montipora tissue recession

[theROYSKIE]

ph 8.30
temp 80.5-81.5 f
nitrate < 5ppm
phos< .25ppm
dkh 10-11
cal 500ppm
mag 1360 ppm
2 150w 14k mh and t-5 actinics
9 hours of actinic w 5.5 hrs of each mh staggered an hour from eachother

green montipora picked it up last week. it had some tip damage(exposed skeleton) that (i thought) was caused during transport. since then it has slowly receded. no algae growth on the coral and the rest of it looks healthy.

dont know if the extent of shipping damage was greater then anticipated and just now showing effects or something is up. all other sps, lps, soft coral, clams, everyone is doing great.

it is positioned in a spot with moderate to intense waterflow and light.

any suggestions? thanks.

 

[ChicagoReefOne]

Did you acclimate properly? I'd move it lower maybe, since your parameters are unarguably spot on.

Nice sig by the way. Had me LOL

 

[theROYSKIE]

haha thanks dude. yes, i am the anal retentive acclimator/reefer lol.i may try that but the mh are about 15 inches from the tip of the monti. the viper clamp lamps were adjusted up and away from the water surface in anticipation of the new arrivals. the acropora that was introduced at the same time, from the same system, is very happy. what to do....

pics up soon if my crappy camera can get a decent one.

 

[mike_cmu04]

Look for the monti eating nudibranches. They are white and frilly and about 1/4 inches long. They will be near or under the monti with their eggs that they lay underneath. They will leave the tissue recession that you are talking about.

 

[theROYSKIE]

when r they out? nocturnal? i havent seen anything... been watching it closely. the tissue recession is starting from the tips and working its way down the branches. is that the m.o. of the nudi's?

 

[theROYSKIE]

today
all lvels check out but my dkh is about 8-9. could that small swing from 10-11 have affected the monti? i now see that i have some tissue recession on on of my staghorn acrco's as well(last night not present, this morning 1/4-1/2" on the base) but is going from the bottom up as opposed to the tip down on the monti. gonna dose some kent dkh super buffer, on a drip to keep from swinging to quickly in the other direction ,and see what happens. any and all suggestions r welcome

 

[theROYSKIE]

here are a few pics first two were taken last week second two showing spreading recession were taken 4 minutes ago

 

[theROYSKIE]

going to follow Eric borneman's method. Have to cut the acro well above the rtn, give the fragmented coral a lugols solution bath put in a qt tank and hope to God that it halts the recession. geez...

 

[theROYSKIE]

so i cut the acro well above the RTN line in two places. thank the LORD i was not at work and had all day to do this. Dipped the Monti in Kent Tectra D and moved all three to qt tank. implementing carbon on both main system and qt to absorb any biochemical compounds either the coral didnt like or was actually secreting during the RTN outbreak. All other acropora- humili and bushy at this time dont display any RTN. fingers r crossed.