Dying Tissue Becomes Fluorescent?

VR28man

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
May 16, 2017
Messages
1,178
Reaction score
1,050
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So I have an acro that's STNing*, and it seems to me that dying tissue might fluoresce bright green, while normally the color is kind of reddish (especially for new growth) or in older tissue a less bright green.

Is something like this common? I mean, is it common for dying tissue to become one distinctly different and/or bright color right before death?

Here's a picture showing what I'm talking about. Note the tissue near the dead parts is clearly green. Has anyone else see dying tissue take on extremely bright colors like this prior to death?

03CF03D3-D621-43FA-A045-51667EA5DEF6.jpeg


* Not terribly interested in doing anoher "help my coral is STNing" thread, but in the odd chance someone is interested I'll get this off my chest.

Background: @madweazl very generiously gave me a dream coral colony. Looking around, I tentatively identified it as Acropora plana (http://www.coralsoftheworld.org/species_factsheets/species_factsheet_summary/acropora-plana/) and some sleuthing around the internet seems to show it available in from @Battlecorals as "Shag Priority" (https://battlecorals.com/products/shag-priority). (so my name for it is @madweazl 's Shag Priority)

It used to have very modest tissue die off as other new growth blocked out the light, which is normal I think for branching corals. But the tissue death seems to be more and more prevalent on tissue that previously would be fine. Before, mesenterial filaments were out all the time and very active, now I rarely see them even on the healthy issue and PE is not so hot. The green "dying"issue has polyps which even extend modestly.

The culprit may have been an accidental 1.4 dkh jump almost exactly a month ago now. It may also not like the new alk additive, Tropic Marin All-forReef vs. the previous ATI essentials added three months ago, but I'm not sure. Or it might have been the flucanzole treatment I did two weeks ago; the STN accelerated after the flucanzole, while it was very sparse before - though correlations != causation.

Other corals are doing fine, some even growing decently, during the flucanzole treatment. I already have four frags of this MW shag priority which are dong fair-to-middling (which I got from not being carefuly when I put my hands in the tank! The first such frag grew awesome for the first two months and has been static ever since, but is otherwise doing OK), and I think I will make a few more in the hopes that some of them will survive the apparently imminent death of the main colony.
 
Last edited:

madweazl

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 19, 2016
Messages
4,110
Reaction score
5,091
Location
Virginia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
This coral usually shows florescent green in the areas of low light. With good flow, I've never observed this coral have any die off, even in completely shaded areas (it will turn white or very light pink but not die off). I wouldnt be overly concerned with the alkalinity change but more than one person has noted issues with fluconozole and their acroporas. Looking at the coral, it has a considerably more pastel look than it did in my tank (no green, white branches, and intense pink tips). If I had to guess, I'd say you're on the lower end of PAR in this location (150ish) and probably lower flow as well (for comparison, I run to MP40WEs in NTM at 100% and anti-sync in the 75g). This coupled with the fluconozole has probably led to the STN. This acro is extremely resilient and certainly savable.

This was about 105 PAR when it was new.
48716511266_ab097068fc_b.jpg


Around 250 PAR
48716176788_a03cae8550_h.jpg
 
OP
OP
VR28man

VR28man

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
May 16, 2017
Messages
1,178
Reaction score
1,050
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
This coral usually shows florescent green in the areas of low light. With good flow, I've never observed this coral have any die off, even in completely shaded areas (it will turn white or very light pink but not die off). I wouldnt be overly concerned with the alkalinity change but more than one person has noted issues with fluconozole and their acroporas.

Looking at the coral, it has a considerably more pastel look than it did in my tank (no green, white branches, and intense pink tips). If I had to guess, I'd say you're on the lower end of PAR in this location (150ish) and probably lower flow as well (for comparison, I run to MP40WEs in NTM at 100% and anti-sync in the 75g). This coupled with the fluconozole has probably led to the STN. This acro is extremely resilient and certainly savable.

Thanks! I don't know the PAR, but it's almost directly under one ATI Blue and another Coral Plus bulb. (though by the time I took the pic the T5s were off and only the supplementary LED was running looking at it, it seems the T5s were on when I took the pic). The tank (30x12x18-> 29G) only has two ATI bulbs, I have been thinking about getting another two bulb fixture*.

Two MP40s running NTM at 100% all day? :O I also have two MP40s, which I run in TSM at 50% most of hte day, turning it down at night. They seemed plently for most of the summer after I got the colony (they don't directly hit this acro). But I may try turning them up after a few days (I just did my post-flucanzole water change last night and I want to wait a least a week before chaning things up too much).

*The tank was supposed to be a temporary stop gap and beginning tank; after a few months we'd move to a 48" tank of some sort. That was now two and a half years ago. I learned a lot, and I have two new MHs, skimmer, sump, and I everything else for the new tank, but I can't take the tank for at least a few more months. It feels like some sort of government or military construction program. :(

Word to those considering their first tanks: temporary can be not-so-temporary. I was going to get a 40B but settled on the 29, maybe just because it was available and cheap (<$100 + stand at the dollar-per-gallon sale compared the 40B which I think is $200ish with stand atthe same time). I'd be much happier with a 40B as my not-so-temporary tank.
 

Graffiti Spot

Cat and coral maker
View Badges
Joined
Oct 8, 2012
Messages
4,320
Reaction score
3,676
Location
Florida’s west side
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Is the green tissue actually dying? It looks like the dead portion has been dead and the green is the tissue in recovery?
Looks like a nice pink microlados maybe. I love pink ones and wish I could find a nice chunk for my tank. I don’t feel like getting a wild one for some reason but might next time I see one.
I have seen acros show green flourescent sheens before they rtn though but it doesn’t look like that. It’s more of a slight color change a few days before it peels. I would think when I saw it it was bacterial and related to too many changes in the tank.
 

robbyg

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 8, 2019
Messages
2,303
Reaction score
2,859
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I've seen papers about stress related fluorescence in Acropora. For sure they get more colorful under certain kinds of stress - expelling symbiodinium and such which makes the colors more evident.


Yep I have heard the same thing. I think they actually spent a bit of time talking about it and showing it in the Netflix show "Chasing Corals".
 
OP
OP
VR28man

VR28man

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
May 16, 2017
Messages
1,178
Reaction score
1,050
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yep I have heard the same thing. I think they actually spent a bit of time talking about it and showing it in the Netflix show "Chasing Corals".

Yeah i remember that now that you mention it. around 2/3 of the way through. I’ll have to rewatch later today.....
 

Graffiti Spot

Cat and coral maker
View Badges
Joined
Oct 8, 2012
Messages
4,320
Reaction score
3,676
Location
Florida’s west side
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yea those videos they took of the reef glowing neon colors from high above the water was really really wild looking and shocking.
 

inktomi

ReefMan
View Badges
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
427
Reaction score
409
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I also did a video based on a paper that looked at the effect of heat on fluorescence in Anthelia corals.



The paper is titled "Effects of increased heat on fluorescence and dinoflagellate density in the captive coral, Anthelia sp" - you should be able to find it if you Google the title (it seems like DOI links get posts removed or I'd link it). Note that the study is in Anthelia, not Acropora.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 74 37.4%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 68 34.3%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 12.6%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 29 14.6%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.0%
Back
Top