Coral has big white spot

[illjoshlli]

Hi, I noticed today that one of my coral has a good sized white spot on it. Almost looks like something has been feeding/picking on it. Every thing else in the tank is doing great and I've seen decent growth with this specific one.

What are some things I should look for that could be causing this? I do have a camel back shrimp that I have not been able to catch. However, I've never seen it pick on hard coral.

My tank parm. Are pretty stable (ill post tomorrow when I can retest). I have a 58 gallon with a 175w MH 14k, large cleaner crew, I cleaner shrimp, two clowns, coral beaut., bta, and a mix of sps, zoas, lps I rotated the coral to get a pick of the spot.

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[SPotter]

that looks like rtn or stn (rapid or slow tissue necrosis). Is that a new piece of coral to the tank? have you had any large swings in alk or any other parameters lately? whats your phosphate and nitrate levels?

 

[karsseboom]

It looks like something munching on it.

 

[ros_sco]

Before you rotated the acro to take the picture, was the mushroom or those protopalythoa close enough to touch it?

 

[illjoshlli]

I have had that piece of coal for a 2-3 months. I'm recently back from vacation(and sick on top of that) so I haven't tested lately. I did a 15 gallon water change Saturday (I do this every few weeks(rodi)). Last test I did my ph=8.2, nitrate<10,cal=520, kh=161.1mg=1400
My cal is always greater then 440 not sure about alk. I'll test again tonight.

I do have everything needed to dose two part but I haven't seen much flux or need for it yet

My tank has been up and running for 5ish months. But, the rock, water, sand, and a few corals were transplants from a 3 yr old tank.


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[illjoshlli]

I forgot to add phosphate = 0. I don't believe any of the mushrooms or polyps were close enough to cause it

Should I consider fragging this above and below the white spot? It seems like a pretty hard/thick coral. What would be the best way to do this without hurting it more? (I will search the fragging thread
)
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[karsseboom]

It looks like a tri color valida if so those are pretty easy to frag. The branches brake real easy.

 

[goodtimes2]

I check for acro eating flatworms, Tri color valida are a magnet for flatworms. Dip in a product like Coral Rx in a clear white bucket and you will find out quickly if it is flatworms. Usually the bite marks start at the base of the coral.If it is flatworms . If it is flatworms then the long term fix is not easy, but there is a lot of ifo on the subject.

 

[illjoshlli]

Thanks for the advice. I will try the dip and see what I find.

I retested everything last night and I found my DKH to be 8 it was 9 last time I checked so there is some flux there. Also, my nitrates appear to be really high. I need to buy a better test kit before I can validate this. I'm using API for Nitrate and tested 4 times last night and I got 20, 10, 40, and 40.

I plan on doing a few 10-15 gallon water changes over the next week.

I did have a 6 line Wras. vanish while I was out of town over Christmas. This could be a reason for the nitrates correct?

mycal and MG are both High. Cal is over 520(sailfert) and I’m not sure why.
My Mag (sailfert) = >1500 (could be off because Cal is so high).

Phosphates = 0
ammonia =0
Ph = 8.2

 

[SPotter]

be careful with the size and frequency of water changes....too much could do more harm than good. Also, if you are having nitrates then I doubt your phosphates are at zero. My guess is its losing tissue from stress do to water quality. I have had a few of those frags and have found them to be extremely sensitive to changes in water quality.

good luck and keep us posted.

 

[illjoshlli]

be careful with the size and frequency of water changes....too much could do more harm than good. Also, if you are having nitrates then I doubt your phosphates are at zero. My guess is its losing tissue from stress do to water quality. I have had a few of those frags and have found them to be extremely sensitive to changes in water quality.

good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks, what would you suggest? 5-10 every few days? I'll probobly do my standard of 10-15 this weekend and then reduce that to 5-7 every few days for a week or two. does that sound OK?

one other thing to note is that my softball size cheto has dwindled down to almost nothing over the past month. I have not been able to get it to grow at all. Not sure if cheto "˜vanishing' would cause the nitrates to rise.
In my sump I have cheto, red macro algee, and calarpra (I think). The red grows very slowly and the Clarpra does great. I also get good coralline growth in the sump (HD 23 florescent floodlight 4300K)