Problem with green birdsnest coral.

[Julian.Rad17]

I am new to saltwater and this is my first tank which is 3 months old. It is a Red Sea Reefer 28 gallon with an AI Prime LED, Jebao and Koralia powerheads, and PSK-75 Eshopps protein skimmer.

The problem I have is with a birdsnest coral frag I bought about 2 weeks ago. Right after I acclimated it, I put it about mid way in the tank and noticed a white patch on the side with no polyps or skin. Since it was not spreading I assumed the tissue would grow back. The frag did great with lots polyp extension for the first 10 or so days. The color hasn't really been green but other than that it looked fine.

About 3 days ago I started to notice small white areas on the frag in random places like the middle and base. Only the skin was missing not the polyps. The polyp extension hasn't been as good as before and some of the polyps are darker colored. I did dose amino acids a few days ago and I also fed reef roids.

I was just wondering if anyone knows what this tissue die off is caused by and if it can be reversed. Here are some of my parameters.

Nitrates- 0
Phosphates- 0
Calcium- 410
dkh- 9

 

[wrott]

welcome to RC!
Do you have other corals that are doing well? It seems odd that it would lose color in patches and not lose the polyps too.
I would suggest placing it as low as possible in the tank for a couple of weeks to see if lighting is the issue.
Do you perform partial water changes and feed fish/corals regularly? Maintaining alkalinity w/out fluctuation is an important factor for healthy hard corals.

 

[Julian.Rad17]

My other corals include: green torch, green hammer, zoa colony and red acan colony
All of theses corals are doing great and look very happy.

In regards to the lost tissue, some of the polyps near the lost color are dark brown and shrunken but others look normal. I have since moved the birdsnest to the bottom of the tank on a rock that is about 2 inches above the sand and receives lots of flow. I do water changes every 2-3 weeks and will be doing one in a couple days.

My fish include: a pair of clowns, a diamond goby, and a firefish which i feed mysis and/or table shrimp to twice a day. I feed all the corals mysis every 2-3 days except for the zoas who I feed once a week. Any extra food from the corals is eaten by the fish.

Is dkh the same as alkalinity? Thanks for the response

 

[wrott]

It sounds like you have everything in order. I hope the birds nest recovers.
Yes dKH, degrees of carbonate hardness, is 0.056 x ppm carbonate and bicarbonate anions. Ppm x 0.02 = meq/L , all measurements of alk.

So if your test kit measures 150 ppm carbonate hardness, its 8.4 dKH and 3.0 meq/L.

 

[jmm]

Green birds nest is a funny coral in my experience. I had a golf ball size piece grow to softball size in just a few months. It began to shade other corals much to their misfortune. The bottom part of it, in its own shade, began to die. Some pieces fell off and out of my reach. I took the bulk of it to a store and turned it in for credit. The traces that were left all grew rapidly, and in this case, being lower in the tank, had nothing to shade. There was green birds nest everywhere. Peculiarly, it was its own worst enemy. The top grew so fast and spread out so far that it would shade its lower parts and they would die back, break off, fall into the rocks and start a new colony. I wouldn't call it a pest because it is beautiful and any obnoxious piece can be easily removed, or, at least reduced. One piece grew to the water's surface and then grew horizontally and hogged the light. I gave that one away.

 

[Julian.Rad17]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll be sure to ask if I have any more questions

 

[Apotack]

I would dip it just to be safe. Coral rx or something similar

 

[Julian.Rad17]

Would revive work?

 

[Apotack]

Sorry just saw your post now. I don't have any experience with revive. How's the coral doing?

 

[Julian.Rad17]

The skin peeling has stopped and it actually looks like it's getting better. It has also regained some of its green color on the tips so I think the problem was a combo of no acclimation to the light and too much direct flow.

 

[Apotack]

Glad you got it sorted out.