Sinularia disease?

[Dez3d]

Hello

I have had my Sinularia for about two weeks and it appears to thrive despite the sudden appearence of a black spot on its root.

First some background info on my tank:

It is relatively new (8 weeks) and the water appears to be relatively stable and cycled (40 kg of Fiji live rock). My phosphates are high, likely due to slight overfeeding and resulting in an increase of algae, but I will be installing a Rowaphos filter shortly. There has only been a very slight increase in total ammonia and nitrite these last days, which coincides with me recently adding three fish (one Valenciennea stigata + two ocellaris).

The tank has a net voume of 70 gallons (including sump with refuge) and houses (in addition to the above mentioned fish), two mandarins (that eat frozen brine shrimp), three hermit crabs, seven astrea snails, two different mushroom anemone colonies, a star polyp colony and various hitchhikers.

My water parameters are (refraktometer & Salifert tests):

Temp: 26 degrees celcius
Gravity: 1.0250
pH: 8.3
KH: 8.3 dKH
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Nitrite: < lowest range
Ammonia: < 0.25 mg/L
Ca: 410 ppm
Phosphates: 1 ppm
Si: 0 ppm


The Sinularia appears to have developed a black line on its root that extends upwards. I can't say for sure how long it has been there, but I think it has developed over the past five days. As a closer look, the black area is just bellow the surface of the root and is not on the surface.

Here's a picture of it (no phaelic pun intended ):

I would also mention that I have some kind of fungus growing under the rock which holds this coral. There are also hydrozoan's growing on nearby rock, but that are not in direct contact with it.


I would appreciate any suggestions for a course of action.

Thank you in advance,

Peter

 

[Salamander]

Does it ever extend its polyps? 8 Weeks old is pretty young to be stable enough to support most corals. Slower is better and saves you money and hassle when corals die which can only compound the problem when volatiles are released and tissue dies. Sinularia like many leathers like pretty good strong flow. If it gets much worse you may want ot consider fragging it to prevent further necrosis. BTW it does look like a little....

 

[Dez3d]

Hi Salamander,

It fully extends its polyps during the four hours of lighting with the metal halides and shrinks during the night (temperature is stable 24h, pH varies between 8.3 and 8.2).

I have used carbon filtration for two days now just in case and to clear up my water (damn goby) and I have it ready in case the coral dies.

The coral appears otherwise to be doing very well and is in close proximity to a Tunze stream (7000l/h outlet).

The reason for getting this coral was that my live rock came from an established (+1 year) tank and that my water perameters suggested a complete preliminary cycle on top of this coral being rather sturdy.

Luckily, this dark patch is on the root of a brach, which will make cutting quite easy. However, do I wait and see how this patch progresses or should I proceed in doing some adhoc surgery now?


PS. Im happy I am not the only one seeing peculiar Freudian shapes

 

[Salamander]

I'd wait to pull out the scalpel just yet, but would cut it if it grows more (ha ha) to the point were cutting would result in a large tissue loss. Try reading up on some soft coral fraggin/recovery techniques that you could employ when necessary (Anthony Calfo's book is very good for this and other info).

 

[Dez3d]

Thanks again Salamander. I'm awaiting just such a book from a very slow mailservice. I'll check out garf.org for the time being and follow your suggestion to wait and observe.

Perhaps the growth is whats making it happy