My acropora coral isn't doing well...

A

abacabb

New member
I'll upload a picture later. But right now, on the base of the coral (on the side which is not facing the light) is dying.

The water is testing perfect. My nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia are at zero. PH is perfect at 8.3 and my calcium is at 500.

Is it possible that due to the light not being able to shine on the section that is dying, that the base section in question would just die?

The rest of the coral seems ok. And it's getting lots of water flow.
 
need to see a pic but the bottom/underside is usually white/ light brown on most specimens.

keep and eye on your calcium level, thats awful high! you may run into a precipitation problem. What are you dosing ? what kind of salt are you using? oceanic (blue bucket)????
 
What is your alk at? How much does it swing? Alk is probably the most important parameter when it comes to SPS. Another posibilty could be AEFW.
 
corals

corals

I'm using the calcium and magnesium supplement made by Seachem.

What is the appropriate calcium level?

As far as salt, I forgot which one I'm using. It comes in a huge bucket....its either made by instant ocean or coral life.....


I have not been testing Alk. What is the appropriate levels for that?
 
How is your alkalinity? this can most likely be your problem since sps don't do good with low alk or alk swings. Also check for AEFW, and i'm not sure about the light. Here's my .02 cents The polyps on sps corals are all separate living creatures so if not all the polyps are getting light it might cause this. I would dip the coral, and find a better spot for it where the whole coral can get light. I'm sure someone else will chime in good luck
 
How is your flow? your calcium is fine Alk should be about 7-9 dkh i believe definitely buy a good test kit for alk since IMO that is the most important param for keeping sps. Off topic, but i like your user name are you referring to the cheat code, or the band?
 
cheat code

cheat code

stevie-o said:
How is your flow? your calcium is fine Alk should be about 7-9 dkh i believe definitely buy a good test kit for alk since IMO that is the most important param for keeping sps. Off topic, but i like your user name are you referring to the cheat code, or the band?
Click to expand...


Cheat code...lol. I actually bought abacabb.com but don't know what I want to do with it.

Thank you all for your posts. I'll be posting pictures of it tonight when I get home. I have a feeling that lighting along with alk levels may be the culprit. All of my other corals are doing fantastic and I am currently keeping cuttlefish in the tank.
 
abacabb said:
Cheat code...lol. I actually bought abacabb.com but don't know what I want to do with it.

Thank you all for your posts. I'll be posting pictures of it tonight when I get home. I have a feeling that lighting along with alk levels may be the culprit. All of my other corals are doing fantastic and I am currently keeping cuttlefish in the tank.
Click to expand...

Offtopic, but in line with the the offtopic of this post:

Don't go to that link to check it out - NSFW. (As I looked on campus :mad: )
 
My guess is aefw, take the coral out and look under it for bitemarks and eggs. If your calcium is high I would guess you alk would be kinda high too am I right? I am thinking low alk causes rtn.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by abacabb
Cheat code...lol. I actually bought abacabb.com but don't know what I want to do with it.

Thank you all for your posts. I'll be posting pictures of it tonight when I get home. I have a feeling that lighting along with alk levels may be the culprit. All of my other corals are doing fantastic and I am currently keeping cuttlefish in the tank.
Offtopic, but in line with the the offtopic of this post:

Don't go to that link to check it out - NSFW. (As I looked on campus ) ]
Click to expand...
That is so funny XD and yeah its the cheat code in mortal kombat for more blood :P
 
GhostCon1 said:
Offtopic, but in line with the the offtopic of this post:

Don't go to that link to check it out - NSFW. (As I looked on campus :mad: )
Click to expand...

Oh wow......I did not even realize it was going to one of my hosted websites...lol.

Sorry about that. And thanks for letting me know! I have to fix that.
 
coral in question

coral in question

Hey guys,

Here is a picture of my sick coral:

greencoral.jpg



......any ideas?

I'm hoping it's just being caused by the fact that the light is not shining in that area. The rest of the coral seems fine. Although the white skeleton section has expanded some. This is the most recent shot (it's from today).
 
No temp swings. Water flow is fantastic. I have a nice jet in the tank.

As far as alkalinity, I've never actually tested for that, nor do I have a kit for it right now. This Friday I'll have to buy one. Initially I had no idea alkalinity was even something I had to test for.
 
I lost a coral because of too much alkalinity swings, I was trying to correct a problem that required high alkalinity and the coral didn't like it that much.
 
protein skimmer

protein skimmer

I think I found the cause of the issue. I noticed my protein skimmer wasn't operating too well. Since it's inside the tank, I didn't notice it getting clogged. Sure enough when I cleaned it, it started bubbling like a volcano.

I'm thinking all of the excess waste in the tank was affecting the acropora first.

It will be draining itself all night. Hopefully this fixes everything. The timing of the coral going bad seems to line up around with the time I think the protein skimmer stopped working correctly.
 
I agree with the other guys and you should definitely test your Alk regularly. Alk and salinity is what I test at least once a week. There's a balance between CA, Alk, and Mag consumption because sps use it for calcification. If your Ca is at 500 more than likely you Alk is going to be low. Try to keep your Alk between 8-10 dkh, but keep swings at a minimum usually .5 fluctuation a day is fine.

Never had AEFW so I can't and hope I never have to deal with those guys. Good luck
 
I agree with the other guys and you should definitely test your Alk regularly. Alk and salinity is what I test at least once a week. There's a balance between CA, Alk, and Mag consumption because sps use it for calcification. If your Ca is at 500 more than likely you Alk is going to be low. Try to keep your Alk between 8-10 dkh, but keep swings at a minimum usually .5 fluctuation a day is fine.
Click to expand...
newbie does have a good point about how calc, alk, and mag balance out, and if your calc is that high good chance alk is low, but also mag plays a good part in this to if you have good mag levels it's easier to maintain the calc, and alk levels
 
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