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Montipora with Algae... Uhh, huge gaps in ones
pertinent education, practices, but plenty of spending. Reef, poor
maint. f' 4/17/08 Hi Crew! <Heather> I
have a 120 Gallon reef with softies. I recently purchased a Montipora
and added him to the opposite side of the tank away from the Leather,
Colt, Xenia, Mushrooms, Anemone, <Mmm... these can all "reach
out and touch someone" chemically... to varying
degrees/effects> but he is above a couple of polyps of zoos. About 6
inches above. I have been reading up on these for a long time, and I
have the same lighting that the store I bought it from uses (I bought
it from them) t5's x 6 in the same spectrum of light they
suggested. They told me this fellow is adapted to the strong lighting,
so i went ahead and put him at the very top of my tank, maybe 2 inches
below water surface. He was doing wonderfully for a few weeks, but now
I notice that the vibrant purple has faded to a duller shade, not
bleached really, just not as vibrant and I have an algae type covering
growing over the coral. <Very bad> I get the same substance on my
glass daily, and I brush it away with my magnetized glass cleaner. I
directed a power head at the coral more but it doesn't remove the
brown/orange coloured algae that seems to be stuck on. I am wondering
if there is anything I can do to get rid of that stuff. <Mmm,
lots...> The only other thing I can think of, is I was told by a
friend that Kalkwasser was needed, <...? What do your alkalinity and
biomineral tests show?> so I followed the directions on the jar and
have used it twice now. I do not have a way to measure my ca/Alk
levels, <!?> so I just hoped that the instructions would be
right. <No my young friend> I do have a lot of evaporation in my
tank, I need to top up with about a 1/4 depth of my sump daily, and I
run a dehumidifier in the room as my walls were soaked, curtains
soaked, and black mold formed behind them! <Yuck!> So, I wondered
if it is potentially the continued added water. <"It"
being the algal proliferation?> I use ro/di but I have always ALWAYS
had difficulties with nitrates, off the scale nitrates, <...
trouble> but my softies seemed unaffected, and "healthier"
actually than when they were in the store, more vibrant in colouration,
and growing rapidly. I have a refugium with Chaetomorpha, mangrove, and
Caulerpa (my Foxface loves the stuff) and a DSB. I do weekly vacuuming
and water changes. I was told that it is possible that the silicone my
husband used to construct the sump could be the nitrate culprit,
<No> and we originally had used play sand before we got the
oolite sand (live and learn) but we have never been able to get every
last speck of it out, and get more of it each time we vacuum. We've
had the play sand out for about a year now. I am wondering which of
these "mistakes" is the biggest one, and how can I fix it?
<Reading> I am concerned about this algae. It is see through, and
it is not like Cyanobacteria (of which I became quite accustomed to/of
until I stopped feeding so very much). My protein skimmer is a problem
for me, because of the very much top off needed, the protein skimmer
only functions a portion of the day, because while I am at work, and
the water level moves itself, the effectiveness of the skimmer
fluctuates. When I used to have it in the display tank (which isn't
possible anymore) it worked fantastic. Sorry for the length of this,
but I see the fish store has no trouble keeping a Monti with the rest
being softies, I just wanted one too! It's the plating variety.
Help? Heather Allan <... you have a few issues to address. Less
spending of money on livestock, more using the equivalent time
studying, learning the basics of water chemistry (and test kit use),
system maintenance and the husbandry and compatibility of the disparate
life you list. Please look up these issues... the indices, search tool,
on WWM... and begin educating yourself. Bob Fenner>
SPS problem !! 3/29/06 Hi Bob, <Ramy> I had my 150 gal running for a year now, housing only SPS and clams. Everything is fine so far except that one of my favorite Acros started showing the following : The growing tips started to break and are covered with algae. <Yikes!> I can see the polyps extending but not as much as they used to be. I haven't moved this piece from its spot for more than 5 months, same lighting conditions, great water values , nothing else is wrong. So what could have gone wrong ???? <Very likely "just" the unnatural make-up of aquariums at play here... Changing the flow (increasing greatly), introducing some smaller fishes, perhaps switching out some of the live rock... will steer your system back toward where you want it. Bob Fenner> Regards, Ramy, Ontario, Canada. Please Help! -- Mg damage to corals? Sclera. health -
2/28/2006 Hi Crew, <Greg> I hope I am worrying needlessly,
but I am concerned I might have an unknown coral predator or a water
parameter problem with my 180g reef. My main concern is one
Acropora with approximately a pea-sized exposed skeleton near the base
of one branch and ½' of skeleton exposed on one
tip. A brown mucous-thread-like substance covered the
Acropora, with dead tissue trapped in the bottom of this mucous
net. I siphoned-off the mucous and dead tissue, cut off the
dead tip of one branch, then dispensed a tank water + Lugol's
solution over the remaining bare skeletal areas. I just fear
that this area of necrosis might be spreading. This Acropora
is placed approximately 8 inches from a 7' Crocea clam (which
occasionally produces a similar-looking mucous-like 'net' near
the byssal opening). So I am unsure if the Acropora coating
was from the Crocea or if it was produced by the coral. <Mmmm>
Two days prior to this happening I did move a rock that was attached to
this Acropora and one tip was broken off the Acropora. This
has never been an issue in the past as new flesh would cover the
exposed skeleton within a week and new branches would
form. Possibly this initial stress is what led to the
current tissue necrosis. Current water parameters:
Temp=77°F, Salinity=1.024, pH=8.1, Alk=3.2 mEq/L, Ammonia=0,
Nitrite=0, Nitrate~1ppm, Ca=440ppm, PO4={below meas. Limits},
Silicate=0). I did also increase temperature on my heaters
from 76°F to 77°F a few days ago. I
performed a 32g water change at the same time. A little
history'¦ About two weeks ago, I noticed that all of my
Montiporas were becoming much lighter in color. I was not
overly concerned because they have lightened and darkened in color
several times over their 2 years in my tank and they continue to grow
well. Although water parameters have always remained within
acceptable ranges previously, my salinity dropped from 1.025 to 1.022
<This is a huge difference> over the course of a day just before
the Montiporas changed color a few weeks ago. A snail had
stuck my makeup water float switch in the 'on' position for a
day, flooding my 100g refugium and diluting the water with RO/Kalk
mixture. <No fun> My pH measured 8.2 so I was only concerned
about the sudden change in salinity (makeup water flows at only
10gpd). I removed 10 gallons of tank water and slowly added
10 gallons of very high salinity water until tank salinity measured
1.023. The following day, I repeated this procedure until
the salinity reached 1.024. All fish, corals, clams, other
inverts appeared to be unstressed so I assumed that worst case, this
might have induced a temporary color change in the Montiporas.
<Takes a while to show... weeks, months> Since my alkalinity and
pH have always remained near the low end of acceptable (pH=8.0-8.1,
Alk=2.5-3 mEq/L) despite using a Kalkwasser reactor for top-off and the
addition of Na2CO3 and NaCO3, I bought a Mg test kit to determine if a
low Mg level was partially responsible for low alkalinity (Ca=440
ppm). Mg measured 1,140 ppm <Close enough...> so I
mixed 10 teaspoons of Seachem Reef Mg in 1 pint of RO water and dripped
this into the pump intake in my refugium. An hour later I
repeated this. According to Seachem's label, I would
have needed to repeat this process a few more times to reach the
desired 1,300 ppm but I noticed another Acropora (near the return line)
with mucous-like threads waving from its polyps. I was
concerned that I might have changed the Mg level too quickly so I made
no further changes to the tank for the next two days. <Good> I
did continue to noticed these 'mucous threads' waving from the
Acropora polyps at times. This is a different Acropora than
the one that is currently displaying tissue necrosis. Could
dosing Mg in this way cause tissue necrosis in Acropora? <Possibly a
factor, not likely "the"> This particular coral is not in
direct flow of the pump return line. One Montipora has completely
bleached (although polyps are visibly extended) but I did move this
coral to a lower light area of the tank when it initially began to
bleach. All other corals (4 Acropora, 1 Birdsnest, 1 open
brain, 1 pineapple coral, hammer coral, zoos, star polyps, mushrooms,
Alveopora) appear to be doing well. Even the Acropora that
had previously produced the mucous-like threads now appears
normal. All inverts appear unstressed as well. What should I
do about the Acropora with the tissue necrosis -- is there a way to
reverse this spread? <You likely have> If the
necrotic area continues to grow, I assume I should frag the coral to
save the remainder -- correct? <An approach. I would move this
colony to another system, or even shallow, brightly lit sump first
myself> Do you think this in contagious (e.g. should I be doing
anything to protect the other corals in my
tank)? Unfortunately I do not have a picture to send yet,
but I can follow-up when I return home tonight if needed. Thank you in
advance for your help!!! --Greg <I doubt you have a pathogen at play
here. Very likely the bit of trouble you've observed is/was due to
the change n spg... I would not over-react here. Bob Fenner> Montipora 1/14/06 I just purchased a
dying Monti cap,<Why on earth would you want to do that, they are
not easily kept to begin with.> but I think I can see some of
it's polyps opening up. The color is still orange. Is
that a good sign?<Yes, didn't bleach out yet.> Also, does
hair algae kill corals? <It can, prevents needed light from reaching
them.> I was reading an ad and it seems this man was dying to have
somebody "save" his corals due to a bloom of hair algae. The
parameters are normal, 78 degrees at night and 80 degrees in the day
time. Specific gravity is at 1.025, and I do a 15 gallon
water change, on a 90g tank, about every 10 days. I'm
guessing it must be phosphate. Tank equipment includes a
wet/dry filter, ETSS 500 skimmer, a 700g/hr return pump, a Danner Mag
drive 9.5 to drive the skimmer, and 540w of P.C lighting. Thanks for
the help so far. My tank is looking great. <With your
lighting you would have to keep them near the top of the aquarium as
they do require intense lighting, preferably metal halide or HQI as a
major requirement for life. Do search our web site on "feeding
corals" and other related subjects. Most will be found
here. James (Salty Dog)> Montipora turned brown...
01-10-06 Hey all, <Jay> I have a question regarding Montipora
turning brown... I've read what seems like hundreds of questions
similar to mine, and I realize that there is a pretty long list of
reasons WHY Montis turn brown, but I just wanted to run my specifics by
you and see what you think. I have a 90g with two 175w [Hamilton] 6500k
bulbs <Here is one possibility. Low spectrum bulbs lead to more
browns.> and dual VHO actinics (actinics on for 14 hours or so,
halides on for 7); 46g refugium and (I think) a 20g modified wet/dry
which I removed the bioballs from. These are all being supplied by an
Iwaki 40rlt and a s.q.w.d. along with 2 zoomed rotating powerheads in
the 90g (I've had them for over a year and a half and they still
rotate, though I do have to clean them once a month or so.) The skimmer
is way under rated, but my lovely big fuge takes care of my nutrient
issues along with the 100 or so lbs of live rock. No ammo, no nitrites,
near 0 nitrate, no phos, salinity @ 1.024-25, calcium around 400, but
occasionally closer to 500. pH seems to fluctuate between 8.0 and 8.3,
but I do NOT trust my pH test. dKH between 9 and 10. I also use
Lugol's solution once a week <Be careful with this.> as well
as strontium/molybdenum, and until recently iron as well (daily) but I
went a bit nuts with it so I stopped until I get my new salt (marine
environment... was using tropic marine, but I think it sucks). <Be
careful and take your time switching salt.> Now, ALL of my corals
are growing really well, but since getting my halides (2 or 3 months
ago) I've been experimenting with some SPS. Aside from three
different colors of Montipora (all branching) I also have an Acro
Staghorn which is green/brown with great purple tips and an unknown
Acro that was green/brown with light blue between the polyps. When I
put all of these in my tank I light acclimated them for a week or two
(did it each time I added one SPS) and they all turned brownish within
a day or two. The purple tipped Acro got its color back stronger than
ever. The other unknown Acro had a problem I'll assume was
Acro-eating flatworms... won't get into that now though... and it
is also finally getting its colors back. The Montipora though (brown,
pinkish and purple) are staying brown. Obviously the brown Monti wont
change, but I'd like to figure out what is going on with the
pinkish and purple. My lights are 6-8" above the surface (need to
measure...); the pink Monti is 3 or 4 inches below the surface and the
purple is about 6 inches below the surface. ALL the Montipora and both
Acros are growing like crazy (Acro is very quickly encrusting the rocks
they're glued to as well as branching out a bit, and the Montipora
have all grown at least a couple of centimeters.) I think I've
managed to 'train' them to extend their polyps during the day
even though I didn't mean to, and I feed the whole tank a combo of
phyto/zoo plankton, Cyclop-eeze, oyster eggs, marine snow and chromaMAX
(not all at the same time, usually 1 or 2 every other day or so) on top
of the flake and frozen prawn daily for the fishies. Whew... that was
rather long-winded. As you can see, my only 'problem' seems to
be lack of color in the Montipora, and I would really love to see that
purple Monti turn purple again!! What do you think? <I believe your
Monti would benefit from 10K or 14K bulbs. You may also see an increase
in color with the addition of activated carbon usage. This will keep
the water more clear and help make up for the weak skimmer. Travis>
Thanks -Jay - Acropora Bleaching - Hey Guys, I hope that health is well
with all, and I thank you for the opportunity to ask questions.
<Thank you and you're welcome.> I had an Acropora
"haimei" coral with purple tips that I bought months ago. I
appeared to be doing well in my 80 gallon with MH lighting 250w
20,000k. Because I purchased a large colt coral moved the coral to
another spot in the tank to prevent it from being stung and noticed
that a piece began to bleach white that night. I placed the coral back
to its original position, but lost in in 3 days. My question is that
each time I read the forums the question is asked if brown algae
existed. <Am not sure that this is more than coincidental - when
corals bleach, polyps are dying which means the nutrients are going to
attract things like BGA.> While the coral was bleaching brown algae
started to appear, but was never there before. My question is besides
moving the coral, what caused it to die off, and what is the
"brown algae" and why is this question always asked?
<Well, for starters, could be your Acropora was on the down-turn
from day one. These animals are very finicky, and need careful
acclimation to your tank and lighting. Likewise, they need very strong
water flow throughout their structure in order to stay healthy. Failure
to provide any of the above will result in an eventual breakdown low on
the frag which then often spreads to the rest of the coral. More on
light acclimation here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimcoralslight.htm
As to why folks always ask about brown algae and what its significance
is, I can only speculate.> I appreciate any advice and wish you the
best. Thanks, Chris <Cheers, J -- > Montipora 06/08/05 Hi, I have been in the reef hobby for about 1 year now. I do 10% water changes weekly, qt religiously and monitor many other parameters (I will give them to you at the bottom of this email with results from today) on a weekly basis as well. I have had great luck with soft corals so I decided to give hard corals a try. I purchased a Montipora capricornis (I believe that this is the correct scientific name) about 6 weeks ago. After two weeks in qt I moved it to the bottom of my 75 gallon show tank to get it accustomed to my much brighter lighting (2-175 MH 20000K, and 4 T5 actinics). After two weeks at this depth I moved it up to what I had hoped would be its permanent position. About 6 inches higher. I feed DT's live phytoplankton every other day, and DT's oyster eggs and frozen Cyclop-eeze together on the days that I don't feed DT's plankton. The coral had great polyp extension and good color and seemed to be growing until I came home this morning (six weeks in main display, four weeks at higher location). About 5 or 6 days ago I set up a new sump system. It is a 25 gallon high with a 5 inch sand bed (sugar size sand) for growth of amphipods, copepods, etc... It drains into a 36X 14 X 12 which has a 4 inch sand bed in it and will act as a place to grow Caulerpa. As usual all corals drew back some the first few days, but have all returned to their normal size, color, and polyp size. I added Caulerpa algae to the sump two days ago and it is doing fine. This morning when I came home the above mentioned Montipora capricornis had bleached out about 50% and had a lot of clear/brownish slime coming off of the bleached areas. I used a syringe to blow off the slime and moved him down a few inches. I see no signs of parasites and the other two pieces of Montipora in the tank have no signs of this. I smelled him after blowing the slime off and it smelled like any other thing that would come out of a marine aquarium--NO foul odor. I was wondering if you could help me figure out what this is. I have been reading a lot of the FAQs, but most of them apply to Acro's and other SPS (for lack of a better term). I need help, I have attached two photos of the coral from different angles to try to help you. I think it maybe some kind of white band disease, but I didn't think that it would be this drastic overnight. Thank you for all of your help. I am sorry this is a long email but I figured extra info could help. Below are the water parameters from this morning. pH--7.8 NH4--0 NO3--0 NO2--undetectable on Salifert's test kit Ca--480ppm Alk--2.3 mEq/L--has been at this level since the coral was introduced have been trying to raise with B-Ionic with no avail Salifert's dKH + buffer should be in Thursday to raise this on up. PO4--undetectable on Salifert's test kit salinity--1.026 temp--80.1 << Everything looks good except your pH is way too low.. Alk like you said is pretty low. Sounds like you got the brown jelly disease. Which is not any fun. the best thing you can do is break off a small piece farthest away from the brown jelly stuff and set that on the opposite side of the tank. This way if the brown jelly takes the whole colony you hopefully can start it from a frag. >> Thanks, again for your time and patience with us newbies Jonathan << good luck.. EricS >> Rapid Acropora Death 2/8/05 I just purchased a frag of a gorgeous A. albrohensis. It shipped very well I'm assuming because even while acclimating it, all polyps were out and is still had a greenish hue to it. I acclimated it for an hour, turned the MH lights off in the tank (only 2x96W actinics) running... <All sounds good, although extended polyps are not a reliable source of "happiness" it can just as easily indicate stress.> ...and glued it down to a rock. Polyps still out. <What kind of glue, and did the glue contact living tissue? It is unusual, but have seen cases where tissue recession, or even total loss was caused by contact with glue.> Wake up this morning, and looks like a bone. No polyps anywhere, just skeleton. I quickly turned off the MH that was above it. Checked it several hours later, and maybe one polyp at base of coral. <Two possibilities... first (and far less likely), the coral bleached. If this is the case, the coral will be colorless, but still covered in living tissue. Second, the coral died. If this is the case, you may see stringy or lacy remnants of tissue clinging to the skeleton. If you don't have a lot of Acro experience, it may be a bit tough to tell the difference, but on a dead coral, you will be able to see the rough porous texture of the skeleton.> Is this normal, and it might be fine tomorrow, or did I do something wrong? <This isn't normal, but it doesn't sound like you did anything wrong. It could have been the stress of shipping, or it could be water quality in your tank.> Tank is 125G, 2x250W 10K MH with one 400W MH in the middle with the actinic. Like I mentioned, turned off all lighting but actinic when I put it in the tank. No MHs until the following morning, but already looked bad before MHs came on. <All sounds good. You wisely protected the coral from possible light shock.> I recently read that peppermint shrimp might do this. I have a pair, but nothing in tank but tangs and clownfish. Any thoughts on if it will recover and adjust, or does it sound like it died? <Peppermint shrimp will absolutely not do this. They may pick at some corals, but would only cause minor damage to an Acro. My guess is that the coral died of what is referred to as "RTN" (Rapid Tissue Necrosis) or "SDR" (Shut down reaction). In these cases, the coral tissue "self destructs" in response to stress. The stress can be caused by shipping, but is more often related to water quality problems, including the presence of other aggressive corals. Infection has been implicated as well, but this is questionable. Please feel free to write back with a list of other corals in the tank and a list of all of your test results (actual values please!), please include pH, Alkalinity, Calcium, Salinity, temperature and nitrate. Also briefly describe your filtration. Best Regards. AdamC.> Browning Acropora Hello BAS, I've been an avid aquarist for quite some time and have read this column more faithfully than I've gone to work. There is no point in attempting this question with my LFS, as they are currently feverishly culturing Aiptasia anemones for sale (despite my unsolicited advice). My question pertains to the browning of SPS corals. I not-so-recently purchased a pink Acropora loripes despite my measly three and a half watts per gallon. I thought that if I placed the coral high enough in the water column that it would negate the fact that I didn't possess the high wattage usually required for this type of coral. I soon noticed several Aiptasia anemones of my own on this specimen, but unlike my LFS, I quickly dispatched of them with injections of Part A of the C-Balance duo. But with the bad comes the good and I also discovered a red Coco Worm with bi-lobed crowns attached to the base of the coral. The A. loripes itself has grown, which is quite apparent by its base coverage of the live rock I attached it to. My disappointment is that the color that was originally bright pink has now darkened into an almost rust color (It's been brown for over six months but still growing). Most sources indicate that the browning of SPS corals is due to inadequate lighting and an overabundance of symbiotic algae, but none discuss the reversal of this condition. For this reason I have recently up-graded to metal halides. My questions are, how do I acclimate an entire reef tank to two watts more per gallon, <It would be great if you have a Lux-meter. Start the MH's up pretty high so that their output matches that of your current lighting. Another trick is to cover the tank in several sheets of vinyl window screening to cut back on the amount of light entering the tank. Then gradually lower the lights and/or remove a sheet over the course of several weeks. If you cannot verify the difference in output, attempt to make an educated guess by referencing the work of Dana Riddle, Sanjay Joshi, and Richard Harker. They have all conducted studies on various lighting setups and lamps and they may have comparison info about your old and new systems.> and do you have any suggestions about the Kelvin of the lamps I should purchase? <I like 6,500K Iwasaki lamps and 10,000K Aqualine-Buschke or Ushio lamps.> I am a big fan of D. Knop and he suggests for most tanks with invertebrates that are found near the surface ( I have two four inch T. Maximas as well) nothing higher than 6.5K, but I have read many online magazines as well as advertisements in TFH tout 10K as the ultimate true white light. <Some 10,000K lamps are quite good, but many are just marketed and hyped well. Most 6,500K lamps could use supplemental actinics for appearance. They do have enough blue light for good photosynthesis without it, but they have so much red, yellow, and green, that to our eyes the corals may not appear pleasing.> I'd just like a little information on the reversal of browning and how it has been achieved, as I've noticed recently, even some online suppliers advertise SPS that will color up with the right lighting. <Increasing your lighting is the way to correct the situation.> Thanks, Andrea <You are welcome. -Steven Pro> Something eating SPS - Montipora Anthony, happy holidays and hope all is well with you. <Adam here today. Anthony bumped this over to me since I just dealt with this problem in my own tank.> I noticed one of my recent frags, a Montiporas Cap, that is purple in color bleached around the edges about a quarter of an inch. This is more then the normal white tips from growth. I attributed this to a drop in Alk while I was adjusting to my winter evaporation rate. <I did pretty much the same thing. I attributed it to water quality, did some water changes and never really inspected the coral closely.> However, I have noticed a small white spiral looking thing on the white part of the coral. Looks almost like a very small white fan worm (at least the ends of the fan worm anyway). <The critter you saw is an Aeolid Nudibranch. They seem to becoming quite common in the hobby, likely from frag trading. They seem to favor plating Montiporas, but will move on to branching forms.> I also noticed a small white area on my established, thriving purple cap. Could this be a bug or something? Any ideas or am I just seeing things. <The white spots are where the Nudis have eaten the coenosteum (tissue between polyps) of the coral. Unfortunately these are very real and quite difficult to get rid of. Manual removal is the only way to do so without significant risk of killing the coral. You will have to remove the infested corals every day or couple of days and pick or scrub off any Nudibranchs or eggs. It may be best to this in a bucket of tank water since the critters tend to collapse under their own weight and become difficult to spot out of the water. After you are 100% sure you have eliminated them, continue to check your Montiporas at least weekly. I continued to find one or two a week for about a month.> Thanks <No Sweat, and best of luck! Adam> Andrew - Acropora Help - hi, <Hi.> I have been trying to keep Acropora for the last 6 months now and still have no success. I'm constantly finding that my Acropora bleach, and I'm almost positive it's not my water. I check and even take my water to a local store who specialize in Acropora (salty critter), the staff there are some of the most intelligent reef keepers I've ever met, and every time I take my water there they tell me it's great and it's ok to try some more Acropora (I think they are just trying to sell me things, which is why I wanted a non-partisan opinion on this topic) and usually I think it's my acclimation, or water flow (which led me to buying 4 new power heads, with circular rotating heads, which they said the corals would prefer). getting back to the question at hand, in my previous tank (which was a 38 gallon with 192 watts of power compacts) I kept Acropora with no problem. now I moved to a 72 gallon tank with 2x 250 watt metal halides, and it seems like everything is dying. at first I thought it was because I didn't acclimate them to the lighting, so I went on starting over, and then I noticed I couldn't really keep anything alive, so then I changed the bulbs, from 10k to 14k. still everything I put in my tank dies, except the fish which are extremely healthy (purple tang, yellow tang, and a pair of blue striped clowns). the only thing that I have still is a colony of Zoanthids, which have turned a frosted color, and now are bordering death. so is it possible to have too much lighting with 500 watts of MH. on a 72 gallon tank? <No, but you need to acclimate your animals carefully to both the water and your lighting. Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/acclimcoralslight.htm > should I switch to 20000 k bulbs. thank you it would keep me from pulling my hair out! <The color/temperature of the bulbs has very little to do with your animal's response to your tank. Would suggest you pick up a copy of Eric Borneman's Aquarium Corals and also avail yourself to the FAQs on our site so you can learn from other folks besides those at the store. Cheers, J -- > I wrote to you about two weeks ago regarding a Heliofungia in a 90 gallon reef that acutely started to disintegrate... Now Acroporid hlth. spec. Dear Crew: <Olly> I wrote to you about two weeks ago regarding a Heliofungia <I hope I urged you to read re this genus use in captivity... Rarely lives: http://wetwebmedia.com/fungiidselfaqs.htm > in a 90 gallon reef that acutely started to disintegrate. You advised an iodine dip which I did and the plate coral actually appears to be regenerating a bit. Here's the dilemma.... four days ago a four inch Acropora frag started to lose its polyps rapidly and completely bleached. Now the mother colony does not look healthy (polyps not extending), but it does not look as bad as the frag (no bleaching so far). Nothing has changed in the tanks....lighting, flow, etc. No new fish, corals, or anything has been added to the tank in over a year. However, I did a water change about one week ago with water that had been mixed up about two weeks prior to the change. It had a powerhead and heater and all parameters were the same as the tank water. When the coral started looking bad, I cleaned all the filters and skimmer, replaced the Purigen, changed the carbon, <Mmm... may be removing too much... do you have detectable soluble phosphate for instance?> and cleaned the lights and reflectors. I know the frequency changes on the lights as they age, but I do not think both of my corals would have suddenly changed at the same time. Plus, I have other SPS that does not appear to be affected. Tank specs are as follows: Ammonia/nitrate/nitrite: 0, phosphate: 0, Calcium: 450 mg/L, alkalinity: 2.5 dKH, pH: 8.4, temperature: 78, specific gravity: normally 1.025, but a test after the corals decline indicated it was down to 1.022. I have been slowly increasing this by 0.001 a day. Tankmates are yellow tang, mandarin dragonet, two Sebae clownfish, cleaner shrimp, assorted SPS and a few LPS. So my questions: Could the change in specific gravity have caused this? <Yes> Could the two week old water used for the water change be contaminated (was in a covered tank with aeration, flow, and heat)? <Possibly> Could this be secondary to the Helio's demise two weeks ago? <Not likely related> Could the Helio and the Acropora's demise be from the same unknown cause? <Sure> Any advice on saving the coral? <Reading... http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/index.htm > Thanks for any advice. Olly <Too much to begin speculating in a broad sense here... Bob Fenner> Stress-Related Necrosis, Acroporid Hi crew <Ian> I have been experiencing a rather unfortunate fluctuation in temp over the last few weeks. Due to extremely hot weather and the fact that my chiller packed up ( always when you need it most) the temp has gone from an average of 27deg C to about 30deg C and once to 31deg C! This is just temporary as by early evening it is back to about 28deg C. After a few days of this I managed to restrict the max to about 29deg C by creating a huge amount of air flow across the tank and halving the amount of time my Halides were on. I must add that not every day was like this. <Yes...> Anyway about a week after this happened I noticed that the base of one of my Acroporas was turning white and seemed to be spreading up the stem! (total length only about 100 mm but with about 4 branches). In a panic I removed the coral and broke off the end pieces that were still ok and placed them elsewhere in the tank. By the next morning the balance of the coral was completely white and after a week one of the pieces has also died. The other 3 seem to be doing ok so far. I also have another coral that is almost identical in size but situated near the top of the tank and this one looks fine... so far. Did I do the right thing by cutting off these pieces and was this originally a stress related problem caused by the water temp increase? <Worth trying... perhaps even better to have moved the frags to another system if available> Maybe my halving the light was too drastic? I would have thought that the coral would be able to handle this "minor" fluctuation as surely this happens in nature as well? <Mmm, likely the "blame" is/was mostly thermal> cheers and thank you for your time Ian <If this were the only mal-affected colony/organism, I would count yourself fortunate. Bob Fenner> |
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