Borealis frag STN

[Acro maniac]

I've had this frag for about 3 months and about a month and a half in I noticed it was thin around the base. I disregarded due to the random growth patterns associated with this specific acro. Also the top and encrusted section on the plug was showing signs of growth. Now over the past couple weeks I've been keeping a better eye on it and noticed super slow tissue necrosis.
Tank levels:
Ph:8.05 - 8.15 night/day seachem
Alk: 3.5-4 meq. Seachem
Cal: 450 seachem
Mag: 1300 Salifert-mag
Phos: 0.05 seachem
Nitrate: undetected
S/G: 1.025 refractor

Tank setup 90g DT, 20g sump, curve7 skimmer, (2) hydor 1150 circ pumps and a maxspect 1300 gyre for Flow.

Fwiw tank is pretty stable I use brs to supplement alk cal and mag. Water change weekly(IO), blowout rocks twice a week suck out the detritus. (15/20 gal.)
Always bump up level in fresh made water to match tank levels. Rodi 0 tds

My only guess on why is the frag came from the supplier in less then subpar water that I tested just out of curiosity, all levels were extreme low, ph nonexistent, alk 1meq ,cal 280, mag 1185 phosphate 1, sg 1.025
Even with an acclimation period of 6 hours that's a huge increase in levels. Which I believe initiated stn. If you have a different idea let me know? Should I try to cut out the bad spots or just leave it add let it recover on its own? Also I have a purple plasma that had rtn the second week and has been stable since no setter no worse.

 

[Acro maniac]

 

[Acro maniac]

 

[Acro maniac]

As you can see I the last picture the tissue is gone in the middle section but polyps are still there just not happy. Weird thing is it never bleached just faded.

 

[Acro maniac]

First signs

 

[SeaDweller]

I'm not seeing where it's STNing?

Fwiw, I don't find acclimating corals to do much, even with wild colonies, expensive frags, I just dip and plop in. It's possible the things I'm getting come with close parameters to mine, but when I ran higher alk before, i never saw an issue just putting things in, probably not the best idea but hasn't affected me for years.

 

[Salty1962]

That looks like a ORA frag. It should be of good quality.

 

[markalot]

Howdy,

what does this mean? Somewhere in between, or is it swinging by that much?

Alk: 3.5-4 meq. Seachem

 

[Acro maniac]

I have an alk swing of 0.5 meq every couple months,

 

[markalot]

That's 1.5KH and depending on how fast ti swings can cause real damage to acros.

You won't get a good answer, it can be a lot of things, but I would check stability day in and day out and make sure your Alk is as stable as possible.

 

[Acro maniac]

That's 1.5KH and depending on how fast ti swings can cause real damage to acros.

You won't get a good answer, it can be a lot of things, but I would check stability day in and day out and make sure your Alk is as stable as possible.

I have the past tested twice a day when setting up dosers. Its not fast or i would catch it sooner, I test at least once a week sometimes twice depending on whats going on in the tank.

 

[Acro maniac]

One week later and maybe it's a little more obvious now . The tissue on the middle coralite flapping in the breeze.

Not sure If I'm not getting help because nobody knows what to do or just not intrested. Either way it pretty frustrating. I wish someone would chime in on what I should do.
Frag it back or just let it ride? And some insight on there experience/success with STN.
Oh by the way all levels are identical. I have been testing twice a day to see if there is any thing swaying

 

[TUSI]

Stn or rtn is something that no marine biologist have an answer for. It happens for many reasons and sometimes no reason that anyone can pin point. Your levels seem right. I'm not a fan of very low phosphates and no nitrates as many reefers like to do and as what I see on your parameters. I had succes with letting it go and many times it heals and come back . Fwiw I would let it go and hope for the best.

 

[Acro maniac]

Stn or rtn is something that no marine biologist have an answer for. It happens for many reasons and sometimes no reason that anyone can pin point. Your levels seem right. I'm not a fan of very low phosphates and no nitrates as many reefers like to do and as what I see on your parameters. I had succes with letting it go and many times it heals and come back . Fwiw I would let it go and hope for the best.

I appreciate the response I have purple plasma frag that RTN when I got it (same time as the barealis) but stopped at one branch and is know coming back.
It is really hard watching this one slowly shed it's tissue. Without being able to do something

 

[TUSI]

If you want you can try an iodine dip no guarantee that you would stop it but I had success with it, but again who knows if it was the dip. Do it as the instructions say, depending which one you get.tropic marine is the best pro coral dip

 

[Acro maniac]

Thanks I'll check it out

 

[Acro maniac]

If you want you can try an iodine dip no guarantee that you would stop it but I had success with it, but again who knows if it was the dip. Do it as the instructions say, depending which one you get.tropic marine is the best pro coral dip

Do you have any experience with cutting the healthy looking parts off and gluing them on new plugs

 

[TUSI]

Do you have any experience with cutting the healthy looking parts off and gluing them on new plugs

Yes but not always. If it was a large PC the chances would be better.

 

[SeaDweller]

One week later and maybe it's a little more obvious now . The tissue on the middle coralite flapping in the breeze.

Not sure If I'm not getting help because nobody knows what to do or just not intrested. Either way it pretty frustrating. I wish someone would chime in on what I should do.
Frag it back or just let it ride? And some insight on there experience/success with STN.
Oh by the way all levels are identical. I have been testing twice a day to see if there is any thing swaying

I see it now, it's a bit more obvious with this pic. I would frag above the areas of tissue loss and reglue. Good luck.

 

[markalot]

Sorry I could not offer more help. The only other thing I've learned is that acros need a lot of food in the water and the water params need to be decent and stable. Swinging nitrates or PO4 can do as much harm as swinging KH. Older tanks tend to have more food in the water due to sponges (which regenerate constantly) and other detritus constantly entering the water while new tanks tend to be a desert wasteland. You'll find the folks that tend to do the best with acros in younger tanks are those with a big fish load or who feed a lot and export a lot.

You will also find stories of those who can swing KH without damaging the acros. Why? My guess is that if all other params are good and stable you can afford to swing one of them.

At times growing acros is as much an art as it is a science. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. We hobbiest just don't have the data to support a full scientific approach to raising Acropora. :)