Acro Help Please

[Kombucha]

Can anyone try to help me nurse my Acro colony back to health? It just started to bleach in a few places yesterday. I have no idea what to do and I'd hate to loose it. I know a lot of you are SPS freaks! BTW-All my params seem to be good at this moment. Here's a few pics






Thanks for your help

[Thorium]

This coral looks to have had an issue with STN/RTN on the base recently. How long has the base looked like it does? Have the polyps been coming out? Also, I have to ask because it is important to the overall picture, what are your parameters -all that you can test for anyway?

I believe this coral as a small colony cannot be saved. There is a lot of loss at the base and significant loss on the branches. You could try and snip off the branch pieces that look good, but my guess is those wont last long if the polyps have not been coming out.

[nait002]

I agree with what he said. Looks like it Stn'd a bit ago. What is wierd to me is the tissue missing on the upper branches. In both pics I also see that nice looking clown. Is The clown trying to host the coral like an anemone? It looks like he is awful close. Just an observation. If he is trying to host it by rubbing or brushing the acro that will cause tissue loss.

[Kombucha]

Thanks for the quick response guys. I woke up this morning to find the whole colony bleeched

Can you tell me what STN/RTN means? The base sort of looked like that when I bought it. I didn't realize it until I got it home. I picked it up from that LFS on HWY 100 just south of Oklahoma (I forget the name) about a month ago. Yes, the polyps have been coming out since I bought it.

Not that it really matters anymore, but my parameters are:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 8.2
Cal: 420
SG: 1.025
Temp: steady 80-81
Light cycle: 150W HQI 2:00pm-10:00pm

I guess what it really comes down to is I sux at SPS and I have a lot to learn.

[Gem Tang Rider]

Pull the colony out & check it with a magnifying glass for pests (red bugs/flatworms). Don't put it back in your tank.

[johns]

Originally posted by Gem Tang Rider
Pull the colony out & check it with a magnifying glass for pests (red bugs/flatworms). Don't put it back in your tank.

You can put it into a small white container and add a drop or 2 of lugols to that to see if anything falls off.

[jeffgp]

the PW on hwy 100 is not setup for holding acro ... they dont have the light of the time to setup a nice reef tank with acro

[Gem Tang Rider]

Originally posted by jeffgp
the PW on hwy 100 is not setup for holding acro ... they dont have the light of the time to setup a nice reef tank with acro

I think he was talking about Aquatics Unlimited. Petworld Warehouse is north of Oklahoma.

[Kombucha]

yeah aquatics unlimited was where I bought it. I'll pull it out right away and do a lugols dip. thanks guys

[Thorium]

Did you find anything interesting?

[gopack]

I would frag that thing up as soon as possible before you lose the whole thing

[Illuminati]

I wouldn't get discouraged with SPS. You have a good setup for them and your levels look spot on.

How's the flow in your tank?

I'm keeping SPS in a 24g nanocube with the 150W sunpod, similar to your setup, I have a MJ1200 as the return pump and 2 Hydor Koralia #1's in my tank if that helps give you an idea on flow.

[steve414]

Do you test kH/Alkalinity ?

[dominga]

As thorium mentioned there is a significant damage in the base of the coral and looks a little different in color compare with the tips of the branches, indicates that the stress has been going on for some time. Temp seems a bit high but not a killer, acclimation process maybe from the original place to the store , then to your tank. Looks like the small colony suffered big stress in a short period of time.

[Peter Eichler]

As others have pointed out, that SPS was most likely not very healthy when you purchased it since it appears the base has been dead for a while. Combine that with some stress and/or less than ideal conditions and it can easily lead to the complete demise of a colony.

Just some random thoughts...

I'm not sure how long that tank has been set up but just from the pics you've posted it looks fairly new. New setups and SPS don't mix well and many people suggest not adding SPS during the first 6-12 months after an aquarium is set up. I think this is especially important if you're fairly new to the hobby. That goes doubly for a smaller aquarium where parameters can get out of hand a little more quickly.

If you did not slowly acclimate the new coral to your lighting that could be another factor. All corals should be started at the bottom and slowly moved up over the course of 2-4 weeks. Just judging from the appearance of that coral it doesn't look like it was subjected to direct bright light prior to you purchasing it which makes acclimating it to your lighting even more crucial.

You didn't mention your alkalinity or magnesium levels. Alkalinity/dKH is probably the most important thing to test for and keep at proper levels in a reef aquarium. It's also about the easiest thing to test if you use the cheap API and Tetra test kits. They're actually pretty accurate test kits and I'd suggest them, especially with the recent issues with the Salifert kit.

Just because the things you test for seem in line does not mean something isn't wrong with your water. There are so many things that can be wrong with our water that we can't test for. Heavy metals, high levels of DOC's, imbalances in various elements that make up seawater, and elevated levels of various chemicals released by corals and algaes, are a few that come to mind. I only say this because the other two zoanthids in your photos don't seem to be doing particularly well.

On a related note... What type of skimmer are you using? Do you run activated carbon or any other type of chemical filtration? How often do you do water changes and what %? What brand of salt mix do you use? Are you using RO/DI water for makeup and do you know the output water is 0 TDS? What types of supplements/chemicals have you used in your aquarium? Have you tested your PH in the morning before lights on?

On the flipside, I don't want you to automatically freak out, your water could be great. Sometimes corals just die for unknown reasons, especially when they're not totally healthy to begin with. In addition, maricultured SPS (which is what yours was) isn't going to adapt as well to your auqarium or be as hardy as a tank grown frag. Because they're small colonies they are quite adapted to the environment in which they were grow. They grew the way they did based on flow, light levels, available food sources, etc. etc. For that reason I'd suggest you stick with frags from here on out. At the very least just make sure, if you're going to buy a colony, that there are no bare spots or pests and that it is has been around and healthy for a little while at whatever LFS you purchase from.

Pests are a possibility, but my gut tells me they weren't a factor. Even if it was pests they will rarely lead a quick death like that. However, it's a possibility since the coral was probably not fully healthy to begin with.


One last thing... I notice what appear to be dinoflaggelates (the slimey brown stuff with air bubbles) on the base of the coral in question. Is this something you've noticed elsewhere in the tank?

Sorry for the wordy response and all the questions. Just trying to help as best I can...

Peter

[hahnmeister]

steve414 hit it right on the head IMO. You listed most parameters except two that are very important for SPS, Alkalinity and Calcium levels. This makes me think that perhaps you dont keep track of these things, and as a consequence, they are most likely below where they should be. A low alkalinity and calcium reading can easily cause a new coral to freak out.

[TropTrea]

Not only that what is mentioned but these levels need to be tracked very regularly. As an example I had been tracking Calcium in my tank with a reading every 3 weeks. I constantly got a reading 420 to 460 ppm. Then suddenly last week I noticed something different in my tank and took another reading. The level had sudenly dropped to 280 ppm. and my pH dropped from 8.2 to 7.8.

Now I'm in the process of tryong to bring everything back up again without shocking the system. I'm initially dosing with 1 teaspoon of Turbo Calcium a day (Normaly was one a week) and taking readings just prior to adding another dose. That is giving it about 24 hours for me prior dose to stabalize through the system.

I'm starting to think the Kalk reactor I was planning on in the long range may now be in the short range. I'm seeing loads of growth on my monti.cap. as well as candy cane which is probably sucking all the calcium up. Interestingly though I'm not seeing any noticable growth on my birdsnest.

Dennis

Originally posted by hahnmeister
steve414 hit it right on the head IMO. You listed most parameters except two that are very important for SPS, Alkalinity and Calcium levels. This makes me think that perhaps you dont keep track of these things, and as a consequence, they are most likely below where they should be. A low alkalinity and calcium reading can easily cause a new coral to freak out.

[hahnmeister]

I track calcium and alkalinity weekly, and I would suggest to anyone that they do the same.

One teaspoon of turbo calcium isnt anything to worry about Dennis... my tank goes through that in an hour, and I bet for yours that is barely a buffer.

I would dose enough calcium to bring the level up 75-100ppm in a single dose and not worry about it. Even the most sensitive acros dont seem to mind this, and as of yet, you seem to have all hardy ones.