Tissue problem on Green Slimer

[jeffreylesser]

So my green slimer has had tissue problems for a long time now(months). basically patches of white fluffy tissue, but not recession to the skeleton. Some patches heal and new ones appear. Lately it has gotten worse. I did at one point have AEFW in my tank so this along with other corals was dipped 3x in coral revive. That did not fix this problem, but I appear to be free of the AEFW. This issue predates both the AEFW and the coral revive dips. Today I did a dip in coralrx and I do have some interceptor I may try as well. I am thinking that maybe this is either an infection(vibrio?) or some sort of predator. My thoughts on the interceptor was that maybe a crab of some sort is hiding in the coral, or rock. Any ideas would be great. The picture is right after doing coralrx(very little PE) and it gives you an idea of the extent of the problem. Besides this I get good PE out of the rest of the coral, and it is growing very fast right now. The rest of my SPS/coralline look great and are growing phenomenally right now, my tank is sucking down almost 3 DkH a day in alkalinity.

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/jeffreylesser/Tank%20Build/IMG_0200.jpg

My parameters for reference:
NO3 0
PO4 .02
Ph 8.0 - 8.16 (morning, evening)
Salinity 34.6ppt
Temp 79-81
Ca 428
Alk 8.06
Mg 1560
Iodide .01
Sr 3ppm
K 375

 

[allsps40]

Yeah that is not good or normal. I think it is a disease or something of the sort. I have seen it before. I would give a strong dip in Coral Cure or Lugol's, see if that helps. Someone chime in if I am wrong. Your mag is really high but I dont think it is related at all.

 

[jeffreylesser]

Yea my mag is coming down. Turns out my old kit got to be close to 150 off. Probably evaporation.

 

[gon08]

Do you have asterina stars in the tank? I would look under the frag plug. That looks like something passed over damaging the tissue.

 

[jeffreylesser]

No asterina stars. I had a few keyhole limpets in my system a few years back, but I have removed them. I do have some hitchhiker crabs that came in on my liverock(Florida) but I don't have as many as I used too. I only know of one in my tank for sure, but it would be silly to think that was the only one there. Some of the potential suspects could be an emerald crab, and two sally lightfoots. I also have two or three of the commensual acropora crabs in the tank, but none of them live in the branches of the Slimer, and it doesn't seem their MO. Fish: two Swallow Tail Angels, Powder Blue Tang, two Oscellaris Clowns, two Randall's Gobies, and a Melanarus Wrasse. I have not seen any of my fish even remotely interested in the slimer, and I work from home next to my tank 5 days a week. So I am pretty sure it is not a fish, and I am pretty sure it is happening at night if it is predation.

 

[potterjon]

Is it possible that it is just being shaded out by the growth above it? I notice the branch on the left is the same way on the underside. I have some colonies that are large and they do not look good in the back where there is less light and a lot less flow. Toward the front, they are thriving.

 

[gon08]

It doesn't appear to be predatory damage more like something grazed over it and the damage was unintentional. I've had the same type damage caused by urchins. If that is the case the coral should recover unless it is repeatedly grazed over.

 

[jeffreylesser]

It has been ongoing for months now. I think coincidental damage by something that does not want to eat it has to be ruled out. As far as shading, I would expect maybe brown vs. green coloration or something like that, but this is a little different. When I first got this coral the undersides of one Branch did not have PE at all, and I figured lighting was the reason, but I am not so sure now. At any rate, it does seem better after the coralrx. I am going to do a dip at the one week mark again take pictures and see how it progresses.

Edit: I don't have any urchins in my tank.