OkstateCowboy Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 I haven't found much help on my particular situation so hopefully I can get some good advice. Set up a nano reef, with a sump, just about a month ago. Got some coral, lost one, then i got a Purple Stylophora about 2 weeks ago and i buried it in the sand at the bottom so that i couldn't see the disk that it was attached too. Everything was alright till a couple of days ago, the coral seems to be bleaching from the bottom up. I have done a good amount of reading about what it could be, which it became clear that it could be doing this for many reasons. Just to list a few: 1) the part that was under the sand died due to no light, which it died off, thought it would stop once i saw it but didn't. 2) also i have a lot of current and it seems to be tugging at the hanging dead parts which could be causing it to continue to peel.( just now turned off the current to see what happens). 3) Bleaching due to too much light or too warm. (temp at 78F, light seems to be fine due to my lower light corals are fine and the stylophora is a sps coral). I also read here http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2014/2/myths that Bleaching is a sign of stress from multiple things like temp change or light change and can possibly lead to death, but it also says that corals regularly recover from this, and if thats so i don't want to cut it and see what it does. Most people who encounter this cut the coral and throw away the white part, when they are still alive and could possibly come back. Any thoughts? Pics: Also thought i show the setup: Link to comment
basser1 Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 If it was bleaching, it would be from the top down, not the other way. It is STN or slow tissue necrosis. I'm leaning towards poor water quality. What are your numbers for Alk., Cal,, and magnesium? Also phosphate is important too. One thing to note about SPS corals is they are finnicky about water quality. If something gets out of whack, they are slow to recover. Coarse it could also be the Hot poster on the wall...... you never know. Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 If you correct it asap it should recover in several weeks. My colony has done the same and completely healed. Good luck Link to comment
OkstateCowboy Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 If it was bleaching, it would be from the top down, not the other way. It is STN or slow tissue necrosis. I'm leaning towards poor water quality. What are your numbers for Alk., Cal,, and magnesium? Also phosphate is important too. One thing to note about SPS corals is they are finnicky about water quality. If something gets out of whack, they are slow to recover. Coarse it could also be the Hot poster on the wall...... you never know. Lol, Im waiting to get a reef test kit, but i was able to test the most common; pH: 8.4 Ammonia: between 0 and 0.25 ppm Nitrite: 0 ppm Nitrate: 0 ppm Calcium: 340 ppm Phosphate: 0 ppm Salinity: 35 or 1.025 Link to comment
FlamingPrawn Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 How often are you doing water changes? I would Dip it too.. just to make sure. Make sure no magnets in the tank are rusty (seen it before with STN). Revive would be the dip i go for. do a solid 5-10 minute and shake that bad boy. Link to comment
OkstateCowboy Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 If you correct it asap it should recover in several weeks. My colony has done the same and completely healed. Good luck Correct..as in what? So it grew back? I don't hear much about people saying theirs grew back Link to comment
OkstateCowboy Posted January 15, 2015 Author Share Posted January 15, 2015 How often are you doing water changes? I would Dip it too.. just to make sure. Make sure no magnets in the tank are rusty (seen it before with STN). Revive would be the dip i go for. do a solid 5-10 minute and shake that bad boy. What do you mean by "Dip"? Last water change was the other day Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Correct..as in what? So it grew back? I don't hear much about people saying theirs grew back If you get your water parameters perfect there is a good chance that it will come back. Check your alkalinity asap. Most pet stores that sell corals will do a free water test that includes alk. I would consider that if I were you. While I do not think this is the cause of your problems, you should try and take care of the current ammonia issue. Perfect water is the only way the coral will recover. Depending on your alkalinity level, you may want to try and bring your calcium level up to around 400, while it is not super low SPS corals can be really finicky sometimes. What do you mean by "Dip"? Last water change was the other day A coral dip is when you purchase a solution like coral RX or coral Revive and allow the coral to sit in a mixture of tank water and the dipping solution for 5 to 10 minutes. This can remove any parasites as well as help the coral recover. Honestly you should be dipping every coral you put in your tank to make sure you do not bring in pests like flatworms or pest snails. Side note: SPS corals typically do not belong on the sand bed. There is not as good of flow on the sand bed as there is up higher in the tank. They do better if glued to a rock in the middle to upper half of the tank. In the wild they are growing at the tops of the reefs not the bottom. If you ever need to know about where a piece should be placed you can check on live aquaria as they are a great reference. I have included the link for a stylophora. If you don't like seeing the plug you can sometimes snap the glue holding the coral in place depending on how much it has grown over the plug. Or you can glue the entire plug on the rock and in a few months the coral will have covered the entire plug. Good luck!! http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+2341+2511+2365&pcatid=2365 Link to comment
alanwest09872 Posted January 15, 2015 Share Posted January 15, 2015 Also thought i show the setup: I cant figure out why but my eyes arnt drawn to the tanks. Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Correct..as in what? So it grew back? I don't hear much about people saying theirs grew back What i meant is "fix"....... & yes, grew back... at this point it was already on its way back, but it was worse https://flic.kr/p/jm3n9Q'>https://flic.kr/p/jm3n9Q'>Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/people/66620096@N02/'>J.L Photography, on Flickr Stylophora 2-8-14 by J.L Photography, on Flickr Stylophora 3-15-14 by J.L Photography, on Flickr Stylophora 4-18-14 by J.L Photography, on Flickr Link to comment
East1 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Generally peeling from the base is a sign of one of multiple problems, it's the coral shedding inefficient tissue, I'd suggest looking at: Alk - generally overly high alk or non stable alk can cause this, and when combined with really low phosphate levels can cause quite a problem. I notice you don't test for alk and your calcium is quite low, I'd work on using a supplement solution to ensure alkalinity is stable (I use a dosing pump) and calcium is kept in check too. I'd aim for something between 7,5 and 9DKh personally Flow - I doubt it but the same as above, inefficient tissue will die off due to low water flow. it's important to notice the flesh 'peeling' and this isn't bleaching - a bleaching event is when the polyps remain and lose their colour pigments, what you're seeing is necrosis which is that portion of the coral shedding or dying. Link to comment
OkstateCowboy Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 If you get your water parameters perfect there is a good chance that it will come back. Check your alkalinity asap. Most pet stores that sell corals will do a free water test that includes alk. I would consider that if I were you. While I do not think this is the cause of your problems, you should try and take care of the current ammonia issue. Perfect water is the only way the coral will recover. Depending on your alkalinity level, you may want to try and bring your calcium level up to around 400, while it is not super low SPS corals can be really finicky sometimes. A coral dip is when you purchase a solution like coral RX or coral Revive and allow the coral to sit in a mixture of tank water and the dipping solution for 5 to 10 minutes. This can remove any parasites as well as help the coral recover. Honestly you should be dipping every coral you put in your tank to make sure you do not bring in pests like flatworms or pest snails. Side note: SPS corals typically do not belong on the sand bed. There is not as good of flow on the sand bed as there is up higher in the tank. They do better if glued to a rock in the middle to upper half of the tank. In the wild they are growing at the tops of the reefs not the bottom. If you ever need to know about where a piece should be placed you can check on live aquaria as they are a great reference. I have included the link for a stylophora. If you don't like seeing the plug you can sometimes snap the glue holding the coral in place depending on how much it has grown over the plug. Or you can glue the entire plug on the rock and in a few months the coral will have covered the entire plug. Good luck!! http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597+2341+2511+2365&pcatid=2365 Okay ill get some of that coral revive and do that. Is doing water changes the best way to replace calcium ? I plan on moving the coral up but thought it would be fine in the sand for a couple weeks till it acclimated then move it up. The coral was already encrusted on the disk so i couldn't get if off easy. Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 How could i also forget, this coral is stuck into the sand..... it needs to be up at the top, it enjoys intense lighting! Link to comment
OkstateCowboy Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 What i meant is "fix"....... & yes, grew back... at this point it was already on its way back, but it was worse Untitled by J.L Photography, on Flickr Stylophora 2-8-14 by J.L Photography, on Flickr Stylophora 3-15-14 by J.L Photography, on Flickr Stylophora 4-18-14 by J.L Photography, on Flickr wow nice looking purple stylophora, snow white too that awesome! Link to comment
TheKleinReef Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 i skimmed this thread and didn't read much haha, but whenever my SPS touched the sand, STN started no matter what. It could just be as simple as fragging above the STN and moving it off the sand. but if that doesn't work, then it's probably something else. Link to comment
OkstateCowboy Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 Generally peeling from the base is a sign of one of multiple problems, it's the coral shedding inefficient tissue, I'd suggest looking at: Alk - generally overly high alk or non stable alk can cause this, and when combined with really low phosphate levels can cause quite a problem. I notice you don't test for alk and your calcium is quite low, I'd work on using a supplement solution to ensure alkalinity is stable (I use a dosing pump) and calcium is kept in check too. I'd aim for something between 7,5 and 9DKh personally Flow - I doubt it but the same as above, inefficient tissue will die off due to low water flow. it's important to notice the flesh 'peeling' and this isn't bleaching - a bleaching event is when the polyps remain and lose their colour pigments, what you're seeing is necrosis which is that portion of the coral shedding or dying. Oh okay. Ill run up to petco and have them do a water test. should i turn my current back on? i skimmed this thread and didn't read much haha, but whenever my SPS touched the sand, STN started no matter what. It could just be as simple as fragging above the STN and moving it off the sand. but if that doesn't work, then it's probably something else. Agreed, I'm actually going to just go ahead and frag it tonight. Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Petco? oh this explains a lot... Link to comment
OkstateCowboy Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 Petco? oh this explains a lot... Thats the only fish store where I'm at.. The one i normally go to is 45 min. away My alk level is between 180-300 Link to comment
OkstateCowboy Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 update: Decided to leave the bad part in to see what happens Link to comment
Bingo1213 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Good call on fragging and as far as raising calcium levels, there are many ways to accomplish this. If you use good quality salt then a water change could help. You can also add liquid supplements, for nano's I really like B ionic or Kent nano reef AB. These are 2 parts meaning you have to add both parts in equal amounts, just read the bottles and it will explain it. With any supplements you have to be careful not to overdose the system/raise the levels too quickly. Add a little, wait a day, test, repeat as necessary. Personally I like calcium reactors but those are for tanks with very high ca, alk, and mag demands. Link to comment
OkstateCowboy Posted January 18, 2015 Author Share Posted January 18, 2015 Update: After adding a reef starter kit from kent marine my coral stopped showing signs of necrosis. The kit included; Liquid Calcium, Strontium & Molybdenum, and Iodide. Im pretty sure the calcium was the trick, after adding 5mL of Calcium the first day my readings went from 340ppm to 400ppm. I have added 5mL each day for 2 days and will continue to monitor my calcium levels along with the rest. The areas on the coral where there seemed to be no luck of coming back the remaining polyps are extending out which is great! Link to comment
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