RTN and it's my fault

[Peter Fernandes]

Ok when a coral starts RTN do I remove the infected coral? I made a huge mistake by not checking my water change water and realized that the IO salt I was using from a new batch was only 4 DKH. I feel like such a moron for being basicly too busy and lazy to properly check my water.

When I checked my water after first noticing the problem my DKH was 6 and I bet that it it was lower than that when I changed my water.(IDIOT).....smashing head against wall........

I've done a water change and all my levels are straight now. Can a coral that has RTN survive?

Any other suggestions. I have been toying with the Idea of a softy tank....

 

[Scott]

I've had a few bouts with RTN, not any major event after a water change, but a random incident here and there.

In the few cases that I caught, it was total devastation, or would have been if I didn't frag them. I find that if I can frag the coral before the infection reaches the fragged pieces, they will survive. It truly seems to be a creeping infection that moves fast and kills/eats what it touches.

The big (once) beautiful purple 5" digi (now a skeleton) in the center of this picture melted in just hours.



I managed to frag off several tips. A few weeks later, they're doing fine. The 5 or so purple digi frags in this picture were saved from the above colony mid-incident. There are actually a couple of broken tips still sitting on the sandbed that I still need to get glued to a plug.



So, my rookie advice based on just a few cases is to cut your losses, literally, and frag whatever can be saved. Cut far enough away from the infection so you know it's clean.

That also allows you to get the infected tissue out of the tank.

 

[SteveDola]

definitely try and frag it above the infected area. I works sometimes...othertimes it doesnt. In a case where you shocked your entire system it may be tough.

im just wondering what you did to the WC h20 to drop the alk to 4 dkh? in all the batches Ive mix with IO the alk is 9.6-10.2. I usually have to boost the calc and mag but alk is fine maybe even alittle high.

 

[Peter Fernandes]

definitely try and frag it above the infected area. I works sometimes...othertimes it doesnt. In a case where you shocked your entire system it may be tough.

im just wondering what you did to the WC h20 to drop the alk to 4 dkh? in all the batches Ive mix with IO the alk is 9.6-10.2. I usually have to boost the calc and mag but alk is fine maybe even alittle high.

My IO was always 9 dkh. But I tested a fresh batch with nothing added but RODI water and it was 4 DKH. I tested it twice with and elos test kit.

Brand new RODI system as well. TDS 0

 

[Greg Hiller]

I'd heard a while back that there were some IO batches with way high alk, but I did not know there were some with way low Alk. A bummer that the salt guys don't have better QC in place.

 

[Aquaman_68]

That sucks Pete....

 

[stingythingy45]

I'd heard a while back that there were some IO batches with way high alk, but I did not know there were some with way low Alk. A bummer that the salt guys don't have better QC in place.

This might be a dumb question.
But would it be at all likely that some elements in the saltmix could seperate?
Not not entirely sure of how the process works in making up a salt mix.
I don't know if every granule is a mixture of elements or it each granule is a individual element.Just wondering if the vibration of truck traffic over the road could seperate lighter elements from heavier.
Wondering if the bottom of a new bucket would read the same as the top.


Website has a nice video.

http://www.instantocean.com/InstantOcean.home

 

[Greg Hiller]

Usually the chemicals are milled to a somewhat consistant size, so I would think it would be pretty hard to get a lot of separation during settling. The one thing that can occur is if they pack it when their is a lot of humidity, sometimes the stuff clumps and calcium and alkalintiy (bicarb) combine to form calcium carbonate, bringing down the calcium and alkalinity of the stuff when you make a batch of water. The calcium carbonate that comes out of solution can be seen as small roundish white particles on the bottom of your mixing container. It's easy enough to add back some calcium chloride and bicarb to bring the levels back up. I'd be surprised if this recombination were enough to get alk down to 4 dkH though.

 

[Peter Fernandes]

What really makes me angry is that if I had done my WC right and tested the chemistry this probably wouldn't have happened.

The dead......... superman monti, rainbow monti, nice Cali tort that had multiple branches 4-6" each, Huge idaho grape and flower petal monti.

It seems to have stopped at that but we will wait and see.

Live and learn I guess.

 

[Peter Fernandes]

For what it's worth I retested the batch of IO salt that had a really low DKH and both times it came up at 4 DKH with ELos test kit. I just bought a new box of IO tested my WC water and it was a solid 9 DKH. So learn from my mistake and test that water EVERY time or you just might pay for it.

Lesson learned

At least I didn 't lose any fish.

So it's been a rough couple of months in the hobby for me with losing a bunch of SPS and now waiting for 3 months for that custom tank only to be a victim of the AFY debacle. Hopefully my CC company takes care of me.

I"ll be back with a vengeance.