RTN action

[dcforester1]

I recently had a prized SPS of mine develop RTN, or STN. I think/know it was heat related. I didn't have my chiller on and my tank temp went from 77, to over 86 deg in a 12hr period. I got home and a third of it was gone. I took it out, and cut the dead portion off, and the next third I fragged into four frags. The next day all four frags are almost completely gone, and the last third of it is still receding. I have accepted the fact that I am going to lose the coral. The concern I have now it that a coral about three inches from it had the same thing on just a small part of it, but it was processing at a very slow pace. After reading now I am wondering if the heat wasn't the issue, and that this was caught from the SPS next door? I have a mainly dominated SPS tank and a lose of them would be devastating. Any suggestions on how to deal with possible RTN/STN would be greatly appreciated.

thank you Derek

 

[bigmatt]

lower you temp and dose with melafix marine, remove carbon and shut off your skimmer for 5 days. Im betting on a vibro bacteria infection. they start to consume coral tissue at higher temps. If you dont want to do that you could try a dip with melafix to kill the bacteria, but it may spread like wildfire

 

[dcforester1]

Should I just toss the two infected corals?

 

[bigmatt]

i would try and save them by dipping/treating the tank. Its happened to me 2 times before, melafix marine saved me both times. happened after a rapid increase in temp

 

[motortrendz]

i had a similar thing happen to me, i had an order of corals come in that were beautiful, they were 12 hours delayed and some started dieing.. i put them in my tank and hoped for the best.. (which i think introduced the bacteria) then the next day i had a rapid temp spike from my normal 77-78 to 86(hot day almost reached 90, and for new jersey its unheard of this time of year so i didnt have my chiller running) i lost all the corals that were in bad shape then within a day lost a dozzen more, within 4 days i lost almost 35 colonies and all my frags.. i was devistated.. i tried everything but the worst thing i did was take out a couple colonies and stick them in another tank to attempt to save them bc i lost them and the corals that were in that tank.. only sps, nothing else was affected.. worst week i ever had in this hobby.. im rebuilding now..

 

[TucanSam007]

I'm sorry to hear about your guys losses. RTN is heartbreaking, same thing happened to me last summer. Lost all that were going downhill after I left a window open on a 95 degree day. All you can do now is add some more redundancy to the system to prevent those spikes.

 

[fishguy597]

lower you temp and dose with melafix marine, remove carbon and shut off your skimmer for 5 days. Im betting on a vibro bacteria infection. they start to consume coral tissue at higher temps. If you dont want to do that you could try a dip with melafix to kill the bacteria, but it may spread like wildfire

Can you give some more info on vibro bacteria? other then rtn what are some symptoms? Would temp.fluctuations be the only trigger? The melafix is reef safe and you personally added this into your tank?

 

[dcforester1]

I used the Melafix and it did stop the RTN, that was over 2mos ago. Well I cam home today and the part I saved was almost all white! I was so disappointed. This piece was looking great and there has been nothing odd happening to the tank. This tank has been up for over 4 yrs, and nothing else in the tank shows any signs of stress. Could this be from the earlier episode, or something new?

TIA Derek

 

[stpatrick]

My number one fear in this hobby. Sorry to hear the stories.