birdnest coral suddenly died?

[mjr]

This frag was fairly happy 24 hours ago with good polyp extension. My alk dipped just below 8 due to a doser malfunction, but is has otherwise been between 8-9dkh consistently. I can't imagine the alk could cause such rapid deterioration when all other coral aside from the two birds nest pictured show no signs of stress. The purple orange birds nest looked to be dying from the bottom up.

Are those hitchhikers on the bottom left of the coral in the picture?

My only other theory is the new strawberry fields chalice coral I added 24 hours ago. Could it have done the damage from 6-8 inches away?

 

[Mike&Terry]

While seriatopora can be very hardy, it does not tolerate swings in alkalinity.

 

[ahmed.boomer]

I have never had success with any birds nest or montipora digi, but I can keep about every other coral. I attribute it to either some bacteria in the water or my cyano outbreaks I have monthly

 

[mjr]

yeah, this looks like a case of user error. I did not set the dosing pump properly and the alk was dipping every two days. 1.5-2 dkh swing in 2 days seems to be waaaay too much for the birds nest. I think I have the pump dialed in now.

 

[Mike&Terry]

yeah, this looks like a case of user error. I did not set the dosing pump properly and the alk was dipping every two days. 1.5-2 dkh swing in 2 days seems to be waaaay too much for the birds nest. I think I have the pump dialed in now.

Glad you figured it out and hope you are able to save the colony.

 

[rovster]

My birdsnest corals are all VERY sensitive to alk swings and high nutrients, more so than some of my more exotic acros!

 

[Aquanaut]

I have one that gets about 12" in diameter, then starts to rtn. On its third cyle of this. Strange

 

[msderganc]

Bingo, an alkalinity swing was my issue too. 2dKh over three days and I lost a big pink birdsnest.

 

[Velodog2]

Interesting timing. I saw this thread just before my alk took an unexplained plunge from 9.6 to 6.1 so I knew which coral to watch, and sure enough my green-tip birdsnest began developing dead patches within the week. Not as bad as the OP, yet, but now I have to get the alk back up. Luckily birdsnests grow so fast that if I lose it or it just gets too ugly I will just start over with no great heartache.