Acropora dropping branches

[Pridedcloth3]

I've got a acro that's showing good growth but for the second week I noticed a small dropped branch. Just wondering if this is normal. Not losing any flesh just random branch drops.

 

[Waters]

No.....SPS do not drop branches. If I had to guess, they are being broken off by fish or inverts.....or you broke branches by mistake while in the tank but not enough to totally remove them.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

No.....SPS do not drop branches. If I had to guess, they are being broken off by fish or inverts.....or you broke branches by mistake while in the tank but not enough to totally remove them.

Seriously doubt any fish did it because whenever I frag anything stony I just about need a hammer to do so. I run all my parameters high. Like 520 calcium and there's no wiggle room for alk to go up. Also I haven't had hands in there for at least a month. I'm practicing tank takes care of itself. Otherwise only a few limpets and a bunch of nerites.

 

[homer1475]

As said above, healthy SPS do not just break off branches. You said yourself you "need a hammer" to frag, so how do they just break off pieces?

More then likely fish bumping into them, happens all the time in my tank. The very tips are usually pretty fragile and break easily.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

Six-line wrasse 2 inches, firefish around the same, orchid dotty a little over a inch, yellow watchman goby never leaves it hole in the sand bed.

 

[homer1475]

Six line would be my guess then. They do get pretty "zippy" and I could see it bumping into the ends of branches quite easily.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

Six line would be my guess then. They do get pretty "zippy" and I could see it bumping into the ends of branches quite easily.

That's the thing I'm my opinion it doesn't have the power to do it. I no my Monti cap dose grow in patterns to cause heavy spots to allow flow alone to break pieces at random but the acro seems pretty consistent in thickness across. While the acro just behind it is solid

 

[homer1475]

Whatever is causing it, they cannot just break their own branches. They simply do not have the mechanism to do so.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

That's the thing I'm my opinion it doesn't have the power to do it. I no my Monti cap dose grow in patterns to cause heavy spots to allow flow alone to break pieces at random but the acro seems pretty consistent in thickness across. While the acro just behind it is solid

Any more pictures of it and the tank

 

[homer1475]

Could also be a parameter issue a while back that caused that section to grow kind of weak. I've seen low alk, and cal form skinny branches that are fragile.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

Whatever is causing it, they cannot just break their own branches. They simply do not have the mechanism to do so.

I'll look into it more later

 

[Pridedcloth3]

Could also be a parameter issue a while back that caused that section to grow kind of weak. I've seen low alk, and cal form skinny branches that are fragile.

Now that you mention it back in December my dosing pump completely failed on me and I didn't notice until my alk dropped from 11dkh to 5dkh. Also the pieces I fonts l found looked like they were growing pretty good on both ends. Not much skeleton showing and almost completely green all around.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

Any more pictures of it and the tank

This is one from the weekend. Don't mind the bryopsis I like the look of it and prune every other day to control it.

 

[Dburr1014]

My guess is a snail.
When they want to go somewhere, they will. They can break branches off.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

My guess is a snail.
When they want to go somewhere, they will. They can break branches off.

I guess that's possible but I only have weeks caught nerites. I'll attach a picture of the biggest next to a aaa battery

 

[Dburr1014]

I guess that's possible but I only have weeks caught nerites. I'll attach a picture of the biggest next to a aaa battery

Perhaps you have a unnoticed hitchhiker in the tank??

 

[Heabel7]

Sometimes my SPS tips are so brittle that they crumble like a dried sandcastle. And some are extremely brittle. Obviously I’m low on a trace element. Just not sure which one. But most of the time it’s a snail that breaks a piece off. Long shot on a fish but maybe.

 

[Pridedcloth3]

Perhaps you have a unnoticed hitchhiker in the tank??

It's possible I do have a rock from tbs in tank. Had it in a separate tank for a month but still quite possible

 

[Pridedcloth3]

Sometimes my SPS tips are so brittle that they crumble like a dried sandcastle. And some are extremely brittle. Obviously I’m low on a trace element. Just not sure which one. But most of the time it’s a snail that breaks a piece off. Long shot on a fish but maybe.

That's a good point, I did have a semi-crash a while back when my dosing pump lost prime and went unnoticed for however long. Right now calcium is through the roof and alk borderline 13 which is where I usually keep everything but the crash could've caused weak spots.