30G CBB home + Frag Tank

[jhale]

:arg: one acro colony just up and RTN'ed over night ,wth?
It was grown from a frag I got from Randy more than a year ago.
Nothing was touching it, no pests anywhere, this sucks. It looked fine as of last night.

all the others look ok completely normal, no recession, full polyps, all colorful and happy.

the only change was the additional water for the frag tank, it was mixed for 2 days, temp was fine, sg the same, CA and alk were a bit low, I did not think it would be enough to cause any problems.
Maybe it did not like the detritus from the sump plus the ultra life mix?

 

[masterswimmer]

Jon, what kind of sand did you add to the little tank? If it is a calcium carbonate based sand and you added it all at once, that can effect your levels.

 

[jhale]

Russ the sand is CaribSea's aragonite sugar size.

 

[KathyC]

That's the same sand I just put in my 120..it didn't impact my levels. My alk is a little low, but it was before too.

 

[masterswimmer]

Russ the sand is CaribSea's aragonite sugar size.

It was just a shot in the dark. That shouldn't affect your levels.

R

 

[Craig]

Did you wash the sand prior to intruducing it?

 

[jhale]

no I did not wash the sand, it seemed pretty clean to me. there was no dust coming off it at all.

 

[Wes]

wow that is a really nice setup you have there! i'm sorry to hear about the RTN

 

[jhale]

another small frag that was next to the colony that rtn'ed either bleached or rtn'ed today. I can't tell which. this is getting me

I'm going to change the carbon and add a lot of new esv.

 

[prattreef]

Which coral Jon? You know there is more for ya. Strange.

 

[jhale]

I'll look for a pic that shows the colony Randy. If anything more dies I'm going to freak out. My tank has been solidly chugging along now for a while I don't want any more set backs.

 

[prattreef]

Have you been adding a lot of 2 part recently? Recalibrate your refractometer and check your salinity. I've had this happen a few times and high salinity was the cause.

 

[jhale]

I did check everything the day after the colony RTn'ed all was ok.

I'll run some more tests in the am.

 

[reefman]

strange that only 1 colony was affected. unless that colony was the most sensitive. has your flow pattern been alter since the new tank?

 

[jhale]

the flow has not changed.
It's getting worse. A tenuis colony I got from greenwich aquaria is now stn-ing from the base up. I'm going to frag the colony to try to save it.
Interesting that the coral effected are all in the same spot.
This morning I changed the carbon and added to ploypad's in the baffles of the sump.
There are a lot of variables that could be causing this. The fact that all the coral dying is in the same spot is confusing though. I'll look for a pic of the coral that has been effected.

 

[jhale]

these are the three corals that were effected

 

[KathyC]

Are these corals right by where water flows into the tank? Sediment damage maybe from the new sand? I used the same stuff and had to rinse the heck out of it.
Can that possibly be a clue as to what is happening?
Found this info in Bornemans 'Corals' book..."RTN is also frequently reported to occur after precipitous drops in redox levels (usually following heavy sedimentaion, sand stirring, etc)." ...page 383 in case you have the book

 

[jhale]

well nothing else has died, so I'm hoping the rtn-ing has stopped.

Kathy the sand was very clean, there was no dust coming off it at all.

the consensus is all the changes at once caused the acro's to rtn. the fact that they were all in the same spot is a bit strange.

After fragging the tenuios into five pieces only one was alive this morning.
If the one piece survives I'll be happy. It's a decent size frag to grow the colony out again.

the experience illustrates how sensitive acro's can be. after you keep them for so long and only see them grow I for one got used to thinking they were more durable than they really are.

 

[prattreef]

Good news Jon, but still strange.

 

[jhale]

yes it may end up being one of those reef mysteries.

I'm waiting to get Jason's thoughts on the events, he might have some insight that I'm missing.