Tissue separation??

[finland]

I have a couple LPS that the tissue is separating from the skeleton. It is on a large bubble coral and a brain coral. The tissue isn't receding, but is actually separating. The brain coral completely separated and is floating around the tank. It is inflated like it is still attached, but the skeleton is a foot away. Now tonight I noticed that my bubble coral is separating from the skeleton. The bubbles are fully inflated, and look healthy, but approximately 2 inches of the skeleton is exposed and the tissue(inflated) is floating above it. Any ideas? Idon't know if there is something missing as far as additives, a disease, or what. Any ideas. Sorry, no pics.

 

[finland]

Bump^^^

 

[the claw]

I would guess there is water quality problems to start with. Soooo, start with those. Its the corals last ditch effort to survive, as polyp bailout. What else is there that can be bothering the corals? Water movement, other organisms, I'm not sure if lighting would cause it, ....

 

[007]

I would agree that there is a serious issue with water quality. Test all parameters as soon as you can and post your results.
Furthermore, i would remove the detached brain coral . . . . it has no chance of survival.

 

[mroli]

According to Delbeek and Sprung... Tissue recession (White Band Disease) can be caused by numerous factors - stinging corals, predation by fish, water quality. Low calcium, carbonate hardness (alk), and PH is cited directly in the book. The corals need calcium to build their skeletons. Carbonate hardness is directly tied to hjow well the corals can process calcium. Same for PH. An elevated (8.3-8.4) PH lends itself to the calcification process.
My bet is that the water quality has slipped pretty bad.
chris

 

[finland]

That's just it. I can't find anything really bad about the water. pH is 8.3, Alk3.2, Ca 400-450, ammo 0, trite 0, trates <10, water temp80, 20% water change/ mo with RO. I have had corals with tissue recession, and this is different. It is like the coral is shedding off the skeleton, without losing any of it's mass. The brain that let go, has been without a skeleton for about 3 weeks, and retracts at night and still expands to about 75% of what it was when it was attached. I agree, that there is something not right with the water quality, but I don't know what. Maybe, I should do a series of smaller water changes more frequently. If anyone else has an idea, I am open to suggestions. I do not add anything except calcium and buffer. Could it possibly be some trace elements that are missing?