Larcat you've done an amazing job researching. The pics in this thread are probably the best compilation of the issue to date. What is going on in my tank is definitely the hyperplasia, not neoplasia.
Thanks. I feel like this issue has to be solveable, but it won't be if all the info is scattered. I'm going to try and keep this thing live.
FWIW, this hasn't gone away for me. I've started tossing the corals this is affecting, but I can't bring myself to chisel out that big bonsai - it's literally the tank's centre-piece.
We've tossed one -- Nilbog Resident from Battle Corals. It had grown lots, but hadn't branched at all. Just his massing, chalice-looking hyperplasial growth
Don't be so quick to toss though -- Dr. Williams has proven that recovery is possible/common after physical removal of impacted growth. For many people, I think, other tank issues lead to crashes before they can "prune" away all the hyperplasial growth.
I'm going to make another post about this later, but Mark Shick, head of special collections at the Shedd Aquarium was kind enough to return a voice mail I left him. He said much the same thing as Dr. Williams -- "Environmental, cut away impacted areas, no firm handle on why it happens." He also said that as we get better at this hobby, hyperplasia will become a more common issue -- People will start having these long term issues rather than just "Look at tank wrong, RTN, restart." I think it is an important point (he put it much more eloquently, I'm paraphrasing rather vulgarly.)
I've been trying to isolate the issue, but too many things have happened with the tank recently for me to be able to say one thing or the other is the cause of it - I've cratered the salinity by accident and had a doser malfunction that let my alk drop to 4.2 that wreaked quite a bit of havoc. Frankly I'm surprised more of my corals aren't toast.
Keep at it, and don't give up!
One nice thing I have going atm is a relatively stable tank. We added a carbon reactor about 2 weeks ago in case it is allelopathy (we have lots of LPS and Ricordia.) If ours goes away, we've got a relatively "controlled" piece of evidence for allelopathy. Mr. Schick also floated allelopathy as a potential cause.
It definitely seems like once this happens to a colony, there's no going back. It doesn't die, but the growth pattern totally changes and growth slows way way down. I've fragged off about half of the bonsai to try and get to healthy tissue at various times and that seems to have helped, but this is happening to 1 out of three of the new growth tips. Any coral this is not affecting, however, is just fine.
I've had the exact same experience. Once the polyp "tuliping" starts, branching growth stops, and the only growth is massing hyperplasial growth. When I snip, I will have normal growth for a while, maybe even a couple inches, but the hyperplasia will kick in eventually and stop the continued growth. It isn't just an aesthetic issue -- it slows growth.
What lighting is everyone running? UV keeps coming up as a cause, but this tank has had gen 1 radions over it since the day I set it up 3 years ago. Those don't emit any UV from what I understand?
Radion 1s do not have "UV" diodes at all. I run 1 Gen 2 Pro and 2 Gen 3 Pros, which do have "UV" diodes. Just a note -- the "UV" diodes in our LEDs aren't really UV. They are right in the 400 nm range. AFAIK Kessils do have "real" UV.
ETA: other than that alk disaster which was short term, my big three have been relatively stable. Low-ish, but stable. My calcium hovers around 400 +/- 10ppm, and my alk stays in the 7-7.5 range. My mag has only departed from the 1220-1240 range once in three years, about a year and a half before this started.
Yup. I'm not a man of science, but I think we can conclude at this point that it isn't a Big 3 issue. At least not
only a Big 3 issue.
