Tommy Gun
Fish Crazy
Hello everyone! I am new to the forum and have found a TON of great information and help from the discussions I have eavesdropped on thus far. That being said...let me get straight to the point.
First, let me give you my 'stats':
My 125 gallon reef
Set-up
In operation for 1 year, 2 months
Approximately 200 pounds live rock
80 pounds live sand - with an additional 10 pounds of crushed coral (long story)
Sump (approx 50 gallons in sump and plumbing at any given time)
Approx. 1700 gph water flow via sump return, power heads, etc..
Currently using one 8 bulb, 432 watt, T5 light system and one 250 watt MH pendant
Water Params
Exclusively use RO w/ IO Reef Crystals
Temp: 75 to 80 degrees depending on ambient temp with multiple, strategically placed heaters set at 75 degrees to prevent further temp loss - a concern during the night, especially during the cooler seasons
Salinity: 30 - 32 ppt (SG: 1.022 - 1.024) on average
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0 ppm
Nitrates: <= 20 ppm
Calcium: 420 - ish (use combination of 'Purple Up' and Kent Marine's "Essential Elements"
pH: 8.3 to 8.5
(all params - except averages - taken within the last 24 hours...have more numbers if they would help)
Livestock - FISH
2 Clownfish (1 perc./1 O.)
1 Mandarin Dragonette (male)
1 Singapore Angel
1 Achilles Tang
1 Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish
4 Yellow-Tail Damsels
1 Blackmouth Bicolor Chromis (x-large...can't catch it)
2 Green Chromis
1 Ornate Wrasse
(By the way, I realize that I am far from being an 'expert' who can keep some of these 'difficult' fish)
Livestock - INVERTS (excluding coral)
1 Sebae Anemone (both clowns hosting in it for approx 6 months)
4 Turbo Snails (XX-large)
7 (approx) Blue Legged Hermits (slowly being removed as I find them)
15 Scarlet Reef Hermits
3 Juvy Emerald/Mythrax Crabs -- maybe...will explain if needed
1 Cleaner (Skunk) Shrimp
1 Banded Coral Shrimp
*Unknown # of Cerith Snails (at least 12, maybe more)
*Unknown # of Nassarius Snails (at least four)
*****The reason I am not sure as to an exact number of these two snails is because one or the other has apparently bred, but the young are too small to ID
Livestock - CORALS
Lots and LOTS of Xenia
1 Green Bubble Coral (very large)
1 Favites Brain
1 Open Brain
1 Pineapple brain
1 Califlower Leather
8 - 9 Mushroom (green and green florescent)
1 Short Tentacle Plate
2 Candy Cane colonies
Large multicolor colony polyp/zoanthid
1 unknown coral -- sold under the name "pagoda cup", but I believe that is incorrect....can supply pictures of it if need be
Quite a few 'stalks' of Kenya Tree
Green Star polyps
(I feel like I am forgetting something and will add later if I am)
Brief history leading to my question
All in all, this is a well established tank in most aspects and have been able to keep all of my corals alive and seemingly well for more than 8 months; meaning, although some corals have propagated on their own, I haven't added any new coral to the tank. Well, that is until about three weeks ago...
HOWEVER, about three or four weeks ago I found myself in the fortunate (depending on how you look at it) situation of my Xenia over-taking most areas of the tank, as well as gaining the benefit of 'negotiating' a deal in which I am able to literally trade Xenia for other, almost certainly more expensive corals...which I did at least a few times already. To add to that though, the LFS I am dealing with often finds itself trying to sell certain corals which have requirements that the LFS cannot provide (obviously they must feel as though they can sell them before anything overly negative occurs), and in a few cases, no one wants them (probably due to the price) so these corals suffer from lack of light, being kept in a tank with non-reef safe fish/inverts. So, on at least two occasions, the LFS literally gave me corals which are showing signs of distress...which I have found some challenge in attempting to return them to their former glory.
Anyways, one of the corals given to me is a Flowerpot (goniopora) coral - which I have read/heard can be somewhat difficult to keep for a long period of time and so I VERY stupidly skipped placed this goni in my tank sans quarantine because my q-tank does not have sufficient lighting.
To make an already long story short, one night I went to bed with the goni looking as if it might actually 'bounce back', but when I woke up, it was not only dead, but only the skeleton remained. It was also covered completely in some sort of pink slime. I removed the skeleton right away and for the next couple days, everything was fine...until, out of the blue, every one of my Xenia were dead or dying for some mysterious reason. In fact, I should also point out that it was my Xenia that died, and ONLY my Xenia; everything else fine. However, I did notice that my Xenia seemed to not only be slightly covered with a pink slime, but, if squeezed, a 'puff' of pink slime would occur.
Over time though, after I removed most of the dead Xenia (even some pieces of live rock) and it has now 'come back to life' with a vengeance; meaning the stuff is popping up everywhere. However, tonight I noticed that a few of the new Xenia are showing the same signs of distress as I saw within the first episode, and the pink slime is also back.
So, obviously my questions are:
1. What is this pink slime?
2. Is it something which could be causing the deaths or is this just coincidence?
3. How, if even possible, can I remove this from my tank?
4. How do I prevent it in the future?
To help you get a better idea of what I am talking about...in case it helps...here is a picture - albeit a crappy one, sorry - of that goni the day I brought it home (and obviously didn't pay much attention to the pink stuff):
If anyone might be able to help me out here, or at least point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it. I have asked quite a few people, both in person and on forums (usually 'reef-specific forums though), about this stuff, but have not gained much, if any insight yet.
First, let me give you my 'stats':
My 125 gallon reef
Set-up
In operation for 1 year, 2 months
Approximately 200 pounds live rock
80 pounds live sand - with an additional 10 pounds of crushed coral (long story)
Sump (approx 50 gallons in sump and plumbing at any given time)
Approx. 1700 gph water flow via sump return, power heads, etc..
Currently using one 8 bulb, 432 watt, T5 light system and one 250 watt MH pendant
Water Params
Exclusively use RO w/ IO Reef Crystals
Temp: 75 to 80 degrees depending on ambient temp with multiple, strategically placed heaters set at 75 degrees to prevent further temp loss - a concern during the night, especially during the cooler seasons
Salinity: 30 - 32 ppt (SG: 1.022 - 1.024) on average
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0 ppm
Nitrates: <= 20 ppm
Calcium: 420 - ish (use combination of 'Purple Up' and Kent Marine's "Essential Elements"
pH: 8.3 to 8.5
(all params - except averages - taken within the last 24 hours...have more numbers if they would help)
Livestock - FISH
2 Clownfish (1 perc./1 O.)
1 Mandarin Dragonette (male)
1 Singapore Angel
1 Achilles Tang
1 Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish
4 Yellow-Tail Damsels
1 Blackmouth Bicolor Chromis (x-large...can't catch it)
2 Green Chromis
1 Ornate Wrasse
(By the way, I realize that I am far from being an 'expert' who can keep some of these 'difficult' fish)
Livestock - INVERTS (excluding coral)
1 Sebae Anemone (both clowns hosting in it for approx 6 months)
4 Turbo Snails (XX-large)
7 (approx) Blue Legged Hermits (slowly being removed as I find them)
15 Scarlet Reef Hermits
3 Juvy Emerald/Mythrax Crabs -- maybe...will explain if needed
1 Cleaner (Skunk) Shrimp
1 Banded Coral Shrimp
*Unknown # of Cerith Snails (at least 12, maybe more)
*Unknown # of Nassarius Snails (at least four)
*****The reason I am not sure as to an exact number of these two snails is because one or the other has apparently bred, but the young are too small to ID
Livestock - CORALS
Lots and LOTS of Xenia
1 Green Bubble Coral (very large)
1 Favites Brain
1 Open Brain
1 Pineapple brain
1 Califlower Leather
8 - 9 Mushroom (green and green florescent)
1 Short Tentacle Plate
2 Candy Cane colonies
Large multicolor colony polyp/zoanthid
1 unknown coral -- sold under the name "pagoda cup", but I believe that is incorrect....can supply pictures of it if need be
Quite a few 'stalks' of Kenya Tree
Green Star polyps
(I feel like I am forgetting something and will add later if I am)
Brief history leading to my question
All in all, this is a well established tank in most aspects and have been able to keep all of my corals alive and seemingly well for more than 8 months; meaning, although some corals have propagated on their own, I haven't added any new coral to the tank. Well, that is until about three weeks ago...
HOWEVER, about three or four weeks ago I found myself in the fortunate (depending on how you look at it) situation of my Xenia over-taking most areas of the tank, as well as gaining the benefit of 'negotiating' a deal in which I am able to literally trade Xenia for other, almost certainly more expensive corals...which I did at least a few times already. To add to that though, the LFS I am dealing with often finds itself trying to sell certain corals which have requirements that the LFS cannot provide (obviously they must feel as though they can sell them before anything overly negative occurs), and in a few cases, no one wants them (probably due to the price) so these corals suffer from lack of light, being kept in a tank with non-reef safe fish/inverts. So, on at least two occasions, the LFS literally gave me corals which are showing signs of distress...which I have found some challenge in attempting to return them to their former glory.
Anyways, one of the corals given to me is a Flowerpot (goniopora) coral - which I have read/heard can be somewhat difficult to keep for a long period of time and so I VERY stupidly skipped placed this goni in my tank sans quarantine because my q-tank does not have sufficient lighting.
To make an already long story short, one night I went to bed with the goni looking as if it might actually 'bounce back', but when I woke up, it was not only dead, but only the skeleton remained. It was also covered completely in some sort of pink slime. I removed the skeleton right away and for the next couple days, everything was fine...until, out of the blue, every one of my Xenia were dead or dying for some mysterious reason. In fact, I should also point out that it was my Xenia that died, and ONLY my Xenia; everything else fine. However, I did notice that my Xenia seemed to not only be slightly covered with a pink slime, but, if squeezed, a 'puff' of pink slime would occur.
Over time though, after I removed most of the dead Xenia (even some pieces of live rock) and it has now 'come back to life' with a vengeance; meaning the stuff is popping up everywhere. However, tonight I noticed that a few of the new Xenia are showing the same signs of distress as I saw within the first episode, and the pink slime is also back.
So, obviously my questions are:
1. What is this pink slime?
2. Is it something which could be causing the deaths or is this just coincidence?
3. How, if even possible, can I remove this from my tank?
4. How do I prevent it in the future?
To help you get a better idea of what I am talking about...in case it helps...here is a picture - albeit a crappy one, sorry - of that goni the day I brought it home (and obviously didn't pay much attention to the pink stuff):
If anyone might be able to help me out here, or at least point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it. I have asked quite a few people, both in person and on forums (usually 'reef-specific forums though), about this stuff, but have not gained much, if any insight yet.
