Coral Loss Only On Bottom (Peculiar Situation)

[DeeperThanShallow]

Fluval Edge 12 Gallon

-Hydor 240 GPH Powerhead

-Upgraded Canister Filter

-75 Watt Heater

-UltraBright 36 Watt LEDs (designed for Fluval Edge)

 

Parameters=

dKH: 9.6-9.8

Calcium: 430-460

Magnesium: 1320

Ammonia: 0

Phospate: < .02

Salinity : 1.024-1.025

PH : 7.9-8.3

Temperature: 78

 

Livestock=

1 Pair of Ocellaris Clowns

Cleanup Crew

Mixed LPS, SPS, Soft, Zoas - Reef

 

Currently been running for 6 months with amazing success. I perform 2 gallon water changes twice a week. I do not dose anything as these water change maintain parameters.

 

Situation:

This past week I was doing a routine water change when I accidentally bumped into my Green Acro. This caused a small amount of relatively new growth to fall helplessly to the bottom. It unfortunately settled directly into the center of a Scoly in which was in a very difficult place to reach. Regardless, 20 minutes later I was finally able to remove the Acro broken piece from the tank... The next day it was apparent that the Scoly had suffered some sort of injury as the thing nearly became completely bleached overnight. Loads of slime and #### littered the bottom of the tank. I immediately attempted to siphon and rid the tank of this ####.

 

Almost immediately all other corals in the sand bed immediately became distressed (excluding Zoas). They also began emitting loads of goo and dead tissue into the tank. As of May 17th, I have lost: 1 Scoly, 1 Alevpora, 2 Acans, 2 Blastos, 1 Green Polyps, 6 Mushrooms. I have removed all of them from the tank as they are completely bleached. Loads of goo was siphoned up today, however some still remains. The only living corals on the sanded at this time are a yellow torch, and 3 Zoa frags. The Zoas appear to be fine, however the Torch has some tissue loss as well...

 

All other corals NOT on the sand bed are doing wonderfully and show no signs of stress.

 

Is there a reasonable explanation for this sudden loss? Can I conclude that the accidental mishap with the Scoly led to the death of other corals? Any insight, or constructive criticism will be welcomed.

 

[clownfitch]

Chemical warfare. The acro vs. scoly set off a chain reaction between what sounds like several of your corals all together. Large water change and carbon is your fix.

[metrokat]

+1

Lots of carbon.

[Mr. Microscope]

+1 to the above.

Also, bleached doesn't mean dead. You definitely want to remove dead tissue from the tank, but anything left behind that just look peeved and or bleached may recover in time. Next time you have an event that leads to bleaching, you might want to hold on to those corals and give them some time.

[Jellyingabout]

If its chemical warfare (sounds like it is) but you've only lost the coral on the bottom of the tank then that would also point that you have very inadequate flow in the tank allowing the toxins to stay in the lower part of the column.

 

I can't think of anything else that would only effect coral on the sand bed but leave everything else alone? Possibly a nasty worm or critter hiding in the sand bed?

[DeeperThanShallow]

Thank you for your insight and suggestions. The reaction appears to have settled and things are looking better. I have also made some adjustments to the flow as with the Fluvial Edge set-up it is difficult to please SPS while getting movement to the bottom.

[HarryPotter]

Thank you for your insight and suggestions. The reaction appears to have settled and things are looking better. I have also made some adjustments to the flow as with the Fluvial Edge set-up it is difficult to please SPS while getting movement to the bottom.

 

Can you get a tiny powerhead in there? As jellyingabout said, if the toxins stay on the bottom the flow is COMPLETELY inadequate.