Acro Growth

[Scubajoe1]

Here are a few pics of some acro growth over two month period. Trying to take the same pics each month now but color is not always the same. Guess I should take at the same time of day.

Pics on the bottom are about 2 months ago and on top are this week. Don't pay so much attention to the color as that changes depending on time of day.

More comparisons are on the page. I can't get a photo to show up on my posts for some reason only links. Please let me know if you can see the set of pics.

 

[Pife]

Embed your photos and you'll get more responses.

 

[Scubajoe1]

I tried that but they show up as little boxes with question marks. Any idea how to do it? I clock on the photo icon and inset the link but no luck.

 

[Pife]

Click the little box with the mountain landscape and insert the url there. Then before you post click go advanced or preview post and see if you pictures show up.

 

[Scubajoe1]

OK here are a couple of the pics. Depends which link I choose from photo bucket apparently. Thanks

 

[Pife]

Your top acro looks to be stning.

 

[Scubajoe1]

stning?

 

[nemodan]

STN: slow tissue necropsy

Stning..... Having STN

 

[kevin_e]

STN: slow tissue necropsy

Stning..... Having STN

Yes, it doesn't look healthy. Losing tissue and no polyp extension.

 

[Scubajoe1]

It's looked the same for two months now and never had any polyp extension even in the store. It's also encrusted quite substantially around the base in two months. I don't think a dying SPS would be encrusting so much but maybe. If this is STN do you recommend a revive dip?

Current water parameters: Alkalinity 9.45, Ca 449, phosphates: 0.06 ppm, nitrates 1.5 ppm, Mg 1400, Temp always between 78.5 and 79.1

No biopellets or GFO for at least 4 months. Water was way too clean at one point so I removed those. Removed those from my signature as well but they seem to still be there.

 

[JB NY]

I don't think it looks to be STN, I think it is just some shadowing in the picture. A lot of corals will lay down a good base in the beginning and then take time to start showing some real growth at the branches. Right now it is growing, it is just not growing like you want it to.

 

[Pife]

In the top picture the acro looks to have lost a large portion of skin and there is a new bright white chunk of skeleton exposed. Could you get a better picture of that area?

 

[Scubajoe1]

So I did a dip on the coral in revive to make sure there were no AEFL and I am all clear there. It does not look like it's losing tissue but there are some spots where the color is lighter. The underside of this coral is a light brown while the top par is a bright green. I am guessing it's because it's not getting light or as much light on the underside. Is this common? Should I move it up to get more light?

Thanks

Joe

 

[Scubajoe1]

feedback from James at vivid aquariums.


Joe,
That is pretty common to see the underside either a lighter color or brown due to lack of light, but that is normal for most acros particularly the ones that grow very dense. Tissue necrosis would be bone white when the flesh comes off. On a side note i will say that this is much more noticeable when you run LEDs since their light is very directional. If the top half of the coral looks good i would leave it where it is.

James

Thank You,
Vivid Aquariums

 

[kevin_e]

Call it what you want, but there is definite tissue loss. you can clearly see where the tissue ends and the skeleton is exposed. It could very well be from light shadowing, however, that coral is pretty small for that to be the likely cause. Exposed skeleton will turn brown or sometimes darker with a green hint very, very quickly after losing the tissue covering it.

The lack of polyp extension is more troubling to me. It's definitely not happy.

 

[nemodan]

Definitely there is missing tissue. But as said, I have learned , on my corals, that in situations like those, to leave the coral alone and have an eye on it. If in 2-3 days it progress, then you have STN. If not, it will just stay like that.

As said also, no polyp extension is an alarm sign. Does this Acro extend its polyps at night ? Take a look to it after 2 hours the lights went off. You have to see the polyps out looking for food. If they are not out...... then I see a problem.

 

[Scubajoe1]

I will let you know if a couple months. I took it out and examined it with a magnifying glass. There is no exposed skeleton. I have seen what exposed coral skeleton looks like.

I have seen this comment in many places when asked what is wrong because I don't see any poly extension.

Nothing - Some SPS just don't have good polyp extension - FWIW, polyps extension isn't always a good determination of whether a coral is healthy or not.

All parameters are good, all other corals are healthy and this one is still growing but like I said I will report back in a couple months. This is a pretty good sized acro about the size of my closed fist. It does not get any light on the underside except for a little reflected light.