Montipora Coral Flesch Peeling

[King Detritus]

I scored a deal on ome Monti frags and decided to put them in my 16g 9 month old tank. It was fine for a week and I moved it from the sand bed to a mid tank higher flow location. The next day a noticed the highest tip had peeled off. I moved back down and closer to another Monti. Today I noticed the part touching that had peeled off. I don't understand what is going on. After doing some internet searching I understand it could be any of these...

 

High salinity
High temperature
High calcium
High nitrates
Insufficient lighting
Too much flow

 

Salinity is 1.025. Temp is 78. Nitrates are less than 2. Phosphates are less than .03. My alk is 7.8. I don't have calc or mag tests. I dont think its the lighting and my flow is not very high. I'm overdue for waterchange so I'm thinking of doing a half gallon to hopefully replenish calc or mag.

 

Any other thoughts or ideas?

[King Detritus]

[King Detritus]

I uploaded a few photos best I could. I shoukd note it showed noticeable growth buds in its first week. I since moved it away from the other Monti to be safe.

[mcarroll]

2 hours ago, King Detritus said:

I scored a deal on ome Monti frags and decided to put them in my 16g 9 month old tank. It was fine for a week and I moved it from the sand bed to a mid tank higher flow location. The next day a noticed the highest tip had peeled off. I moved back down and closer to another Monti. Today I noticed the part touching that had peeled off. I don't understand what is going on. After doing some internet searching I understand it could be any of these...

 

High salinity
High temperature
High calcium
High nitrates
Insufficient lighting
Too much flow

 

Salinity is 1.025. Temp is 78. Nitrates are less than 2. Phosphates are less than .03. My alk is 7.8. I don't have calc or mag tests. I dont think its the lighting and my flow is not very high. I'm overdue for waterchange so I'm thinking of doing a half gallon to hopefully replenish calc or mag.

 

Any other thoughts or ideas?

Is there any chance something is picking on them?  Maybe after hours?

 

It would be ideal if you also knew the parameters of the tank where you got it.  The difference between the old tank and your tank might be more interesting than a cold look at your stats like this.

 

Your "possible problems" list is practically every common thing that can go wrong (except too much flow.....rarely or never hear of that), so not sure that's a good place to start.

 

Monti's aren't THAT particular about things usually, but some are more-so than others.

 

Your temp and salinity are probably fine, as long as they are reasonable stable.  Phosphates and nitrates being that low COULD be a problem, depending how accurate your tests are and how stable those numbers are – there's no room for those numbers to go down.  Try easing up on waterchanges, mechanical filtering, etc. and see if these numbers rise into better/safer territory.  Alk of 7.8 dKH is fine, but again that depends on how stable that number is.  Low flow is bad not good.  Lighting is usually better at a moderate-to-low level, if you have a way to measure.  (Lux meter apps are free; handheld lux meters are <$20.  It's good to be able to assess lighting objectively somehow.)

 

To me the only things that really stand out are the claimed low flow and dissolved nutrient levels being so low (especially if this is different from the frags origin tank).

 

I gave you ideas earlier on how to get nutrients up, and you might have more ideas.  Definitely do something to nudge things higher – right now they are at the lowest recommended limit.  Is there any significant algae growth in the tank that you can eliminate?

 

Most modern pumps have very weak flow, so it's practically impossible to have too much flow these days.....you'd probably break the bank or run out of space to mount pumps before you irritated your corals with flow. 😉  So it could be worth increasing flow in the tank, or keeping the coral in the higher-flow areas, at least.   In general, low-flow will turn the tank into a detritus farm within about 1-2 years..."old tank syndrome" but before the tank has a chance to actually get old....so the flow is worth correcting if it really is on the low side.

[Murphs_Reef]

That does look like it's been picked at or scrapped to be fair. In the hard blue lightning picture it is down to the bone and looks clean. 

 

But if not and it's the flesh I would definitely get a way to measure you calcium and magnesium before trying to draw conclusions. Also do you know what your pH value is?

 

Nutrients that low like @mcarroll suggest are known to cause issues.. and you will need to provide some other form of food if you keep them that low. For reference my nitrate is around 5ppm and phosphate is 0.1ppm (not a typo it's zero point one) which I understand is higher than a lot of people like but it's not extreme. 

 

The coral is definitely recoverable though.. it's only minor damage at this stage dude 😎

[King Detritus]

11 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Is there any chance something is picking on them?  Maybe after hours?

@mcarroll Thank you again for sharing your wisdom with me!

 

No, I don't think so. Only one fish (mochavinci clownfish), on hermit, and about 8 snails.

 

11 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Try easing up on waterchanges,

I'm coming up on almost 4 weeks no water changes because I wanted to get my levels up. The alk was about 8.6 at the beginning and has dropped about .2 per week.

 

11 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Low flow is bad not good.

So let me clarify - directly above where the monti was is where my HOB filter dumps. I also have a power head on the top right that circulates the water. It is not a high flow environment compared to other tanks but not really low flow. I was thinking it's not enough to rip flesh off a coral. 

 

11 hours ago, mcarroll said:

I gave you ideas earlier on how to get nutrients up, and you might have more ideas.  Definitely do something to nudge things higher – right now they are at the lowest recommended limit.  Is there any significant algae growth in the tank that you can eliminate?

I am considering getting another fish. Ideally something utilitarian, but I think I'd prefer to source another mochavinci clownfish. I don't have a lot of algae but my clean up crew could be bolstered for sure.

 

11 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Lighting is usually better at a moderate-to-low level, if you have a way to measure.

I'll try the lux meter to check - eventually I'd like to get coral for the higher rocks. It would be good to know.

 

7 hours ago, Murphs_Reef said:

But if not and it's the flesh I would definitely get a way to measure you calcium and magnesium before trying to draw conclusions. Also do you know what your pH value is?

@Murphs_Reef Thank you. All great points! 

 

No, but I'll pick up some salifert kits for ph, calc, and mag to further troubleshoot.

 

7 hours ago, Murphs_Reef said:

you will need to provide some other form of food if you keep them that low.

I was broadcasting frozen food. I still have some and could try that again if I don't get another fish immediately.

 

 

7 hours ago, Murphs_Reef said:

The coral is definitely recoverable though.. it's only minor damage at this stage dude 😎

Thank you for the kind words and encouragement. I'm hopeful! 

[mcarroll]

6 hours ago, King Detritus said:

I don't have a lot of algae but my clean up crew could be bolstered for sure.

Algae can put a pretty heavy demand on dissolved nutrients, but usually only if there's a bloom going on or if there are mature stands of algae.  

 

If it's just a little algae here and there, then that's more or less normal and shouldn't be a problem.  

 

But if it's enough algae that you're considering expanding your CUC because of it, then it could be having an impact on nutrient levels being so low.

 

Adding a fish just to get nutrients up may not be the best course....it could turn out just to be a short term problem.  I would only consider adding a fish if you were ALREADY planning to add another fish.   Low bio-load is usually better in the long run, all things considered.

[King Detritus]

2 hours ago, mcarroll said:

If it's just a little algae here and there, then that's more or less normal and shouldn't be a problem.

@mcarroll That's what I'm seeing. I had a pretty bad hair algae outbreak awhile back, but I'm past that.

 

2 hours ago, mcarroll said:

But if it's enough algae that you're considering expanding your CUC because of it, then it could be having an impact on nutrient levels being so low.

Personally, I think I'm flying a little light on the crew - 1 hermit and 7 snails. If I did add it would likely be 1-2 snails or 2 hermits or a shrimp. That's how I was rationalizing it. 

 

2 hours ago, mcarroll said:

I would only consider adding a fish if you were ALREADY planning to add another fish.

Eventually, I see this tank having 2-3 fish. A pair of mochavincis would be cool. But yes, I would be timing it now due to this issue. There's a local place that could source it for me at a reasonable price, but I just wouldn't get to pick the exact fish. I'm particular and look at the LFS to see if they ever get one by chance. However, if I came across a grade A or extreme - I'd snap it up so it's something I'd consider sourcing for sure. 

[King Detritus]

Update. I have been waiting to see if the problem persists - ie I did not do anything to the tank besides top off and feed. I did a heavy frozen feed about two days ago. It appears the monti is starting to heal on the left spot. Maybe the right will heal in the next two days since that damage is a bit younger. Idk but I'll keep watching. Unfiltered pics for reference as it easier to see the damage 

[King Detritus]

Also idk if it matters but I did see the red scale missing off the left floating in the tank. Does this rule out a pest picking at it as it didn't eat it?