SPS STNing from the Base

[teebone110]

God point, we have all probably traded directly and indirectly with eachother.

Hopefully the UVS works, it's my understanding that they can wipe out both beneficial and harmful bacteria, but it's worth a shot.

 

[BIGSHOW]

I know its only been a few days, but any update? I cringed when I saw your photos...absolutely love your tank.

 

[tdb320reef]

Update – Hi all I ended up hooking up a 55Watt UV sterilizer and put about 1500 GPH of flow through it.  Infections has appeared to slow down.  Pieces already with STN are still moving slowly but no new infections ( I left to monitor).  Furthermore, Sat was  Frageddon where I literally pulled out every colony that I could that showed signs of infection and fragged off the dead or superglue.  Those frags some 100 something are not showing signs of further infection.

I ordered Potassium and Strontium test kits to see if these are being depleted. Too soon for a root cause but I am leaning toward bacteria.


One other interesting observation is that all of the infected pieces have these tiny black stars on them .  I dont know if these stars are eating the dead flesh/algae or creating a bigger problem.

 

[tdb320reef]

Okay the UV sterilizer did wonders for killing off the algae and allowing some phosphates in my system .01 but did not slow the STN.  Potassium was 360 and Stro was 10 which are within range.

I ended up switching back to brightwell neomarine and have done two 6G0 waterchanges.  Everything is looking 100% better.  The current affected corals seem to continue to STN but anything I frag and glue it stops.

New theory the switch to Salinity Fd something up.  I switched first week of June and just finished the first bucket after the switch. 

 

[teebone110]

Thanks for the update, hopefully things get back on track. Seems like you are doing everything you can do. Good luck!

 

[tdb320reef]

I think I found my issue, unfortunately, after I lost 50% of my tank.  I pulled these last weekend and it is as if the stn switch was turned off.  I know sometime in May my Pocillipora started to spawn and wonder if it triggered some kind of chemical warfare that my carbon could not keep up with.  I have Pocillipora babies all over and they are the only coral in my tank right now thriving.  Do y’ll think they are releasing some kind of toxin?  I am ready to pull those next
[img=1400x838]http://images.cpucs.com/images/issue.jpg[/img]

One good thing came of this disaster:  I redid my sump and made a sps nursery:

http://youtu.be/DDVCWSEhaSE

 

[Giglio324]

I saw your sps nursery on Michigan reefers. Makes my DT look pathetic, great job

 

[teebone110]

Good luck with the sps nursery, hopefully you have nailed things down. I have poccilopora, but have never it noticed it reproduce like that, although I have read stories from others about this. IMO, those softies and leathers have no place in an sps tank. I was warned by a few, but thought I could make it work. I have learner as my next set up will be sps only. Hopefully things get better.

 

[nexusnight]

any updates? ive been experiencing the same problem with sps in the frag tank. not all is affected and i did a dip on everything and most if not all has seemed to stop. dunno. All params are ideal.

 

[tdb320reef]

Hi I eventually narrowed it down to three things,  Mini Alk spikes due to CARX and Kalk reactor,  Some type of Negative Bacteria,  Biopellets and too clean tank or something nasty growing within.

I lost a lot but the tank is on its way to recovery and now seeing corals slowly move back where they were RTN ing.

Of all of the things I did I noticed the best results with the following:

1.  Treated tank with full spectrum Anti-Biotic.  This was very dangers and I had my seat belt fastened but it literly wiped out all of the bacteria in my system.  I watched the ORP literally drop to 200 in the matter of 24 hours. I was ready with 2 skimmers,  airstones, and fans all over the place.

2.  Added an Aqua UV 57 sterilizer  this is heavily debated but to be honest I have been around since the mid 90's and never saw negative implications from running UV  and whatever got into the system was in the column as it moved whether it be bacteria or a virus.

I see UV as risk mitigation.

3.  Removed Biopellet reactor and Added another skimmer.  I did this because there was a very bad smell coming from the reactor.  The Idea was to buy new pellets.  After about two weeks I tested nitrates and phosphates and was surprised how low they were.  Now about two months later my trates still are not registering over .02.  Therefore I conclude as the tank matured the need for carbon dosing was minimized and the colors look much better.  Even the coralline is a deeper purple.

4. Removed all the sand I could get at and made a metal detector with a small mag float and fishing wire to see if a screw or bold was in the tank and nothing.

5. Finally after the treatment I did two 150G WC two weeks apart and bought all new filter socks.

All of the colonies that showed signs of STn were fragged and placed in a separate system.  The only one I couldn't get was my big slimmer and that one has stopped all together and now is growing back over the Skelton.

Another interesting observation is that my Digis were not impacted and seemed to soak up all of the nutrients because I had a digi explosion.  lol

Again - This is what I did and they are extreme measures but I felt that if I didn't do it all would have been lost.  All of the typical options were exhausted before I got to the above points.  Good luck.

 

[Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)]

good deal....i see you have a whole pile of digi colonys for sale in the michigan forums

 

[tdb320reef]

good deal....i see you have a whole pile of digi colonys for sale in the michigan forums

Yes,  It was really crazy everywhere I looked the Digi frags were becoming 3 X 3 colonies.  I really miss my acros.  But Year end I have new goals and looking forward to getting new stuff and a great 2014.  Also this give me an opportunity to enjoy the tank in a different way and challenges to get my acros growing again.

 

[tdb320reef]

Also - I forgot to mention thanks for all of the advice here - you guys are great.  My local board is nothing but a bash fest and it would have been hard to get unbiased advice.

Thanks Again!

Tom

 

[Hayes]

Happy to see you had success in stopping the STN creep.
I am also in the same boat, have seen many of my prized pieces disintegrate before my eyes, its tough to take Ill tell you
Right now I am watching my Red Planet wither away, while a nice mini colony downstairs in the frag tank sits quietly chugging along unphased by whatever is attacking the other SPS

I have stripped my system down to Bio pellets, strong wet skimming, large WC weekly and a cup of ROX. Super simple. The STN does seem to have slowed down but certainly not gone.

Each time over the past 4 months when I think I have fixed it I come from work and there is a new victim starting to peel. Its so bad now that I cringe when I go into my living room after work.

Lost more than I can remember, nice colonies that were really starting to fill the tank. I was so close to actually having a mature tank......

 

[spyd]

Happy to see you had success in stopping the STN creep.
I am also in the same boat, have seen many of my prized pieces disintegrate before my eyes, its tough to take Ill tell you
Right now I am watching my Red Planet wither away, while a nice mini colony downstairs in the frag tank sits quietly chugging along unphased by whatever is attacking the other SPS

I have stripped my system down to Bio pellets, strong wet skimming, large WC weekly and a cup of ROX. Super simple. The STN does seem to have slowed down but certainly not gone.

Each time over the past 4 months when I think I have fixed it I come from work and there is a new victim starting to peel. Its so bad now that I cringe when I go into my living room after work.

Lost more than I can remember, nice colonies that were really starting to fill the tank. I was so close to actually having a mature tank......

You're going to make me cry!!! You have such an awesome tank!!!!!!!! Hopefully it pulls through. I get nervous hearing this happen to setups that are fairly mature and well constructed.

 

[tdb320reef]

Happy to see you had success in stopping the STN creep.
I am also in the same boat, have seen many of my prized pieces disintegrate before my eyes, its tough to take Ill tell you
Right now I am watching my Red Planet wither away, while a nice mini colony downstairs in the frag tank sits quietly chugging along unphased by whatever is attacking the other SPS

I have stripped my system down to Bio pellets, strong wet skimming, large WC weekly and a cup of ROX. Super simple. The STN does seem to have slowed down but certainly not gone.

Each time over the past 4 months when I think I have fixed it I come from work and there is a new victim starting to peel. Its so bad now that I cringe when I go into my living room after work.

Lost more than I can remember, nice colonies that were really starting to fill the tank. I was so close to actually having a mature tank......

Man sorry to hear that.  I though my GF was going to leave it was so bad.  In the end she helped me frag everything and it was interesting to see how supportive she was even as I ran out of gas dealing with it.  We went through 9 frag sessions and she convinced me to set up another system downstairs.  Her advice was profound.

I am not a hater but take a deep look at your BP's.  I still have my reactor but don't think that I am going to go back.  Good luck!

 

[tdb320reef]

[quote author=Hayes link=topic=5753.msg61307#msg61307 date=1379689952]
Happy to see you had success in stopping the STN creep.
I am also in the same boat, have seen many of my prized pieces disintegrate before my eyes, its tough to take Ill tell you
Right now I am watching my Red Planet wither away, while a nice mini colony downstairs in the frag tank sits quietly chugging along unphased by whatever is attacking the other SPS

I have stripped my system down to Bio pellets, strong wet skimming, large WC weekly and a cup of ROX. Super simple. The STN does seem to have slowed down but certainly not gone.

Each time over the past 4 months when I think I have fixed it I come from work and there is a new victim starting to peel. Its so bad now that I cringe when I go into my living room after work.

Lost more than I can remember, nice colonies that were really starting to fill the tank. I was so close to actually having a mature tank......

You're going to make me cry!!! You have such an awesome tank!!!!!!!! Hopefully it pulls through. I get nervous hearing this happen to setups that are fairly mature and well constructed.
[/quote]

It is part of the dice we roll carving out a chunk of the ocean and thinking we are smart enough to keep it there.  My take is an aquarium is a disaster just waiting to happen.  Risk Mitigation+ Knowledge + Hard Work = Success

 

[Giglio324]

[quote author=spyd link=topic=5753.msg61310#msg61310 date=1379692870]
[quote author=Hayes link=topic=5753.msg61307#msg61307 date=1379689952]
Happy to see you had success in stopping the STN creep.
I am also in the same boat, have seen many of my prized pieces disintegrate before my eyes, its tough to take Ill tell you
Right now I am watching my Red Planet wither away, while a nice mini colony downstairs in the frag tank sits quietly chugging along unphased by whatever is attacking the other SPS

I have stripped my system down to Bio pellets, strong wet skimming, large WC weekly and a cup of ROX. Super simple. The STN does seem to have slowed down but certainly not gone.

Each time over the past 4 months when I think I have fixed it I come from work and there is a new victim starting to peel. Its so bad now that I cringe when I go into my living room after work.

Lost more than I can remember, nice colonies that were really starting to fill the tank. I was so close to actually having a mature tank......

You're going to make me cry!!! You have such an awesome tank!!!!!!!! Hopefully it pulls through. I get nervous hearing this happen to setups that are fairly mature and well constructed.
[/quote]

It is part of the dice we roll carving out a chunk of the ocean and thinking we are smart enough to keep it there.  My take is an aquarium is a disaster just waiting to happen.  Risk Mitigation+ Knowledge + Hard Work = Success
[/quote]
wise words for any reefer to live by. be proactive. no one likes a meltdown lol

 

[teebone110]

[quote author=tdb320reef link=topic=5753.msg61312#msg61312 date=1379694189]

It is part of the dice we roll carving out a chunk of the ocean and thinking we are smart enough to keep it there.  My take is an aquarium is a disaster just waiting to happen.  Risk Mitigation+ Knowledge + Hard Work = Success

wise words for any reefer to live by. be proactive. no one likes a meltdown lol
[/quote]

Amen! Couldn't agree more.

Nothing like rolling the dice with thousands of hours and dollars invested :-[

Achieving success among these challenges is what makes it all worth it in the end.

 

[Hayes]

Spent most of the day cleaning the tank. Still a little cloudy after siphoning and blowing off the rocks. Have been battling cyano on top of everything else lately.

Another 40g WC today

Doesnt look too bad but people who know my tank will notice it is much thinner than it was. I lost 11 colonies in total, from hand sized pieces to mini colonies. The Red planet was fragged today to try and save a couple of pieces. It is the only one STN'ing at the moment
Many other pieces show recovery, albeit very slowly.
Colour looks pretty good on most and and really good on others

Next battle will be with the aphasia