Aussie Lord Frag Receding?

revhtree · Nov 2, 2008

Ok I can't catch him and yes I am about 100% sure he is the problem! The new one he is picking on is my first and over 20 polyps. He goes over, butes it and it shrinks. Then after a while it comes bag puffy again. Right now though there is no receding of the new victim.

Now I got to catch him!!

oceanparadise1 · Nov 3, 2008

go fishing rev

revhtree · Nov 3, 2008

Well for now I moved all my acans to the frag tank until I get the booger.

Hypertek99 · Nov 4, 2008

Keep us updated!!

pjr · Nov 9, 2008

Fingers crossed!

oceanparadise1 · Nov 9, 2008

come on now whats the update

Mr.Firemouth · Nov 9, 2008

Rev- I would isolate the tang as the main culprit. However, the stress the fish has caused to the coral leads to bacterial infections that you can not see.

If anyone has an LPS coral that is receding and showing skeleton and a fish is not the cause, then assume it is bacterial and follow these steps.(no fragging required)

1. Set up a container of SW large enough to dip the coral in for at least 15min to 1/2 hour.
2. Add to this container of SW hydrogen peroxide(store bought). Add 1 capful at a time until the sides of the container begin to form bubbles. Wait about 30 seconds before adding the next capful until you see the bubbles.
3. Once the bubbles are visible on the sides of the container, add the infected coral. Dip it for 15 min watching for extreme stress. If it closes but isn't sloughing keep it in there. If the coral looks like the dip is not affecting it add one more capful and leave it for the 30 min period.
4. Rinse the coral in clean SW.
5. Return the coral to the main tank or a hospital tank if you have one.
6. Repeat this procedure each night until the coral begins to recover and inflate properly.

This method also reverses the affects of a brown jelly infection. When treating for brown jelly, use a soft toothbrush to brush away infected tissue. Then do the above dip and make sure it is rinsed well. Repeat daily until signs of improvement occur.

The above treatment usually takes up to 5 days.

Water changes are always recommended as they always help.

Reef-N-Chicago · Nov 17, 2008

What kind of tang? Never heard of this before...... stupid fish

Reef Pets · Nov 18, 2008

Tangs do it! I have a Blue Hippo Tang that loved the taste of Acans. If I frag a colony it will pick out the cut polups until it kills the polyps.
It will take hours of work to get the tang out due to how the tank is set up. So, believe it guys, Tangs will pick at your Acans.

ironman · Nov 29, 2008

Hey dave whats the update? As you know I lost thousands $ in acans micros and blastos over the period of a year. I tried everything to figure it out. It all started ironically when I added several aussie acans I aquired from a local reefer! :wink: I tried every dip known to man, even tore my tank down and did a 90% water change. Nothing helped. ( you were there for that water change! LOL) Anyway all that to say I had a hippo tang in the meantime I noticed nipping at the recession. I like you assumed he was the culprit all along and removed him imediatly. There was still no change. Come to find out fish like most snails and crabs are opertunistic feeders. if something is dieng they will nip at it and eat it. So the dead receeding tissue would be food. That would be my guess as to why the tang is nipping. I would be willing to bet he is only nipping at the edges of the colonies and your recession is at the edges right? if the tang had a taste for coral he would tear into any part of the coral and most likely not the edges. AS of the last several months my recession has finally stopped and new growth is returning. I did do an interceptor treatment long before I ever heard of it as a LPS treatment and didnt notice any long term help from it. The only changes I made when my tank started turning around was to maintain a much more stable ALK and Calcium level, and ran ozone on the tank for a few days.
I hope you find some answers bud. I dont want you to have to go through what I did. It is enough to make you want to pack it up and kick it to the curb. just hang in and keep trying stuff.

brokereefer617 · Dec 2, 2008

are there any flatworms ? also do you feed your acans at all i have about 40 different acans collected and i had a couple ressed on me after fed a couple times a week it started to get healthy again

revhtree · Dec 2, 2008

Why do you ask a bout flatworms? I did have an outbreak as a matter of fact.

salt newbie01 · Dec 2, 2008

Hey Dave have you done the interceptor treatment yet? I am about to treat my 58 - It is going through the same recession as everyone else. If you do the interceptor it seems like a 2-3x dose is recomended. And also to do it 2-3 times. Let me know what's up.

Sorry to hear about the troubles - it is disheartening I know!

revhtree · Dec 2, 2008

Hey bro well the recessions has stopped since I moved the acans from the display away from the tang, but I did have an outbreak of FW's at the time. That's why I was wondering.

brokereefer617 · Dec 3, 2008

flatworms will pick on the acans flesh happend to a friend of mine here in boston what he did was put them all in a 5g bucket and used flatworm exit after the treatment was done he did a freshwater dip and returned the acans back in his display while doing an interceptor treatment on the whole tank display sump included just incase. after that was done he started target feeding all the acans and in about 2 weeks all acans were really healthy. imo fish only eat flesh if the coral is dying unless its a fish that has a certain diet of coral like some darn pygmy angels loved my dendro colony but i have 2 tangs in my tank none of them pick at any acans i have just my 2 cents

salt newbie01 · Dec 3, 2008

Dave were the acans receding only around the outer edge of the colony/frag? Or was it random recession all over the colony? If it was just around the edge I think this mystery bug going around is the most likely culprate. I agree with Bryan and others if it was a fish it would be random damage/recession not just around the edge. Did you get any interceptor??

I have several of my acans and micros having the recession issue around the outer edge. I plan on treating with interceptor at 3 times the SPS does. I will let you know how it does after I do it.