[peteatstkilda]

G'day fellow reefers. Just joined from the land "downunder".
I have an aquarium maintenance business here and I have a problem in a clients tank I service that I hope you guys may be able to help with.
The client has a mature, seemingly healthy reef tank, 500l's capacity. It is a mixed display with some soft corals and some hard, all doing well with one exception. Every time we add a new Acanthastrea Lordhowensis, it fails to open and dies within days. The Acans are all healthy to begin with having been established for months in another tank. All parameters are well within normal range. The sump has a new bag of Purigen in it (in case turpenoids were the problem) and the location for the Acan is mid tank height, under good lighting and not touching any other corals. The location is washed directly by a small Koralia powerhead but not directly by the sump return.
The first time an Acan died, the only problem I could detect was a slightly elevated salinity(1027). This has subsequently been diluted (1023) but still no success. This tank has me stumped for answers at this stage. If anyone has any insights or similar experiences, I'd love to hear from you. Tx.

[BLKBRDTA]

Glad to have you (and your client) join us here at RB Pete! Would you mind posting up all of your clients water parameters for us (e.g. Cal., Alk., Sal., Temp., pH, Mag., Phos., Am., Ni., Na?) That way we can be sure it does not have to do with that and move on to the next possibility, process of elimination style. Also, what type of lighting is he currently using? Flow? Skimmer? Kalkwrasser? Additives/supplements? QT tanks? Coral dips? Acclimation time?

Hope to get some more insight on the stability, we will do all we can to help.

[Mr_X]

i'm thinking it's the lighting. possibly too much too soon. they don't need alot of light. alot of mine are almost completely shaded from direct light and they look excellent. as a matter of fact, i've seen a few pieces in other people's tanks under heavy duty lighting, and they looked discolored and shriveled a bit.
have you tried placing them in different locations in the tank? perhaps on the sand bed?

[peteatstkilda]

Thanks Mr_X. You could be right, although I would have thought that the Acan would have looked "unhappy" such as the others you mentioned you had seen in strong lighting, rather than just die outright in a few days. I normally find Acans to be pretty tough and easy to keep. Still, I'm going to heed your advice and next time, place the coral on the bottom to begin with and gradually move it into position. Hopefully, this time it will survive and thrive. Thankyou for taking the time to consider my problem, Pete.

[peteatstkilda]

Sure. Clients parameters are as follows.
Calc 380ppm,pH 8.0, Amm 0, Ni 0, Na 20ppm, Mag 1050, Salinity 1023, Temp 26 Celsius, KH 8.0 degrees.
In my view, while some of these numbers are not ideal, they're not lethal either. I think the acan reacted to a toxin released by another coral in the tank. After all, the whole piece died, not just some polyps in one area.
Tank is lit by three 150 watt Halides and four 24 watt 10,000 K compact fluoros. The skimmer is an Aquamedic Turboflotr 1000. Additives include Seachems Reefplus at 10ml/160 l's twice weekly and Calcium Plus as needed. He feeds a slurry of Phytoplankton, defrosted Hikari Rotifers and Hikari baby Brine shrimp. Iron is added via a Brightwell supplement at 10ml per 250l's every day to maintain a concentration of 0.05.
I do wonder if any of these supplements have been added to the flow and washed directly onto the coral. He seems to think not but I REMAIN UNCONVINCED.
Thankyou for taking the time to consider my problem, Pete.