Acro concern. Please, Give me some opinions acro pros !!

aquatony · May 2, 2018

Decided to see what an acro would do in my tank... All my parameters are pretty stable and have been for over a year.. within reasonable numbers. Nitrates may be sitting a bit high for this acro while they sit around 8-10 ppm? It has two small barnacles on it. Just noticed the other night when I was peaking around under neath it with a flashlight, that it also was looking a little whitish/ green and those polys weren’t really opening. Week later seems to have gotten worse... I have a 4 t5s. Running coral plus and three blue plus. Is this maybe a light problem as well? All my lps and soft corals are doing great. multiplying beautifully .

Macdaddynick1 · May 2, 2018

Really hard to tell whether it actually RTNd at the base or whether the base is so bleached by shading that you can barely see it. If it’s the ladder, you should be fine if it rtnd there’s some chance it’ll pull through, but very low chance.
Actually it looks to be that this coral was grown under the LEDs like radions so the base was severely shaded. The fact that you’re singing the while light directly on it isn’t helping either.

aquatony · May 2, 2018

What is RTNd?

Macdaddynick1 · May 2, 2018

aquatony said:
What is RTNd?

Rapid tissue necrosis. Not fun

aquatony · May 2, 2018

not much to do. The topics I’ve read are vague so many things can supposedly cause it haha. I like the swaying corals anyways and less delicate. Probably just stick to lps and softies if it doesn’t make [emoji106] thanks for the knowledge. Was a good cheap testing coral.

aquatony · May 2, 2018

It was grown under leds yes. The tissue in that area wasn’t as bad at first...Unfortunately The only way I could get a picture that would show the color. It’s almost exactly how I see

Macdaddynick1 · May 2, 2018

aquatony said:
not much to do. The topics I’ve read are vague so many things can supposedly cause it haha. I like the swaying corals anyways and less delicate. Probably just stick to lps and softies if it doesn’t make [emoji106] thanks for the knowledge. Was a good cheap testing coral.

I’m pretty sure your Acro was grown under the leds and it’s just the result of shading and not an actual rtn.

Tongyin · May 2, 2018

Yeah, it's RTNing. Probably not going to survive. If your water chemistry looks fine it can be a couple of other reasons.
From the color of that super glue this coral seems to be freshly fragged. If it was introduced to the new environment before the cut had time to heal, that can trigger the RTN.
If you didn't get the coral locally, I have noticed that the shipping and handling can sometimes trigger RTN.

Tongyin · May 2, 2018

Macdaddynick1 said:
I’m pretty sure your Acro was grown under the leds and it’s just the result of shading and not an actual rtn.

It doesn't look like there is any tissue or polyps in that white area. If it is bleaching, the polyps should still extend like in the other areas of the coral.

Flippers4pups · May 2, 2018

It's typical for some acro's to have lighter areas low or shaded. Less zooxanthellae because of less light. Dont look like RTN, if it wasw it would be very white. Keep an eye on it though and if gets worse, raise it up higher.

Scorpius · May 2, 2018

That's definitely tissue loss. I'd wager slow tissue necrosis. Rapid tissue necrosis is fast, a coral dies in hours or overnight.

OP we need to know more info about your:
water parameters
flow
lighting used/schedule/intensity
How old is the tank?
How are the other coral doing?

8-10ppm Nitrates are perfectly fine for Acropora. Yet, you didn't state your phosphate levels?
There's a million other questions to ask, but I'm tired. lol

Macdaddynick1 · May 2, 2018

Tongyin said:
It doesn't look like there is any tissue or polyps in that white area. If it is bleaching, the polyps should still extend like in the other areas of the coral.

the way he took the photo looks like it has no tissue because he shined the light directly at it, kind of like this.

that whole area is covered with tissue but it’s transparent.

aquatony · May 3, 2018

It’s been in the tank probably two monthish. And it was from a local fish store.. I had to remove it the other day because it had a small piece of bubble algae I wanted to scrape off . So I had to Reglue it. And it wasn’t sticking well[emoji15]. If it gets any worse I’ll glue it higher somewhere I suppose.

anthonywesty · May 3, 2018

4 T5 is not enough light

Tahoe61 · May 3, 2018

anthonywesty said:
4 T5 is not enough light

Why? I would say that really depends on placement in the tank. Run a 4 bulb ATI over my 20 gallon with great growth.

That looks like an Acropora gomezi, and they are really hard to keep. I had one for about 6 months and then it started the STN from the bottom up.

Definitely not one of the easier acropora to keep, they like heavy random flow.

TexasTodd · May 3, 2018

Full tank show with all lights on to show placement and light?
What size is your tank?
HOW close is it to that frogspawn??? They sting and can reach.
What is your phosphate?
What flow do you have in your tank.

Hans-Werner · May 4, 2018

IMO receding tissue with greenish skeleton exposed is an indicator of a change in phosphate concentration from high to low phosphate concentration. This may occur especially in Acropora frags grown under higher phosphate concentrations. Nitrate makes the tissue necrosis even worse. I recommend moderate alkalinity of ca. 7° dKH and low or no nitrate. A bit of phosphate in the water and/or feeding may help.

aquatony · May 4, 2018

. Phos is undetectable with my Hannah checker and always have been, my alk is around 8.. Used dry rock. Tanks been running for a year and couple months. Corraline is starting to really pop on the rocks.. I do have 1 hammer couple months ago that slow receded it is barely out of the skeleton and 1 head is dead. Took about a month for it to die... all my other corals are doing amazing. Running 2 blues for 8 hours and another blue and coral plus for only a hour now because of a cyano issue I had.. it’s gone now. Thinking of turning it up to around 4 again hour at a time ! It’s a good distance 4-5 inches away. No sweepers I ever see come off of the spawn. I did see what seemed to be a Bristle worm on that exact spot this morning like an inch long . Couldn’t get a picture fast enough...

TexasTodd · May 4, 2018

That's pretty deep for an SPS with your lighting. I'd move it up to the top of the rocks (move one of those lps), make sure it's getting good flow too. 1 hour of top light isn't enough for sps. If someone you know has a PAR meter you might borrow it. Our local club has one we trade around. You want top light for 5-6 hours and get the frag up much further in the water column.