First death

[RockyMtnReef]

I am sad to report that I lost my first SPS coral ever this past week. I have had great luck over the past couple years. My 90 gal was up for about 2 years and my new tank which has only been up for a couple months seemed to be doing fine. I have a total of 5 frags in the new tank that are all doing well so two weeks ago I decided to add a small yellow with blue tips Acropora tenuis colony I have had my eye on at the LFS. Everything seemed to be fine until 3 days ago. I was getting good polyp extendion at night and some of the branches that were not showing any blue at the tips were starting to color up. Then all of a sudden I noticed one of the lower branches had gone white. I decided to leave things alone thinking it might just be an isolated thing. By the next AM I saw that the entire lower half had receeded. I pulled it and fraged the upper half immediately hoping to stop the problem but a couple hours later the recession had taken over most of what was left. Rather than risk harm to the rest of my frags I pulled what was left for good. I have been paying close attention to the other frags but all see to be fine. Does anyone have any idea what could have happened?

Thanks,

 

[paulhines]

My guess is rapid tissue necrosis (RTN). I've broken the live parts off the top and had them grow to pieces bigger than the original.

 

[RockyMtnReef]

I figured it had to be RTN although I had never seen it in person. Does anyone know what brings it on? I imagine poor water conditions would do but why would all the others be thriving and one completely blow up? I have been testing and my pH, Alk, CA, Temp and salinity are all stable.

 

[dots]

I lost my FIRST two I ever bought, it taught me really quick how finicky these guys are and have been on the offensive with that ever since.....thats why I love SPS, the challenge.....

 

[RockyMtnReef]

I guess it helps to know I am not the first to ever have an acro go belly up ;-).

I agree. The challenge, the incredible diversity of species plus the amazing colors are what hooked me. I am going to do some searches on the causes of RTN I guess. If I knew what caused it I think I could deal with it a little better. Honestly it's not the death as much as not knowing why. If anyone has any information on RTN please reply.

Thanks

 

[sfsuphysics]

Does anyone know what brings it on?

In a nutshell... no

 

[dots]

I like the pretty colors.