Coral warfare question

[Stylo328]

I threw this up on the SPS forum on R2R and got no replies. Posting here for some thoughts.

I had an RTN issue with my Steve Elias stag colony that had been in the tank thriving for a while. Recently it touched up against a validia and the validia began to encrust over one of the stag branches. I paid little mind to it and figured they would settle in. Worst case scenario, I thought I would have to frag that one branch. Seemingly overnight the Steve Elias RTN'd. A couple of days ago I broke off a frag and glued it elsewhere in the tank and it seems to be fine.

My question is, do you think that touching the validia caused the RTN issue? All other acros are fine.

Pardon the crappy iPhone pics.


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[rovster]

I can't imagine just touching one branch would cause an entire colony to RTN. Any new additives or changes lately? Maybe riun carbon in case some allelopathy going on?

 

[Stylo328]

Coral warfare question

Thanks Danny. Nothing's changed. I'll throw some carbon on today. Any thoughts on quantity of the carbon? I've got a few reactors, but rarely if ever, use them.


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[rovster]

I've always run carbon passively. How much depends on tank and carbon. Other option is to do nothing which it probably the best idea. If another one bites the dust then worry. I recently lost my frog skin colony that's been with the tank since day one and has survived all the blunders I put it through. The funny thing is that 90% of my acros were doing better than ever before and my one hearty colony went to hell!

 

[75mixedreef]

Coral warfare does seem likely since they contacted, but I might be worried about other things in the tank if it was that easy to set off an RTN. Check your parameters, and see if anything is off. Also check your equipment and see if you have reduced flow, skimmer not running right, heater malfunction, temp and ph swings, light cycle, and everything else to see if something is causing stress on your corals. If the overall system were a bit healthier then that coral might not have RTN'd.

I'm thinking the coral warfare was the trigger, but something else allowed things to go poorly.

 

[Rogger Castells]

It is impossible to say for sure but logically it looks like that was the issue, I have seen in the past corals that touched and were fine with each other and I have also seen corals that touched and the dominant one killed the other one in a matter of days, I think you did the right thing to frag it