White stuff on red montipora

[Klyle]

I came home today to this... any ideas what is going on? Its been growing like a weed and I haven't had any issues with anything else. No alk swings, etc. I wonder if I should increase flow... that usually solves most my sps problems but this looks bad

 

[blaxsun]

I have some spots like this on one of my montis which I'm fairly certain was one of my torches stinging it.

 

[Klyle]

I have some spots like this on one of my montis which I'm fairly certain was one of my torches stinging it.

Interesting...unfortunately I have no corals in the vicinity of this monti so its definitely not that.

 

[Klyle]

I have some spots like this on one of my montis which I'm fairly certain was one of my torches stinging it.

How long have you had the spots?

 

[blaxsun]

Interesting...unfortunately I have no corals in the vicinity of this monti so its definitely not that.

Yeah, I figured that was probably the case. Just a few days now - it's a smaller green monti so I just moved it somewhere else to recover.

 

[Klyle]

Yeah, I figured that was probably the case. Just a few days now - it's a smaller green monti so I just moved it somewhere else to recover.

Either way, thanks for the input. I'm going to increase flow until I get other ideas. That seems to help every time I have weird sps issues. Although I doubt my hammers will appreciate it. Ah- the joys of mixed reefs!

 

[Klyle]

Well I just tried to blow on the monti with a turkey baster and it literally blew the red of the coral, exposing the white "skeleton" what the heck

 

[blaxsun]

Well I just tried to blow on the monti with a turkey baster and it literally blew the red of the coral, exposing the white "skeleton" what the heck

Indeed, what the heck. I probably baste mine daily - never seen anything blow off but the sand my parrotfish keeps depositing on it. I guess you know what the spots are. How are your water parameters? Add anything new of-late?

 

[Klyle]

Indeed, what the heck. I probably baste mine daily - never seen anything blow off but the sand my parrotfish keeps depositing on it. I guess you know what the spots are. How are your water parameters? Add anything new of-late?

I have no idea what the spots are other than skeleton minus the tissue... no idea what is causing it. I have another red monti on the opposite side of the tank and so far it seems fine. I suppose I'm going to wait for lights out and see if I can spot any pests. I really know nothing of the typical monti pests, I suppose I've been lucky. As far as params go
1.0245
9 dkh
Calcium is over 480 at the moment (adjusted the doser last week, needs dialing back)
Mg 1340
P .15
N 12
I did raise the intensity on my lights a few weeks ago for a new bubble tip nem... but not by much. I've also been dosing Red Sea ABCD and have never done an icp so there's that. Will probably stop the ABCD and step up my water change game. Usually do them every 2 weeks but I've been slacking.

 

[blaxsun]

It's probably not the ABCD. I'm leaning more towards a pest.

 

[Klyle]

It's probably not the ABCD. I'm leaning more towards a pest.

Yeah me too... didn't see anything last night. I'm going to get up around 3am tonight and look again. I doubt it's ABCD too but it just helps bring it home... shouldn't be dosing that stuff long term without an icp test

 

[JGT]

Is it possible you got some salt or dosing precipitate on it and it killed the tissue on that area?

 

[Klyle]

Is it possible you got some salt or dosing precipitate on it and it killed the tissue on that area?

No. I dose in the first chamber of my sump. I don't know kind of damage pests can do to montis but that's the only thing I can come up with at the moment. Other than possible high levels of something weird due to the ABCD

 

[blaxsun]

No. I dose in the first chamber of my sump. I don't know kind of damage pests can do to montis but that's the only thing I can come up with at the moment. Other than possible high levels of something weird due to the ABCD

Do you dose the ABCD separately? Many months back I ran into a weird scenario where I'd mixed a few coral supplements together (thinking that would be fine) and it damaged some of the corals when I was direct feeding (including my monti caps).

 

[Klyle]

Do you dose the ABCD separately? Many months back I ran into a weird scenario where I'd mixed a few coral supplements together (thinking that would be fine) and it damaged some of the corals when I was direct feeding (including my monti caps).

Yes. I keep them separate and only dose every 3 days

 

[Klyle]

Well I still haven't figured out what the "white stuff" was or was caused from... the only thing I did was increased the flow to that specific coral by reorienting the wave maker. This evening I noticed the spots are disappearing and becoming red again. Weird. Even the spot i literally blew the flesh off of with a turkey baster is starting to recover

 

[JGT]

That is weird. Maybe some type of bacterial infection.

 

[Klyle]

That is weird. Maybe some type of bacterial infection.

Maybe. I have a couple of frags from the same colony in other spots of the tank that were never affected. So far more flow has fixed every montipora issue I've had.