Coral Woes: I need help! (Looking better, 4/1)

So I have problems, as much as I hate to admit it. But I've racked my brain on this and I have nothing definitive I can point to.

Short story:
Things are receding (STN, if you will) and I have no idea why. The problem started with LPS 2 months ago, but just now in the last week or so the SPS are doing it too. Polyps get retracted and a few days later, tissue starts peeling at random areas. I fear it might be some bacterial infection which I'm going to have little to no control over...

Long story coming:
About mid January some LPS began to recede to some degree, but mostly some chalices. I chalked this off as a bit of stress from the nutrient drop in my new system relative to the old system, as this was around the time the GHA disappeared from the rockwork (as the LR was leaching out the old junk from the prior tank up to this point). I did note, however, that some of the skeletons on the chalices were a deep red/pink after the tissue vanished. The next coral to show any signs of stress were a couple encrusting monti's; they lost their color and some tissue, but the polyps remained. Tyree Chili Pepper being the most effected, and looked quite strange with polyps but skeleton in-between. Then near the 10th of February, a stag (formosa) looked a bit burned along it's branches. Alk tested out near 11; likely too high. So I brought it back down (over a week) to 9.5ish. Recession stopped, and some color came back on the Chili Pepper.. Alk did creep back up towards 10.5 near the beginning of March, and I brought it down to around 8.5, but things continued to do a slow decline. The Chili Pepper lost it's color and tissue again; it hasn't returned since. All the meanwhile, I've been losing LPS. An acan was first; it closed up and then melted away over the course of 10 days or so, from the edge of the colony inwards. Other acans have done the same thing and also have been lost. More chalices started to recede around the end of February. Then I lost whole colonies over the course of several weeks. Each would take about a week to be toast. It would start at one edge of the colony, and the tissue would simply start peeling away and spreading across the colony. I tried all I could to stop it; fragging away the affected area, gluing the cut edge, dipping with anything/everything I could think of (Coral Rx, Revive, Melafix, Chemiclean, Iodine, Interceptor), but nothing worked. Fleshy brains went to the wayside the same way, favia's too. SPS, minus a couple montis and the one stag, were unaffected all through this time.

When the LPS started melting, one of my first thoughts was too few nutrients. So I began feeding some phyto, oyster feast, and rotifers 3 times a week about a month ago. No change from this, besides making my nitrates rise from a trace (<0.2) to 2-5. So elevated from my norm but not necessarily high.

So 10 days ago, I began heavily researching what pathogen might cause this in the LPS, and the only thing I came up with I hadn't thought of was the mysterious "black bugs". I hit the tank with interceptor this last Saturday to see if that might alleviate the problem, but I haven't seen any recession slow as a result of that. In fact, now things have gotten worse in the sense SPS have become more affected. Some colonies were experiencing polyp retraction prior to the interceptor treatment, and I hoped treatment might fix that, but alas. It's worth noting too, SPS grow has slowed way down in the last month; some haven't grown at all. Coloration has mostly been good.

Calcium has gotten a bit higher than I'd like in the last 10 days or so (500), and I suspected a few days ago this was the cause for the SPS polyp retraction. Alk was approaching 9 again too, so I turned off my doser Monday night, with the goal being to get Alk down to 7.5-8 and Ca to 400-420. As phosphates test at 0.00 (Hanna), I also shut off the GFO last night and took the filter sock out. It's worth noting 2 weeks ago I washed all my filter socks in the washing machine for the first time (just hot water, of course), whereas in the past I've always used the hose outside. But there's a part of me which wonders if something might have gotten in them, hence the removal.

I haven't done a water change in a couple weeks, but I didn't want to rush into one just yet without being able to identify some cause here. Being overly cautious, I always have the fear it could be the current bucket of salt or "something" in the RODI, although I have no idea what. TDS is zero coming out, but I am due for a SilicaBuster DI cartridge change. And I started on a new bucket of IO back mid-February, so I doubt it's actually this bucket.

Summary:
So there's the long story; I'd love to hear the thoughts of the experts out there. At a loss here. Whatever is happening, it started with LPS two months ago, got worse with them, but now seems to be affecting LPS less, and SPS more (and quickly). FWIW, the tissue loss seems to be worse at the end of the photo period, and unchanged in the morning. Besides Alk getting a bit high there for a while (and now Ca), parameters have been where I always maintain them.

Temp: 78-80
pH: 8-8.25
Salinity: 35ppt
Nitrates: <0.2, recently 2-5
Alk: 9-9.5, over 10 to 11 for a bit, bringing it back to 7.5-8 now
Ca: 425-450, now 500 and lowering
Mg: 1350
PO4: <0.02

My thoughts at this point are Ca clogging polyps, Alk burning, a bit of nitrate stress (maybe?), and things still too clean. I question possible contamination from "something", but have no source to pin that on. The strangest thing is how some SPS are fine; besides not growing they have good polyp extension and color. And one milli next to another might be great, while the other has polyps retracted and loosing tissues. It's not AEFW; the tissue loss is random and does not start at the base up.

Defeated in Phoenix.

 

What kind of lighting? Was the new tank bought new from a store?

 

Build thread is in my signature above, but it's my own DIY LEDs that I've been running for over 2 years now. All my colonies were grown under them.

I ordered the tank from Deep Sea Aquatics which has been setup since early October. Everything was transferred from the old tank of nearly 3 years.

No disrespect intended to anyone reading this, but this isn't my first rodeo. Everything about this system should be right for SPS, let alone LPS. It just seems "something" is (or isn't, for that matter) in the water right now...

 

Im clueless, I wish you best of luck though. I hate seeign a coral melt aware without being able to do anything about it. I had that happen to my acans as well, did fine for many months then started to not inflate and over the coruse of a few weeks looked worse and worse. Took a couple more months before each polyp slowly dissapeared.

I know your an expert in this as well but do you have any fish or inverts in the tank? i would think the intercepter would kill any pods or other bugs that would be an issue.

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence, at least.

Yeah, quite a few fish and inverts in the tank. I've dosed interceptor before and know what to expect; hermits were pulled ahead of time. My cleaners made it through. And that's precisely the idea with interceptor, is to rid yourself of any/all small crustaceans. Losing my monster/problematic amphipods was just fine with me. (Cheryl, Jerry, et. al. can/will relate).

 

sorry to hear this evolved, hope your bird nest pulls through

 

Check your strontium and potassium levels. Too much strontium will cause the same issues as too much Ca and Mg. Your K may be low.

 

Is there any chance that you have a lot of debris being blown around in your tank and its settling on your corals, that will cause the issue youre having. Use a turkey baster and see if you can blast off any dust.

 

Just a random thought...

When did you last change out your alk additive? Did you change batches of mix?

 

Knock on wood, but that's a bulletproof SPS. Some polyp retraction there, but okay so far.

Interesting thought John; this one hadn't crossed my mind. Thank you. But where would excess Strontium come from? Especially considering I use IO.

Nope.

Appreciate random thoughts like this very much, as this has primarily been my thinking as well; a bad batch of something.

I do all my dosing via a Bubble Magus doser and use BRS recipe 1, in bulk. My current bulk gallon of soda ash I've been using a while now, but I am on the tail end of the container. So maybe, if it's been a gradual build up of something in it. But why affect LPS first?

I do make a point to rinse out the doser containers as well as the mixing jugs once they are both empty.