Alveopora losing skeleton rapidly

[JoeESSA]

Bought an alveopora colony about 2-3 weeks ago. Today I noticed that it is losing skeletal tissue and it appears to be progressing rapidly. The pinkish skeletal tissue is disappearing from the base of the colony and is progressing in a very defined line up the colony. The area left behind is yellowish in color and lacks any structure and is about 1mm -2mm lower than the surface of the remaining healthy skeleton.

Quickly searching I found some threads on RTN. Certainly what I'm observing looks like a rapid necrosis.

Any advice on what I can do to save the remaining coral? This is my first stony coral and I lack experience.

Many thanks,

Joe

 

[Julio]

Joe, did you test your water parameters? alos what are the dimensions of your tank? lightin? skimmer? flow?

 

[Fredfish]

Consider another source of problems: lack of nutrients/starvation.

Alviopora is definately not a good first coral as it is very difficult to keep alive, even for experienced aquarists. There are very few people who have been able to succesfully keep this coral long term.

There is no general agreement on why Alviopora and Gonioporia are so difficult to keep with theories ranging from lack of proper food sources to mystery disease.

Recently some aquarists have had more success with gonioporia when feeding foods such as frozen cyclopeeze regularly.

If you search in this forum on 'gonioporia' you should come up with a recent thread with lots of info on foods and feeding.

You can give feeding a try, but with rapid tissue loss happening it does not sound good.

Fred

 

[JoeESSA]

Hi,

In reply to Fredish and Julio, here are some details:

-70 gallon (36x18x24 inch),
-1x150 10K metal halide + 2x96W actinic,
-run two HOT skimmers,
-100lbs live rock
-no refugium/sump,
-Tank has been up and running for 8-months
-Very little in the way of excess nutrients. Algae growth is restricted to a few orderly clumps of red hair algae. Good coralline development in the aquarium and plenty critters.
-Plenty flow (circulating over 3000 gph through five power heads, overkill I know, but my Powder Blue Tang seems to be much happier with strong circulation ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s another story by the wayââ"šÂ¬Ã‚¦)
-Temp=80C, pH=8.3, dKH=8 to 9, Ca=460ppm, Mg=1250ppm, nitrate actually non-measurable over past few weeks (I perform 25% water change once a month and only have 3 fish in the tank).
-Feed with DT phytoplankton every second day and just begun with DT oyster eggs this week to provide variety. I stop the skimmers for several hours when I add the plankton.
-I am not adding any vitamins, but have thought about starting?

In so far as placement goes I initially put the Alviopora high up in the tank as my Maroon Clown was consistently taking it as a threat and knocking it down when placed lower in the tank. So, it has been through some harassment. Finally with some rock rearrangement to distract the clown, I have the Aviopora about half way up in the tank in a somewhat protected area with reduced water flow. At the moment it looks great with fully extended polyps hiding the area where the skeleton appears to have been lost. Perhaps in haste I performed an iodine dip after reading some posts on RTN in relation to SPS corals. After reflection I have to admit that I now cannot really remember if the area without skeleton was there when I bought the coral. Itââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s possible that I may have just reacted to it for the first time. So, currently observing to see if the area without skeleton progresses further.

In so far as other inhabitants go, I have a variety of soft corals and a long tentacle anemone that hosts the Maroon and all of them seem to be thriving well. I have a profusion of Xenia ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ propagating like crazy. Which reminds me of an off topic question that I want to ask, how best to remove some of it from the tank without losing large pieces of live rock that it is attached to, if thatââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s possible?

Long reply, any opinions?

Thanks,

Joe

 

[Fredfish]

Hmm... OK, so the coral may not be going through rapid tissue loss. Thats good. You are feeding oyster eggs. Thats better.

Do you see any feeding response in the coral? you would see the tentacles on a polyp bending in to the 'mouth' and the polyp retracting towards the base of the colony.

Do take the time to find that post in the advanced section on gonioporia. There is a lot of good info there. There is also an article in RK mag a month or two back.

Fred

 

[JoeESSA]

Yes, it may not be. I may have just reacted to noticing the sunken area without skeleton for the first time and my kneejerk reaction was to ask on this forum (use of dramatic terms, etc.). It does look odd though and I am still suspicious... Anyway will continue to monitor it..

I don't see an obvious feeding reaction when I spot feed. I spoke to someone else in a LFS who has also never been able to get an obvious feeding response from alveopora. Is it possible that its "appetite" for want of a better word is suppressed if the coral gets enough from photosynthesis?

Anyway, many thanks and I will look at the threads you recommended

 

[ramone]

If the coral can be easily removed from the tank, a dip in Lugol's or the equivalent probably wouldn't hurt. Who knows, it may just help. I've had some decent results in the past with these types of issues, however, Alveopora is touchy, and once it begins, it can be difficult to stop. Good Luck!

 

[JoeESSA]

Just to add - about 1 wk after original post - I have seen no further obvious skeletal loss. Spoke to a guy who seemed quite knowledgable and he reckoned the area lacking skeleton is probably due to coral originally being placed in substrate before I bought it with subsequent die-off of the area that may have been covered with substrate. He reckoned that it would ultimately grow back. We'll see.

Otherwise coral seems to be doing well as far as I can tell. It goes through cycles of good polyp extention and retraction over a period of several days. Most people I have talked to (face to face) reckon that addition of phytoplankton and perhaps zooplankton to tank every third day is more than adequate for alveopora as opposed to target feeding.

Once again, we'll see. It's still early days.