1 or 2 white polyps on bottom of acro - ok or STN?

[timdanger]

I noticed this morning that there are 1-2 white polyps on the bottom of my green slimer acro (a. yongei). i can't really get a decent picture because of the direction the polyps are facing. but, it's just a tiny white area, and it's right where i just puttied the thing (so, it may have actually had the putty on those polyps.

 

my first thought was STN. but, it doesn't really seem to have gotten significantly worse during the day, as far as i can tell. and, i don't see any "flesh" falling off. so, i wonder if i just killed those polyps when i was puttying the acro in place, or if maybe it's beginning to grow to form a base.

 

i have a montipora digitata in the tank as well, and it looks fine.

 

now, i've been testing every day to work on my parameters (which have fallen out of whack lately because, as I discovered, my Mg had dropped). anyway, my calcium is at 390, my alkalinity is at 7.5 and my Mg is (as I had suspected but didn't have a test for) at 1000. i had been dosing two-part daily to try to get Ca/Alk numbers up, but had little success in raising those numbers (obviously because of the Mg).

 

anyway, after I confirmed that my Mg was low (thanks LFS), i did a 10% water change and also added the max allowable dose of Seachem Mg. i then dosed a quarter dose of Ca and a regular dose of Alk (with the goal to get Ca to 420, Alk to 8 and Mg to 1350).

 

ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/phosphates all undetectable. SG at 1.025

 

does anyone have any suggestion about what might be going on? should i preemptively cut now (certainly seems to be slow moving at this point, if it is some kind of tissue necrosis)?

 

thanks!

 

 

Edit: I observed it again this morning, and the white area seems to be about the same with no noticeable change/expansion. I'll check my Ca/Alk when I go home for lunch.

[organism]

White polyps don't necessarily mean STN, that's usually when the polyps slowly die out entirely. Your alk is fairly low though which can definitely lead to STN, are you dosing kalk in your top-off water?

[timdanger]

White polyps don't necessarily mean STN, that's usually when the polyps slowly die out entirely. Your alk is fairly low though which can definitely lead to STN, are you dosing kalk in your top-off water?

 

Still doesn't appear noticeably worse.

 

My alk is at 8dkh as of about half an hour ago.

 

I'm not using Kalkwasser at all -- i'm dosing Brightwell Reef Code A/B 2-part, and I'm using Seachem Reef Advantage Magnesium (which is super diluted - I'd like to switch to Brightwell Magnesion-P when I run out, which should be.. tomorrow, probably).

[organism]

If you put some kalk in your ATO it'll keep your alkalinity much more stable to be honest with you, start with 1 tablespoon every five gallons of ro/di water and work up from there if need be. It's also much, much cheaper

 

The thing is that your acros and stony corals will use the extra alkalinity. Adding more kalk doesn't necessarily mean that your alkalinity will rise at the same rate, it'll probably stay close to the same and slowly rise over time as your acros start growing much more quickly.

[timdanger]

If you put some kalk in your ATO it'll keep your alkalinity much more stable to be honest with you, start with 1 tablespoon every five gallons of ro/di water and work up from there if need be. It's also much, much cheaper

 

i know -- i mean, i've gone back and forth on kalk. my main concern, though, is without a reactor, i'm just waiting for a float switch on my ATO to fail. i've got a JBJ ATO and an Aqualifter, so the amount of downside might be negligible as far as fresh water goes, but putting too much kalk in definitely sounds like a potential danger.

 

also, what about the fact that it increases Mg depletion, which I already apparently have a problem with?

[timdanger]

checked again this morning (about 48 hours since I first noticed the issue). still looks the same, with no noticeable expansion of the white area.

 

dosed a heap-load of Mg and a regular dose of Ca again last night, then Alk this morning. will test again at lunch.

 

hoping for the best!

[organism]

i know -- i mean, i've gone back and forth on kalk. my main concern, though, is without a reactor, i'm just waiting for a float switch on my ATO to fail.

 

I used to have the same issue, and finally found an auto top-off with dual float valves to protect from failures. After that I started dosing kalk and growth on my acros really took off. Not sure if they're still around but I got mine from autotopoff.com.

[timdanger]

I used to have the same issue, and finally found an auto top-off with dual float valves to protect from failures. After that I started dosing kalk and growth on my acros really took off. Not sure if they're still around but I got mine from autotopoff.com.

 

i've got my JBJ running in the mode that uses both float valves in the sump. it seems like the safest setting for avoiding a flood.