acro bleaching -- not stn -- what to do?

[CTaylor]

Hi,
This is the only acro doing poorly. The acro has no PE. It did when I first got it 6 weeks or so ago. I already cut off one branch that was bleaching (not stn or rtn, no tissue flaking off). It didnt spread any further from there. But now I notice the lack of PE even at late late night way after lights off. And now I notice a growing patch of bleach on the bottom. And some branches getting lighter (bleaching likely). I know the bleached areas will also die, not just bleach.

I have others in the area doing very well (good color, PE). The PAR goes to about 270 here (even though it's bottom of the tank). You can see part of an acro to the right getting about same light, one in back of it, slightly higher getting about 20 more par. They all get same high water flow. Temp 79-80. Those acros are doing great, as are my others getting both higher and lower PAR levels.

Other params: pH peaks at 8.1 daily, Alk is 10.2 dKH, Ca about 450 ppm. Undectible nitrate (on low scale) and near 0 Phosphorous (on Hanna ultra low). I know I should have a few PPM on both ideally, and I feed a lot.

**Should I dip in CoralRx? Or should I simply give it more light? I know if I do nothing this coral will die. I attached a pic best I could. You can see the lighter area on bottom

Thanks!

 

[NO3]

Usually a sign of an ALK spike of over 12. Test your alk

 

[CTaylor]

Hi,
My Alk , dosed by Ca Reactor. is currently 9.63. I thought it woudl be at 10. bc it's been slowly rising in the past month, but seems to have settled here.
3/27 it was 8.6
3/30 8.7
4/6 9.52 << a jump (likely slowly over the week because I never dumped in any additives)
today 4/15 9.6

The initial branch that bleached was BEFORE the week of my alk 'jump'. So I tend to think it's not an alk issue. This coral is such a nice deep purple pink color, I really love it. Would a Rx dip possibly save it? I know it's going to die eventually if I do nothing. Maybe this one needs more than 250 Par? But it's color is so nice, and seems to have deepened in color since I got it, not the opposite (except in the bleached areas of course!). And it did have PE, but doesnt now. I never moved this coral 1 bit since I got it.
It's under Kessl ap700 and supplement with kessil a600's on either side of the ap700 (my tank is 4' wide -- left to right).

Thanks again!!!

 

[OrionN]

Is this coral a Marine culture coral? From the look of it, I would guess that this is the case.

You should really QT SPS or treat them on arrival. There are many things that cause SPS not doing well. Sometime, MC corals just don't do well in tank, and loose color. There can be pests, really difficult to eradicate from DT, that cause problem. Specifically, AEFW or Red Bugs can infect corals and cause bleaching, poor PE, no growth and dying of the coral. IME, these problem usually start with one or two corals and spread from there. If this is the case, you are in for a hard time.

Do you have experience with either pest? A veteran SPS keeper may be able to look at the corals and help you out. Very good high resolution pictures are needed to see these pests, or evidence of damage from these pests.
Best of luck

 

[OrionN]

Looking at the date you joint RC, you are a veteran reefer.I would remove the colony from your tank and hope that what ever it have, it did not spread. Treat it if you want and QT it until it is doing well. More than a few of us, tend to toss the coral rather than go through the treatment process.
I was cavalier about QT anemones, corals and clams until disease and pests wreck havoc with my DT. Now I have a 40 gal reef and a 20 gal reef set up just for QT and several 20 gal tanks (dry) for treatment with all the light and equipment's needed to set up hospital tank.
I still do not QT my fish most of the time.

 

[rvareef]

Is this coral a Marine culture coral? From the look of it, I would guess that this is the case.

You should really QT SPS or treat them on arrival. There are many things that cause SPS not doing well. Sometime, MC corals just don't do well in tank, and loose color. There can be pests, really difficult to eradicate from DT, that cause problem. Specifically, AEFW or Red Bugs can infect corals and cause bleaching, poor PE, no growth and dying of the coral. IME, these problem usually start with one or two corals and spread from there. If this is the case, you are in for a hard time.

Do you have experience with either pest? A veteran SPS keeper may be able to look at the corals and help you out. Very good high resolution pictures are needed to see these pests, or evidence of damage from these pests.
Best of luck

+1 Looks like a mariculture, did you quarantine?

 

[shrimpman_oz]

I'd be getting ready to chop that up and glue onto some plugs. Once we get to this point is never gone well for me.

 

[CTaylor]

Thank you for the replies. I can not set up a QT tank. At least not one that's permanent. I dont know how else one can be set up if it's not permanent. IS THAT POSSIBLE? I do havea 20 gallon long tank and metal stand in storage I can use but really if I can do it on temporary basis somehow. I have a small apartment, which it's phyisclaly possible to do, but anywhere it is will be an eye sore. In the future would a pre-dip (coral RX or soemthing along those lines) lower chances of pathogens happening, if in fact there is one on this coral?

I'm very bad at photography, though I do have a nikon DSLR (d550?). If I get a chance soon I'll try to find a youtube video to show how to take in focus pics. All pics I take with it of my aquarium are out of focus (needless to say super blue -- I need a gel filter for that).

I MAY have noticed PE last night at 3 am. Extremely tiny polyps. I will monitor it and see if the bleaching does or does not spread.
**If I take a magnifying glass will I be able to see if there are the red bugs, etc on the coral?

Thank you!

 

[OrionN]

Do a search on Red Bug and AEFW (Acropora Eating Flat Worms) and you will get plenty of information and pictures of these pest, plus how to attemp to treat them. Often this require removal of all the SPS and treat in hospital tank. Leave the tank Acro free for a period of time until the pest starve then restart.

 

[CTaylor]

I do not think it's either the flat worm or the red bug. I do not see any type of circular bleach marks at all. I also, even with magnifying glass see nothing like a orange red or anyt other type of mark at all. I'm going to take a semi educated stab/guess this coral may need more light? I'm going to guess that from the way it's bleaching bottom up (mainly), as it may not be bleaching on the branches like I thought. And also the extreme purple of this coral just makes me think it might be more of a strong light type of acro. Again that is a guess. And I am seeing tiny tiny PE even now as lights are on (evening). I dont want to burn it. Should I put this coral in a 300-350 par light zone? Should I do the dip just in case?

 

[CTaylor]

I'd love to have a QT set up for future prevention (hopeully i'm not needing irradiation right now). Unless I'm wrong, that would obviously mean setting up another full fledged reef tank, right? ugh! lol

 

[CTaylor]

A reef master friend of mine said it very well could be my higher alk in combo with zero ppBillion phosphorous and zero nitrate caused this. He said to bring down my alk to 7-8. He doesnt know for sure this is the answer, but it makes sense. That my tank doesnt have enough nutrients for the acro to grow soft tissue as fast as it is growing skeleton, therefore skeleton becomes exposed. Though he said I need to cut the coral up anyhow.
*If he's right, can't I just let the bleaching (liekly actually tissue regression) slowly stop as alk lowers?

Thanks

 

[OrionN]

Coral cannot grown skeletons unless it have tissue. Oh can starve coral, but they will not grow any skeleton. Your coral is not doing well due to whatever reason. Low nutrient could be one of them but these generally become very light in zooxanthalea and light in color intensity.

 

[CTaylor]

Hi Orion,
So you think it is not possible that my combo of higher alk and 0 phosphorous and 0 nitrate (not detectable on a low scale) is the main cause for my issue? It is a coincidence then I have this combo.
And if Im not able to set up a QT tank, can Coral RX or similar be used as a secondary option? I know it's not going to be as good a choice, but Coral RX is made to cure coral diseases.
Thanks again!

 

[Chicagoreef2016]

A reef master friend of mine said it very well could be my higher alk in combo with zero ppBillion phosphorous and zero nitrate caused this. He said to bring down my alk to 7-8. He doesnt know for sure this is the answer, but it makes sense. That my tank doesnt have enough nutrients for the acro to grow soft tissue as fast as it is growing skeleton, therefore skeleton becomes exposed. Though he said I need to cut the coral up anyhow.
*If he's right, can't I just let the bleaching (liekly actually tissue regression) slowly stop as alk lowers?

Thanks

This above could be a cause. See below link for a decent explanation.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2672718

 

[OrionN]

If you only see one of multiple corals doing poorly it is hard to think that it is the water. Water will affect all of the corals. Some more than other but all will be affected. If one or two out of twenty affected and the rest is NORMAL AND GROWING WELL then water is not a problem IMO

 

[CTaylor]

I will read that link when I have a chance..THough it looks familiar from the first post or two. There are some other acros (two tables) that have outter branches bleaching, but still with some PE. There is also another acro with dead/bleach spots on it's back side that I didnt see until further inspection. I notice now that the lower part, maybe 1/2 sq inch area on another acro has a dead spot. That's actually about 1/2 the acros affected. and maybe other spots I'm not seeing on the 'good' ones.
**It's been a week, and the bleaching progress really looks like it has stopped. It stopped about the day I stopped dosing alk. My alk right now is just over 7 (NSW levels). And I'll liekly keep it there until I can get my Phosph and Nitrate levels to something. THis is a short term progress. We'll see how it is in the next months.
I just need to keep that 7 al kbalance now. I was thinking to put my Ca reactor on a timer, b/c if it's always on, even on lowest setting which is wher eit was pretty much I can not keep it under 9. I was going to have the Solenoid on for 12 hours and off for 12, see how that goes...But I THINK i (not I really) solved this problem.

 

[gavij012379]

I just read this post and I have a similar issue that pretty much wiped out all my frags and a few colonies that I had. I was trying to maintain my alkalinity at 13 dKH and Ca at 470 for the past two months but my Ca went all the way to 530 and alk was up to 12 dKH. I was also adjusting my light intensity at the same time so not sure exactly what caused it.
How did your other corals fared? Did you had better results once you reduced your alkalinity? Thanks.