Strangest death of a coral I have ever witnessed

[KurtsReef]

So, I have several SPS and LPS in the tank.

To get more specific I have 3 large Poc colonies in the tank.

The "Lime Green" colony started out golf ball sized and I had grown it out to larger than softball size. The bottom/center had turned a bit white which seems to be normal growth and been like that for months.

I get home from work Wednesday night and literally 1/2 the flesh on the previously alive portion of the coral is hanging to the calcium structure. So I pulled it out of the display at which point much of these hanging dead flesh fell and floated around the display. I put the coral into the sump for the night, figuring I would frag off the tips after work Thursday...had to leave for an event and could not do it Wednesday night.

Thursday morning the remaining flesh was dead/hanging on the coral in the sump. I now have it drying out.

There are two other SPS colonies that have died in the tank recently, but both can be explained by coral wars. One purple pillow is being killed by a orange monti cap and one blue german acro is being killed by a green planar acro....both of these have happened slow and over time with no Flesh hanging from the coral.

Wierd. First for me, luckily I have many baby poc colonies growing all over the place.

Any ideas what could have been the issue with the coral?

 

[Kozmo's Reef]

It sounds like the infamous rapid tissue necrosis, unexplainable, maybe. Check all your parameters. Has anything changed suddenly or recently?

As you stated, poc colinies turn white in the center when they increase in mass. This has to be due to the lack of light that reaches the base. Perhaps the lack of energy it was receiving cause the rtn.

 

[Brent Thomann]

sorry for you loss!

whats a poc?

thanks,
brent

 

[Kozmo's Reef]

I assume poccilipora?

 

[pimpinitup6969]

pocilipora

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I've only seen Acros RTN or STN in the classic definition- never Pocillipora. Necrosis of base/interior flesh of coral is usually due to lack of water flow. Never leave dead coral flesh from this type of event float around the aquarium- remove all of it ASAP.

 

[tmz]

This is admittedly a reach. Check your nitrates.

 

[RandyO]

I've lost a Pociliopora in this same way. In 24 hours the entire colony was gone. Flesh just peeled off the skeleton.

Had it happen to my green Bird's nest too.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

any ideas of what happened, Randy?

sounds like a virulent pathogen to me...
but that's just a guess.

 

[GMaquarium]

Had some p. damicornis die like this a number of times. At least twice I linked it to a sudden nutrient drop. Did you add a bunch of new gro to your system?

 

[tmz]

In my case ,this happened to seriatorpora pocilipora and styloporora and some montipora when nitrates where high. Some went fast ,some slowly.. I've introduced some new pieces since they are down and the new stuff is doing fine. Coincidence? Maybe. Could have been some sort of predator or toxin I guess but I favor the nitrates explaination. When they were having trouble ,it didn't mater which system tank the coral was placed in.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Tom

Tom

I just thought of something now that I'm home from ARC.
Was that you that I passed in the parking lot as I was leaving. I'll bet it was. Sunofagun.

 

[tmz]

Didn't know you were there. I was there from 12;15 until 3:30 or so. I was driving a black Sierra. I kind of look like a Hollywood star ha ha ha . Wearing black jeans and a dark blue Bill's sweat shirt. Would have been nice to say hello and chat a bit.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

ah well... maybe next time.
I got a chance to talk to Randy about Pocillipora meltdowns. I guess I've been lucky 'cause I've never seen one go down the tubes quickly. IME some Pocis are like weeds (hard to kill) and some just fail to thrive but I've never seen one meltdown. Same with Seriatopora here.
Randy sure does have some nice big Poci colonies in the front display!

 

[RandyO]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14713297#post14713297 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gary Majchrzak
ah well... maybe next time.
I got a chance to talk to Randy about Pocillipora meltdowns. I guess I've been lucky 'cause I've never seen one go down the tubes quickly. IME some Pocis are like weeds (hard to kill) and some just fail to thrive but I've never seen one meltdown. Same with Seriatopora here.
Randy sure does have some nice big Poci colonies in the front display!

Hey Guys. Good to talk to yous today.

My most recent meltdown was about 4 months ago. I had a very large colony of ORA Green Bird's Nest that I grew from a little frag. Had it about 4 years or so. It was in that sps tank with all those big Poci colonies. I kept it in medium light since it was just a little guy.
Then one of my guys moved it to the middle of that tank where it was getting much more light. I noticed it wasn't liking this move and moved it down. But it was too late. The next day it started peeling flesh. Within 48 hours it was gone. Most of the frags that we made were cut well into healthy flesh, and dipped in Iodine, but still we lost most of them. Saved just a few tips.

It wasn't a brown jelly death. And it wasn't a solid white creep. It just looked like green flesh falling off the skeleton. It started in one spot and moved quickly through the coral.

 

[tmz]

Maybe it was bailing out.

 

[gary greguire]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14714365#post14714365 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RandyO
Hey Guys. Good to talk to yous today.

My most recent meltdown was about 4 months ago. I had a very large colony of ORA Green Bird's Nest that I grew from a little frag. Had it about 4 years or so. It was in that sps tank with all those big Poci colonies. I kept it in medium light since it was just a little guy.
Then one of my guys moved it to the middle of that tank where it was getting much more light. I noticed it wasn't liking this move and moved it down. But it was too late. The next day it started peeling flesh. Within 48 hours it was gone. Most of the frags that we made were cut well into healthy flesh, and dipped in Iodine, but still we lost most of them. Saved just a few tips.

It wasn't a brown jelly death. And it wasn't a solid white creep. It just looked like green flesh falling off the skeleton. It started in one spot and moved quickly through the coral.

My green birds nest started doing the same thing day before yesterday, Mine is only a small frag, the polyps were still open on the loose flesh. I doubled the vitamin C dose and it was stopped pealing yesterday, have to see what happens with lights on today.

 

[block head]

my pocci dumped about 70 % percent of it's flesh after my tank move. it had always done well in my tank that has elevated nitrates and phosphates . my pocci is hardy ,but i've noticed it's the first coral in my tank to react to any changes in the tank.

 

[KurtsReef]

I just got back from out of town late last night...sorry for not responding sooner.

I will have to test my Nitrates, they have never been an issue but that does not mean they are not up. Will do that tonight.

It happened exactly as Randy explained, the flesh/polyps simply pealing off the skeleton. Wierdest thing I had ever seen happen to one of my corals.