SuncrestReef

1. Toxic Starburst 2. Redhead Shrek 3. Princess Fiona (I had to look up Shrek's wife's name)

Should we post name suggestions in this thread, or via PM?

While cleaning up the brown jelly syndrome on my corals today, I took time to view some samples under my microscope. It's really fascinating to watch these ciliates move. According to the research I've done, I believe these are Helicostoma nonatum. In this video, I start out at 80x, then increase the magnification to 200x and then 2000x. The video was shot with my iPhone attached to the microscope eyepiece.

My stupid clowns still won’t go near my anemone. They’ve been in the tank together for over 6 months but the clowns just like to stay in the corner of the tank. 🙄 I’m always jealous when I see hosting in other tanks.

There was no dye. Those were the natural colors. The microscope has a white light, but as the magnification increases it takes on more of a yellow tint.

My plan is to siphon off as much brown jelly as possible, remove infected corals from tank, cut off dead sections, dip in Revive (only thing I have on hand), then return to tank for observation. Unfortunately I don’t have a suitable frag QT set up. I already run my UV 24/7, so I can’t turn it up to 11. 🤣

I have been meaning to trim it and kept putting it off because it looked so nice. Now I have no excuse.

I think Jeff @CuttleFishandCoral nailed it with the Brown Jelly diagnosis. Here's a view of the ciliates under my microscope, and they appear to match the Helicostoma nonatum described in this article: http://aquariumcoraldiseases.weebly.com/brown-jelly-syndrome-bjs--brown-band-disease-brb.html When I first saw it on a frag early this month, I used a turkey baster to clean it off, thinking it was just detritus. That likely spread it around my tank to all the other corals.

I had dinos a while back, but this is different. These photos aren't my best, I just got back from New York and quickly snapped some shots in a panic. This is a much thicker brown layer, no bubbles, and it has spread from one colony a couple weeks ago to 20% of my coral collection today. The coral flesh is deteriorating at a rapid rate, so very different than what I saw with dinos. The Hollywood Stunner lost about 2 inches in a week. Tomorrow morning I'll take a sample and examine it under my microscope to get a good view. I do have a UV sterilizer running 24/7, except when the return pump is running slow for feed mode.

Actually I measured a batch of freshly mixed Coral Pro back in August. It measured 9.7 dKH on Hanna and 420 calcium on the Red Sea Pro kit. Still higher than I normally keep my tank, but not way off the chart. I'll measure it again the next time I mix a fresh batch to see if that reading is consistent. As for the DOS water change, I also have high and low water level sensors that will turn off the DOS and send me an alert if it removes or adds more water than expected during my auto water changes. Extra safeguards...

Apparently it can spread to any corals in your tank. I am seeing it on 9 of my 50 corals now.

After consulting with Jeff and doing more research, the problem appears to be Brown Jelly Disease. Each of the corals showing problems has brown jelly, while many others in the tank are still fine for the moment. I'm going to dip them, siphon off as much jelly as possible, and cut off the obvious dead sections. I'm also going to examine the jelly under my microscope to confirm any ciliates. Thanks for all the other tips, but for now I'm going to focus on this plan rather than making multiple changes. Slow and measured changes only...

I'm nearing the bottom of a bucket that makes 175 gallons, so I've been using the same batch for over 2 months. My system is 105 gallons total, so my daily 1.5 gallon changes equates to roughly 10% per week.

Sorry, I should have supplied more detail in my original post: My TDS meter says 0. I dip all my corals corals, including the mystery box. I'm not aware of any dead snails, though I have over 30 so it's pretty hard to keep track of them all. I have not changed salt brands since I started the tank in April 2018. I use Red Sea Coral Pro and mix up enough for 2 weeks at a time. I do automatic 1.5 gallon water changes every day through my Apex & DOS.

I've had very healthy corals for the past 6 months, but in the past couple of weeks my SPS have taken a turn for the worse. I was starting to get concerned last week as I was preparing to leave town for the holidays and saw some browning tips. Today I returned after a week away and things have gotten much worse: November 20: December 29: December 3: December 29: I measure all the common parameters daily and have not had any significant swings. My water parameters for the past couple months have been: Salinity = 1.026 Temp = 77.9 - 78.3 F Alk = 8.3 - 8.6 dHK Cal = 420 - 430 ppm Mag = 1320 - 1350 ppm NO3 = 4 - 5 ppm PO4 = 0.04 - 0.10 ppm I have not changed any lighting settings or flow settings. I have not added any new inhabitants since my mystery box frags on Nov 23. I have not changed any dosing schedules or products. All of my LPS and soft corals appear to be fine. I'm thinking I should send some water samples (both tank and RO/DI) for ICP testing. Any other ideas on what I should check?

I would not want to stick my hand into that tank at the wrong moment! 😳

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm in New York with my wife to visit her family, and this is the first time I've ever been away from my aquarium. (a little stressful, but I have a competent house sitter looking after things). To keep my mind off it, I'm cooking a fabulous dinner of beef tenderloin roast with a port reduction sauce, au gratin potatoes, and green beens with pancetta & almonds. And wine...lots of good wine! Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday with family & friends.

I wish I had room for a roller mat in my sump. I have a Red Sea Reefer XL 425 and I converted the ATO tank above the socks into a refugium, so the space directly above my socks is occupied, and I've used all the remaining space for reactors, skimmer, and a UV sterilizer. I guess I'll just need a bigger tank next time to have a bigger sump space...

Ha Ha!!! Welcome to my world, Holly. 😎 How do those bastards at AARP know? It's like they're sitting there waiting...waiting...waiting...OK, send the card!

Is that a Citrus Mistress on the right side of this photo? It looks a lot like a frag I got from @Lexinverts.

I did a lot more maintenance yesterday in preparation for being out of town over the holidays. Thankfully I have a house sitter/tank sitter/dog sitter arranged for the two weeks we'll be out of the country, but I also wanted to make sure all major components are in top working condition before I leave. Last weekend I did a complete breakdown and cleaning on the skimmer. Today, I did the same for my Neptune COR-20 return pump. The COR-20 was not nearly as dirty as the skimmer. It goes to show how much detritus is captured by the foam filter between the skimmer chamber and the return chamber. This pump was very easy to clean. It has mostly smooth surfaces with very few tight spaces to get into with the toothbrush, and with just 4 screws the disassembly and assembly is simple.

Follow up for @TheClark: The skimmer did produce a lot less skimmate in the hours immediately after cleaning, but within 24 hours it appeared to be back to normal operation.

I, on the other hand, measure my level of gloat by having automated my daily 1.5 gallon water changes. 😎

Is my torch coral spawning? I noticed it discharging a stream of cloudy water, so I turned off my powerheads to get a better look. Check out this video:

You're right. My comment was inappropriate. My apologies to the OP.