SPS Losing Tissue STN (Act or Watch)

[jumplittlechloe]

I have been watching my Hawkins colony and it has been receding tissue over the past week. Most of the flesh that has come off is old and it is shaded somewhat from the light. It seems to have stopped the "peeling" look from the skeleton and only loose flesh remains. The colony is about 5-6" in length. Any thoughts?

SG 1.025
Ca: 420
Alk: 7.5
Mg: 1400
Temp 77

 

[JT3069]

an alk swing os the most common reason for stn and rtn
i see yours is near nsw and any swing from that would cause this
if it seems to have stopped leave it alone and monitor your alk and keep it stable
if stn does not stop frag it, save what you can

 

[jumplittlechloe]

I do have kalk on ATO and I check levels 2x a week and add Ca and Alk as needed through dosing. I do a 20% water change weekly. Should I cut off the dead branches or just leave it alone?

 

[JT3069]

wait if it continutes cut if it stops leave it alone and it will regrow

 

[JT3069]

also i see a piece of coral right next to that one if they are too close the could be in battle over space may just need to be moved

 

[jumplittlechloe]

It is a piece of montipora undata and it is close but they do not touch, yet. Lights are on now and the tissue looks to be holding (not peeling back from skeleton). I think you are right on with it being Alk or some chemical warfare. Have you ever seen sps regrow its base?

 

[mos90]

i had a hawkins that was stning from the base. i moved it to my other tank and has been regrowing at the base since.

i stressed out my german blue monti with too much light. it started to bleach at the tips. i lowered the lighting intensity(led's) and the color returned but it started to stn at the base and has slowed but hasnt stopped yet.

normally in my other tank stn was related to alk swings. but in this case it was more stress related. in my 125gal alk never swings more then 1 dkh in a months period. usually between 8.5 and 9.5 .

my point is lighting can cause an stn event.

im not sure if sps's are to close they cause chemical warfare. maybe if it was touching an lps or softie. ive has sps's touching with no problems before.

 

[JT3069]

yes sps will regrow there base the coral is not dead, but the alage has left the coral
keep nusance alage off of the coral and it will be back before you know it

 

[jumplittlechloe]

Thanks for your thoughts and encouragement. I will update at the end of the week.

 

[JT3069]

yea let us know how it turns out

 

[mos90]

sometimes on larger colonies the bases will die out. lack of light or flow.

 

[M Woodhill]

i guess it happens to enchinta

mine worked fine durin first 2 weeks and then all of sudden it faded in a meltin way, losin tissue very rapidly

a very tender species

 

[jumplittlechloe]

also i see a piece of coral right next to that one if they are too close the could be in battle over space may just need to be moved

So I decided to cut the colony as stn seems to have slowed but not stopped. I had a large frag and a small frag I glued on a plug. I put the plug in the sand and the larger frag back where it was originally. I woke up this morning and the small frag looked ok however the larger frag was showing some light tissue loss, but only in the side facing the undata montiporia. I think you were right in saying they may be too close. I refragged the hawkins moved the montiporia and put the hawkins back in its original spot. I will watch and see how things go.