Question about stylophora polyps

[jdewolftx]

All,

I have had a purple stylophora for about 10 months now and it seemed to do fine. Good growth, etc. Just yesterday I noticed that the polyps didn't seem extended at the base of the coral. This pattern continued today and was climbing up the coral. (see pic. attached) It doesn't look like the flesh is gone but rather that the polyps are just retracted in these localized areas. For that reason I don't think it is STN but perhaps given a bit more time, it could be.

My water parameters seem ok. My alk did drop from 9.5 to 8.5 in the last 4 weeks but calc. and magnesium are holding fine at 415 and 1350. My pH is consistently between 7.9 and 8.1, water temp. controlled around 78 and my spec. gravity is 1.024.

My lights are Radion 30's and I use the coral radiance program with the higher intensities set for around 7 hours. The total power slider is set to 75% but this translates to 51% at its peak. I don't think it is this as I haven't changed it in a while.

Any suggestions? Anybody seen this before? Will this get worse or will it just pass with time?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[outssider]

I've had a spot die and then gradually regenerate. I've had spots retract and not die and come back in a day or so. I've also had rtn take out a branch or the entire bottom of the colony and not regenerate. The good thing about purple stylo is it grows fast and you will always be able to act fast enough to frag pieces and start another colony. wait and see what develops....

 

[jdewolftx]

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.

-Jeff

 

[foxt]

I think I have a frag of purple stylo that may be doing what yours was doing. The polyps were fully extended up until a few days ago. Now, about half of them have retracted, not coming out day or night. No signs of RTN or STN yet, and the other half of the polyps look fine. I had this sitting about 14" below T5s, with an mp40 directed at it, and it was doing fine until now. Water parameters have been pretty stable: Alk=8, nitrates=0, PO4 a little high between 0.07 and 0.1, ph around 8.2, sg 1.025.

How did your situtuation turn out?