Acropora Question

[newbiesalttank]

I bought an Acropora this weekend. It looked healthy at the LFS and when I got home...it had some things sticking(die off) to certain colony sticks. Anyways, most of the Acropora turned brown within a few minutes except for a patch in the back which remained bleached white. Now...I see more colony sticks that are bleached white with more coral die-off. It looks like the majority of the Acropora with the exception of this one area.
Should I be worried even though the rest are fine? I smelled it and it did smell a littly fishy so I don't know if the LFS sold me an Acropora that had already some die off. Any advice? btw: my Acroprora is placed at the very top of the tank near both PC lights
PH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Phosphate: .2
Nitrate: 5-10ppm
Nitrite: 0
Alk: high
29 gallons with 175 watts of PC lighting
50 lbs of live rock
60 lbs of live sand
variety of soft corals and 1 damsel, 3 coral cats and lm blenny
PRISM protein skimmer
204 fluval
penguin filter
Thanks in advance!

 

[jonthefb]

man thats a tricky one. was there ever any tissue of the acro that you could vvisibly see? if it was bleached white in the lfs it probably wasnt healty to begin with, or they just got it in. when you said tat it turned brown all over, was it like a brown jelly? any pics of this guy? anyhow i think that you may have gotten a not so healthy one to begin with. i would wait it out and see wat happwns, hopefully it will color up, and the polyps will expand!
good luck
jon

 

[newbiesalttank]

Jon:
Hi. Yeah...it looked fine at the LFS but when I was acclimating it with my water before placing it in my tank....I noticed some tissue material around the bleached part of the Acropora. I have it near the powerhead so it is getting nice current with lighting right near the top.
As for the brown...it's the color brown that happens when a banana gets ripe. I think it's suppose to look like that before the colors pop up. I am hoping that the bleaching is just affecting one certain bad area and the rest will be fine since the brown is pretty much everywhere now.
Thanks for the quick response!

 

[newbiesalttank]

my calcium levels are 400-450 currently.
for alk...the color code just says in the high range.
Thanks!

 

[fishfan]

NWB.
Could it be that someone grabbed it in that area or maybe it was exposed to air. I have mine about 2 months and it has a brown spot where I pressed to hard with my thumb otherwise It's doing very well

 

[jonthefb]

when you say it looked great at the lfs.....what do you mean by great? what color was it in the shop? were the polyps fully extended? acros that are solid white are either ones that were just received, or are ones that have lost all zooxanthellae, and are dying. if yours was white and is now turning brown, it could be that it was jsut received and is beginnign to make the zooxanthellae that it needs for energy....and this is a good sign!
good luck
jon

 

[newbiesalttank]

Jon:
I can see the white underneath portion of the Acropora...the zoo is completely gone and I think that it was tissue that I saw leaving the skeleton. I know that I will check on it tonight when I get back from work...see how it looks.
I just hope it's not a bacteria issue resulting in loss of tissue/zoos.
It was somewhat white at the LFS but when I placed it in my tank..it started to turn brown except for that one area. As the weekend progressed, it looked like that one area continued to have tissue loss.... this morning, I saw that one whole area white without any zoos but the rest of the coral was brown....varying shades of it.
thanks

 

[jonthefb]

just keepyour eye on it. if it starts to go south i would reccommend a major fragging operation to salvage any portions of it that can be saved. get some epoxy or cyanoacrylate super glue ready and some rubble, just in case!
good luck
jon

 

[newbiesalttank]

thanks for the advice. In the future, what should I be looking for in Acroporas??? I admit that I did see the LFS unpacking this particular piece that I picked up but didn't think anything of it unti I saw the tissue loss...
Oh man...tough lessons in this hobby!

 

[jonthefb]

first off, id never buy an acro that a lfs was just unpacking and that come from me who works at a lfs. for example we just received two colony of pink birdsnest yesterday. they wre totally white coming out of the bag, and all the commensal crabs and shrimp that were on them were dead in teh bag. who knows if they will survive, only time will tell. look for polyp expansion, good coloration, no damaged areas, no excessive sliming, etc. use you best judgement and if all else fails, ask here first!
good luck
jon

 

[newbiesalttank]

Yeah, I get your message. I am finding that one can never ask enough before making a purchase. I will probably see if I can work on getting some smaller frags from other local reefers and see how they turn out.
Thanks for the good advice. I will see what I can do tonight....*sigh* If I do have to frag all the bad pieces out, will that stop the infection rate? I don't want to traumatize any of the good coral parts unless they are going to fall apart either.

 

[jonthefb]

fragging the bad stuff out will not do anyhting. it would be better to first dipthe coral in an iodine bath and then frag the good pieces of it. Of course you could do judt the bath and see how things turn out and if that takes care of it all is fine. however, if tissue necrosis is still occurring, i would reccommend fragging the good stuff off...it hurts and isnt fun to do but works! we had a little staghorn acro a tthe shop that declined very rapidly right after we did a water change. we fragged the thing liek 5 times, adn ended up with two healthy frags from the whole colony. kinda sad, but its better than losing the whole animal!
good luck
jon

 

[newbiesalttank]

when you say iodine bath....do I use the iodine supplement and squirt iodine over the acropora or is there a special solution that i use? Dont want to hurt the poor guy anymore than I have to.
THanks

 

[jonthefb]

what type of iodine supplement are you using? the best stuff to use is IMO either seachems reef dip, or lugol's solution. the reef dip can be used as a bath and painted directly on the affected areas of the coral. the lugols can only be used as a bath!
good luck
jon

 

[newbiesalttank]

I am not sure what type I have since I am at work but it's the Iodine Supplement in those bottles for additives. Is it seachem? It could be. So...I can just drop the whole coral in or just spray it on the coral? What would be the best method?

 

[jonthefb]

wel if it is seachems iodide, i would really reccommend picking up the reef dip instead. with the ref dip you can do both and i would reccommend doing both as well. pull th ecoral out of the tnak, and paint the medication directly onthe coral, and then let it sit in a bath of tank water and teh dip for like 20 mins or so.!
good luck
jon

 

[newbiesalttank]

i have kent iodine supplements...will that work? Do I take the whole coral out and just dip the coral in a bath or do I squirt the iodine all over the coral tips affected area?

 

[jonthefb]

with the seachem stuff you can do both. i would be very leery about using an additive as a medication. i personaly have never done it. i have used lugols, adn i have used teh reef dip and i know they work. with the reef dip you use the included pipette adn just drop the stuff on the coral in the affected areas, covering it as best as you can...i would then reccommend placing it in the bath as well.
good luck
jon

 

[newbiesalttank]

seachem is good, eh? Ok...I will try to go to the LFS and see if they have it in stock and get that iodine bath done.
I appreciate your advice and wish me luck.
*sigh*

 

[jonthefb]

yeah definately man, good luck. i wish i coudl tell you to use the ones youve got but i just dont know what the repercussions would be cause i personally ahve never used the stuff!
and good luck again and keep us posted!
jon