what's eating(?) my sps?

[fessoclown]

So this phenomenon has occurred to a small number of my sps frags over the last year. It looks like a severe erosion of flesh but I am pretty sure it's not stn or rtn as the remaining dead area is not white and the frags have survived for months and some have even recovered and encrusted over the dead skeleton.

I thought perhaps it was AEFW but it's like no pictures I have seen and it has occurred on a frag of Forest Fire Digi. I dipped the frags a long time ago and saw nothing come off of them.... I also can't see any eggs of any kind.

Here are some pictures, sorry they are iphone shots and not very good. (If anyone has any tips on shooting with an iphone 5 I'll take them)

Here's the Digi. I can not see any nuidis anywhere...

Here is a frag of Red Planet. It actually seems to be recovering as it is encrusting over the dead part. It has decent polyp extension most of the time too...

here is the back side of the RP

Here is one I fragged to save and just kept the stump. As you can see the stump is recovering and even growing some dandy sprouts...

Just for fun here's a shot of the top part I saved.... it's doing great!

So, can anyone shed some light on what's happening here? It's not rampant in the tank, just a few isolated pieces but if there's some pest in there I would love to know and to be rid of it!

Current parameters are:
ALK - 7.4
Cal. - 420
Mag - 1450
Salinity - 1.025
Phos+Nitrate - clean the glass every 3-4 days...

No crabs (that I know of) except 3 acro crabs...

 

[Cyberdude]

I think it's nutrient swings maybe temp. I don't think it's being eaten.

 

[Wazzel]

We're they close to corals that could have stung them? Some LPS have very long sweeper tentacles.

 

[fessoclown]

I think it's nutrient swings maybe temp. I don't think it's being eaten.

Ya, I can't find any evidence of pests...

We're they close to corals that could have stung them? Some LPS have very long sweeper tentacles.

That's possible, I hadn't thought of that. I can;t remember as I have moved things around...

Thanks for the replies!

 

[reefmutt]

looks like old bacterial infections that have begun to heal over..

 

[fessoclown]

Thanks guys,
it really puts my mind at ease to know it's not a pest.... i guess I can relax my daily turkey basting....

This started about 6 months ago, I lost a few pieces and saved a few. At the beginning I thought it was AEFW and I really didn't want tear up the tank. IT was actually in your thread Matt where I got the turkey baste "solution".

 

[Art13]

Thats happened to me when parameters are fluctuating or i have other issues going on in the tank, and has gone away and the coral have come back just like yours have after everything becomes stable again.