dying acro frag

cweber · #1 12/21/2007, 08:31 PM

i have an acro frag that is Y shaped. One side is receding, what should i do? Do i need to frag the good side?

sadsak · #2 12/22/2007, 12:44 AM

Do you have a little more information about your tank and where your frag is located flow ect./ lights.

cweber · #3 12/22/2007, 10:16 AM

Its a 20h with a 70watt 14k halide. I had the frag about mid way up in decent flow. I added some rocks to build everything up higher and moved the frag to a higher light and flow position and it started receding. The underside of one branch is completly white and were its glued to the rock has receded as well. I moved it back to its original position.

So if a coral is doing good, but not were its supposed to be "by the book". Should you move it or not? How long if somthing isnt happy, before you should move it? I will try andget a pic of the frag tommorow. We have to leave before the light comes on and wont be back till its off. Thanks for any help.

cweber · #4 12/22/2007, 10:18 AM

Well i just glanced in the tank and the one bad branch is completly white now. Only one left.

Stealth91RT · #5 12/22/2007, 10:28 AM

Yes I agree more info would help. I doubt fraging it would help unless its a big colony and you would probably only stress out the frags more by doing so. Check you water parameters and if you have moved the coral or done something with your lights recently I would change it back. How's the temp of your tank, any major temp swings due to weather? Is it possible that it fell of a rock into sand or some sediment blew up on it? Just going over everything that I know could go wrong. Hope you can get it to recover.

-Rich

azrednex · #6 12/22/2007, 10:30 AM

There are two types of problems that you could be decribing
#1 is bleaching this is when something irritates the coral and it expels the algea cells that cause color in the tissue. In this case you should not frag the coral, you should only correct the problem that caused the symptom.
#2 is STN (slow tissue necrosis) this is an infection ,usually from poor water quality the only way to save a coral with this is to frag off unaffected parts and correct the problem.
How long has your tank been up?
Is this your first try with a SPS?
What are your water parameters?
What is your water source?
Please tell us all about your tank the more info that you supply, the easier it is to find your problem
At this point anything I told you would be a guess.

cweber · #7 12/22/2007, 08:57 PM

My tank has been running since May, this is my first try with SPS, i got the first one at CRASE. I have lost my stylo,and one monti. I have a monti cap, a digi, and this acro left. My params are in range, my calcium is 480. The only thing i have a question about is, my phos is always 0 but i have algae and cyano. I do 3-5 gallon water changes every other week, but top off with tap water. Does phosphates affect the corals or just cause algae. I hope to switch to a, RO soon. Im going to start buying more water and stop using tap so much.

Also i moved the frag back to its original spot yesterday. How do i tell the diff between bleaching and the tissue dying?

Lightsluvr · #8 12/22/2007, 09:08 PM

I don't know much about this hobby, but I am thinking that you should never use "tap water" in your reef tank. Even if you treat it to remove chlorine and chloramines, tap water has so many unwanted minerals and other crap in it that your coral have a struggle just to survive, let alone grow. TDS in Edmond water, for example, exceeds 450ppm TDS, while RO/DI water should have less than 5ppm of dissolved solids.
If you don't have your own RO/DI filter, most LFS sell RO/DI at a very nominal charge.
Like I said, I don't have all the answers, but I sure would start with water changes mixed with RO/DI and only use RO/DI for top-off water.
JMHO

LL

cweber · #9 12/22/2007, 09:44 PM

Im going to buy extra distilled tommorow. I will do a decent water change and start using it to top off with. That will be a start. Thanks

happysak · #10 12/22/2007, 10:32 PM

What test kits do you use? Sound like your water chemistry is out of range. Do not buy distilled water instead find RO drinking water

Stealth91RT · #11 12/22/2007, 10:57 PM

Have you tested for nitrates? I would bring a sample into your closest LFS and have them test it for you.

djc1026 · #12 12/23/2007, 08:35 AM

It's not always about water parameters with STN/RTN. I've had my tank for over 2 and half years and I've had two SPS frags with RTN/STN. It didn't appear to be "contagious" to me. I fragged both frags above the RTN point and neither frag survived for me. Both cases occurred over a year apart. I have many other SPS frags with no signs that growing and doing fine.

Dave

Stealth91RT · #13 12/23/2007, 10:04 AM

Yes I agree if it's tissue necrosis than there is prob not allot you can do for it with water parameters. Just saying if something is out of wack it would be best to start fixing the problem now so something else doesn't pop up later. It's not fun or cheap learning things the hard way.