What could this black coverage be and is it responsible for the death of my LPS?

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reef_junkies

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jun 24, 2009
Messages
1
Hi, just looking for help in possibly identifing this black (fungus?) covering my torch exoskeleton and my blasto. It showed up about a week ago and now my blasto is pretty much toast. It is covering my torch exoskeletal now and will most likey devour it as well. The only way I can describe it is it looks alot like choraline but its black!

I've had a bit of a nitrate problem and my hubby is in the process of building a refugium to combat the nitrate problem. I've now begun to siphon off detris and what ever else is lurking in amongst the rocks to keep it moving.

92 gal bowfront
Cal 400
Mag 1270
Alk 10.2
Ph 7.95
Sal 1.26
2 halides
2 florecents

Use only RO from our own Aqua system, use Instant Ocean which we test every new bucket, 40% water changes weekly. Tank is approx 8 months old, nothing else is affected. Regal Tang, Coral Beauty, Cleaner Wrasse, Mandrin Dragonette, 3 Chromis and a Fox Face.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. The pics aren't the best but I tried

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww17/reef_junkies/DadsBirthday171.jpg

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww17/reef_junkies/DadsBirthday170.jpg
 
Looks to be what they call "liver" sponge? Smooth-slimy texture and difficult to remove....that being said, remove it lol.
 
If you are able to I would try to siphon up as much of it as you can when you do a PWC.
 
You can try to remove it with a turkey baster. Suck it up, that way you might be able to remove lots more with it.
 
black fungus

does 40% water change weekly seem to work for you? its very high volume replacement [one and a half] times a month [imo is removing too much beneficial bacteria], seems alot and your ph @ 7.9 s/b 8.2or 8.3 with lps in tank. that said if it works for you, though it may be creating a beneficial environment for fungal growth.
 
Very little of the beneficial bacteria is in the water. It resides on surfaces like the LR and tank glass. Weekly PWC`s are a good thing. 40% though might get costly.
 
Could it be brown jelly disease? I'm not able to tell from the pics, but it's a common way to lose an LPS after some sort of trauma.
 
It looks to be choking out from the side of the skeleton/corralite and not actually growing over top/within. Is the texture as I described previously? I am guessing it cannot be easily dislodged, which means removing any rocks with it and using what ever tool needed to removed it. Hard to tell from the pics without a closeup. If you have anything left frag it.
 
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