Trouble with PC Rainbow Acro

[dtruitt]

Weve been dosing prazipro in our DT for a little more than a week now. Just did the second dose yesterday. Between pulling the skimmer cup and GAC, things have been interesting.

The Goniopora that the LFS owner gave me to rehabilitate loves the skimmer cup off. Polyps are starting to extend more each day.

Otherwise, most inhabitants are fine. The first round of prazi didnt even wipe out the feather dusters or bristleworms.

I skipped the usual 50mL vinegar dose yesterday when I added the prazi, since I understand prazi is suspended in an alcohol that will feed those bacteria.

Last week, our PC rainbow started to STN / RTN. I did a lugols dip followed by a revive dip, which accelerated the necrosis on most of the frag. My better half cut about an inch long frag, well above the edge between healthy tissue and bare skeleton.

It seems that RTN has ceased, but it is bleaching a little bit on the side that was previously shaded. I moved it up somewhere with strong flow and faced the bleaching side more towards the light, figuring it may be bleaching due to LED shading.

Does anyone have experience bringing PC rainbow back to health? As I understand, this acro in particular loves very turbulent flow, and has been know to STN when it doesnt get enough.

Aside from the Prazi dosing, we switched salt mixes recently. We were using an old red sea coral pro bucket with 10 alk and 450 Ca. They changed the formula, so I ordered a couple of smaller containers with parameters close to the old red sea pro. I did a 30% WC with Seachem Vibrant Sea on Saturday, which spiked the Alk a bit. Hoping Fritz RPM wont spike the numbers quite so hard...

Parameters are okay... P is a little high at 0.1. Nitrates are very high >20ppm, but I figure higher nutrients provide a safety factor with Alk elevated to 10dKH for faster growth.

No other acros seem to be struggling at the moment.

 

[jda]

People struggle with Pro Corals Rainbow. I would not take it personally. Just do the best that you can. It is amazing when it all goes right, but even people who can grow it can rarely get it to color up all that well. It is a tricky coral.

Nitrates over 20 need addressed, but I would not chase that too fast for this one coral if everything else is fine.

Off topic, but you can lower the alk in your salt mix with muriatic acid - hollar if you want to know how. There is no reason to run alk that high.

 

[X-37B]

People struggle with Pro Corals Rainbow. I would not take it personally. Just do the best that you can. It is amazing when it all goes right, but even people who can grow it can rarely get it to color up all that well. It is a tricky coral.

Nitrates over 20 need addressed, but I would not chase that too fast for this one coral if everything else is fine.

Off topic, but you can lower the alk in your salt mix with muriatic acid - hollar if you want to know how. There is no reason to run alk that high.

For me sodiun bisulfate is a better choice to lower alk.
Muriatic is a little strong for the average reefer.
Sodium bisulfate is safer to use imo.
I agree since I lowered alk from 8.5 to 7 things just look better.

 

[dtruitt]

People struggle with Pro Corals Rainbow. I would not take it personally. Just do the best that you can. It is amazing when it all goes right, but even people who can grow it can rarely get it to color up all that well. It is a tricky coral.

Nitrates over 20 need addressed, but I would not chase that too fast for this one coral if everything else is fine.

Off topic, but you can lower the alk in your salt mix with muriatic acid - hollar if you want to know how. There is no reason to run alk that high.

It definitely needs a good hybrid lighting system.

I've been thinking about going to 9dKH, but dont want to make that change until the dust settles from the prazi.

 

[dtruitt]

Attached is a photo of the acro in question. Red Planet front right is doing quite well. You can see the tiny stick in the back has what looks like a bleached stripe on it. Is this more necrosis? Or would it be fair to say its bleached on that side?