Frogspawn starting to die...

[FishTri]

Here's a shot of a frogspawn I've had for a couple of years now. The left side is full. The right side used to look like the left, but now the heads are receding.

<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l469/Pamtri/?action=view&current=DSC_0033Medium.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l469/Pamtri/DSC_0033Medium.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Here's a closeup of the receding heads.
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l469/Pamtri/?action=view&current=DSC_0041.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l469/Pamtri/DSC_0041.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Any idea what's going on?

The only change is that I've started vodka dosing over the past two months. Started slow and I'm holding at about 3ml per day with total system water volume of about 200 Gallons.

I've started to target feed the receding heads. Anything else I should be doing to reverse this wasting away?

 

[philosophile]

Maybe stop the vodka dosing? If thats the only thing that has changed since the heads have been receeding, I'd start with that. Maybe do a water change too.

 

[FishTri]

Checked Alk and CA. They've been rock-steady for the past several months. Some other corals (staghorn, digi) aren't looking great either?

Any suggestions?

 

[FishTri]

So its been several weeks since first posting this. I've been target feeding twice, maybe three times per week, where I'll use a sea-squirt to feed each head.

It doesn't look like its improving. Hard to tell, but I think its getting worse. No completely dead heads yet, but at night when its somewhat deflated, you can see bare skeleton on some of the heads.

Has anybody seen this before and been able to reverse it?

 

[spieszak]

I've had a clown kill a frog spawn (much smaller than that) by trying to host. I saw a previous post of yours about adding a clown...I "caught" my clowns abusing it at like 3am.. didn't see it during the day... so I'm just throwing that out there.

 

[FishTri]

Interesting thought. There is a large clown in there which was added several months ago and does not really host anything obvious (no BTA's, for example).

 

[spieszak]

if you suspect it, you might be able to try some strawberry baskets or something similar to protect it for a while.
I did this with my RBTA until I moved it when I had a cleaner shrimp picking it to near death.

 

[ReeferBill]

Frogspawn ?

Frogspawn ?

I woul maybe take a water sample to a friends house and have him check it with his own test kits to see if their is a difference. Something is bothering it. How about water flow on that side. That could affect the same response.:uhoh2:

 

[FishTri]

Water quality is always a possibility, but there are other LPS (including frogspawn and hammer) that are doing well in the same tank.

Flow is a possibility as well, but this frogspawn has been in the exact same location for close to a year, and had been seeming thriving up until a couple months ago.

 

[iamwrasseman]

usually when the heads are effected a few at a time its something bothering them physically and not the water . if it was a water issue it would effect the entire coral somewhat to the same effect . check out for any fish that may be bothering it first and if there is nothing there then i would first attempt to dip the coral in an iodine based dip as the bacteria can spread from each dieng head to the next and that usually happens in the direction of your interior water flow . you can also "frag off the effected heads in order to save the mother colony . if you are still fighting an uphill battle then i would dose with interceptor as there may be some tiny "bugs"that are effecting the heads and once a head is dead they move to the next .you could also dip with interceptor and see if it gives it some relief ,if it does there will still be some bugs in your tank and they will need to be dosed as your display tank may have a slight infestation .
have you purchased any new corals in the last months ? they also could be imported on a fish IMO .