Acro help

[KK's Reef]

Hi all,


I've had a one-year old Walt Disney frag that was growing slowly but surely. It encrusted on the rock, a little bigger than a silver dollar (most of you won't even know what that is). Started to pull colors out of it about six months ago. Always great PE. It even started to shoot up a few vertical columns. It was doing well, until last night.

Background - I already noticed about a few weeks ago that some of the growth edges had been turning white. I attributed this to a rainbow monti that was growing a couple of centimeters away. I beat back the monti last week with some FAptasia. Yesterday during the water change, I broke off the FAptasia crust and siphoned it away. Also, on the other end of the WD base, it had been getting stung by a torch. This has also been going on for a few weeks. I sold the torch last week.

I did a usual 40% water change yesterday. Water temp was the same as my dsplay. By evening, I started to notice a little STN/RTN on the side that is shaded. By this morning, the shaded part has lost all tissue. 30% of the encrusting base has also RTN'd. I expected some die-off on the base where it was close to the FAptasia, and on the other side where it was stung by a torch. That die-off was visible, but only affected bits of the base and some corallites. I wasn't expecting the entire coral to RTN.

So, a few (a lot) questions...

1) Could the stinging affect the WD frag to this degree?
2) Could the dissolved FAptasia in the water column affect the WD?
3) Could a tiny bit of fresh FAptasia touching the WD base cause it to RTN?
4) I did pour some of the freshly mixed saltwater over the frag to wet it. Could that have shocked it?
5) Should I cut down the original stick and try to let the base recover and grow?
6) Should I leave it alone?

Here's my params.
Temp: 78-79
Salinity: 35.3
Alkalinity - currently 8.2. Range is 7.8 - 8.6
Calcium - 430
Mag - 1370
Lighting - 9 hour cycle

*** All other acro frags on the sandbed are not affected.


Thanks for the feedback.

Sorry for the sucky pics, but it does show the tissue loss.

 

[nothing_fancy]

I've never heard of F Aptasia being used in the way you're using it. Is this a thing? This sticks out to me as something that could be an issue if it made contact with the acropora in question. Dissolved material from Faptasia in the water column is probably not an issue although I have not used that product, I have used aptasiaX and Ive used a lot of it and never had a problem. I personally don't think its a good idea to pour freshly mixed SW over any corals, especially sps mostly due to the high concentration of alk in most mixes. If it were me I would give it another day and see if the tissue recedes more and perhaps at that point glue it or cut it as a Hail Mary.

 

[KK's Reef]

I've never heard of F Aptasia being used in the way you're using it. Is this a thing? This sticks out to me as something that could be an issue if it made contact with the acropora in question. Dissolved material from Faptasia in the water column is probably not an issue although I have not used that product, I have used aptasiaX and Ive used a lot of it and never had a problem. I personally don't think its a good idea to pour freshly mixed SW over any corals, especially sps mostly due to the high concentration of alk in most mixes. If it were me I would give it another day and see if the tissue recedes more and perhaps at that point glue it or cut it as a Hail Mary.

"I personally don't think its a good idea to pour freshly mixed SW over any corals"

I have never until yesterday. Lapse in judgement. I did it to wash away some debris that had settled on the WD.

 

[nothing_fancy]

"I personally don't think its a good idea to pour freshly mixed SW over any corals"

I have never until yesterday. Lapse in judgement. I did it to wash away some debris that had settled on the WD.

Oh, no judgement, I've done it. It's like "oh wait why am I holding this tube over my aquarium right now?" hah

 

[KK's Reef]

This morning, that branch is completely void of any tissue.

The base is mostly still intact with good color and PE. What's the chances of the base recovering to full health and encrusting over the dead branch?

 

[nothing_fancy]

This morning, that branch is completely void of any tissue.

The base is mostly still intact with good color and PE. What's the chances of the base recovering to full health and encrusting over the dead branch?

I would get a couple other opinions on this but if it were me, I would cut it, iodine, maybe even glue a little around the receding area. The base can recover if you stop the spreading.

 

[ScottB]

40% WC is also suspect. That is a lot. I would never recommend that level of disruption to a reef tank.

Nitrates?
PO4 from a Nanna checker?

 

[tbrown]

Hi all,


I've had a one-year old Walt Disney frag that was growing slowly but surely. It encrusted on the rock, a little bigger than a silver dollar (most of you won't even know what that is). Started to pull colors out of it about six months ago. Always great PE. It even started to shoot up a few vertical columns. It was doing well, until last night.

Background - I already noticed about a few weeks ago that some of the growth edges had been turning white. I attributed this to a rainbow monti that was growing a couple of centimeters away. I beat back the monti last week with some FAptasia. Yesterday during the water change, I broke off the FAptasia crust and siphoned it away. Also, on the other end of the WD base, it had been getting stung by a torch. This has also been going on for a few weeks. I sold the torch last week.

I did a usual 40% water change yesterday. Water temp was the same as my dsplay. By evening, I started to notice a little STN/RTN on the side that is shaded. By this morning, the shaded part has lost all tissue. 30% of the encrusting base has also RTN'd. I expected some die-off on the base where it was close to the FAptasia, and on the other side where it was stung by a torch. That die-off was visible, but only affected bits of the base and some corallites. I wasn't expecting the entire coral to RTN.

So, a few (a lot) questions...

1) Could the stinging affect the WD frag to this degree?
2) Could the dissolved FAptasia in the water column affect the WD?
3) Could a tiny bit of fresh FAptasia touching the WD base cause it to RTN?
4) I did pour some of the freshly mixed saltwater over the frag to wet it. Could that have shocked it?
5) Should I cut down the original stick and try to let the base recover and grow?
6) Should I leave it alone?

Here's my params.
Temp: 78-79
Salinity: 35.3
Alkalinity - currently 8.2. Range is 7.8 - 8.6
Calcium - 430
Mag - 1370
Lighting - 9 hour cycle

*** All other acro frags on the sandbed are not affected.


Thanks for the feedback.

Sorry for the sucky pics, but it does show the tissue loss.

Phosphates and Nitrates?

 

[KK's Reef]

I don't test for nitrates, but my PO4 is 0.07. My normal range is 0.04 - 0.12.

I don't think 40% is a lot since my salt mixes at the same alkalinity that my tank has.

Looking at the frag today, I can see that there's light green algae growth on the base that was facing the torch. It was probably getting stung and dying longer than I thought.