Even little traces of rust wont do this and like smite said this is necrosis, for the longest time ive had acros burn tips and base to what i thought was alk but i also tested 2/3 times a day for almost 3 months and microdosed with the apex dos system to the point i had 1ppm of an alk swing between dosing and it wasnt that, it came down to either bacteria or pests. If it was bacteria every sps in ur tank will fall apart in 3 days, so i decided to break off 2 year old colonys and dipped. I seen nothing AT FIRST ,the coloneys i dipped an clipped would up taking off so then again i started to dip the rest and bam aefw and some type of planaria, im telling you they are so small i could barely see them with a magglass or at the bottom of a bayer dip. Dip a burnt looking coral and take a closer look its your best bet if everything checks out