Check out these pics

[dascharisma]

I recently noticed that the underside of my slimer is showing recession near the base. Is this normal, or should I be concerned. No other sps in my tank show any recession. My coloration and growth are good and all my parameters are rock solid. I don't know when the recession began, but i will monitor it to see if it spreads.


Here is a shot from a distance

Here is a close up.

Let me know what you guys think.


Brad

 

[SeanT]

I think it is abnormal.
Could be any one, or a combination, of many things.
Off the top of my head...
1. AEFW's.
2. Poor flow.
3. PO4.

Just throwing some things out there,
Sean

 

[smiller]

Is it white or is that green algae on the skeleton?

 

[dascharisma]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6658468#post6658468 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SeanT
I think it is abnormal.
Could be any one, or a combination, of many things.
Off the top of my head...
1. AEFW's.
2. Poor flow.
3. PO4.

Just throwing some things out there,
Sean

Thanks for you suggestions Sean.

1. I also considered that AEFW might be the culprit. I really hope that this is not the case. I will do some research and more inspecting to see if I can spot any. Should I be looking for the flatworms and their eggs on the healthy areas of the coral or on the recession boundry? It would be nice to have someone with an experienced eye take a look, but i don't believe that anyone local has encountered the aefws.

2. I doubt that low flow is a problem. I have over 100x turnover in my tank. Although the underside of the slimer is in lower flow, it should still be getting plenty of water movement.

3. I have never bothered to check my PO4 because I don't have any algae issues and the tank is run in such a way that it should be very nutrient poor. I have 2 oversized skimmers and only 4 small fish in 250 gallons total water volume. I have a friend with one of those expensive phosphate meters. I will see if I can borrow it and get an accurate measure.


Brad

 

[dascharisma]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6658515#post6658515 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by smiller
Is it white or is that green algae on the skeleton?

The skeleton seems to have a very light green coloration to it. I can't tell if it is new algae growth or not. I remember reading a post by bomber that said that phosphate can be stored in a coral's skeleton. When I first got the coral as a frag, I kept it in a very dirty tank. Maybe I am just now seeing the effects and paying the price.


Brad

 

[dascharisma]

Here is a bonus full tank shot for everyone who is nice enough to try to help me out. This photo is a few months old. I have since removed some of the non sps. As you can see, the slimer has grown quite a bit.

Brad

 

[Wiskey]

Some recomendations I have seen people make to stop it:

take the frag out and put lugals iodine directally on the bare skeliton up to where it just meats the tissue, let it sit out of water for a few min then rince it off in a little SW and place it back in the tank.

I have also seen people suggest to put superglue ring around where the tissue and skeliton meet and it will re-encrust over the super glue.

Bomber also mentioned about phospate wicking from the rock and up the coral's skeliton, maybe that is what happened when it was in the dirty tank? He said that a good way to avoid this was to use superglue on the bottom of the frag (where it was cut) to seal it off.

Nice tank!
HTH,
Whiskey

 

[SeanT]

Brad,
The eggs are not layed on the flesh of an Acro but very near to it.

Here is a pic:

More, nice pics, are found on the first page of this thread:\http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=756327

Sean

 

[CAreefer]

Based on the green coloration of the barren skeleton, IMHO could be that boring algae that has been coming in on the Bali AC corals as of late. I had one do the same (wasn't a slimer tho), fragged it well into healthy tissue and have had no more problems. I may be way off base, but that was my first thought when I saw the pic.

HTH
Marshal

 

[jackson6745]

Frag, glue, and re mount

 

[dascharisma]

Thanks for the replies everyone.
It seems like the consensus is that I should frag it and hope that stops the problem. Does anyone think it would be worthwhile to wait and see if the recession continues? Should I frag it right away before any further recession occurs? Since I do not know when the recession happened, there is a part of me that thinks it might be weeks or even a month old. If the recession happened weeks ago and isn't getting worse, should I still frag the piece?

I borrowed a friend's Hanna phosphate meter and I got a reading of .07. I realize that this is too high, but is it high enough to have been the cause of the problem? I am going to search for the source of the phosphate. I will test my rodi water, my salt mix, and my kalkwasser.


I have a phosphate reactor, and am thinking about putting it on my system to reduce the phosphate. Up until now I have only ever dosed kalk and done water changes. I don't like the idea of having to run phosphate reducing media as a long term solution to my high phosphates. On the other hand, it might be a good temporary solution to get the phosphates under control. Is a reading of .07 high enough to justify using phosban? Since I don't want to shock the system, what would be the best way to begin using phosban?


Thanks in advance,
Brad

 

[merlock116]

that dark green staining of the skeleton is from high phosphates. do some water changes.

i'd still frag the healthy part and toss all of the green skeleton part.

 

[dascharisma]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6664694#post6664694 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by merlock116
that dark green staining of the skeleton is from high phosphates. do some water changes.

i'd still frag the healthy part and toss all of the green skeleton part.

I went ahead and fragged the piece. I would still like some advice on whether or not my phosphate situation warrants the use of phosban.


Brad

 

[CAreefer]

What method did you use to test P04? Both of the test kits I used, (Salifert/SeaChem) gave me zero readings. I know I have P04 levels above .03

Edit: I just saw that you used the Hanna. IMHO, there are many tanks out there with higher readings than that w/o the problem you encountered.

After buying a Hanna Colorimeter, I found that the test kits will give a zero result up to the .05 mark. I don't know if the error factor increases expotentially, but you may be closer to .10 At this level P04 could have caused the problem with the Acropora in question.

I would use the Phosban, but at 1/2 the recommended amount for your net gallonage. Quickly lowering P04 is more likely to bring about RTN/STN events than doing nothing. Try for around .03-.02. Much lower than this and your corals start suffering.

HTH
CAReefer