So Dave, the efflo wasn't even fraggable, eh?

Arthur

 

[o2manyfish]

Arthur,

Not a single coralite of the Efflo could be saved

Dave B

 

[AWExotics]

Dave.. not the Efflo I got ya =( She was a beaut... definite cover model material.

Sorry to hear about that..

I have been having some issues lately but I cannot attribute it to winter or anything like that. I really believe it is the 200 corals in a 120 gallon tank that is causing my weird sudden die off issues.

Todd

 

[nanocat]

I lost a couple of colonies due to STN, but I attributed it to the sudden phosphate depletion. I started dosing Vodka about three months ago. Phosphate went from .03-.05 to being undetectable. The colonies were somewhat weak to begin with (wild) and just started having white patches that spread over the course of a week or so. I had a lime green table that looked like it was a goner, but it's making a comeback. It's a wonder I didn't have more issues, since I don't run a chiller, don't have air conditioning, and have 750w of MH over the tank. The little fan kept it at 84-85 in the hottest part of the summer, but then it would drop to 79-80 every night. Quite a bit of instability, but luckily only those two losses. Running a constant 79 now, day and night.

 

[o2manyfish]

Todd,

Yes it was your cover model efflo -- I am really devestated by the loss of it, and not being able to save any of it.

It sounds like your losses may be a similar situation. It's not like all of a sudden you have 200 corals in the tank. But now during the winter for some reasons you are sufferring some losses.

I have no idea.... Wish I did.



NanoCat,

Nice to see a posting from you - Been awhile, missed you at the last swap. Heard you picked up some new corals from RM today... How are they looking.

With your Vodka method, have you tried to pickup some Everclear/Grain Alcohol - It's better distilled, and pure so should have less ill effects than using the phosphates.

Dave B

 

[Chris1218]

I am having the same problem, I recieved about 15 corals directly from a supplier in Los Angeles and have lost maybe 8 of them...They were wild colonies but I have never lost that much that fast, it was a total tissue resession...No fading of color, the tissue just came right off- Any ideas???? All of my other corals are doing great!! It was just the new ones- Could it be a bacteria thing????

Chris.