Acropora

[jsnrice]

I have a 12 gallon nanocube bought 10 months ago. I've already had success with frogspawn, hammer, and gsp. Just added my first SPS Acropora coral yesterday. The LFS store owner said as long as my parameters are good and I have adequate lighting the SPS would be alright. I woke up this morning and the Acropora had severally bleached with polyps hanging off of it! What happened?! I do a 15 percent RO water change every week and keep salinity at a strict 1.026 with water temps at a strict 76-78 I've tested for nitrates and ammonia both of which are zero and I have a Kessil A150 Sky Blue 10000K LED. I placed the coral on an black esshops frag rack inside the tank close to the surface. I've attached some pics. I don't think the owner will take this frag back. Almost 1/3 of it is now bleached. I'm feeling sad and confused. :sad2:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s5ygoovy78olu3y/2014-06-19%2018.16.02.jpg

 

[terrypercula]

Probably inadequate light acclimation or acclimation in general.

 

[jsnrice]

@terrypercula Yeah I'm totally lost. I've never had a coral react in such a negative way. Generally when I get a new coral say an LPS it will close up for a day or two and will open up just fine. This SPS just went off the deep end. I heard you can just throw SPS in as long as your parameters, flow, and lighting is good. I'll have to do a deep inspection. Could be the temperature. I put the SPS on the bottom of the tank to hopefully get it used to things.

 

[jsnrice]

Thoughts

Thoughts

So I have a theory. Watching the saltwater tank closely and noticed that my lawnmower blenny came out to munch the algae of the rocks. I don't have much algae. He already took a quick nip at the SPS Acropora which is colored green and brown. He probably thinks it's algae! Oh man. I think this has got to be the reason. Anyone else ever see this? I put the SPS by my maroon clowns. They are extremely territorial and since putting it there they haven't let him come close to the SPS. I just hope it's not to late. :facepalm:

 

[HurricaneSystem]

Was it brown when you bought it? It had to be or you have had it longer than overnight.

That is an Acro secale and they are supposed to be fairly easy, but I have never has much luck with them. However, that coral has been light starved in a high nutrient tank for quite a while. It is obviously dying and that is necrosis happening.

I sympathize with you, but that coral is done. In that first pic, your tank doesn't look like it has had the best of water quality either. A nano is pretty unforgiving in that small of an area.

 

[terrypercula]

Was it brown when you bought it? It had to be or you have had it longer than overnight.

That is an Acro secale and they are supposed to be fairly easy, but I have never has much luck with them. However, that coral has been light starved in a high nutrient tank for quite a while. It is obviously dying and that is necrosis happening.

I sympathize with you, but that coral is done. In that first pic, your tank doesn't look like it has had the best of water quality either. A nano is pretty unforgiving in that small of an area.

This post made me look at the pictures. Massive RTN(rapid tissue necrosis) going on!!!

 

[jsnrice]

Frustrated

Frustrated

Well I guess it's done for. Yes it was that brown when I bought it. Should I take it back to the LFS? I find it very hard to believe that in less than 24 hours I ended up loosing over 1/3 of the polyps to rapid tissue necrosis. Something is definitely not right. As far as water quality goes I know that I don't have the clearest water but I do change the water weekly and I change a lot of it. I use pure RO from the LFS. What would you all suggest? I had three things in mind:

1. Get a cheap reactor.
2. Remove all the sand and clean out all filter chambers (I just did this).
3. Increase water changes to two times a week or change from 15% to 20% every week.
4. Upgrade from a 12 gallon to a 30 gallon to slow down fluctuations in the water.

As for a protein skimmer and reactor I've heard these aren't necessary for a small tank as long as there are frequent water changes. Perhaps number 4 would be my best option. I do agree that the parameters in my nano fluctuate as do all nanos and small aquariums. This sort of thing makes me want to give up on the whole nano cube aspect of this hobby. Very frustrating. That's $35 down the drain and a shame because that coral was beautiful. :hmm4:

 

[jsnrice]

Well I guess it's done for. Yes it was that brown when I bought it. Should I take it back to the LFS? I find it very hard to believe that in less than 24 hours I ended up loosing over 1/3 of the polyps to rapid tissue necrosis. Something is definitely not right. As far as water quality goes I know that I don't have the clearest water but I do change the water weekly and I change a lot of it. I use pure RO from the LFS. What would you all suggest? I had three things in mind:

1. Get a cheap reactor.
2. Remove all the sand and clean out all filter chambers (I just did this).
3. Increase water changes to two times a week or change from 15% to 20% every week.
4. Upgrade from a 12 gallon to a 30 gallon to slow down fluctuations in the water.

As for a protein skimmer and reactor I've heard these aren't necessary for a small tank as long as there are frequent water changes. Perhaps number 4 would be my best option. I do agree that the parameters in my nano fluctuate as do all nanos and small aquariums. This sort of thing makes me want to give up on the whole nano cube aspect of this hobby. Very frustrating. That's $35 down the drain and a shame because that coral was beautiful. :hmm4:

Just found this article:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-07/gh/index.php

I've heard that acclimating coral is really not necessary but I'm guessing my parameters are off. I just tested them a little while ago and everything was good. So I think my plan of action is to apply a thin coating of super glue above the lines of necrosis. The coral tissue necrosis has really slowed down so I'm hoping the coral just went into shock when it was introduced to my tank. I'm not going to dip it in iodine. I've heard this really isn't necessary. Well I'm not going to do SPS for a while. Not until all my LPS and not just some are doing well. Any recommendations from my previous post suggestions?

 

[bobbravo2]

I'm on my phone, so I wasn't able to see pix for some reason. My gut says light acclimation shock.

What kind of light were they under at the LFS?

 

[saltyair]

2 very important parameters are missing dkh and mag levels

 

[jsnrice]

I have the Kessil A150 Skyblue 10000K As for dKh and mag how does one test for that and better yet encourage proper levels? I feel horrible that this happened on my watch!

 

[JJ650]

That's not bleached. That is flat out dead on the bottom. Did it come into contact with anything else? I had a blue digitata that got hammered by a green horn coral that was 4 inches away. It took less than a day for all of the polyps to fall off.

You need to get the test kit for mag. A Reef Foundation Pro kit has Cal, Mg and KH test in one kit. I would look into that. You could also take it to your LFS and ask them to test as well.

 

[HurricaneSystem]

Well SPS has to have absolutely pristine water quality. They have to have correct flow, that varies by family, correct lighting, etc. So don't be too hard on yourself. SPS is a different breed all together.

If it looked like that when you bought it, yes take it back. You know now, but don't ever buy an SPS that looks like that.

 

[jsnrice]

Retrospect

Retrospect

Thanks for all the tips and info everyone. I think my next goal is to try to figure out how to keep the water conditions somewhat stable. I suppose that's the challenge with a nano. When I bought the coral it was neon green and brown. There was no bleaching whatsoever. Well I'm not going to mess with SPS until I'm well advanced into the hobby. When I do go for SPS I'll get a very cheap frag ($10). I'm not buying anymore frags until everything in my tank is doing 100%