what is going on???

[ladizzlee]

Hello everyone, i have a biocube 32 with quite the amount of corals in it but i just can’t figure this guy out. i had it on the bottom and never showed it’s little green polyp things. now i’ve had it on the topish of the tank getting a good flow and some light and now it’s like flaking off its skin. what is going on?! any tips? 

 

on the second photo it’s the encrusting corals i got, the red one on the bottom has actually grown but the one on the top is also flaking and hasn’t grown at all since i got it. 

 

both problem corals are in about the same place in the tank right now.   

 

 

checked my water and all levels good and doing a water change at the moment. we have been doing them about every two weeks now. 

[xM3THODx]

Im sorry but it looks like you'll be losing that sps. Flaking or peeling of the tissue is a sign of RTN and may be already gone as I'm typing this or within a day, but some tissue may survive if the issue is caught in time.

 

 How long has your system been running for?  Giving as many details as you'd like to share will help us help you figuring out the cause and a solution. More pics to the system, detailed water parameters, etc. 

[ladizzlee]

okay so i’ve has the tank about two months now. it went thru it’s cycle and has been pretty good now. i’ve been doing water changes every 1-2 weeks 

 

all levels have actually been good testing for ph ammonia nitrite nitrate phosphate calcium alkalinity and magnesium.

 

ive been putting A& B for about 1.5 week because my my calcium and alkalinity was low but everything is good now. 

 

the only thing i’m doing now is putting an ick treatment because of my tang but i am about to get it out of this tank. 

 

what else exactly would you like to know?

[A.m.P]

Wait a minute, aren't most ich treatments not reef safe and potentially lethal to corals and other inverts?

[Thrassian Atoll]

6 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Wait a minute, aren't most ich treatments not reef safe and potentially lethal to corals and other inverts?

Yeah, most contain copper and very harmful to the whole system.  

[xM3THODx]

1 hour ago, ladizzlee said:

okay so i’ve has the tank about two months now. it went thru it’s cycle and has been pretty good now. i’ve been doing water changes every 1-2 weeks 

 

all levels have actually been good testing for ph ammonia nitrite nitrate phosphate calcium alkalinity and magnesium.

 

ive been putting A& B for about 1.5 week because my my calcium and alkalinity was low but everything is good now. 

 

the only thing i’m doing now is putting an ick treatment because of my tang but i am about to get it out of this tank. 

 

what else exactly would you like to know?

Treating the whole tank for fish disease or parasites isn't advisable. Immediately stop unless the the medication specifically says it's reef safe. 

Steps to take...

1. stop medicating or take the tang out and medicate in a separate tank

2. run some activated carbon to remove any medication in the water

3. do 10% water changes every day for a week

 

Hopefully that'll get the water quality back where the corals will be happy. Keep us updated!

[mcarroll]

Prolly using something reef safe and this is a birdsnest coral...

 

Birdsnests are known to go this way if they don't like tank conditions or if they get handled too much/too hard. 

 

I wouldn't be in a hurry to blame external factors like a reef-safe ich treatment, though something like that probably doesn't help things either.  (Deploying a UV filter and/or micron filter would be even-more-reef-safe alternatives to this type of treatment.)

 

The usual response when a green birdsnest does this, assuming the tank is supporting other corals (which it is), is just to try again.  Don't freak out.  🙂

 

Make sure you have good flow and light in the zone where you place your birdsnest.

 

And make sure you aren't in the process of starving your tank (o nitrate/0 phosphate levels) or treating it for anything when you add the frag.   A new frag will require LOTS of basic buidling blocks, and nitrate and phosphate are two of the biggest ones.

 

Ideally, the frag should be the tank's only disturbance at the time it's added.