Is this acro doomed?

[skinz78]

I had a ALK issue a few weeks ago, it dropped to 6.2 DKH. I have slowly raised it back to where it should be. Since this Acro "I think Cali Tort" has receded it's polyps and started to STN a bit. Is it doomed, and is it really from the low ALK or something else? All my other SPS's are fine and growing nicely.

 

[MitchReef]

It's kind of hard to say from the pic. Don't worry too much about the polyps being retracted. Put it in fairly low light and flow and give it a while. I cannot see the STN, but frag it off and take a bit of the "live tissue" with what you are getting rid of. You want a little buffer between the cut and the problem area. Watch it and try to trim well enough away from the STN to protect it. There is no reason it should be doomed. If your Alk was enough to kill it off I think it would have happened before now.

Just my .02

 

[scrapz]

if there is a polyp, they can survive and will recover faster than growing from a frag. I've gotten a few mini frags growing from specs I didnt see from ripping corals off rocks.

IMO, when recovering it just lays its tissue over the already formed skeleton as opposed to relaying a CA base for themselves to grow.

 

[Paul_N]

there is a chance it will recover but with the RTN all at the bottom I would make a couple large frags to save it. I had a green slimer do that and kept losing more and more. I cut the top 1/4 portion off that was good and it is now growing strong again.

 

[MitchReef]

Yes Scrapz, but most of the time the STN is actually caused by an opportunistic bacteria that slowly devours the colony. When the coral is sick or injured (like from the Alk dip) the bacteria can take hold. As long as the pest is there in colonial numbers it will continue to march. I agree that they can encrust over the old death, but the dieing has to stop first.

 

[skinz78]

This one is actually STNing from the tips in back. Primarily where one of my clam's mantles was covering it.

 

[scrapz]

Yes Scrapz, but most of the time the STN is actually caused by an opportunistic bacteria that slowly devours the colony. When the coral is sick or injured (like from the Alk dip) the bacteria can take hold. As long as the pest is there in colonial numbers it will continue to march. I agree that they can encrust over the old death, but the dieing has to stop first.

you're probably right.

alot of my deepwater stn to literally nothing when I cut them and takes about another 3-4 weeks to recover from the specks that are left. I use to chuck away stn & rtned frag, but now I just leave them in the tank. never know what will come back:D

 

[MitchReef]

Yup. I never pitch a frag until algae grows on it. Algae will not grow on viable tissue. Akabryanhall has a colony of nice Purple-edged Green Monti cap that grew from a frag I gave him. It was as white as the driven snow when I got it. It had no algae so I knew it was okay. And, like I said, it's a big ole colony now!

 

[sowellj]

On a bit of a side note, the totm on RC runs alk at 5.5, which I found pretty surprising. No idea if it will pull through, I have one that looks identical to that now. If it is receding at the tips, I usually leave it alone. If it is happening from the base I'll generally frag it. Take that with a grain of salt though as I am an expert at inducing my SPS to undergo the acrtic white color morph.

 

[skinz78]

LOL yeah, I am actually thinking of fragging it a few times and placing the frags in different locations in the tank. Kind of see who does what and if all but one die at least I saved one type of scenario.

I haven't changed a thing as to flow or lighting and I have had this coral in my tank for about 6 months now, the alk is the only thing I can think of affecting it.

 

[sowellj]

Out of curiosity skinz, where are you at in the NW? I used to live in Corvallis, OR.

 

[skinz78]

I am up in NW Washington on the Olympic Peninsula.

 

[MitchReef]

Diametrically opposite...I'm in Florida!

I think the multi-fragging is a smart thing to do actually. It will give the coral a number of different scenarios to try and survive.

 

[jestr]

i agree with mitch i had the same problem cut something up and actually had 3 survive out of 4. i feel coral keeping is like plants the dieing leaves in plants suck up all the nutrients thus starving the rest of the plant (from what was told be a few people). cutting out the problem will help healing time because they are not trying to fight off what ever it is killing it.. kinda like an infected foot what do they do if it goes south "cut it off"