Pink Stylo needs help

sullyfish

New member
I am a newbe with SPS, and I recently picked up a green Acro and a pink Stylphora. The acro is doing fine and has been in the tank 2 weeks, good polyp extension, no tissue RTN and seeing signs of growth

Yesterday I picked up the pink stylo. It was brown and showed some signs of bleaching. I brought it home and after acclimation dipped it in revive. I put it at the bottom of the tank so it could acclimate and I plan on moving it closer to the top later.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d144/sullyfish/tank/11-02-10006.jpg



here is a picked of the green acro that is doing well

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d144/sullyfish/tank/11-02-10008.jpg
 
My tank parameters are

Amn-0
No2-0
No3- .2ppm
Calcium-400

Sal- 1.027 ( was higher due to bad Hydrometer trying to slowly bring down to .025 )

Tank is 2 months old but fully cycled. I did my weekly 10% wc this morning, I was not sure if I should move the stylo up to top where Acro is or if I should let it acclimate longer. My lights are 3x 250 DE 14k and 4 T5 in a maristar fixture.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks
 
I would leave it right where it is for a little while and then move it up. I have my stylophora up very high in my tank. It seems to need more light than a lot of my other sps. I think your tank may be too young for sps, according to a lot of peoples opinions, but I am not sure about that theory.
 
I would move it up slowly, I currently have my purple stylo about half way up my tank and it is doing great. I am running 2x250w radiums on HQI setting, 8' above the water.
 
I will leave it where it is now and watch it then. This morning the bleaching is getting worse, but my acropora looks fine, as are my LPS and sun coral. I hope it is just due to acclimation and will get better. I also wonder if the Revive dip was a bit harsh on it.

As far as my tank age is concerned, I was wondering about that also. I chose to take a chance with the stylo since my acro was doing well, but perhaps I was a bit hasty in my decision. It sounds like at this point not much i can do but watch and wait.
 
If I'm worried that something is bleaching I do what the above poster mentioned. If you end up with another frag no big deal...If the colony dies at least you've got something to grow out.
 
My pink stylo frag is placed fairly high under a 250w Phoenix 14k. It does not like high direct flow but heavy indirect flow. I dont know how but in the past I had trouble keeping pinks. Now I have not had a problem.
 
Well, so far nothing good to report. The bleaching slowly getting worse. I have not moved it from the bottom yet. I am thinking of moving it to mid height tomorrow afternon or would that be too soon ? If it comes to it I will frag it out as suggested, but I am hoping for a turn around. Maybe it is too far gone.

I tested my water and No3 is undetectable, along with Amn & No2. PH is a bit high, could that be from recently dosing purple up ?

here are the pics...This was yesterday when I first put it into tank

11-02-10006.jpg




and this is today...

11-02-10013.jpg
 
That does not look good. I'd go ahead with the bone cutters and snip of a healthy branch.

IME my stylo will not extend all of its polyps in high flow. Indirect flow is the way to go;)
 
That looks more like tissue loss to me rather than bleaching. As above, frag a healthy branch quick but I wouldn't expect it to survive. It looks pretty bad!
 
I also say it looks like snt or rnt to me it did bleach out first. I would dip it and make a frag then place colony in a shaded area for a while and keep an eye on it. Your tank is still very young, just because it is cycled does not mean it is ready for sps.
 
Thanks for the help/replies. Before I originally posted this I was going to move the colony higher up thinking it needed stronger light. Instead I have left it low at the bottom by a rock in between MH bulbs for less light. thanks to all for the help.
I got the cutters out to frag this Sunday night and save what I could, and I just couldn't do it. My 180 has a few meager minuscule frags the size of my thumbnail and this was my one true colony that I had. I figured I would give it one more day. Monday I noticed the tissue loss looked like it may have stopped. I planned on giving it one more day before taking it to the dreaded chompers to frag out.
This afternoon I noticed signs the the tissue loss is reversing in some areas. Here is a current shot. The thought that this might pull through as an intact colony makes me excited....

This is Sunday afternoon..

11-02-10013.jpg




and this is the current pic taken a few hours ago


11-02-10017.jpg
 
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What is your alk value, maybe I missed it.

And I would stop the purple up, if the tank is not established enough for coralline it may have problems maintainning sps at this point in time.
 
Not much to report although my other coral frags are doing well, even the acro which seems to be enjoying the high position in the tank with polyps always open and showing signs of growth in a week. I plan on checking the Stylo as soon as I get home. keeping fingers crossed. Thanks for all the comments as I am learning each day.


smtank - last tested this sunday was on the high side of the normal section using red sea test kit, around 2.8 meg/l if I recall. I do not like this test kit as I find it hard to get an accurate reading.

I was going to purchase more SPS' this weekend but will resist the temptaion based on these recent events. I see plenty of pods and sponge growth in the system and nuisance algea growth has decreased substantially. I scraped my glass over a week ago and still is clear. my lawnmower blenny looks sad


purge43- I paid $60 at a LFS . I really like the color of the pink stylo and hope this one makes it through.
 
***update****

***update****

I wanted to post an update w/ pic of the Stylo. Thanks again for the help as I was a bit nervous for this one.

The tissue has regrown and color has started to come back. I can even see signs of growth. Whew! My other SPS's have also seen a growth spurt this past month, even with old bulbs.

I target feed all my corals once a week w/ reef chili and phyto every other day. Kinda curious what everyone else feeds/doses to keep sps looking so well

fish053.jpg
 
It's looking good so far!

I feed Coral Frenzy. I feed it more for the gorgonians in the tank but the SPS seem to thrive on it.
 
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