Houston We have a Problem - PC Rainbow not doing good...

[Haggisman14]

Hey everyone,

I got a Battlebox from Battlecorals last week (4 frags), and all of them were doing great. I came back into the office today, and my PC Rainbow has some RTN issues from the middle out on the body. There is still flesh at the base, and flesh on the tip. Should I frag it and try to save it? All 3 other SPS from the battlebox are doing great, and even my original SPS (total of 9), are doing great in the tank. The Fox Flame started getting it's yellow tips back over the weekend, and my monster Blue Tort encrusted even more on its plug.

I'm thinking it would be a good move to cut it an inch up from the base, and then try and reset the tip somewhere else too.

Not sure if the PC Rainbox might be a more sensitive coral.

Let me know what y'all think

Thanks!

-------------------------------------------------------

Friday Afternoon (healthy as can be)

Monday Morning:

 

[shakacuz]

water parameters? age of tank? tank inhabitants? any recent changes? lights?

 

[Haggisman14]

It's one of the 4.8 Gallon Deskmates, been up and running for 7.5 months now. It's a mixed reef, previously had 5 various SPS frags in there (for the last 2 months with no issues at all.

Water is stable at 1.025 saliinty, Do water changes every 7-10 days, and no changes in light. The ONLY change that happened on Friday is that I performed one of my weekly water changes (2 gallons). But like I said, everything else is completely happy, and my Fox Flame started getting it's yellow tips from Friday to today.

 

[shakacuz]

dip in some iodine. i’ve had corals do this and bounce back after the dip

 

[littlebeard]

You're braver than me to try and grow acros in 5 gallons.
What are your parameters?
How do you manage alk consumption/swings between water changes?

My thoughts are the water change (50% assuming you have some rockwork/sand) was a large enough change to irritate the coral.

If it was my tank I would personally try smaller changes more frequently. (maybe 2% per day?)

 

[Haggisman14]

dip in some iodine. i’ve had corals do this and bounce back after the dip

I don't have any iodine, so I"ll wait and see what happens. I got some better pictures (blocked out the blue LEDs) , and it's not looking as bad as I originally thought.

You're braver than me to try and grow acros in 5 gallons.
What are your parameters?
How do you manage alk consumption/swings between water changes?

My thoughts are the water change (50% assuming you have some rockwork/sand) was a large enough change to irritate the coral.

If it was my tank I would personally try smaller changes more frequently. (maybe 2% per day?)

I'm one of the few that doesn't test anything aside from salinity. I know some say this might be a recipie for disaster, but it's how I've run all my tanks to date.

All the other SPS are doing really well, encrusting, growing, etc.

The only thing that I can think of that have caused the irritation, was on Friday when I did my water change, I forgot to shut the light off (Radion XR15). I always do that when I drain the tank, but forgot to do it this time around.

Thinking back...maybe that caused the irritation??

 

[Haggisman14]

 

[RRA]

I’m going to guess alk swing, stress of shipping, new tank and slight alk swing.

Corals are out of water all the time and hit with leds, that wouldn’t have caused this. Not testing in a 4.8G holding multiple pieces of sps our guess is as good as yours. You’re giving us so little data any advice will be a guess at best. I mean this with all respect and not attacking you just how I see it.

 

[thedon986]

I don't have any iodine, so I"ll wait and see what happens. I got some better pictures (blocked out the blue LEDs) , and it's not looking as bad as I originally thought.


I'm one of the few that doesn't test anything aside from salinity. I know some say this might be a recipie for disaster, but it's how I've run all my tanks to date.

All the other SPS are doing really well, encrusting, growing, etc.

The only thing that I can think of that have caused the irritation, was on Friday when I did my water change, I forgot to shut the light off (Radion XR15). I always do that when I drain the tank, but forgot to do it this time around.

Thinking back...maybe that caused the irritation??

Do you know what par levels you have?

 

[Battlecorals]

interesting that the polyps are still intact. I have seen variations of stuff like this I could only attribute to some tank chemistry quirk. in this case probably. an acclimation struggle if I had to guess.

but I'd let it be for now. no need to pull and dip or anything as that as it will only serve to stress him out more. where there are polyps, there is life and that surrounding tissue can bounce back rather quickly believe it or not. of course it may also go poof instantly. lol.

 

[Haggisman14]

I’m going to guess alk swing, stress of shipping, new tank and slight alk swing.

Corals are out of water all the time and hit with leds, that wouldn’t have caused this. Not testing in a 4.8G holding multiple pieces of sps our guess is as good as yours. You’re giving us so little data any advice will be a guess at best. I mean this with all respect and not attacking you just how I see it.

Believe me, no offense taken, I know with a tank this size especially, it would be in my best interest to test things so I know where certain levels are if something were to arise. I take the KISS method to a different level that I know not many do these days.

Do you know what par levels you have?

Not a clue. I'm running a Radion XR15 (gen4) on the RMS mount. The LEDs are 8" from the water line, and about 10-11" from the top of my rock work where the SPS sit.

This is my current light schedule (whites are acutally at 12%) and the whole program is running at 85% max power.
Also when I got my battlebox I added a new acclimation period of 14 days, and dropped the power down to 55%

To date nothing has bleached, and I got up to the 85% power over a long acclimation period (21 days).

 

[Haggisman14]

interesting that the polyps are still intact. I have seen variations of stuff like this I could only attribute to some tank chemistry quirk. in this case probably. an acclimation struggle if I had to guess.

but I'd let it be for now. no need to pull and dip or anything as that as it will only serve to stress him out more. where there are polyps, there is life and that surrounding tissue can bounce back rather quickly believe it or not. of course it may also go poof instantly. lol.

Thanks Adam! I didn't want to bother you with this since it was a prize box, but greatly appreciate your feedback. Once my lights came on stronger and I saw there was life around the polyps, that made me feel hopeful too! Fingers crossed! I"ll keep y'all updated!

Fox Flame with those beautiful yellow tips coming into focus!

 

[MnFish1]

Agree with the others - but I do have a question - with a 4.8 gallon tank, what are you going to do when your corals start growing (and seemingly, they will rapidly outgrow the tank) - Again - not to be offensive, IMHO - you cannot manage a tank of this size with 9 corals and no testing. Not sure what your other corals are - but there will likely be competition/chemical release that will eventually affect some of the corals. In any case - best of luck with your tank!

 

[Haggisman14]

Agree with the others - but I do have a question - with a 4.8 gallon tank, what are you going to do when your corals start growing (and seemingly, they will rapidly outgrow the tank) - Again - not to be offensive, IMHO - you cannot manage a tank of this size with 9 corals and no testing. Not sure what your other corals are - but there will likely be competition/chemical release that will eventually affect some of the corals. In any case - best of luck with your tank!

No offense taken, I know I"m packing in a lot in this little tank...much more than most would. Aside from water changes I'm not dosing anything, and rely on the weekly water changes to keep levels stable. I know as corals grow, demands change, and I will probably have to start testing, and possibly dosing elements (I"ve been doing some research into Tropic Marin "All for Reef"). Is my current method doomed to fail...possibly, but in all my time reefkeeping I've kept a similar method with pretty good success.

I feel my last reef (biocube) did not fare too well as I kept chasing changes and upgrades, and different salts, etc, and ended up making the tank fail.

As things grow up and out grow the tank, I would assume give out some frags to locals/LFS.

It's very much a mixed reef, with the exception of no euphyllia corals. I've tried to place everything in a spot where they can grow and thrive, while not creating too much coral warfare as they grow. Obviously this cannot be prevented long term, but a goal. I'm at the point now where I do not believe I"ll be adding any more corals, and will not allow the tank to mature and grow out.

Long term...I'd love to up grade to another bigger tank again20-30 gallon tank, but not sure if/when that will happen.

For now this little 5 gallon will have to do, and I'm very happy with the progress so far in the last 7.5 months.. Very excited to see where it'll go when we hit the 1 year mark

 

[Haggisman14]

For everyone that chimed in yesterday, as of this morning, there has been NO ADDITIONAL TISSUE LOSS!

Wohoo! The tip and base are even showing some signs of that "rainbow" coloring. Hopefully this was just one of those random occurrences that only affected this coral, and everything will get back on track now.

Thanks for your input everyone!

 

[Haggisman14]

Here we are on Wednesday, and things have stabilized. A few more of the tiny polyps have bailed, but it doesn't look like I"ve lost any more tissue. You can't tell in the pictures, but the tissue that I still do have is vibrant, and is showing that "rainbow" glow to it...so I"m continuing to be hopeful!

Pictures Wednesday, 9/27/23

 

[Macdaddynick1]

I appreciate the fact that you don’t want to test, I hate it also. I would guess it’s a po4 issue. If you do consistent 50%+ waterchanges in a 5 gallon tank, every 7-10 days you might as well post the parameters on your bucket of salt. So I think your water is prefect. What those waterchanges don’t do is replace no3 and po4. The tank got a massive waterchange brought nutrients down to nothing, didn’t feed the fish much if anything, po4 dropped even more over the weekend. That is what probably caused this type of RTN. Alk swings, usually kill off the corals quickly, and rarely there’s anything left. if I were you, I would invest in po4 and no3 test kits, feed your clowns and lps a bit more, and reduce the waterchanges.

Edit: sounded rude unintentionally.

 

[Jasonak]

Good to hear things are turning around!!! This hobby can be so stressful sometimes lol
It has took many years for me to be able to not panic and start changing things or adding things when I have a problem. I have finally learned to just ride it out UNLESS there several corals being affected. Ive had frags die back to just a 1/8 square on the base and come back.

PC rainbow has been a fast growing hardy coral for me. It looks amazing from the top down the yellows pop way more, at least in my tank.

 

[Haggisman14]

I appreciate the fact that you don’t want to test, I hate it also. I would guess it’s a po4 issue. If you do consistent 50%+ waterchanges in a 5 gallon tank, every 7-10 days you might as well post the parameters on your bucket of salt. So I think your water is prefect. What those waterchanges don’t do is replace no3 and po4. The tank got a massive waterchange brought nutrients down to nothing, didn’t feed the fish much if anything, po4 dropped even more over the weekend. That is what probably caused this type of RTN. Alk swings, usually kill off the corals quickly, and rarely there’s anything left. if I were you, I would invest in po4 and no3 test kits, feed your clowns and lps a bit more, and reduce the waterchanges.

Edit: sounded rude unintentionally.

Not taken as rude at all. I know my "method" isn't one that allows one to pinpoint an issue when it occurs, and I appreciate your feedback.

I do feed my tank pretty heavy during the week (about 4 times between 7:30AM-5PM ; Mon-Fri), ReefRoids or Reef Chili once per week; and then no feedings over the weekend.

You make a good point about 50% water changes, especially on a Friday, and then no feedings until Monday. I might back the WC down to maybe 1-1.5 gallons per week. My main reason for keeping up with WCs is to replenish nutrients as I do not does.

I think you make a really good point on doing smaller water changes. Back when I used to have my 30 gallon biocube, I would only change out 5 gallons...figure a 15% W/C.
----------------------------------------------
Once again, not offended at all by honest feedback!

 

[Haggisman14]

Good to hear things are turning around!!! This hobby can be so stressful sometimes lol
It has took many years for me to be able to not panic and start changing things or adding things when I have a problem. I have finally learned to just ride it out UNLESS there several corals being affected. Ive had frags die back to just a 1/8 square on the base and come back.

PC rainbow has been a fast growing hardy coral for me. It looks amazing from the top down the yellows pop way more, at least in my tank.

I'm confidently optimistic that it's going to make a comback!