Help, new frag issue STN

[ReefsandGeeks]

Got a bunch of frags from a frag swap and a millipore looks to be STNing. My wife called and said it seems like the flesh is coming off, and looks bad from a pic I got, which I'll post in a minute. Is there anything that can be done to help the coral survive?

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

Stn

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[ReefsandGeeks]

Maybe better picture

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[ReefsandGeeks]

Correction, I meant RTN, as this coral was just introduced into the tank less than 24 hours ago and looked great.

 

[billdogg]

Did you dip them or acclimate them in any way? All the others looking good? Did it maybe get bounced around a little during your travels for the frag swap?

 

[LIreefguy]

Help, new frag issue STN

Most of the time once they start receding there isn't much you can do to save them

Some cut the frag or colony up hoping to save what's left

Why it rtn in the first place. Could be several things. Most important imo is the health of your other corals

I would test your water to make sure it's stable and within the norm for your tank



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[ReefsandGeeks]

All frags were floated in the aquarium for at least 20 minutes for temperature acclimation, then were dipped in a bayer insecticide solution for 15 minutes, blown off with turkey baster, then swished in two sucessive containers of tank water prior to being introduced to the aquarium. THe bayer dip, and saltwater rinses wer maintained at the same temp as the display.

I don't think the frag was banged around at all during handling. I was very careful with it. It looked good when I got it home. All of the frags polyps were somewhat retracted after dipping and being put in the aquarium. Looks like maybe the red monti cap I got also is maybe bleaching on the outside a bit? I'm relying off pictures from my wife, but will be home in about 40 minutes to look for myself.

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

I will be retesting my water once I go home, but did check everything 2 days ago after a 20% water change. my Alk was a bit higher than normal, at 11.2 (normally run at 10), Mag was 1400, Ca 460, Nitrate near 0. I did skip my 2 part dose the day before I brought the frags home, so the alk should have dropped back down to about 10, but will verify today.

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

would an iodine dip maybe help at all?

Should I try cutting the frag up in hopes a peice lives, or let it be? wife says it looks the same as it did 3 hours ago, but I haven't seen it myself to know for sure.

 

[LIreefguy]

Could be the person you bought your corals from keeps his alk much lower then 11.
I keep mine at 8.
If you bought corals from me the jump from 8 to 11 could be the cause




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[LIreefguy]

would an iodine dip maybe help at all?

Should I try cutting the frag up in hopes a peice lives, or let it be? wife says it looks the same as it did 3 hours ago, but I haven't seen it myself to know for sure.

Wouldn't dip again

Imo leaving it might be best. Milli are pretty tough. It might survive but moving it and stressing it might hurt it more


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[bshow24]

Could be the person you bought your corals from keeps his alk much lower then 11.
I keep mine at 8.
If you bought corals from me the jump from 8 to 11 could be the cause

This is exactly what I was thinking. If the corals were sitting at a low alk (very popular nowadays to run between 7 and 9) the jump to 11 is likely going to cause some problems.

On another note, be careful about letting your alk drop that much in a 24 hour period. 11.2 down to 10 in that amount of time can also cause issues for your current SPS. It's best to lower it down/up slowly (I usually do my +/- .1 in a 24 hour period). To avoid that high of a jump, you should always test the water you are going to use in a water change and calculate how much in could increase/decrease your parameters and make adjustments as necessary.

Remember, SPS corals are all about consistency. Even small changes can cause them to RTN or STN.

 

[LIreefguy]

This is exactly what I was thinking. If the corals were sitting at a low alk (very popular nowadays to run between 7 and 9) the jump to 11 is likely going to cause some problems.



On another note, be careful about letting your alk drop that much in a 24 hour period. 11.2 down to 10 in that amount of time can also cause issues for your current SPS. It's best to lower it down/up slowly (I usually do my +/- .1 in a 24 hour period). To avoid that high of a jump, you should always test the water you are going to use in a water change and calculate how much in could increase/decrease your parameters and make adjustments as necessary.



Remember, SPS corals are all about consistency. Even small changes can cause them to RTN or STN.

100 precent correct.


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[murphreef]

How are the other frags / corals in the tank? The monti I see next to the milli looks in rough shape as well.

I would never keep my tanks alk at 11, heck not even 10 dkh....

7.5 to 8.5 is the sweet spot.... I would assume most of your corals look a little off with alk that high.....

Is your tank new? Do you have other sps corals already in the tank? If so how long and how are they doing?

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

Tank up since October, with other SPS that are doing fine and growing. Most of the frags showing some tissue regression when looking close

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[bshow24]

I would assume it may have something to do with the alk changing so much. How big is the tank?

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

It is seeming that way. I took a few close up pictures of everything after I got home and checked a few hours later and all coral look the same, no further tissue regression.

Tank is 150 gallons + sump. Somewhere near 150 gallons total water volume.

I checked main perameters again this afternoon.

Salinity. 37ppt. Slowly working on lowering this
Alk 9.8
Ca 450
Mag 1400
Nitrate near 0

Being that tissue regression seems to have stopped, I am slowly letting the alk lower, slowly lowering the salinity, have decreased the light power and will slowly raise it back up, and redirected a power head so the frags don't have any direct flow from power heads. I haven't cut any of the frags since it seems to be an alk issue and I don't think that cutting the frags will help with that.

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[outssider]

It's not just the possible alkalinity change but also could be all the other parameters that might have been different (lighting, nutrient level etc.)

 

[Reef noob_]

Still too new of a tank IMO for that amount of SPS (only 6 months...) But as stated above, your parameter s were likely too far off the sellers. Just keep things stable and hope for the best.

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[ReefsandGeeks]

I did transfer all of the coral and fish from a past tank in October that had been established for 3 years or so. So my current tank has been up and running since October, but the coral, fish, and live rock were all from the same system and just transferred.

I'm hopping I can save most of the new frags by slowly and carefully dropping the salinity and alk, especially the alk. I don't want to risk any issues with my existing coral to try to save the new frags, so only very small changes are being made and just hoping for the best. A couple of the frags appear to be doing better than the others at least, so may not be a total loss. Tougher to tell in the morning with no lights, but everything seemed about the same this morning.

Wish I could say I've never had issues before, but I've had small colonies I've all but given up on before, only to see them jump back and become the biggest coral I currently have all from a mostly algae covered stick from STN. So I'm not giving up until the fight is over. Just wish there was more I could actively do to help other than sit back and watch. Of coarse, if doing nothing is the best action at this point than I'll just have to restrain myself and hope the coral can quickly adapt to a different, but stable environment and recover in time.