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Please Help! -- Mg damage to corals? Sclera. health -
2/28/2006 Hi Crew, <Greg> I hope I am worrying needlessly,
but I am concerned I might have an unknown coral predator or a water
parameter problem with my 180g reef. My main concern is one
Acropora with approximately a pea-sized exposed skeleton near the base
of one branch and ½' of skeleton exposed on one
tip. A brown mucous-thread-like substance covered the
Acropora, with dead tissue trapped in the bottom of this mucous
net. I siphoned-off the mucous and dead tissue, cut off the
dead tip of one branch, then dispensed a tank water + Lugol's
solution over the remaining bare skeletal areas. I just fear
that this area of necrosis might be spreading. This Acropora
is placed approximately 8 inches from a 7' Crocea clam (which
occasionally produces a similar-looking mucous-like 'net' near
the byssal opening). So I am unsure if the Acropora coating
was from the Crocea or if it was produced by the coral. <Mmmm>
Two days prior to this happening I did move a rock that was attached to
this Acropora and one tip was broken off the Acropora. This
has never been an issue in the past as new flesh would cover the
exposed skeleton within a week and new branches would
form. Possibly this initial stress is what led to the
current tissue necrosis. Current water parameters:
Temp=77°F, Salinity=1.024, pH=8.1, Alk=3.2 mEq/L, Ammonia=0,
Nitrite=0, Nitrate~1ppm, Ca=440ppm, PO4={below meas. Limits},
Silicate=0). I did also increase temperature on my heaters
from 76°F to 77°F a few days ago. I
performed a 32g water change at the same time. A little
history'¦ About two weeks ago, I noticed that all of my
Montiporas were becoming much lighter in color. I was not
overly concerned because they have lightened and darkened in color
several times over their 2 years in my tank and they continue to grow
well. Although water parameters have always remained within
acceptable ranges previously, my salinity dropped from 1.025 to 1.022
<This is a huge difference> over the course of a day just before
the Montiporas changed color a few weeks ago. A snail had
stuck my makeup water float switch in the 'on' position for a
day, flooding my 100g refugium and diluting the water with RO/Kalk
mixture. <No fun> My pH measured 8.2 so I was only concerned
about the sudden change in salinity (makeup water flows at only
10gpd). I removed 10 gallons of tank water and slowly added
10 gallons of very high salinity water until tank salinity measured
1.023. The following day, I repeated this procedure until
the salinity reached 1.024. All fish, corals, clams, other
inverts appeared to be unstressed so I assumed that worst case, this
might have induced a temporary color change in the Montiporas.
<Takes a while to show... weeks, months> Since my alkalinity and
pH have always remained near the low end of acceptable (pH=8.0-8.1,
Alk=2.5-3 mEq/L) despite using a Kalkwasser reactor for top-off and the
addition of Na2CO3 and NaCO3, I bought a Mg test kit to determine if a
low Mg level was partially responsible for low alkalinity (Ca=440
ppm). Mg measured 1,140 ppm <Close enough...> so I
mixed 10 teaspoons of Seachem Reef Mg in 1 pint of RO water and dripped
this into the pump intake in my refugium. An hour later I
repeated this. According to Seachem's label, I would
have needed to repeat this process a few more times to reach the
desired 1,300 ppm but I noticed another Acropora (near the return line)
with mucous-like threads waving from its polyps. I was
concerned that I might have changed the Mg level too quickly so I made
no further changes to the tank for the next two days. <Good> I
did continue to noticed these 'mucous threads' waving from the
Acropora polyps at times. This is a different Acropora than
the one that is currently displaying tissue necrosis. Could
dosing Mg in this way cause tissue necrosis in Acropora? <Possibly a
factor, not likely "the"> This particular coral is not in
direct flow of the pump return line. One Montipora has completely
bleached (although polyps are visibly extended) but I did move this
coral to a lower light area of the tank when it initially began to
bleach. All other corals (4 Acropora, 1 Birdsnest, 1 open
brain, 1 pineapple coral, hammer coral, zoos, star polyps, mushrooms,
Alveopora) appear to be doing well. Even the Acropora that
had previously produced the mucous-like threads now appears
normal. All inverts appear unstressed as well. What should I
do about the Acropora with the tissue necrosis -- is there a way to
reverse this spread? <You likely have> If the
necrotic area continues to grow, I assume I should frag the coral to
save the remainder -- correct? <An approach. I would move this
colony to another system, or even shallow, brightly lit sump first
myself> Do you think this in contagious (e.g. should I be doing
anything to protect the other corals in my
tank)? Unfortunately I do not have a picture to send yet,
but I can follow-up when I return home tonight if needed. Thank you in
advance for your help!!! --Greg <I doubt you have a pathogen at play
here. Very likely the bit of trouble you've observed is/was due to
the change n spg... I would not over-react here. Bob Fenner> Bleaching Montipora - 02/23/06 Hi and thank you for answering my ?. <<I'm happy to be a part of it all.>> I have had a frag of Red Montipora capricornis for about 2 weeks and I have noticed that it is losing its color and now is white/pinkish in color. <<Troubling indeed>> My Salinity, water temp, no nitrates, no ammonia, are fine. My lighting is 2x250 MH with 10k Ushios and are about 12 inches from where the Monti cap is placed. <<Hmm...if the frag didn't come from the same type of light environment it may be experiencing "light shock".>> Their is very little flow where the cap is placed also. <<This too is a problem...high flow please...>> Could it possibly be that I have to much light over the Monti cap and should I place it under an overhang? <<These corals are often kept quite successfully in "high light" environments, but if it wasn't acclimated to the light, that may well have been the problem...but after two weeks I think you're better off leaving it where it is. It will have begun to adjust by now (if it's going to recover), and moving it again means more stress.>> Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. I could possibly send you a pic if that would help out. <<I think the best you can do at this point is increase water flow in the vicinity of the coral/the tank as a whole. Regards, EricR>> Red Acro Mites 2/10/06 Hey Crew, 2 of my
Acro's have tiny red bugs on them. the polyps on the
coral are in because they are probably stressed out. i
have a fridmani, but he isn't interested. he
prefers spaghetti and meatballs!! i am concerned. i did a
Google on wet web media and didn't find any real
solutions. please advise... best regards, Jenna <Read:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acrodisfaqs.htm and the linked
files above. Bob Fenner M. digitata? And Care. 2/2/06 Howdy everyone, <Hello.> as previously mentioned this is a great website! <Thank you.> I've been reading a lot since my discovery of it and have learned a lot. <Outstanding.> Attached is a pic of a frag coral that I obtained from my LFS. <Looks to be a Montipora, possibly M. Digita. Also looks to be going through or went through some RTN.> They were not sure of the type of coral so if you could point me to the family or genus that would be cool. <See above.> Also it has a growth on it and a few tubes, I think they are some type of worm. <Likely tube worms, usually nothing to worry about.> Is this growth harmful or is it just part of the corals coloration or maybe a sunburn? <Are you referring to the tubes or the dark spots, either way see the above comment(s).> I have a 65 gal tank with two 10K, 175 MH's and the coral is placed halfway in the tank. <Lighting sounds great, provide lots of water flow an calcium, not to mention low nutrient levels. If the RTN continues, consider fragmenting the unaffected areas.> Thanks for your response and your time! <Anytime, Adam J.> <<Couldn't find file/image. RMF>> Montipora 1/14/06 I just purchased a
dying Monti cap,<Why on earth would you want to do that, they are
not easily kept to begin with.> but I think I can see some of
it's polyps opening up. The color is still orange. Is
that a good sign?<Yes, didn't bleach out yet.> Also, does
hair algae kill corals? <It can, prevents needed light from reaching
them.> I was reading an ad and it seems this man was dying to have
somebody "save" his corals due to a bloom of hair algae. The
parameters are normal, 78 degrees at night and 80 degrees in the day
time. Specific gravity is at 1.025, and I do a 15 gallon
water change, on a 90g tank, about every 10 days. I'm
guessing it must be phosphate. Tank equipment includes a
wet/dry filter, ETSS 500 skimmer, a 700g/hr return pump, a Danner Mag
drive 9.5 to drive the skimmer, and 540w of P.C lighting. Thanks for
the help so far. My tank is looking great. <With your
lighting you would have to keep them near the top of the aquarium as
they do require intense lighting, preferably metal halide or HQI as a
major requirement for life. Do search our web site on "feeding
corals" and other related subjects. Most will be found
here. James (Salty Dog)> Montipora turned brown...
01-10-06 Hey all, <Jay> I have a question regarding Montipora
turning brown... I've read what seems like hundreds of questions
similar to mine, and I realize that there is a pretty long list of
reasons WHY Montis turn brown, but I just wanted to run my specifics by
you and see what you think. I have a 90g with two 175w [Hamilton] 6500k
bulbs <Here is one possibility. Low spectrum bulbs lead to more
browns.> and dual VHO actinics (actinics on for 14 hours or so,
halides on for 7); 46g refugium and (I think) a 20g modified wet/dry
which I removed the bioballs from. These are all being supplied by an
Iwaki 40rlt and a s.q.w.d. along with 2 zoomed rotating powerheads in
the 90g (I've had them for over a year and a half and they still
rotate, though I do have to clean them once a month or so.) The skimmer
is way under rated, but my lovely big fuge takes care of my nutrient
issues along with the 100 or so lbs of live rock. No ammo, no nitrites,
near 0 nitrate, no phos, salinity @ 1.024-25, calcium around 400, but
occasionally closer to 500. pH seems to fluctuate between 8.0 and 8.3,
but I do NOT trust my pH test. dKH between 9 and 10. I also use
Lugol's solution once a week <Be careful with this.> as well
as strontium/molybdenum, and until recently iron as well (daily) but I
went a bit nuts with it so I stopped until I get my new salt (marine
environment... was using tropic marine, but I think it sucks). <Be
careful and take your time switching salt.> Now, ALL of my corals
are growing really well, but since getting my halides (2 or 3 months
ago) I've been experimenting with some SPS. Aside from three
different colors of Montipora (all branching) I also have an Acro
Staghorn which is green/brown with great purple tips and an unknown
Acro that was green/brown with light blue between the polyps. When I
put all of these in my tank I light acclimated them for a week or two
(did it each time I added one SPS) and they all turned brownish within
a day or two. The purple tipped Acro got its color back stronger than
ever. The other unknown Acro had a problem I'll assume was
Acro-eating flatworms... won't get into that now though... and it
is also finally getting its colors back. The Montipora though (brown,
pinkish and purple) are staying brown. Obviously the brown Monti wont
change, but I'd like to figure out what is going on with the
pinkish and purple. My lights are 6-8" above the surface (need to
measure...); the pink Monti is 3 or 4 inches below the surface and the
purple is about 6 inches below the surface. ALL the Montipora and both
Acros are growing like crazy (Acro is very quickly encrusting the rocks
they're glued to as well as branching out a bit, and the Montipora
have all grown at least a couple of centimeters.) I think I've
managed to 'train' them to extend their polyps during the day
even though I didn't mean to, and I feed the whole tank a combo of
phyto/zoo plankton, Cyclop-eeze, oyster eggs, marine snow and chromaMAX
(not all at the same time, usually 1 or 2 every other day or so) on top
of the flake and frozen prawn daily for the fishies. Whew... that was
rather long-winded. As you can see, my only 'problem' seems to
be lack of color in the Montipora, and I would really love to see that
purple Monti turn purple again!! What do you think? <I believe your
Monti would benefit from 10K or 14K bulbs. You may also see an increase
in color with the addition of activated carbon usage. This will keep
the water more clear and help make up for the weak skimmer. Travis>
Thanks -Jay Red Bugs 1/7/06 Hello All, I noticed some tiny red bugs on my red Monti?? Is this bad? What can I do besides hope my Fridmani eats them?? Thanks. Jenna <Mmm, try the Google search tool on WWM's homepage with the term "red bugs". You'll find your answers thus. Bob Fenner> New SPS Frags... Long Shipping... What To Expect? - 12/31/05 Hi all... <<Hello>> as has been stated by many, you have an awesome site, no fluff all info. <<Thank you>> I have read much, but not all of the site, haven't been able to find an answer. <<ok>> I just acquired some Acro frags 1 yongei and 2 tortuosa (sp.?). <<Correct>> Thanks to shipping problems they were in transit about 40hrs. <<Uh oh!>> They arrived white, little or no apparent color, no polyps yet. <<Expelled their Zooxanthellae...or worse...have complete tissue loss.>> My fears about ammonia in bags and alkalinity of tank water led me to introduce them to the QT tank after temp adjustment. <<Smart>> I'm acclimating lighting using vinyl screen layers. <<Smart again>> On intro to QT tank frags had filaments of slime but no other indications of life. <<Not unexpected...>> Don't expect a miracle here but what if anything should I expect from these frags if water parameters, lighting and flow are optimal, which I think they are. At what point should I give up on them in your opinion. <<Mmm...both species of coral have quite visible polyps, if you don't see any evidence of these after 48 hrs. I think you can assume the worst. You might also try viewing the frags under some magnification (jeweler's loop/magnifying glass) to see if you can determine if there is any flesh on the skeleton.>> This is my first of many cracks at SPS so would like to not overreact. <<You're not overreacting...40 hours in transit/bleached condition is cause for concern.>> Steve <<Regards, EricR>> Coral
Bleaching - 12/12/05 Hello, <<Howdy>> I hope you are
well. <<I am...thank you>> I have a problem, I have been
keeping Acropora (several different species) for about 4 months, and
now one of my smaller frags and my biggest colony is starting to
bleach. The smaller one was bleaching in more of a
traditional sense (as far as I'm concerned), by turning white, and
all the polyps have vanished, but I have seemed to counter act that by
moving it closer to the lights, and it seems to be doing
better. Is that possible? <<Maybe...if the change was
not extreme...if the coral was suffering/bleaching from absence of
light. Maybe you got lucky...>> Is the act of
bleaching reversible? <<Certainly...if it hasn't progressed
too long and you can determine/eliminate the stressors causing the
bleaching event.>> Also, my biggest colony a few tips (maybe 4 of
50) have started to turn a puke green color, instead of the purple they
once were, as well as a portion around the base. Is this
some sort of bleaching? <<Mmm, maybe tissue damage/loss and the
skeleton is being colonized by algae.>> Can this be repaired, and
I'm sorry I could not send a picture due to camera problems, but if
you can help me that would be great. <<If the damage does not
continue (as in being caused by a predator), it will likely stop/heal
on its own.>> Thank You <<Regards, EricR>>
- Acropora Bleaching - Hey Guys, I hope that health is well
with all, and I thank you for the opportunity to ask questions.
<Thank you and you're welcome.> I had an Acropora
"haimei" coral with purple tips that I bought months ago. I
appeared to be doing well in my 80 gallon with MH lighting 250w
20,000k. Because I purchased a large colt coral moved the coral to
another spot in the tank to prevent it from being stung and noticed
that a piece began to bleach white that night. I placed the coral back
to its original position, but lost in in 3 days. My question is that
each time I read the forums the question is asked if brown algae
existed. <Am not sure that this is more than coincidental - when
corals bleach, polyps are dying which means the nutrients are going to
attract things like BGA.> While the coral was bleaching brown algae
started to appear, but was never there before. My question is besides
moving the coral, what caused it to die off, and what is the
"brown algae" and why is this question always asked?
<Well, for starters, could be your Acropora was on the down-turn
from day one. These animals are very finicky, and need careful
acclimation to your tank and lighting. Likewise, they need very strong
water flow throughout their structure in order to stay healthy. Failure
to provide any of the above will result in an eventual breakdown low on
the frag which then often spreads to the rest of the coral. More on
light acclimation here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimcoralslight.htm
As to why folks always ask about brown algae and what its significance
is, I can only speculate.> I appreciate any advice and wish you the
best. Thanks, Chris <Cheers, J -- > Montipora 06/08/05 Hi, I have been in the reef hobby for about 1 year now. I do 10% water changes weekly, qt religiously and monitor many other parameters (I will give them to you at the bottom of this email with results from today) on a weekly basis as well. I have had great luck with soft corals so I decided to give hard corals a try. I purchased a Montipora capricornis (I believe that this is the correct scientific name) about 6 weeks ago. After two weeks in qt I moved it to the bottom of my 75 gallon show tank to get it accustomed to my much brighter lighting (2-175 MH 20000K, and 4 T5 actinics). After two weeks at this depth I moved it up to what I had hoped would be its permanent position. About 6 inches higher. I feed DT's live phytoplankton every other day, and DT's oyster eggs and frozen Cyclop-eeze together on the days that I don't feed DT's plankton. The coral had great polyp extension and good color and seemed to be growing until I came home this morning (six weeks in main display, four weeks at higher location). About 5 or 6 days ago I set up a new sump system. It is a 25 gallon high with a 5 inch sand bed (sugar size sand) for growth of amphipods, copepods, etc... It drains into a 36X 14 X 12 which has a 4 inch sand bed in it and will act as a place to grow Caulerpa. As usual all corals drew back some the first few days, but have all returned to their normal size, color, and polyp size. I added Caulerpa algae to the sump two days ago and it is doing fine. This morning when I came home the above mentioned Montipora capricornis had bleached out about 50% and had a lot of clear/brownish slime coming off of the bleached areas. I used a syringe to blow off the slime and moved him down a few inches. I see no signs of parasites and the other two pieces of Montipora in the tank have no signs of this. I smelled him after blowing the slime off and it smelled like any other thing that would come out of a marine aquarium--NO foul odor. I was wondering if you could help me figure out what this is. I have been reading a lot of the FAQs, but most of them apply to Acro's and other SPS (for lack of a better term). I need help, I have attached two photos of the coral from different angles to try to help you. I think it maybe some kind of white band disease, but I didn't think that it would be this drastic overnight. Thank you for all of your help. I am sorry this is a long email but I figured extra info could help. Below are the water parameters from this morning. pH--7.8 NH4--0 NO3--0 NO2--undetectable on Salifert's test kit Ca--480ppm Alk--2.3 mEq/L--has been at this level since the coral was introduced have been trying to raise with B-Ionic with no avail Salifert's dKH + buffer should be in Thursday to raise this on up. PO4--undetectable on Salifert's test kit salinity--1.026 temp--80.1 << Everything looks good except your pH is way too low.. Alk like you said is pretty low. Sounds like you got the brown jelly disease. Which is not any fun. the best thing you can do is break off a small piece farthest away from the brown jelly stuff and set that on the opposite side of the tank. This way if the brown jelly takes the whole colony you hopefully can start it from a frag. >> Thanks, again for your time and patience with us newbies Jonathan << good luck.. EricS >> - Acropora Help - hi, <Hi.> I have been trying to keep Acropora for the last 6 months now and still have no success. I'm constantly finding that my Acropora bleach, and I'm almost positive it's not my water. I check and even take my water to a local store who specialize in Acropora (salty critter), the staff there are some of the most intelligent reef keepers I've ever met, and every time I take my water there they tell me it's great and it's ok to try some more Acropora (I think they are just trying to sell me things, which is why I wanted a non-partisan opinion on this topic) and usually I think it's my acclimation, or water flow (which led me to buying 4 new power heads, with circular rotating heads, which they said the corals would prefer). getting back to the question at hand, in my previous tank (which was a 38 gallon with 192 watts of power compacts) I kept Acropora with no problem. now I moved to a 72 gallon tank with 2x 250 watt metal halides, and it seems like everything is dying. at first I thought it was because I didn't acclimate them to the lighting, so I went on starting over, and then I noticed I couldn't really keep anything alive, so then I changed the bulbs, from 10k to 14k. still everything I put in my tank dies, except the fish which are extremely healthy (purple tang, yellow tang, and a pair of blue striped clowns). the only thing that I have still is a colony of Zoanthids, which have turned a frosted color, and now are bordering death. so is it possible to have too much lighting with 500 watts of MH. on a 72 gallon tank? <No, but you need to acclimate your animals carefully to both the water and your lighting. Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimcoralslight.htm > should I switch to 20000 k bulbs. thank you it would keep me from pulling my hair out! <The color/temperature of the bulbs has very little to do with your animal's response to your tank. Would suggest you pick up a copy of Eric Borneman's Aquarium Corals and also avail yourself to the FAQs on our site so you can learn from other folks besides those at the store. Cheers, J -- > Rapid Acropora Death 2/8/05 I just purchased a frag of a gorgeous A. albrohensis. It shipped very well I'm assuming because even while acclimating it, all polyps were out and is still had a greenish hue to it. I acclimated it for an hour, turned the MH lights off in the tank (only 2x96W actinics) running... <All sounds good, although extended polyps are not a reliable source of "happiness" it can just as easily indicate stress.> ...and glued it down to a rock. Polyps still out. <What kind of glue, and did the glue contact living tissue? It is unusual, but have seen cases where tissue recession, or even total loss was caused by contact with glue.> Wake up this morning, and looks like a bone. No polyps anywhere, just skeleton. I quickly turned off the MH that was above it. Checked it several hours later, and maybe one polyp at base of coral. <Two possibilities... first (and far less likely), the coral bleached. If this is the case, the coral will be colorless, but still covered in living tissue. Second, the coral died. If this is the case, you may see stringy or lacy remnants of tissue clinging to the skeleton. If you don't have a lot of Acro experience, it may be a bit tough to tell the difference, but on a dead coral, you will be able to see the rough porous texture of the skeleton.> Is this normal, and it might be fine tomorrow, or did I do something wrong? <This isn't normal, but it doesn't sound like you did anything wrong. It could have been the stress of shipping, or it could be water quality in your tank.> Tank is 125G, 2x250W 10K MH with one 400W MH in the middle with the actinic. Like I mentioned, turned off all lighting but actinic when I put it in the tank. No MHs until the following morning, but already looked bad before MHs came on. <All sounds good. You wisely protected the coral from possible light shock.> I recently read that peppermint shrimp might do this. I have a pair, but nothing in tank but tangs and clownfish. Any thoughts on if it will recover and adjust, or does it sound like it died? <Peppermint shrimp will absolutely not do this. They may pick at some corals, but would only cause minor damage to an Acro. My guess is that the coral died of what is referred to as "RTN" (Rapid Tissue Necrosis) or "SDR" (Shut down reaction). In these cases, the coral tissue "self destructs" in response to stress. The stress can be caused by shipping, but is more often related to water quality problems, including the presence of other aggressive corals. Infection has been implicated as well, but this is questionable. Please feel free to write back with a list of other corals in the tank and a list of all of your test results (actual values please!), please include pH, Alkalinity, Calcium, Salinity, temperature and nitrate. Also briefly describe your filtration. Best Regards. AdamC.> Acropora fading in a tiny tank Hello, <Hi there> I brought an Acro on Saturday and by Sunday some of It's purple color on its peeks are fading away. I have him in a 10 gall nano tank, water checks out fine and I'm running it on 8 watts per gallon. Also I have great flow in the tank. What could this be? Could it be that it is acclimating to my tank? <Not acclimating more like it... if the color, vitality is lost... it will not likely return> I have him real close to the light on top of the rocks is it to close should I move him lower? Thanks for your time!!! <No, thank you for yours. Please study on WetWebMedia.com re small marine systems: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/setup/index.htm and the genus Acropora... Bob Fenner>
Acro Mower Hi Bob <<Good morning, Lorenzo here filling in for the rest of the crew, off at MACNA in Texas.>> Yesterday morning I noticed that one of my stag horns had an eaten path carved in it. Something had sucked the polyps right off. <<Yikes!>> I'm looking in the tank to see what could have done this. I found a weird snail with a long trunk not far from where the stag is. Do you know of any snails that eat SPS? <<Definitely, but not very common.>> What else should I be looking for? <<There are a number of animals that will do this, including snails, Nudibranchs, and sea-spiders (quite rare, but sometimes seen, and does exactly that). At least if it's a tight, "path" you can probably rule out your fish. You may need to observe at night, with a red or blue flashlight to uncover your killer... Good luck! -Zo>> Acropora bleaching question I just acquired three pieces of medium Acropora which came in fine. <be careful of such statements or beliefs. Most corals are somewhat to severely stressed for the first couple of weeks on import. Its just not that obvious unless flesh is falling off> After slowing acclimating to my 30g holding tank (before I put it into the main tank), it was fine for a day. Then the next morning (2 days after acquisition), <Yowza... a problem already my friend! A mere two day holding period was more harm than good. This animal that was put through several changes in lighting (and extended periods of darkness) on import had to go from another lighting scheme at your vendors holding tank to your holding tank to your display tank all within the same week. Such drastic changes are a great burden on the limited resources of a coral. A longer QT in mod light with mod to heavy feeding would have been better. 4 weeks is a proper QT acclimation. Also, do review the following: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimcoralslight.htm> the whole tank was cloudy and everything in that holding tank was dead (2 snails, a small Kole tang). All three pieces of Acropora were bleached white. I guessed something caused it to release its Zooxanthellae. <stress indeed> Anyhow, my question is this, will these pieces of Acropora slowly recover their Zooxanthellae or are they pretty much dead. <that depends on if the corallum is denuded of tissue or the tissue simply bleached pigmentation. If the latter, then yes it will recover. You should see clear polyps extended conspicuously if so. Heavy feeding with zooplankton will be critical then (do so in a small QT please). Live rotifers would be excellent> They were fine 24 hours ago, and have been moved to the sump of my main display. Thanks Jim <Jim... moving any coral is truly one of the most dangerous things to do. Even moving an established coral 2-3 times in a week can be enough to kill it. It is a bad habit, my friend and has contributed to the demise of this animal at least to some extent. To better days... Anthony> Acropora bleaching? Hi guys, 'hope you're all well.
<Anthony and Steve here in San Diego with Bob... drinking beer and
answering e-mail. Yep... we're very well <smile>> one of
my across, dark purple valida is starting to whiten, no peeling off
just white. Is this due to a loss of light as it has now grown nicely
and maybe overshadowing its base. Also it's been quite hot these
last few days and the temp gradually reached 83. <many possibilities
for bleaching... light shock (water change, new carbon after absence,
etc), lack of nitrate/nitrogen/feeding, and of course temp as
suspected. If increase was 3 or more degrees in 24 hrs, then it is a
real candidate> Could it be a lack of a certain vitamin or maybe
even strontium. <not likely> All parameters are great, the tank
is 2 years old and the valida is the only of my across which is giving
me trouble. Any info would be great, thanks. <my regrets, but not
enough info my friend. Do consider the above possibilities>
Stefi/London <best regards, Anthony> Browning Acropora Hello BAS, I've been an avid aquarist for quite some time and have read this column more faithfully than I've gone to work. There is no point in attempting this question with my LFS, as they are currently feverishly culturing Aiptasia anemones for sale (despite my unsolicited advice). My question pertains to the browning of SPS corals. I not-so-recently purchased a pink Acropora loripes despite my measly three and a half watts per gallon. I thought that if I placed the coral high enough in the water column that it would negate the fact that I didn't possess the high wattage usually required for this type of coral. I soon noticed several Aiptasia anemones of my own on this specimen, but unlike my LFS, I quickly dispatched of them with injections of Part A of the C-Balance duo. But with the bad comes the good and I also discovered a red Coco Worm with bi-lobed crowns attached to the base of the coral. The A. loripes itself has grown, which is quite apparent by its base coverage of the live rock I attached it to. My disappointment is that the color that was originally bright pink has now darkened into an almost rust color (It's been brown for over six months but still growing). Most sources indicate that the browning of SPS corals is due to inadequate lighting and an overabundance of symbiotic algae, but none discuss the reversal of this condition. For this reason I have recently up-graded to metal halides. My questions are, how do I acclimate an entire reef tank to two watts more per gallon, <It would be great if you have a Lux-meter. Start the MH's up pretty high so that their output matches that of your current lighting. Another trick is to cover the tank in several sheets of vinyl window screening to cut back on the amount of light entering the tank. Then gradually lower the lights and/or remove a sheet over the course of several weeks. If you cannot verify the difference in output, attempt to make an educated guess by referencing the work of Dana Riddle, Sanjay Joshi, and Richard Harker. They have all conducted studies on various lighting setups and lamps and they may have comparison info about your old and new systems.> and do you have any suggestions about the Kelvin of the lamps I should purchase? <I like 6,500K Iwasaki lamps and 10,000K Aqualine-Buschke or Ushio lamps.> I am a big fan of D. Knop and he suggests for most tanks with invertebrates that are found near the surface ( I have two four inch T. Maximas as well) nothing higher than 6.5K, but I have read many online magazines as well as advertisements in TFH tout 10K as the ultimate true white light. <Some 10,000K lamps are quite good, but many are just marketed and hyped well. Most 6,500K lamps could use supplemental actinics for appearance. They do have enough blue light for good photosynthesis without it, but they have so much red, yellow, and green, that to our eyes the corals may not appear pleasing.> I'd just like a little information on the reversal of browning and how it has been achieved, as I've noticed recently, even some online suppliers advertise SPS that will color up with the right lighting. <Increasing your lighting is the way to correct the situation.> Thanks, Andrea <You are welcome. -Steven Pro> Acropora emergency I can't stand it. I just
can't stand it. <sigh> You've been helping me
with some lighting issues, which I really appreciate, but I'm
starting to think it's not the lighting. My biggest
problem is that I can no longer seem to keep Acropora alive. <so
many possibilities> I had two pieces for a couple of months before a
water circulation problem (blown pump) killed them. I had
acclimated them, and they seemed otherwise healthy, so I replaced them
with another piece, but stupidly didn't acclimate. It
bleached within a week. OK, I thought, my fault, and for the
replacement to the replacement, I've gone the whole nine yards,
with the screen method, to acclimate. Everything's been
fine for a week...and today I get up to find the bases of several of
the branches are bleaching. I've checked most of what I can think
to check: am,>ni, nitrate all zero; Ca at 500; <lets stop here.
We may have a water quality issue. Either your Ca test is inaccurate
(500ppm Ca is dangerously high if even possible in most tanks without a
precipitation of Alkalinity)... Or... your alkalinity is on the floor!
I can almost guarantee you that if you test your Alkalinity/hardness
that you are well under 10dKH. Quite frankly... I won't be
surprised if you are under 6dKH! Very dangerous and could easily foul
Acropora and other SPS. Target 8-12 dKH and 350-425ppm Ca but not the
high en of both simultaneously. Use a LFS or another test to compare
your kit's accuracy of a water test> with a chiller, the temp
stays at 78 24x7. If you recall, I had 20K 250W>MH lights
when I got the piece, but switched to 10K for a couple days due to
other issues; I've put the 20K bulbs back, but with the heavy
screen it's had, I didn't think that would cause the piece to
start bleaching, especially literally overnight - I looked at it last
night, it was not bleached at all (believe me, I've been checking 5
times a day). I have noticed that the polyps never really
have extended, but I thought it was due to the move and have been
waiting it out. <the switch was indeed stressful... but I am
wondering if this isn't really a problem with skewed Ca/Alk
dynamics or consistency> Is there anything I can do to save this
piece? <we need to ID the cause before we can say
whether to pull the coral or not> I'm sick of watching Acropora
bleach. Other corals (mostly LPS and soft) all seem fine -
<more tolerant> including a large branching Hydnophora excesa (I
believe - it's a fuzzy-looking green branching SPS), which has done
fine from the beginning. <it is one of the worlds hardiest corals...
I have seen them propagated by literally running them through a band
saw!!!> Any ideas? Or am I just going to remain an
Acropora killer? Arthur <no worries... we will figure it
out in due time. Anthony> Acropora "mites" AKA 'Red Amphipods" I have a 10 gallon nano with some small SPS frags and I have notices small orange mites crawling around on a couple of the Acropora frags. <Ahhh, yes... not uncommon at all. A curious little arthropod. AKA "red Amphipods"> They look like little fleas. They are very small but viewable to the naked eye. What can be done? <some say they are parasitic, but I and most aquarists do not believe this to be true. No proof yet. At best they flourish incidentally while SPS corals wane/die from other common denominators (water quality, lack of QT, etc)> Is there a safe dip or treatment I could give? <some have employed FW dips... I do not believe this is necessary> Are these parasitic or commensal? <the jury is still out... leaning towards commensal> I have searched and found no information on these. <do a keyword search on reefcentral.com and other large message boards for perspective (use "Red Acropora Mites", "Red Amphipods", etc.) to get a consensus. My advice is to simply watch carefully and do employ a natural predator if possible (Red Sea Pseudochromid, small wrasse, etc)> Thank you ahead of time for any help. <best regards, Anthony> Acropora Tissue Recession Hey Crew! <Whassup?!?> I am not sure what to do with my Staghorn Acropora. <grow it, frag it, trade it... get more Acroporas> Its about 5in diameter purple branching and showing steady growth from the axial corallites. Everything seems normal however there is very slow tissue recession at the base. <a common symptom... many reasons for this... inadequate water flow, static posterior lights (as from focused pendant halides instead of nicely reflected horizontal mount bulbs or bulbs on tracks), disease (rare)> There appears not to be any peeling of tissue at all; just seems like every week when I look at the white band at its base its getting wider. I guess its losing about an 1/8 inch weekly. Odd to me because I have had the "Rapid" variety before and it definitely is not showing this. Furthermore I have purchased other Acropora on the net that looks to have some old recession that has since been grown over with new tissue on top of the dead parts. <good to hear... but please be sure to QT all new animals... fishes, corals, crustaceans, mollusks...ALL! 2-4 weeks minimum to reduce risk of transmitting disease> When I originally received this internet bought Acropora I thought they ripped me off by sending me a Trojan horse to destroy the rest of my corals, but after close observation, the recessed parts are not expanding and is showing good polyp extension. <at any rate... Trojan horses only work if you let them into the castle, right? Please always quarantine all livestock, my friend. It is proper and responsible if not respectful to the living treasures we keep> Does this mean that some Acroporas may begin to recess then just as quickly stop and begin new growth? <so many reasons for healing and receding. Cannot be summarized as such> Also I have a Stylophora pink...again its showing good growth, but there are spots of some kind of algae with fibers that seems to be spreading, although very slow....what should I do about this. <Hmmm... very indicative. Stylo's also require massive water flow. I'm wondering what your flow is? The old rule of thumb at 10X turnover is pathetic and antiquated for modern reef tanks. I myself am running about 2400 GPH in a 50 gallon. It is dispersed in random turbulent patterns. You'd never guess it to be that high by looking at it... but the corals know! Do consider> I have placed this Stylophora at the end of a powerhead for better circulation and I occasionally will use my hand to fan away the algae. <Arghhh... please no linear flow (in front of the PH). Such reef corals need strong surge or random turbulent flow. Few reef corals will tolerate linear/laminar> Regards, Dennis <best regards, Anthony> Acropora injury Hi! I have 440watts of PC lighting and a beautiful piece of purple >Acropora (5x4 inches in size) which is from my local fish store Purchased 2 months ago)- It has about 8 different large branches coming off it. It did fine for the first 6 weeks. It still is doing fine but 2 weeks ago one of the branches started to turn white at the very tip of the branch. This particular branch is about two inches tall. For about a week, the whiteness worked its way down the branch. I became very worried the whole coral was going to di. But now it looks like the whiteness/it stopped progressing>down the branch. For over a week it hasn't become worse. It only worked its way down about 1/4 inch of the 2 inch branch. The whiteness has now turned brown. <it is difficult to diagnose without seeing it or a photo, but it sounds like tissue became infected and denuded. The white corallum (skeleton) was exposed and has now been attacked by diatoms. The coral may reclaim or lose tissue. Hard to say. Do you really have the tank for SPS corals? Very stable Alk, Magnesium and Calcium? You test for these things regularly and dose daily? What have your parameters been specifically?> Are my worries over? <I suspect this is a mixed garden tank too... mushroom anemones, LPS corals, soft corals. Going to be challenging to keep the SPS more than 1 year here> If not, What can I do to help this coral? I do have other Acroporas for over 4 months that had no problems- Should I consider cutting this tip off and allow the branch to grow back? <Definitely break this branch off... if is easier to regrow a branch than reclaim one with diatom algae> Please let me know.- Thanks Ron <you may want/need some more information before proceeding too much further with delicate SPS corals. I get the vibe that you are very new to at least this aspect of reefkeeping. Live animals here... not stereos or widgets. Perhaps you should get (or read) a good book too before buying another coral my friend. Let me suggest Eric Borneman's "Aquarium Corals". Covers corals diseases at great length too. Best regards, Anthony> Bleached coral- how to handle We have a 20 gallon reef tank in our home. Recently we have been given an Acropora. However it is white with blue/purplish tips. <Ahhh... bleached with only U.V reflecting pigments left. This coral will die within a year if it is not fed and colors up (likely brown... hopefully... with purple tips> I have read about them and understand that there is no naturally white Acropora. <exactly correct> I came across a post on your website that described a similar Acropora. The Acropora we have although white is loaded with green polyps. What is your opinion on this Acropora? The coral is indeed bleached and the pigments you are looking at are reflective proteins and not Zooxanthellae> Would the polyps still be open and thriving if the Acropora was bleached? <absolutely...one thing has nothing to do with the other (feeding organismally on nanoplankton versus symbiosis. What you need to do is fed this coral... but because the polyps are so small (and your mention of a 20 gall display leads me to believe that you do not have a plankton generating refugium), there is likely little hope for this coral to survive here. If you do not choose to move the coral to another tank, however... my advice is to make sure that you have a source of nitrogen in the tank (allow nitrates to linger). If your nitrates are low, you can make an ammonium or nitrate solution to dose the tank with (carefully) to feed the coral. Also, know that this coral will not eat bottled green phytoplankton. It needs zooplankton so small that you cannot provide it from a bottle or can. Do consider adding an upstream refugium to your tank (no Caulerpa though). Gracilaria or Chaetomorpha will help you to grow nutritious plankters for your corals below> Thanks for your time and help. Sincerely, Tana Landau <best regards, Anthony> Something eating SPS - Montipora Anthony, happy holidays and hope all is well with you. <Adam here today. Anthony bumped this over to me since I just dealt with this problem in my own tank.> I noticed one of my recent frags, a Montiporas Cap, that is purple in color bleached around the edges about a quarter of an inch. This is more then the normal white tips from growth. I attributed this to a drop in Alk while I was adjusting to my winter evaporation rate. <I did pretty much the same thing. I attributed it to water quality, did some water changes and never really inspected the coral closely.> However, I have noticed a small white spiral looking thing on the white part of the coral. Looks almost like a very small white fan worm (at least the ends of the fan worm anyway). <The critter you saw is an Aeolid Nudibranch. They seem to becoming quite common in the hobby, likely from frag trading. They seem to favor plating Montiporas, but will move on to branching forms.> I also noticed a small white area on my established, thriving purple cap. Could this be a bug or something? Any ideas or am I just seeing things. <The white spots are where the Nudis have eaten the coenosteum (tissue between polyps) of the coral. Unfortunately these are very real and quite difficult to get rid of. Manual removal is the only way to do so without significant risk of killing the coral. You will have to remove the infested corals every day or couple of days and pick or scrub off any Nudibranchs or eggs. It may be best to this in a bucket of tank water since the critters tend to collapse under their own weight and become difficult to spot out of the water. After you are 100% sure you have eliminated them, continue to check your Montiporas at least weekly. I continued to find one or two a week for about a month.> Thanks <No Sweat, and best of luck! Adam> Andrew
Acro Suffering Algae Hello Folks- <howdy> I have a
beautiful Acro that has a brown film algae develop on the tips. At
first I thought nothing of it but it has now spread from on or two tips
to about 6 or 7 . It seems to be only on the tips and spread to a few
corallites near the tips and not down the whole stalk. I moved the
coral away from any direct current but that has not helped. I am
worried that it may be the beginning of the end for one of my favorite
pieces. (tried water changes)....Any ideas ? Is this a common
occurrence ?. (BTW no other across in the tank have any problems
including the frags of this colony) Dan <without a picture of better
description, I'm not much help here. For a diatom or other brown
algae growth to be encroaching live tissue, you would/should be
reporting receding flesh/tissue of the Acropora. In such cases, the
tissue is sometimes even long since denuded and its the corallum that
is being settled. If this coral had direct laminar flow before, that
may have been the problem (unnatural water flow which pummeled healthy
flesh into giving way to brown algae). Do send clear full-frame picture
if you can. Thanks kindly, Anthony> Yellow with a red dot Acro bugs 5/3/04 Hi, I have some Acropora corals that are infested with little yellow oval shaped bug like things on them. I am afraid that they are hurting or eating the Acropora corals. How can I get rid of them? I have a yellow Coris wrasse and a mandarin fish but they are not eating the bugs. If I use SeaChem's coral dip, will it kill these pests? Thanks, Adam <Hi Adam. Adam here<g>. There is much debate about these critters and why they appear, what they feed on, if they are harmful, how to get rid of them, etc., etc. Some folks have had success with predators, commensal crabs or clown gobies, but none are 100% reliable. I never like to send anyone elsewhere for info, but I don't have any first hand experience and there is A LOT of discussion in the forums at www.reefcentral.com . Good luck! Adam> Alkalinity drop 7/23/04 I had been using Rowaphos for a few months with no problems. Unfortunately while on vacation, my Calcium Reactor output hose clogged up and the alkalinity dropped from around 10 to 6 ! This severely stressed out several of my favorite colonies including: Tri-Color Acro - this is the worst one hit but there are some live branches with many polyps under the dead white tips. Hydnophora - looks like this may recover from the bleaching Baby Blue Acro Frags- have many of these so not a biggy Blue Acro tortuosa - Tips are turning white, not sure if it will make it. One of my more expensive and most favorite pieces. <I am not convinced that a drop in Alk to 6 would be enough by itself to cause this. How sure are you that nothing died while you were away, causing an ammonia spike and how sure are you that your temperature did not rise more than about 4-6 degrees above normal?> My questions are: What is the difference between bleaching and RTN ? My colonies did not all die in a matter of hours, but instead are bleaching slowly....although now that I have stabilized the water parameters (Ca = 430, Alk = 10) the bleaching has slowed but still continues. <Bleaching is the expulsion of Zooxanthellae. RTN is a condition where the coral "self destructs" and the animal itself dies and the tissue sloughs off of the skeleton. I agree with your move to correct the alkalinity, and recommend carefully monitoring temperature, alkalinity, pH and other parameters and focus on STABILITY! I would not try to aggressively correct any other parameter unless it is dangerous (ammonia?).> Should I remove the affected colonies ? <I would not. Moving them would be another undue stress.> Should I frag the affected colonies to save what I can, or leave them alone and hope they recover ? <I would leave them alone.> Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. <In the mean time, I would recommend lowering your light levels a bit. I would do this by reducing intensity first (fewer lamps running, raising lamps higher above tank) and only shorten the photoperiod if you don't have any other choice. After a week or so, work your lighting back to normal over a week or so. Best of luck! Adam> Monti Eating Nudibranchs and predatory starfish I 8/11/04
Dear Bob Anthony, <cheers, my friend> First and foremost I wanted
to say thank you for everything you do. I believe it can truly be said
that this phenomenal hobby has advanced so much over the years because
of your dedication to it! <thanks kindly... it is a labor of
love> I had a quick question if you don't mind, and also wanted
to bring to your attention an interesting experience that occurred. I
am of the opinion that everything in the wild has its purpose, and will
not try to eradicate anything unless it is truly harmful. <agreed...
and yet, there is a joke somewhere in there about politicians. Well
give lawyers a pass on this one> I have a fairly large system with 8
plating Montis in it. I went on vacation and when I returned I noted
two plating Montis were suffering severe tissue loss. I thought the
issue was more water quality related, particularly since my calc
reactor had been down for several weeks and the filter socks needed
cleaning. Despite water changes and dosing with Kalk, the affected
Montis continued to RTN. I had heard of these little predatory
Nudibranchs, but did not think there was a chance I had them. I fragged
one of the Montis, and what do ya know there they were. Tons of them
(to be honest, even though I have an obvious degree of hatred for them,
they are fascinating). <Arghhh... you have not been diligent about
quarantining your livestock my friend. 'Tis why you have this pest
now. Do QT all things wet in the future - live food, live sand and
rock, snails, corals, fishes, everything! <G>> My problem is
the effected colony encrusted hardcore onto a large piece of rock,
there is no way I can pry it lose. I am suspect that these suckers are
concentrated under the base. Is there anyway to rid of these things?
<they are very difficult indeed... do check the extensive threads on
this topic at reef central. I cannot say the bad news any better than
they have :p> Is there anything in the wild that eats them?
<certainly.. but reef-safe? Hmmm... spec at this point. Some have
said various wrasses and dragonets. None excel though reliably> I do
have one CBB, but I would think some form of reef "safe"
wrasse would be better. <perhaps... Tamarins or small yellow/green
"Coris"> Also, wanted to mention in the past there was a
dispute as to whether these little brown starfish we all have actually
eat SPS (i.e. GARF). <Asterina species... and yes, I have read the
GARF info. I do not believe it is accurate.> I had been in the SPS
end of things and never had an issue so I was not concerned. Indeed
they do eat SPS, the other colony I referred to above had tons of these
brown starfish on the underside, right were the run line was on each
plate. What is stranger, I have tons of across and non have been
affected. Looks like it is time to buy a harlequin (there are plenty of
these things to last the harlequin quite a long time). As
always thanks!!!!!!!! <do check out my take on Asterina and other
sea stars in the recent article on reefkeeping.com from a couple of
months ago. Best regards, Anthony Calfo> Red bugs on SPS hi, Bob, how's going? << Blundell here as well. >> This is George in SDMAS. << Hey George, hope all is well. >> Got a question for you about red bugs. I am sure you probably read some posts online about it. Some ppl use a heart worm medication call "interceptor" to get rid of the red bug. Supposedly the only side effect known at this point is that the medication kills most if not all the crustaceans and everything else seems to do fine. << Wow, I wouldn't call that all successful. If it kills all the other crustaceans then I would stay clear of that method. >> Someone also said that pipe fish eats the red bugs. So I decided to do an experiment. I have Ron got me some dragon pipe fish. I put them in my refugium/frag tank. Saturday they feel comfortable enough, the male start to compete against each other to see who is most handsome and the female pipe fish just doing whatever they are doing like nothing is going on. So I dropped a SPS colony that has red bugs on it in the refugium/frag tank. So far I only observe 2 pipe fish swim onto the colony look around for food, but some how they didn't eat any of the bugs. SO they either don't realize those bugs are food, or perhaps not that hungry, or some how they can't see them. Since pipe fish aren't build for living in rough water, so I am more leaning toward they don't know what the red bugs are. <Me too> << Definite possibility. But with time, and hunger, they may go for it. Or, is possible that the red bugs aren't food at all for them. >> I am planning on feeding the pipe fish some Cyclops Eeze tonight by squirt some into the SPS colony, hopping maybe the pipe fish will eventually associate the bug and food together. But of course they have to start eating the Cyclops Eeze first. << Good idea, and just about everything will go for Cyclop-eeze. >> My question is that from all your dives and observations when you were diving. Do you know if any fish/shrimp/crab....etc that live in the reef that might eat these red bugs?? <I don't, but suspect there is definitely some predator/s> << I would think a wrasse would be the best choice. Probably trying a rock mover (dragon wrasse) or six line wrasse. >> If you do, I would appreciate if you let me know. I am sure I can spend money and try all the reef safe fish that I think might eat things like red bug, but don't have that kind money to throw around. << I wouldn't spend any money on chemical treatments. I would stick with fish (wrasse) or maybe even a Mithrax crab. >> Hope to hear from you soon. Have a great day! Sincerely, George <Hey George. Am sending your note/query to our Crew... as they are much more current on this issue. Be seeing you, Bob F> << Blundell >> Acro Question Hello. thanks for all the help keeping my reef in wonderful condition. Your expertise has been tremendous. I currently have run into what I think is possibly another small problem. I have an Acro which I got as a frag about 3-4 months ago. I attached it high up in my tank plenty of light and it seems to be doing quite well. It has definitely grown I see good polyp extension and all in all it looks fairly healthy. My concern is this. Imaging the Acro as a kind of an inverted tripod. At least the three main legs which have begun branching on their own but for our sake lets think that there are three main legs. The smallest of the legs which seems to have shown the least growth and looks the least healthy, has begun to over the last month slime over. The slime appears to be a white slime, fuzz, etc that is only on the tip of the one Acro branch. So if the branch was say 2 inches, the bottom inch and 3/4 is looking fine with polyps out etc while the top 1/4 inch seems to be covered in this white stuff. I can't blow it off with current at least not easily, a baster used for feeding etc, or rub it off with a light touch from my gloved hand. When I look close it almost looks like some of the white may actually be skeleton of the coral maybe it is dying as a result of the slime, maybe the slime is a result of death but it is really hard to tell as the very tip definitely looks soft and seems to be able to be blown off the coral although never completely. Is this normal? What can I do to reverse this trend, remove the white and get back my healthy frag? Should I cut off the branch? Can it spread to the other branches? It has been there for at least a month now and doesn't seem to be spreading although it looks like more quantity of slime has developed with time. Any help would be again greatly appreciated. -Jonathan >>>Hi Jonathan, My first concern would be current. Make sure you have plenty! It should not be linear, but as turbid as possible. Secondly, you may just be seeing an area of tissue loss due to injury. Algae soon colonizes an area such as this. In most cases, given proper conditions, it will get no worse. It does not sound like a case is necrosis to me. Good luck Jim<<< Branching Acropora resurrected...is this possible? Hi Bob, <Anthony Calfo in his stead> I have a most interesting phenomenon occurring in my 100 gallon reef tank. On my last visit to a LFS the owner gave me an (apparently) dead piece of branching Acropora to use as decoration. This fragment was sitting on a shelf and was completely bone dry. It had probably been out of the water for several weeks. Anyway, I put the dead coral (bone white in color) in a niche among my live rock. For about two weeks it still looked the same. On the third week or so I started to notice that the coral was taking on a light red tinge. Right now, after about 4 weeks, it looks almost exactly like one of the pictures on your site. The whole thing has a light red tinge and the tips of the branches are a darker shade of red. Is it even possible for a dead coral to regenerate like this? <Not likely after weeks out of water> The only other possible explanation that I can think of is that it is red algae growing on the dead coral. <a much more likely scenario indeed> This seems unlikely to me, though, because I already have a bit of red slime algae growing on my overflow and it is a much darker shade of red. <Ahhh... there are many thousands of algae species this could be> I did have a problem with red slime algae a couple of months ago, but it completely cleared up except for the small area that I mentioned. There is no new red algae growing anywhere else in the tank. <but there are the "seeds"/spores" of many not expressed but floating in the water pending optimal conditions or substrates to settle out from/on> My tank is not that old (only 5 months), but it is in great shape. I have a deep sand bed and lots of live rock. I have a venturi skimmer in a 20 gallon sump, but that is it. The sand bed, live rock and skimmer have been maintaining the water with little to zero measurable ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. I add calcium powder as necessary, trace elements about once a week, and phytoplankton about twice a week. I have 2 VHO daylight bulbs and 2 VHO blue actinics. The Acropora is sitting directly under the lights and gets fairly strong current. Thank you in advance for your wisdom on this phenomena. Whit Liggett <best regards, Anthony> Acroporas turning brown Hi WWM! <Hi Jen, MacL here with
you tonight.> I know you all are so busy these days, I have tried to
research this on my own and can't really find a lot of info on
Acroporas turning brown. I have asked several online dealers
and the LFS, but I get very conflicting information. <I can tell you
right now that's because multiple things can turn the corals
brown.> I have been told I didn't have enough lighting (when I
had 2 X 150W HQI MH), and upgraded to 2 X 250W HQI MH, and now have
been told I have too much lighting. <Did you acclimate the corals to
the stronger lighting? By acclimate I mean did you give them time to
grow accustomed to the stronger lighting by putting them on for less
hours or perhaps higher above the tank?> I don't know how much
info you need to be able to tell me why this is happening, but here
goes. . . 80 gallon tank, setup three years ago. 100 lbs. of
LR, 60-80 lbs. LS, Lighting: 2X 250 W HQI MH 14k, 2X 96 W PC Actinics,
mounted 10" off top of tank. Aqua C Remora Pro
(upgraded skimmer 6 months ago), 4 Maxi-jet powerheads, approx 920 gph.
Livestock: 1 blue tang, 1 royal Gramma, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 six line
wrasse, 1 citron goby, 3 blue Chromis, 1 cinnamon clown, 15-20 Turbo
snails, 10 Nassarius snails, 20 Astrea snails, 25 various dwarf hermit
crabs, 2 blue tuxedo urchins, 2 Mithrax crabs, 5-10 Cerith snails, 2
brain corals, 1 Favites, 1 Blastomussa, 1 Montipora (also turned
brown), 1 Acropora, 1 yellow Porites. The Acropora and the
Montipora are both near the top of the tank, top 10".
Water Parameters: PH 8.3 1:30pm, Temp 80, Amm 0, Trites 0,
Trates 0, Phosphates 0, Alk 8.4-9.2 DKH, Calc 375, SG 1.025. I use
RO/DI water for top off and water changes. I top off with
one gallon every night. I change about 5 gallons per
week. I use Kalkwasser, turbo calcium, and Warner
Marine's two part A and B. I also started adding this
week Kent's Essential Elements (which I was told I should be adding
every week). <Your levels look great but let me ask? are
you having any ph fluctuation? Also, how long after you got the corals
did they turn color? How long had you had them? Do you have any idea if
they are wild corals? Often wild corals turn colors but will often
regain color after they adjust to the tank. Wild Acroporas
will often change as part of their adjustment. See what I mean by it
could be a lot of things?> Please let me know what you think may be
causing these corals to turn brown. I have also read
"high nutrients" can cause this browning. What nutrients??
<Phosphates can be a problem but generally high nutrients are what
they call the "dirty tank" which is often lots of algae,
plankton, etc.> Where are they coming
from? How can I test for them? If I was
overfeeding wouldn't I see a rise in nitrates and
phosphates? I am just completely confused and my head is
spinning with what everybody has been telling me, please set me
straight. <No worries Jen, I think the most confusing part
is that Acroporas can change because of many things and the
biggest thing is just to go down the list one thing at a time to try to
isolate what did it. Don't worry we can help
you.> Thank You, Jen
Marshall |
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