Sps Truning White

[briand7878]

I need more help. I was checking out a frag of my sps today and noticed that the base of it is turning white. Like it is dying. its a 125 tank with peaceful fish. Its been running for about a year now and my parameters are good. I have had this piece for about 6 months now. What could be killing it?
trite 0
trate low
ammo 0
calcium 410
mag 1300
alk 3
salinity 1.025

 

[nietzsche]

is there a way you can take out the piece and inspect it with a mangnifying glass? maybe you have AEFW
your alk, i know thats not dKH, but what is it?
is temp stable? flow is good?

 

[briand7878]

MY temp is usually at 76 and i have good flow. Ill try to get ahold of a magnifying glass. Once the coral starts to turn white is there any hope of it coming back?

 

[veni vidi vici]

Originally Posted by BRIAND7878
http:///forum/post/2617579
MY temp is usually at 76 and i have good flow. Ill try to get ahold of a magnifying glass. Once the coral starts to turn white is there any hope of it coming back?
Nope...Its sounds like STN .If it keeps getting worse you might start to consider fragging it or Ive heard of some people using super glue just above the tissue necrosis to stop it. I've never tried it though so i cant say if it works or not.
Good luck

 

[briand7878]

Im not sure what STN is but I just realized this started immediately after i put a new piece in. I didnt qt any of the corals (didnt realize you were supposed to do it) Any advise on how to qt sps?

 

[nietzsche]

stn means slow tissue necrosis. its when an sps coral begins to start turning white slowly. rtn is rapid tissue necrosis and the coral can die overnight, within hours, or the same day. usually the only thing you can do is frag the healthy portions and throw away the parts that are affected. some people believe that as they STN or RTN, they release proteins that can cause other SPS corals near by to be affected as well
some people setup quarantine tanks for SPS with lights and all of that while they dose with interceptor and monitor the corals to see if anything hitchhiked on them-- others make their own dips before adding them to the tanks. like using interceptor for red bugs--- not sure if they have anything for acro eating flatworms or monti eating nudibranches

 

[groupergenius]

Brian, what type of SPS are we talking about? Is it an acro, monti, digitata??
The differences can help us figure it out.
Pics even better.

 

[briand7878]

I have acros,monti, and a green slimer. The only ones that are doing it are the acros. It started one day after i put in a new piece. I had the other ones for several months with no problems. The bases are all turning bright white. If it is acro eating bugs, and i pull all the acro out will they go away like ick or stay forever? I am realizing my acros are history.

 

[groupergenius]

Originally Posted by BRIAND7878
http:///forum/post/2618483
I have acros,monti, and a green slimer. The only ones that are doing it are the acros. It started one day after i put in a new piece. I had the other ones for several months with no problems. The bases are all turning bright white. If it is acro eating bugs, and i pull all the acro out will they go away like ick or stay forever? I am realizing my acros are history.
Acro monsters are usually the red bugs. Thank God I have not had to deal with those....yet. Most of the time though, they don't kill off the acro flesh. Just irritate it I believe.
Super close inspection is in order. Most monsters can be found on this site or googling allways helps. Red bugs are super tiny little things that you'll see on the acros. There are also different Nudibranchs that physically eat SPS flesh. Usually only Montis and digitadas though.

 

[gatorwpb]

Could it be his alk is too low? Whats your pH at?
Definitely sounds like STN, and fragging may be your only option.
I had my alk get too low once and was able to stop the STN once I raised it up to more acceptable levels. SPS grew back over the white part.
I also once lost a blue tort to RTN and it happened in less than 18 hrs, mostly overnight. Was sad to see, but by the time I could frag it, it was too late

 

[nietzsche]

if you had red bugs, it would be really easy to deal with to kill them off in your tank, but you will lose pod population and snails. good thing is that red bugs will not kill your acros right away, in fact, ive had red bugs for more than a month now with the same colors and growth on acros.
if you had acro eating flatworms, which you will see when you see your acros missing little parts of the tissue, then youll have a large problem. theyre hard to see but youll notice the aftermath. from what ive seen, theres a treatment for acro eating flatworms, but it would be hard to get rid of them from your DT unless youre constantly dipping and inspecting for the eggs
i dont think his alkalinity is in dKH, it would be too low for montis to handle.

 

[dennis210]

Were all the frags of acro aquired at the same time? Were they from the same place? Is it continueing to spread. Why is your tank at 76, can you move it up to 79 - 80?
Many times acros are glued in and not placed in water immediately and the glue can burn the tissue at the base. Also if the white area is spreading, try refragging the frag. Make cuts well above the white area and try again.
Dennis

 

[tizzo]

I kinda scanned this thread but have we ruled out bleaching yet? I saw where RTN was brought up, but the R in RTN is Rapid. That coral would be dead in 24 hours if it's rtn.
Anyway, has lights been brought up yet?
I'd read it all but I'm pressed for patience.

 

[tizzo]

I think the alk is meq/l.
Why has bleaching not been considered yet?

 

[reefforbrains]

I seem to be a broken record so please forgive me.
With SPS use your nose.
Bring it to the water surface and smell it. Acro SMELLS BAD when dying
On the white portions, look at the skeleton, if its just tiny empty holes where the polyps should be then its dying. Or that tissue is dead and stripped.
If it is mearly bleaching, then the polyps will still be in the holes. And should not be clean bright white. Often it will be splochy and irregular. Some original pigment should visible.
My vote is that you prob made a change to yoru systems configuration and have it under too much flow. You have had the piece for a while so it has never really adapted to your system. In it's stagnant condition (not blossoming and growing like mad) that some disturbance is killing tissue off at its weakest portions.......the base.
I hope I am wrong but it never sounds good when someone says white and SPS in the same sentence. People hear SPS love tons of flow and usually wind up stripping the specimens that have not had a chance to root out in thier system by placing them in too direct of a stream.

 

[reefforbrains]

After a week, any news?

 

[twolf323]

I didn't see it posted but what is your PH at? If you had a PH swing that could have caused it also.