No, too fast. There is some other problem.
No, too fast. There is some other problem.
how can I find it ?
Well I'm no expert in corals; as long as your nutrients are low then I'm happy
However if you want to test your low-nutrient idea, then just start feeding some liquid coral food.
If your kh exceeds 8, and your nutrients are really low, it is common to have rtn or stn if on the other hand a kh is below 8, then starvation
regards
kh=9.8
If indeed your no3 is below 1 ppm and your po4 is below 0.08ppm, and these are stable in these measures, then undoubtedly your aquarium is considered LNS or ULNS, leaving your kh without dudad should be positioned below 8, any value above 8 will result rtn or stn
regards
Thanks - useful information.
It is not too low nitrate or phosphate. It's possible that the dying algae has initiated a miniature cycle. Test for ammonia and nitrite. Also test for phosphate with a low range kit. Algae may be dying due to a limitation initiated by low nitrate levels alone. If this is the case, phosphate levels will become elevated. When multiple acropora corals begin to STN, it is usually an indicator that something is wrong in the water column and can usually be figured out with a good arsenal of test kits and knowledge of the signs your corals give you. To an extent, you can read your corals by judging the nature of the STNing event to get a broad idea of what you should be testing for. Because I can't see your corals and time is of the essence, I'll give you a short list of possibilities:
Phosphate - STNing due to phosphate will start from the base and work its way up. Tissue will go rather slowly and the corals will lose a lot of color leading up to this; they will begin to brown out. Most corals can handle a fair deal of phosphate concentration before finally "going". There is ample time to reverse the loss of color but phosphate will kill a coral rather quickly once it does start to go.
Ammonia - An acropora coral exposed to ammonia, even in small concentrations is going to lose tissue rather rapidly. The tissue will look like it is falling off the coral in blankets and wave in the current as though the real reason were too much flow. The tissue loss can begin anywhere on the coral and there is little time (if any) to reverse it.
Low or high alkalinity - There are many things which can throw off your alkalinity levels; a high bacterial presence can increase it, a high algae presence can decrease it, etc... Excessive alkalinity will be see from acros "burning" or bleaching from the tips. They will lose tissue from the tips and may show signs of inflamed tissue all over. Low alkalinity can cause tissue recession from the tips or the base. I have found that this is extremely dependent on the intensity of the light on that particular coral. In high light, the brightest areas of the coral tend to go first. Alkalinity is an extremely important element for you to be keeping track of. Rapid fluctuations, even within the general acceptable range, will cause tissue necrosis. Test your alkalinity and calcium levels weekly and magnesium at least monthly. These three elements must be in balance. I only list this third because it can take days for alkalinity to kill your corals rather than hours. It is likely the cause of your problem.
Stray voltage - Sometimes a powerhead or a heater can fail at random and leak voltage into the tank. A grounding probe can save you and the corals but this equipment should ultimately be replaced as soon as possible. Losing a coral due to stray voltage will seam a lot like losing it to ammonia, only it doesn't have to be quite as rapid. Stressed fish will be an early warning sign of stray voltage.
Copper or elemental poisoning - Copper contamination of your water will cause the tissue to recede very rapidly. Copper can come from a torn power cord, intentional or accidental poisoning (IE: a spiteful ex-girlfriend or a child throwing a penny into the tank), or dosing without reading or measuring. You mentioned dosing iron, strontium and Jodine. What supplements were you using? Often times, supplements will be packaged together with "trace" elements. Once you use that supplement to increase on portion of that supplement, you may be loading the tank with much higher than normal levels of another element. For example, Red Sea coral colors C (sold as an iron supplement) contains copper, cobalt, aluminum, zinc, chrome and nickel. All of these elements are toxic in concentration; iron is not. Likewise, not testing for levels of strontium before dosing can also lead to poisoning as it too ca be toxic at concentrations above natural sea level concentrations of 8ppm. Most salts already have elevated levels nearly double natural sea water and it does not deplete at any appreciable rate. Poisoning by most elements would lead to base-up tissue recession with very "loose" appearing flesh. Test for everything you can and perform large water changes to correct a poisoning issue. Make sure you spend the time to allow the salt to fully mix and match the temperature to your tank to avoid further stress.
Other elemental deficiencies - When discussing elemental deficiencies, potassium comes to mind. Because I am a "color hunter", I test for potassium weekly and dose it on a dosing pump. Potassium plays a role in tissue building rather than skeleton formation. A potassium deficiency will first show its face in the loss of pocillopra and stylophora corals. Montipora corals will grow very slowly and may lose their once vibrant colors. Acropora corals of blue and purple varieties will seam pale in appearance. Red corals will being to pick up a grey appearance to them. Advanced potassium deficiency will lead to dry appearing flesh and loss of tissue from the tips-down.
Actually I never struggled to keep nutrients low as I run ATS from day 1 !Originally Posted by SantaMonica
as long as your nutrients are low then I'm happy
MINION,
Thanks for such in detail article !
I only dose what is in deficiency, and I only dose after testing. I dont thing there is a case of overdosing .
Only acroporas are affected noticeably. Tissue is not separated . It has bleached to death in several spots yet. Big spots in the middle and not bottom or tips as you mentioned. First was green acro. In a week same happened to blue , but in a bigger content. Most corals have poor polyp extension. Even those who were famous for PE. All corals has mostly pale color.
Ill try to picture it. Also will go testing all possible parameters.
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