My Acro is dying HELP

ntiller

ntiller

New Member
I purchased the most beautiful piece of acro last sunday. It was greenish blue with electic blue tips. I was so proud of it. I watched it very closely over the last few days and it appeared to be doing great. Colors were awesome polops out. Well today I looked at it and it was starting to turn brownish pink at the base and white in the center. It is dying. I know that when you bring a new piece in the tank lighting and water changes can make this coral change colors but I dont know why it is dying. My water is perfect. Calcium was a little high and alk was a little low but it is balanced out and water is perfect for the last 6 days. lighting is 2x250w 20k mh. temp 78 degrees and all paramiters are right on target. The coral came from 250w 14k's but that shouldnt make a diff. The one thing that I found odd but may be common is the person I bought it from dipped the piece in a bucket with a desolved heartguard dog heart warm pill in it to make sure there were no red bugs. Any ideas? Can I save this piece? I drip acclimated this piece for a few hours so it should not have been a acclimation issue. Not sure how to post pics but have them if anyone wants to see for ideas.
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
are you sure it is not jsut shading itself?
how much flow do you have? this is an extreamly important issue when it comes to acros.
how old is your tank?
is this your first sps?
anything nipping at it? what other livestock do you have?
anything touching it?
where is it located in relation to your flow and light?
do you have a wavemaker or some type of alternating flow?
 
ntiller

ntiller

New Member
THe acro is at the top of the tank almost in the middle and it does not have anything else near it. I have a 55g tank and a 400gph powerhead that was pointed in the general direction. Strong Flow in the direction. The tank is 5 years old and this was my first whole colony of acro I do have a green fag and it seems to be doing fine. I am keeping a very close eye on this piece as well. I have a montipora about 8 inches away and candy cane about 6 inches away. Other tank mates are... orange tree sponge, hermits and snails, cb and fire shrimp, lettus nudi, brittle star, sand sifting star, yellow tang, 2 tomatoe clowns, blue damzel, yellow damzel, eng goby, numerous mushrooms and polops, red reef lobster, porcalin crab, 3 emerald crabs. I think that is all. I was told by the person I bought it from to move it to the bottom of the tank so I just did before I posted and this is the first time I have ever seen anything near it. The CB is sitting on the side of it but not picking at it. There are 2 small crabs living in it that came in it.
I dont think this is shading itself. Like I said I have pics maybe I am just a retard and that is what it is doing. But it is getting bright white in the center and MOVING FAST. Over 1 day it has made a huge difference. Also it is no longer slimmy. I was going to frag the healthy looking branches with hopes of saving them.
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
it happened in the center of the colony? to larger colonies, they often die in the center because all the branches shield it, so it barely gets any flow. the same thing goes for the side paointing away from the powerhead if you do not have a wavemaker. i strongly suggest getting one. you can find a used one for cheap. i got a red sea wavemaster pro for 50 bucks from a fellow reefer. but there are ones like the natural timer that you can get for like 40. or you can even get a coralife light timer. i just got two more maxijets 1200s for my wavemaker. so nwo in my 40 breeder i have 4 maxi jetts. at least two are on at once. somteimes 3 or 4, a300 GPH HOB filter, and a HOB skimmer. I am setting a sump yup though, so then ill have another 700 or so and illt ake off the skimmer and filter. Flow is very important. that may be your problem.
or it could be the crabs. some are beneficial but there are acro-eating crabs. you may want to get an ID on those.
it could be that it is jsut adjusting poorly, but i dont think it should die that much.
may i see a pic though please?
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
it would be better if you can post them on here so that other people could see and have some input. as i dont have a lot of experience with sps. If you can post here, you will get a wider range of input and suggestions.
but if for some reason you cant, my email is skifishn@yahoo.com
 
ntiller

ntiller

New Member
I have a 55g and a 76g fish only on the same filter system.
How do I post pics here. I tried and it said file to big.
 
ntiller

ntiller

New Member
here are more pics.
The first one is the day I picked it up. This pic was not taken with my camera so the color is a little different due to camera. But this is how healthy it was last sunday. The other pics were taken yesterday.

 
dburr

dburr

Active Member
My first thought is that's alot of fish for a reef system. Do you have a big skimmer? DBS? Alot of LR?
My 2nd thought is, was the water for the dip the same temp as the system it came from? The dip it self wont do anything provided it was the same temp and close to SG.
You said the PH is blowing right on it, not too hard I hope. Try redirecting to the side slightly.
HTH
 
fishieness

fishieness

Active Member
your other post said you had some phosphates. id second them and say to get a phosreactor or something to take it out at least. and hes right, that is a good amount of fish for a tank with acros. i have 2 in my 40 breeder, but im building a 25 gallon sump and getting a euroreef skimmer instead of my coralife
some good points there dburr.
PS: did you go see julian sprung today?
 
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