Montipora Capricornis problems

[plc001]

All, I had a green cap that in less that two days it died. Now one of my small Orange Cap is doing the same thing. It's like peeling off, it start at one end and works it way. Its tuning white Could something be killing them?

All other corals are doing great and parameters are fine. Here is a macro pic to help explain the problem

Any ideas?

 

[CMcNeil]

are there any corals that could have stung it?what kind of flow does it get?were both caps in the same area?was it dipped prior to being put it?

 

[plc001]

My parameters are:

Temp: 82.2
SG: 1.026
PH: 8.10
Alk: 8.5 dkh
Ca: 425
Mag: 1380
MH3: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: 0
PO4: 0

I had the orange cap for over 2 years, the green one, maybe a year. The lighting system is: 6 54w T5s, 4 overdriven by a IceCap 660 with SLRs reflectors. For water movement I have 1 Dart in a CL and the main pump is a Eheim 1262 plus a Tunze Turbelle NanoStream Pump 6025.


Pics of others:

 

[reefersnob]

The edge of the necrosis is not "clean". This would mean it most likely is not happening from another coral or coral eater. It almost looks like in the pic the coral is in the shadows. And even though there are power heads in there, it could be being shrouded by another coral, so flow doesn't get to it. Move the piece to a new location in the tank with more flow an less shading. I'd even "seal the edge with super glue to attempt to stop the STN or frag it.

 

[DaddyJax]

Have you looked at the bottom for Nudibranchs? Take a flash light at night or even now and look and see if the bottom has any rtn and nudis. I hope not and I hope it is something else.

 

[plc001]

Well,

This morning another square inch is gone. My guess is Nudibranchs. I took the whole piece of live rock and dipped with Tropic Marine Pro Coral Cure. Did not see any, but the container where I dipped is full of junk, so its hard to tell what came of. I put the live rock in the quarantine tank and will keep and eye on it.

Its strange because the only thing that I have added was some snails that I did not QT.

 

[reefersnob]

TMPPC will not kill the nudi's. And unfortunatly I could be an authority on the nudi's because of the infestations I've seen over the last year including my own. The tissue DOES NOT peel back like this when they are the cause. It is as I mentioned a very "clean" looking bare spot when they are the cause. The only time I see flesh peeling off as you had pictured is when the nudi's have done so much damage the Monti RTN's for good. Monti's also have the tendency to keep all polyps retracted far before this RTN occures. My guess(and of course it is a guess) is still that it had flow or light shrouding occuring. And then there is always the old microbial infection which the TMPPC will handle for you. Good luck!

 

[bigt0706]

i secon the infection nudi s dont tend to cause it to peal back

 

[ReefArtist]

You might PM The Hawk'ster he had the same problem with his corals - seeming to just peel. I also just went through a little of this and I just kept doing water changes and now everything is recovering. I have not put anything new in this tank and I'm starting to wonder if it has something to do with the temperature - you are keeping yours about the same as mine and so isn't Paul. The thing is my temp has always been at this level. I've just have never seen the polyps just peel off but now we have three of us in the area that this is happening to. Like I said - lots of water changes helped mine but it was happening only to one of my Monti's and also a few others.

 

[ReefArtist]

I also would frag it just to make sure you don't totally lose that beautiful coral. I know Paul did frag his and the frags look "OK" not the best but the do have their color. Make sure your Nitrates are in a good range and your test kits are good.

 

[ladyfsu]

Here is another one in the area:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1224852

 

[plc001]

Ok, great. No Nudibranchs. I check my levels once a week and they are usually stable. However I did not test this Sunday and I started using a new batch of Alk on Wednesday.

I also found an Apestia(sp?) anemone very close to where the Cap was damage.

Question:

If it was a chemical burn from another coral/anemone would the Cap keep 'bleaching'?

I did frag the part that was white to see if I can stop it from spreading.

 

[ReefArtist]

"If it was a chemical burn from another coral/anemone would the Cap keep 'bleaching'?" Mine never have. Just to the part that was touching - it might spread a little but just a little.

The one in the above post from LadyFSU looks like RTN to me and not what were are seeing. Mine has been this way for at least 3 weeks and looks like he might be recovering. My other corals are looking better also - I've been doing lots of water changes - 10 - 15% each day or every other. I can/might tell you my problem - the only thing I found was that my nitrates were a little high - that's the reason I've been doing all the water changes. Not sure if that is what caused it, nor the water changes fixing it - but they are looking better.

 

[reefersnob]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10974402#post10974402 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by plc001

Question:

If it was a chemical burn from another coral/anemone would the Cap keep 'bleaching'?

I did frag the part that was white to see if I can stop it from spreading.

A glass anemone would melt the cap, again, leaving a clean bare spot. Now as stated above, if the anemone has been continually stinging it, it may RTN due to the stress. Just be happy it's not the nudi's.:strooper: