Whats wrong wiht my RED PLANET?

[boosted chemist]

So overnight my frag started loosing "skin"

My alk was a little low at 7, usually run it around 9-10 (salifers)
my calcium was 460, nitrates under 10 and been doing 5 gal changes (20 gal tank, skimmer sump reactor ect) once a week. Everything esle is fine, including my purple plum SPS.

FTS for shits and giggles

TIA

 

[shroutk3]

I would suspect the alk as the culprit. My red planet reacted similarly to an alk swing.

 

[shroutk3]

Also, did you change salt, or switch dosing schedules lately? For me it was a salt change.

 

[boosted chemist]

No change in schedule, or salt brand. did yours recover?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

ime/imo

ime/imo

if this coral is a "red planet" (URS or ORA) keeping the alkalinity and pH on the high side will do wonders for it.

tip: high water flow around and through a coral can actually raise the pH in it's immediate vicinity. "Red Planet" loves lots of water flow. Water flow will cause it to table.

 

[Kent E]

I'm not saying this is it, but back in the day there were acro eating flatworms that made that type of mark in the "crotches" of the coral. It's worth a look.

 

[boosted chemist]

I have my mag 5 blowing right on the coral, i will have to look into these worms, any other signs i should look for?

Its been like this for a few days, at which time should i frag it to save whats left?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

mag 5 blowing on the coral isn't cool. A MJ1200 at least 20" away from the coral would be better. A maxijet mod or other "massive flow" type powerhead would be even better.

Damage doesn't appear to be from AEFW from what I see in the pix here.

Do you dose alkalinity supplements into the Mag 5 stream by chance?

 

[boosted chemist]

The mag is ten or so inches above the porcipollo on the right, its from my sump, I dose into the sump. I had this frag for two months no prob till now.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

if/when raising alkalinity do it slowly. Sensitive corals such as Acropora are more likely to display indications of environmental stress than more tolerant corals. I don't know the exact cause of your Red Planet's problems but alkalinity and water flow issues would seem to be prime suspects IMO/IME.

 

[smtank]

You may want to consider fragging it before it totally crashes.

I too believe flow and alk are a strong possibility.

Frustrating for sure, I would hate to loose my RP.

 

[tmz]

Alk drop would be my first suspect. It has been my experience personally and in reading many threads that stn like that is often tied to alk drops. Direct laminar flow would surely hurt it too. What's PO4 look like. Never had aefw but checking for predation by the worms or red bugs a fish ,etc. is worth a quick look.