Acro STN, growth, or physical damage?

[AFHokie]

Have had this acro for nearly three weeks. Has had good PE and seems happy but noticed some small white spots on a couple edges about 3 days ago. Hard to get a pic so took a few in different colors and angles.

Does this look like something I should be worried about? All other areas and back side look totally fine.

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

In my experience, these spots showing up after just a few weeks means the coral is about to take a dive. Could be too low/high of light or flow, nutrient levels changing, delayed shipping stress, or any plethora of reasons. In my most recent situation, my corals weren't getting enough light, so I moved them up and the stn stopped.

 

[AFHokie]

In my experience, these spots showing up after just a few weeks means the coral is about to take a dive. Could be too low/high of light or flow, nutrient levels changing, delayed shipping stress, or any plethora of reasons. In my most recent situation, my corals weren't getting enough light, so I moved them up and the stn stopped.

Hmmm, that’s a bummer. I got it from my LFS so moving stress should be minimal. Right now it’s almost at the brightest spot in my tank but I’m also continuing to ramp up the lights more.

LFS said it was a miyagi tort and I’ve seen plenty kept at lower PAR than mine so theoretically it should be okay. LFS doesn’t measure PAR so I can’t compare. Right now it’s somewhere around 160-170.

Rather than stress it my moving it at this moment do I have a margin of safety to watch it closely over the next few days and see what happens?

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

Hmmm, that’s a bummer. I got it from my LFS so moving stress should be minimal. Right now it’s almost at the brightest spot in my tank but I’m also continuing to ramp up the lights more.

LFS said it was a miyagi tort and I’ve seen plenty kept at lower PAR than mine so theoretically it should be okay. LFS doesn’t measure PAR so I can’t compare. Right now it’s somewhere around 160-170.

Rather than stress it my moving it at this moment do I have a margin of safety to watch it closely over the next few days and see what happens?

I'd say watch it closely over the next week. If it continues to deteriorate, then pick 1 thing that you believe to be the most likely culprit, change it, and wait to see if that change worked or not. If it doesn't help, then rinse and repeat.

 

[AFHokie]

I'd say watch it closely over the next week. If it continues to deteriorate, then pick 1 thing that you believe to be the most likely culprit, change it, and wait to see if that change worked or not. If it doesn't help, then rinse and repeat.

Thanks for the advice. Hoping it’s adjusting and will sort itself out…but not overly hopeful.

 

[AFHokie]

I know new growth on top will often be white, does that ever happen on the encrusting edges? Is that too much of a wildly hopeful wish?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Have had this acro for nearly three weeks. Has had good PE and seems happy but noticed some small white spots on a couple edges about 3 days ago. Hard to get a pic so took a few in different colors and angles.

Does this look like something I should be worried about? All other areas and back side look totally fine.

While its only on the encrustment area which gets the least amount of light, temperature stress can increase chances of coral disease development in several ways by creating stress in the coral zooxanthellae and decreasing its resistance to infection thereby facilitating the growth of opportunistic and potentially pathogenic bacteria.

Some possible triggers of infection are:
- Alkalinity spike
- Temperature spike
- Salinity spike
- Low dissolved oxygen
- Poor water quality related with phosphate levels up to 5 ppm
- Change in water flow
- Additions of sand
- Changes in brand of salt
- Bad test kits giving faulty results
- Levels of minor elements such as Iodine, Potassium, Strontium
- Light intensity
- - Changes in water flow
- Addition of new corals
- - Pesticides
- Airborne Contaminants or sprays

 

[Oregon Grown Reef]

I know new growth on top will often be white, does that ever happen on the encrusting edges? Is that too much of a wildly hopeful wish?

It very well could be new growth, but regardless you don't typically want to see new growth with white edges since it could mean the skeleton is growing faster than the tissue can keep up with. The result is the same with dead tips/edges. If that is the case, then feeding more could be what's needed. Just be patient and change things slowly. 1 dead acro is worth it if you pay attention and can figure out why it died. It's a part of the SPS learning curve.