SPS might be in trouble

[bshow24]

So Cal Dudes!

I am in need of some help. I did post this in the SPS thread but I trust everyone here more :fun2

Anyways, I woke up this morning and began inspecting my corals, and found my Red Planet had a couple things going on.

First, there's a hole at the bottom of it (the bleached area near the plug, that circle in the center looks like a drilled hole)


Second, the opposite side of this spot the coral is beginning to bleach:


Is this a pest causing an issue? Should I frag above the bleached area before it gets too high? The coral is doing very well, within the last two weeks every branch has grown 1/4 inch and it even has some new branches developing, so want to make sure I do whatever I can to keep it as healthy as possible.

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[dodgerblew]

Looks like STN, slow tissue necrosis. Not seeing anything that suggests aefw. It's tissue is peeling away. You can cut it above the loss of tissue and remount it. You can do a coral Rx first and that can help any possible pest or an infection in coral. You should then qt it. It may or may not help. How long have you had this? The coral is definitely browned out which can be a symptom of other issues

 

[bshow24]

Looks like STN, slow tissue necrosis. Not seeing anything that suggests aefw. It's tissue is peeling away. You can cut it above the loss of tissue and remount it. You can do a coral Rx first and that can help any possible pest or an infection in coral. You should then qt it. It may or may not help. How long have you had this? The coral is definitely browned out which can be a symptom of other issues

I always dip my corals which is why I figured it wasn't a pest but it worried me. I'll be sure to frag it above that mark.

I've had this for 5 weeks now. I think the color you're seeing is from natural light and my crappy phone pics. It's red with green under color when tank lights are on.

 

[bshow24]

I ended up fragging it pretty much in half. I kept the good half in my main display tank and QTd the half with the STN after dipping in coral RX I also did a water change as my alkalinity was very low compared to the balance I need with Calc (500 Calc, 8.3 Alk) now is at 430 and 10.4 so should be good.

Weird that my Red Planet is the one having issues while my Oregon Tort and Purple Monster are looking great and growing surprisingly well.

 

[dodgerblew]

That's a lot to raise your Alk at one time. BRS states not to raise it up more then 1.4 in a 24 hr period. I raise it slowly when I need too. Sudden swings in Alk is not good for them. Good luck with everything. Corals can be finicky

 

[bshow24]

I was scared when I saw that number, mostly because I was aiming for that 1.4 # (My goal was 9.8,) I'm actually in belief that it is closer to that, only reason being I took the number immediately after the water change, and I hadn't really let the water run through the system. Going to check again in about an hour, but based on the calculations I made with my Bionic #s, it should end up sitting around 9.8.

The fragged piece is looking good already, plenty of extension and happiness, so here's to hope balancing out the Calc/Alk plus the frag helps everything, and that my calculations weren't wrong!

 

[SchnitzelReef]

Calcium should be 400-420, and alk should be 7-8. No need to have your alk that high. Do you have a doser or calcium reactor setup? Having fluctuating parameters will def cause rtn/stn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pga7602]

Another alternative to fragging is to simply superglue the entire edge back on. I use a thick glue line and sacrafice a little healthy tissue when I do this. This method helps me retain maximum salvageable tissue

 

[dodgerblew]

Here's the pic I mentioned in our pm conversation

 

[dodgerblew]

A close up. Photos taken by rickztahone

 

[bshow24]

A close up. Photos taken by rickztahone

If only mine looked like this! How long did it take to get to that size?

 

[dodgerblew]

Well, this piec is 2 years old now but I've chopped it quite a bit and I'm not talking booger frags but small colonies. This is from a few weeks ago

 

[bshow24]

A lot nicer than mine still, haha! One day we'll get there.

Now on a topic of red planet, do you prefer for yours to be green? Or would you rather have it that pure red? Mine is turning to the green side and I love the look, but may need to up the par a little bit for it and the other SPS sake.

 

[dodgerblew]

Higher par goes red, lower par shows more green