yellow turbinaria - HELP!

[MarcoPolo]

This is the masterpiece of my reef tank, the turbinaria has been with me for years and always beautiful. In the past weeks a noticeable patch appeared underneath one of the cups of the coral. The patch is white but covered by what looks a think brown film. It looks like the patch is eating away the yellow tissue of the turbinaria. Is this a form of necrosis? Do I need to take drastic measures and cut away the branch exposed to the patch? that would be awful.."amputating" part of this coral which has been with me for years..Please help - what should I do??

ps. apologies for poor quality of photos...

 

[MarcoPolo]

Anyone able to help please?

 

[dzhuo]

For a large colony like this, it's possible that there might not be enough light and or flow which cause tissue lost. The thin brown algae is probably just there after the tissue is gone; not the cause. Is the tissue lost continue with a fast rate?

 

[MarcoPolo]

Thanks for replying. Yes, tissue lost is at fast rate. I took a picture early this morning, and i compared this with current status - tissue pattern is different this evening, more tissue has gone. Flow is good, maybe issue is lighting? I used to run MH 9 hrs a day, and gradually tuned down to 5.5 hrs over several weeks period. Perhaps I should increase light period up ?

 

[dzhuo]

I don't think increase the light period would help. I think it has more to do with flow since it's only the inner branch that's having this problem? I am not really sure if there is a good way to stop the tissue lost other than increase flow to this area (assuming flow is the cause). I have also heard people using super glue or dip to stop the tissue lost but I have never done this to my corals so I am not sure how effective these methods are.

Are any other corals experience this tissue lost?

 

[MarcoPolo]

None of the other corals are experiencing tissue loss at present. The only case in the past when several corals in my tank had tissue loss was related to a big temperature drop during winter, but this is not the case now.

If the tissue lost continues, should I have to consider cutting the affected area to avoid the issue from spreading to the whole coral?

The other side of the turbinaria, ie the surface exposed to direct light, is doing very well. No sign there of tissue loss. Also on other branches, everything is fine. It's just this large patch with a problem

 

[dzhuo]

OK. I think it's possible either the lack of light or flow (or combination of both) in this particular area is the cause of the tissue lost. I am not aware of any pest that target a turbinaria either. I would frag up the colony or just remove the portion it's affected (especially the tissue lost is as aggressive as you described).

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

lighting and flow were my first thoughts as well.

if either is causing the dead patch I wouldn't frag this Turbinaria.

Is this coral fed directly or indirectly?

 

[robs.mark]

I would agree, sounds like a flow issue, i would increase flow to this area and see if anything changes, also avoid fragging until the last possible moment.. Nice coral by the way.

 

[dzhuo]

also avoid fragging until the last possible moment..

I normally do not recommend fragging a nice colony like this but...

Yes, tissue lost is at fast rate.

I don't like to sit and wait or hope that it stops. Next thing you know, it's 50% gone the next morning.

 

[MarcoPolo]

lighting and flow were my first thoughts as well.

if either is causing the dead patch I wouldn't frag this Turbinaria.

Is this coral fed directly or indirectly?

Hi Gary, coral fed indirectly. As my tank is probably low in nutrients, in recent weeks I started feeding more the fish, and I plan to increase the livestock by adding more fish in time

 

[MarcoPolo]

I normally do not recommend fragging a nice colony like this but...



I don't like to sit and wait or hope that it stops. Next thing you know, it's 50% gone the next morning.

Last night and this morning I took high resolution pictures of the affected area and compared the two. I cannot see an obvious extension of tissue lost over night. When I return home this evening I will take another picture to check again if there has been further tissue loss during the day. Though I would not be happy to do so, if damage continues to extend, I will have to frag the colony soon.

With regards to flow, I am wondering if that is really the underlying issue? The colony sits in an area with high flow and no obvious dead spots around it. But in any case I am trying to maximize flow around it.

One thing that just came to mind. Until recently there was a blue sponge that was nicely growing / expanding on the colony live rock base. The sponge was just under the coral cups - but not directly close to the affected area. A week ago , suddenly, the sponge turned white and died off. I removed the remains ( which was very easy, the white stuff came off very easily from the base) and it's all gone now.

Coincidence or could the sponge death be linked? What would cause a soft sponge to suddenly die off, do sponges go sexual like macro do?

Thanks for your ongoing support...

 

[dzhuo]

With regards to flow, I am wondering if that is really the underlying issue?

It's impossible to tell whether flow is the real cause. We might never fully understand the exact cause and most of us are just guess at best base on past experience and symptom of the issue. Often, it's an elimination process to take out one variable at a time until the problem resolve itself. For certain issues, this is the perfect approach but for others such as RTN, time is essential and you must act decisively.

Coincidence or could the sponge death be linked? What would cause a soft sponge to suddenly die off, do sponges go sexual like macro do?

I have never heard of anyone mention sponge killing a coral but that could be because sponge is almost always misunderstood. Most people are advocates of culturing sponges (Tyree, for example, has a whole book about these animals in what he called the cryptic zone filtration) but the reality is sponges do more "harm" in a reef tank than most people realize. Here is a quote from a marin biologist who study these animals:

Tunicates and sponges both have to contend with predators and crowding, and both do it chemically. Both use allelopathy to preserve their real estate, so they have the same issues as coral allelopathy. To protect themselves from predation, sponges also make some nasty metabolites. While they shouldn't be an issue as long as the sponge stays intact, if it gets damaged somehow you could have some nasty toxins released. The tank-nuking toxins people worry about from dead nudibranchs are actually toxins from their food sponges. Tunicates take a slightly different route and mostly just accumulate chemicals in their bodies, including the heavy metal vanadium. Again, it's not much of a problem as long as they're intact. The thing with them is that many of them, primarily colonial forms have programmed senescense, meaning there is a fairly regular cycle where large parts, if not all of the colony die off at once. At that point, everything accumulated goes back into the water at once. With some species the cycle can be as short as a year, but obvioulsy it can also be longer.

If you want to learn more about sponges, I am happy to provide the link for the whole discussion. Whether the dead of your sponge is the cause of the tissue lost, I am not sure.

 

[MarcoPolo]

Here are some close up, higher resolution pictures.

Is there anything obvious that can be deduced from these images?

I am monitoring developments. If things worsen I will have to remove damaged area.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I don't know if sponge is to blame in this particular case but I've heard of other cases where sponges kill corals either by direct contact or indirect contact.
(It's actually quite common both in the ocean and in aquaria.)
Many sponges are extremely toxic.

Do a search on
Collospongia