Coral Warfare: Mutually Assured Destruction?

[Conesus_Kid]

Weird stuff going on here.

I posted these pics in Gary's coral warfare thread of some battling acros that started off as 1/2" frags and encrusted onto a rock:

The one coral (millie, I think) was attempting to overgrow an efflo.

Yesterday, I noticed that the coral that looked like it was winning, was completely white and sloughing tissue.

As of today, the tissue necrosis seems to be spreading to all parties involved:

I just finished running a full battery of tests:

SG: 1.026
pH: 8.16
Alk: 9.0 dKH
Ca: 420
Mg: 1200
Amm, trites, trates: 0 ppm

Is this total nuking uncommon? All other corals, fish, and invertebrates in the aquarium are thriving.

Carbon was changed last week. I'm planning a water change tomorrow and will change carbon once again.

Any ideas here?

 

[Capt_Cully]

Personally, I'd be more leery of something more ominous. I've got corals that have been doing battle like that for 3-4 years. Anytime I see "RTN" it is usually a red flag. Could be anything you've already checked for, or something less obvious.

I like that you've got the carbon going and a water change won't hurt either. Sometimes you never find out what did it.

Even though your params are decent, anything change or swing (or currently swinging) to extremes? I know you keep a close tally with your AC.

Any dead inverts??? Any leathers or other softies? any reactors or skimmers sit idle with water in them? (could create an imbalanced bacterial bloom)

 

[toddmh]

is the attacker a Russian coral ?? You just trust those Ruskie corals with a preemptive strike !!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

were those Acros growing rapidly just before crashing?

 

[Conesus_Kid]

were those Acros growing rapidly just before crashing?

I guess you could say that (as rapid as acros can grow!). The demarcation lines where the one coral was growing over the top of the efflo were quite pronounced (white, with a bit of stringy white tissue).

On Tuesday morning there seemed to be a decisive loser in the battle, as that was the only coral sloughing tissue/dead. The others appeared to be in perfect condition. Fast forward thirty hours and we see the previous posted pic.

I was worried that perhaps I was seeing an alk swing, but things have been relatively stable.

Could the sudden death of the one colony cause necrosis in the neighbors since they're in such close proximity?

 

[Capt_Cully]

Could the sudden death of the one colony cause necrosis in the neighbors since they're in such close proximity?

Personally I don't think they'd be related depending on the cause. If one cashed out due to the prolonged stress of engagement, I don't think the other would necrose as well. However, if it's red bugs or some other unseen agent at work, they both might wind up being history.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

is there any part of either of these corals that appear alive and stabilized?

 

[Conesus_Kid]

is there any part of either of these corals that appear alive and stabilized?

As of 3:00 PM today, things looked pretty much the same as they do in the pic, with the corals on the extreme left and right-hand sides looking normal. (Polyps extending normally, etc.)

That being said, they may end up being completely smoked when I get to school tomorrow. I've got "backups" of these corals in the system, so I'm not worried about replacing/restarting them. I AM worried about solving this mystery so I could possibly prevent another like it in the future.

 

[Capt_Cully]

being a science teacher, I'm sure you've thought of calibration, and test error. Mg looks a little low, but unless it recently plummeted, That, in and of itself wouldn't do it IMO.

 

[Conesus_Kid]

being a science teacher, I'm sure you've thought of calibration, and test error. Mg looks a little low, but unless it recently plummeted, That, in and of itself wouldn't do it IMO.

Not to mention that everything else in the tank is doing well.

The more I learn about this hobby, the less I feel I know...

:crazy1:

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I wouldn't rule out the possibility of mutually assured destruction

 

[Bluephish13]

Today 03:41 PM
Gary Majchrzak were those Acros growing rapidly just before crashing?

why did you ask this?

I noticed this happen in my tank a little while back.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

why did you ask this?

I noticed this happen in my tank a little while back.

I asked this because I've seen it happen before

 

[Conesus_Kid]

Update

Update

I thought I'd update this thread, although the news is not that good.

As of 3:30 PM today, all that remains of the participants is about an inch of encrusted coral (seen on the extreme right-hand side of the pictures).

Did a water change yesterday and all other aquarium inhabitants are still thriving; so the good news is that this is not a widespread event. (Wait a minute, did I just jinx myself???)

In the spirit of making lemonade, this allowed me to tweak the aquascaping a bit. I have a gorgeous RBTA that was donated by a generous community member several months ago, but unfortunately, it decided to park itself in the back of the rock stack. If you wanted to get a good look at it, you had to peer in from the side of the aquarium.

Because of the events of the last couple of days, I was able to spin the top of said rock stack so that the nem is showcased and easily viewable from the front of the aquarium. There's a couple of Clarkii clowns in the QT tank right now (one that was also generously donated by a community and RC member) that will be calling it home in about two weeks. I also snipped a couple of frags from to the tank to plant elsewhere.

So, I'm bummed about the coral losses, but with any luck, the RBTA will still be where I left it today when I return to school on Monday.

Thanks to everyone for all of the input.

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scoob: If anyone has had this experience or has some ideas as to the cause, I'd still like to solve this mystery, so feel free to post up here or PM me.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

the Mystery Machine is still in the repair shop

the Mystery Machine is still in the repair shop

we may never learn what truly happened here.

If it's any condolence at all I can guarantee you that the anemone/clownfish symbiosis will generate much greater excitement than two Acropora warring with each other.

Dang those meddling kids

 

[Conesus_Kid]

This happened again!

This happened again!

Went in to school today to feed the bearded dragon and saw this:

All other inhabitants are doing well and my parameters are in line.

Also, these corals just started touching where they encrusted on the rock within the last month or so. Things did not appear as "aggressive" with these two as the corals involved in the earlier incident.

FWIW, here are pics of the same corals today found elsewhere in the aquarium. (The two dead corals were fragged from these colonies.):

One interesting thing is that one of the players was the same coral, a blue mille. It's a fast grower, which may be related to the point Gary asked about earlier in the thread.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

ouch

 

[tent boy]

albino?

 

[Conesus_Kid]

albino?

It is now...