Is this cause for concern?

[jonnybravo22]

Yes,the mesenterial filaments are stressed defensive response-not a feeding response-is the food your feeding it gone bad? could explain the reaction

Now that you mention it, my coral frenzy is expired. I didn't think it could really go bad, being a non-refrigerated powder, but it does say use within 12 months on the container and I'm well outside of that. I'll see if not using that makes a difference. Do you think that could cause health issues with SPS or just an irritant?

 

[Acro Lover]

What do you have for flow? also can u give me a list of Livestock you have and what lighting and bulbs u using, and what do u feed them and when? are u dosing or adding anything?

 

[jonnybravo22]

What do you have for flow? also can u give me a list of Livestock you have and what lighting and bulbs u using, and what do u feed them and when? are u dosing or adding anything?

Livestock is simple:
2 percula clownfish
1 gigantea anemone
1 acro frag
2 snails (hermit crab ate others, and I removed hermit crab about a week ago)

There's also about a dozen tiny mollusks that are either baby [astraea?] snails or limpets of some kind, from what I can tell; If snails, I guess they spawned in my tank, if limpets I would have no idea how they got there (I've always used dry rock and all that).

Flow:
Mag 7 return
1x MP40 (run ~ 60%)
1x MP10 (run 100%)

Lighting:
Giesemann Infiniti 250w MH + 4xt5 (all ATI bulbs)
[Front]
Blue+
Actinic
20k Ushio DE 250w
Purple+
Coral+
[Back]

All of my bulbs are old (>12 months) and I'm going to replace in next few days. I have a 14k Phoenix that I'm going to use for the MH (the 20k was just a test, didn't love it) and I probably will go to a differentl T5 combo (maybe blue+, purple+, blue+, blue+)

MH is on for 3 hrs / day in middle of day
T5s are on for 10 hrs (in 2 banks, offset 30 min on either end for dawn/dusk effect)

Dosing:
Currently not dosing because with only 1 frag, my weekly 15% water changes keep my alk stable between ~8.2-8.7
Otherwise I have dosing setup for b-ionic 2 part + magnesium

Feeding:
I feed reef nutrition arctipods, 6ml 3x daily via automatic feeding system (pumped from a refrigerator into tank); I just increased this amount in anticipation of adding a few more fish, prior to this week I was dosing 1x daily

I also automatically push in 5ml of oyster feast daily in middle of day (this started this week)

I drop in a pinch of spectrum pellets occasionally.

I had been adding a bit of coral frenzy every few days but someone pointed out that expired food may be an issue and my coral frenzy is way expired (though as a powder i didnt think it'd go bad), so I stopped adding that. I guess we'll see if that makes any difference.

Thanks for the help.

 

[rovster]

Looks like a water quality issue to me. Does not look pest related at all. Even if there were redbugs, which it does not look like there are, it would not look that bad unless it was totally infested, and if it was, it would be easy to see. Overall, that acro looks ragged and unhappy. Test the water, if anything is not where it should be, slowly correct it. If your parameters are within normal limits, then I would look at moving it. Make sure its getting good light and flow. Those white things are mesenterial filaments. In my tank, they are noticeable after I feed and a waterchange.

Just as a wildcard here, any leathers in the tank. Anything that would cause any chemical warfare? Maybe some carbon would be a good idea?

 

[jonnybravo22]

Looks like a water quality issue to me. Does not look pest related at all. Even if there were redbugs, which it does not look like there are, it would not look that bad unless it was totally infested, and if it was, it would be easy to see. Overall, that acro looks ragged and unhappy. Test the water, if anything is not where it should be, slowly correct it. If your parameters are within normal limits, then I would look at moving it. Make sure its getting good light and flow. Those white things are mesenterial filaments. In my tank, they are noticeable after I feed and a waterchange.

Just as a wildcard here, any leathers in the tank. Anything that would cause any chemical warfare? Maybe some carbon would be a good idea?

I listed livestock above, I don't suspect chem warfare but only possible option would be the anemone. No leathers. Already running carbon in reactor. Also gfo.

 

[tripdad]

I think maybe your stripping it too much. If your open to it grab a Monti-Cap frag. They're dirt cheap,even free, and toss it in. If your water params are close to "Acro" levels the cap should grow well and you should see about an 1/8 inch whitish growth edge all around it. I use it as a "first indicator" for trouble. I can see at a glance if something is amiss.

 

[rovster]

Would you happen to be running Rox carbon?

 

[jonnybravo22]

Would you happen to be running Rox carbon?

Not rox, TLF Carbon

 

[jonnybravo22]

Dug up a cal test kit, and it reads 330. This seems low so I'll raise it to 400-450.

So my latest readings are:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Alk 8.4
Cal 330
SG 1.026 sg
Temp 78-79 degrees
PH 8.2

 

[jonnybravo22]

I also dug up my par meter; I knew I needed to change the bulbs, but for the audience here this frag is currently only getting ~100 PAR at peak time and less than 50 otherwise.

I raised my lights recently, I'll lower then and test at next light cycle to see what it had been getting. Changing the bulbs when t5s come in next week.

Sort of feels like I'm publicly self-diagnosing here but I guess so far the issues that seem apparent have been: expired coral food (replacing with new), calcium too low (fixing with supplements) and par too low (changing bulbs);

 

[jonnybravo22]

Tested Phos levels.

So my latest readings are:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phos 0.046 (hanna phosphorus meter - once read 0, then read 15, converted with 3.066 / 1000)
Alk 8.0
Cal 390
SG 1.026 sg
Temp 78-79 degrees
PH 8.2

 

[jonnybravo22]

Latest pics (with shiny new bulbs; MH on this time, last pics were T5 only)





Appears that there is a slow return of some polyps just barely coming out, I notice some slight polyp extension at night now also. It is interesting, some polyps are slightly out in the day time (toward the bottom) and others are slightly out at night but closed during the day (at the top)

Current parameters:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phos 0 (hanna)
Alk 8.1
Cal 450
SG 1.026 sg
Temp 78-79 degrees
PH 8.2

Current parameters

 

[trueblackpercula]

I see you removed your hermit crab,since then have you seen better results?

 

[jonnybravo22]

I see you removed your hermit crab,since then have you seen better results?

So it's hard to say for a few reasons.

1. I'm not sure yet that it is 'fixed'; it does look somewhat better to me in terms of color, and slight polyp extension, and it seems like the tissue is healthier, but not at the point yet where it is clearly back to perfect health.

2. I made a few changes at once - removed hermit crab, cut out expired food, fixed low calcium, changed bulbs in fixture.

But, the short answer is yes, I think it has improved since I removed hermit, not sure if that's the [only] reason though.

 

[bigswordy]

Would you happen to be running Rox carbon?

Im running rox in one of my phosban reactors why do you ask about the rox? can it cause these issues or have people had problems with that carbon?

Im having a similar issue... mesenterial filaments are being expelled and loosing some tissue on tips of an acro and similar decline in tissue health. Going to get my iodine tested tomorrow... read that reduced iodine issues can cause this as well... is that correct? Have super low nutirent levels I have a very oversized skimmer and change my socks every 3-4 days (100 micron). Dont have a UV running yet.

Params have been stable I keep my alk between 11.3-11.5 and calc 430-450

 

[markalot]

It really looks like AEFW, but I know you dipped in Bayer. I'm looking at the full size pic http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss35/jonny_bravo22/IMG_9553_zps4a84ee98.jpg~original

There appears to be some skin missing from the base, or is that just the light? Have you inspected with a magnifying glass (or 3X reading glasses) and a bright flashlight? Any eggs or unusually masses in any dead areas?

Other than that, it might be simply recovering and will take a while before it looks good. This acro looks like the acros I tried to keep when I was new with my 40 gallon. They would fade away for no apparent reason other than the tank was new and I was paranoid about algae so I stripped the water of everything.