some ?'s re: water chemistry and dosing

E

eric b 125

Guest
as some of you may know, i've been having trouble with the monti's in my tank. for those of you that arent familiar with my constant questions regarding this, here is a pic to speed you up:

as you can see, it's bleaching something fierce. i have recently been testing pH swings from 7.8 (a.m.) to 8.4 (p.m.) secondary to low alk. i just tested my water and...
ammonia: undetectable
nitrite: undetectable
nitrate: undetectable
pH: 8.4
ca: 380
dkH: 7
temp: 78-80
so tomorrow morning i was fixin to dose some calcium and alk. i have kent part a/ part b. i've never had need to dose two part, only the alk. my question is, how much time between adding the ca and the alk? also, if you dont think that the monti pictured looks like a pH swing problem, what do you think it could be?
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
has anything landed on it? Like salt creep from the top.....or a fish setting on it? do you have any clown gobies or "squatters"?
 
E

eric b 125

Guest
i dont have any squatters. do you think it would be smart for me to remove all the bleached parts, or wait to do that until i have the ca and alk up?
 
E

eric b 125

Guest
i'll start breakin then... and as far as dosing the 2 part- how long b/w part A and part B?
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
Looks like the Montipora eating nudibranch and are quite a pest if not found early on. They eat the living flesh of Montipora species and can wipe out all your Montipora corals if left unchecked, commonly first seen on the underside of Montipora capricornis but you must check all species of Montipora for they can be found even on Montipora digitata. They look like white, off-white, or brown fluffy spots up to 3/8" long and the best place to look for them is at the base and undersides of the Montipora corals. A tell tale sign of there presence is the appearance white dead areas on the coral. The only sure way to avoid them is to quarantines the new coral for two weeks (incase there are eggs that haven't hatched) and check for there presence. If you find them you should remove them by picking them off or even better use a turkey baster to blast them off (in a separate container), and then scrub the base rock and all dead areas with a tooth brush to remove any possible eggs. You can make a coral dip using Melifix( a common fish medication). Use one cap full to one gallon container full of salt water, after about 5 minutes give the coral a shake and they should start falling off. If they are already in your system you must be diligent about there removal. You cannot remove them all in just one shot it will take several weeks checking all montipora every 3-4 days for the next month, and even then they may reappear a few months later, so always be on the look out for them and QT.
Quoted from Garrtt's Acropolis
 
E

eric b 125

Guest
geo: i considered this possibility because only my monitpora's are being affected. however: i was under the impression that monitpora eating nudi's will usually eat straight across the coral, not in circles like that...?
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
I have had experience with the little bleeps and they will eat in any shape that they like but for the most part it looks just like what you have with a clean line. They are very small when first hatched but can damage a lot of coral at that small size. I will look for a pic red is the adult blue is eggs
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
If it was lack of calcium or alk the entire coral would fade to white over some time, it would not happen as quick as the pest.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top