WHAT IS THIS??? pest on my birdnest

[carpus]

I was very disenchanted for the 2 month watching my birdnest bleach from the base up. Starting from the underside of the branches. Its SUCH a beautiful rare neon green piece that I cant let it go

I posted twice on the site and no one realli knew what it was. And it irritates me seeing it go downhill and me unable to do anything about it

my water parameter is this

alk =10
ph= 8.2
normal CA... i should test it. I dont think its the problem, the CA reactor keeps it stable

2 250 watts 14 K
really good flow
100 g
1 quietone 4000 as the main circulation pump from sump to tank
1 quietone 4000 closed loop
1 seio 620
1 seio 820
1 rio 3100

 

[Patio]

AEFW? Check some of the pics in the AEFW threads.

 

[carpus]

The main thing that concerns me is why the skin starts fading into white. it begins as fading underneath the base branches and bleaches and starts spreading and consume the entire branch. I find some black jelly-like dots on my coral and i used tweesers to take them off. I dont think their pests. But still. they smear my palm when i rub them.

 

[carpus]

BEGINNING OF THE MONTH

NOW

 

[carpus]

are AEFW black?

 

[Patio]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=756327

compare

 

[carpus]

well i think i can discard the black dot... probablyl hermit poop.

The thing that confuses me is I dont see any AEFW eggs anywhere.

I'll look harder for the flatworms.



You guys think AEFW is most likely the culprit? I only see my birdnests suffering. And my valida (i hear they are attacked the most) is unaffected

 

[GreshamH]

If it's eating a birdsnest, it ain't a acro eating flatworm

 

[MiddletonMark]

How much flow do you have this under?

And variance in Alkalinity going on?

 

[jmcmahon66]

Definitely not AEFW on a birdsnest. Please check you Ca and post the results. I too have a calcium reactor, and it does not always meet the calcium demands of my tank. Flow in any birdsnest coral is always a problem as they grow. Try directing flow towards the base of the coral if you haven't already. FWIW, my birdsnest has some die off in the center, and I think many people would say the same, it just doesn't spread. Good luck.

 

[MAthU]

i have had the same problrm with my birds nest it did that and kept doing it untill i fraged all the bad off.. now its wow but its not the 10" colonie it was its like 20 small frags but it grows so fast. and also when i fraged all the bad out, i changed my tank to a 400 BB from a 155 with sand and crushed coral. good luck with yours it looks nice.

 

[sfsuphysics]

yeah what Gresham said... birdsnest ain't an acropora Seriatopora or Pocillipora (depending upon which variant is called birdsnest, I tend to call the former a birdsnest because pocillipora is much easier to say ).

 

[Horace]

10.0 alk is a bit high for SPS IMO but is likely not the problem. I would say the most typical cause for STN on a large colony like that is lack of flow, alk/temp swings, salinity. My suggestion would be to commense doing some water changes just in case its something in the water and try to keep everything stable.

 

[Horace]

Yeah that is the typical Green Ora Bird's nest. It isnt super rare by any means, and doesnt look like a typical BN with the pointed branches, but aparently it still is considered a BN. Its certainly not like a pocillapora. Pocillapora has heads that have lots of small knobs, or spikes on them. Its not as branchy as BN.

 

[carpus]

well. looking back. I guess the coral's been through alot.

changing new bulbs than
alk swing? from setting up the tank
heat wave in CA

I did redirect my seio 620 to blow in the direction of the birdnest. Great PE. But I relocated the birdnest last night to a lower place... maybe less light will help the tissue regrow??

THANK god its not AEFW. so water parameter issue?

anyone think the way its bleaching is significant? base up. and from underneath the branches?

if its bleaching from athe base up, can we eliminate bulb change as a culprit?

 

[carpus]

well it might not be rare, but the coloration is stunning. Even under natural sunlight. its bright neon green.

 

[carpus]

I also have removed my refugium a couple weeks back just because I saw alot of poop and biodegradable stuff at the bottom of the refugium so i removed it all together. Plus I run ozone so I thought having s#!t in the tank and running ozone wasn't the best way. with ozone, i dont need a refugium

 

[Kinetic]

have you tried fragging the dying parts off? That may help keep the TN from spreading. Also frag a few pieces off as well and put them in a different tank / different part of the tank and see how they do. If the main colony dies, at least you'll still have a few frags of it to grow out from.

goodluck!

 

[GreshamH]

If for some odd reason you do loose it (you won't), I have it as well, and I'd kick you a frag in a heart beat if you need it

 

[cfishrun]

Have you ruled out all your tank inhabitants? Below are two pictures of a Pocillopora that was eaten by Peppermint shrimp. They plucked the polyps right out, but didn't bother any of the other corals in the tank.

12/22/03

12/23/03