A while back I posted about my Sunset Montipora having weird white spots on it...and ever since then, things have been getting worse daily for my tank. My frag tank has now developed the same problem, and the only link between my main tank and my frag tank is the water and the salt. To make things more interesting, this problem started about the same time I started a new bucket of Red Sea Coral Pro salt. I've been using RSCP for about the past year and a half with no problems.
Problem: Most SPS have turned dirt brown (even my green slimer). Corals have NO polyp extension and look like they are starving (tissue is tight around the skeleton.) Tissue loss has started. Even my LPS are losing tissue, and my few softies are closed. (Even my green star polyps aren't extending polyps to tell you the seriousness of the problem.) The tank is 2 years old, and has been very successful up until now.
Tank specs:
40g SPS dominant
20g sump with macroalgae and RDSB
90# LR
40# LS
2x150W MH
Tunze 9002 skimmer
Mag 12 return pump
2 x Koralia 4's
1 x Koralia 3
Fish:
Mated pair of hi-fin gobies with a pistol shrimp
Chemicals (tested with Salifert where applicable):
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.026
Alk: 9 dkh
Mag: 1350
Ca: 400
Temp: 80
Phosphates: 0 (done with a Salifert test kit...other than that, I don't know.)
Desperate, I tried searching and doing everything possible. I finally found one guy that was seeing metal flakes in the bottom of his water mixing bucket after using Red Sea Coral Pro salt.
Scared to death, I ran to the utility room to look in my buckets...
I found metal flakes in the residue, some magnetic, some not. CHECK YOUR SALT!!!