Birdsnest tissue necrosis

JoJosReef · Oct 31, 2023

Teal birdsnest, purple stylo and goldenrod anacropora, all started from little twigs. Now they are growing into each other. Just recently, noticed that the birdsnest is thinking out in the middle. At first thought maybe the stylo was attacking it, but it doesn't look like it is in direct contact with the stylo. Any thoughts on the situation?

Closer up:

I have not been checking parameters lately, but I'll do that in the AM. I've been dosing AFR from a doser for ages and ALK has been in the low 7s, sometimes 6s. I keep upping the dosage and am now at 24mL of 50% solution daily in 40gal AIO. Ca has always been at 500 +/- 10, Mg on the higher side around 1530-1560. Nitrates have just recently risen from nearly zero to a positive, but <1ppm. PO4 has been sitting around 0.07 lately, down from 0.15ppm after introducing Phosguard about 2 months ago. I feed heavily for the wrasses, clowns, blenny, firefish and goby.

Reefkeepers Archive · Oct 31, 2023

When did you first notice this? Has anything in your tank changed recently? Any large shift in parameters? While most of it looks to be just closed up polyps I do see a bit of skeleton showing...

JoJosReef · Oct 31, 2023

Reefkeepers Archive said:
When did you first notice this? Has anything in your tank changed recently? Any large shift in parameters? While most of it looks to be just closed up polyps I do see a bit of skeleton showing...

It's an office tank, so I believe this happened over the weekend. I'm testing parameters today when I get in. Usually things don't shift too much. No deaths in the tank. Food is on a dosing schedule as is AFR. See of anything stands out.

My initial thought was that the stylo has grown too much into the birdsnest (and goldenrod too), and the birdsnest is reacting. Not sure what happens when they start growing together like that. Some people have packed reefs with their sticks intermingling so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Reefkeepers Archive · Oct 31, 2023

JoJosReef said:
It's an office tank, so I believe this happened over the weekend. I'm testing parameters today when I get in. Usually things don't shift too much. No deaths in the tank. Food is on a dosing schedule as is AFR. See of anything stands out.

My initial thought was that the stylo has grown too much into the birdsnest (and goldenrod too), and the birdsnest is reacting. Not sure what happens when they start growing together like that. Some people have packed reefs with their sticks intermingling so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I do know that when stylos grow they can shade out the lower branches causing them to die, though this dosent look like the case, I'd wait a day to see if it's just angry polyps, also make sure nothing fell in the tank

SliceGolfer · Oct 31, 2023

I wonder if this is a flow related issue? As the Stylo grew larger, did it block flow to the Birdsnest that it once received when the Stylo was smaller? Base up necrosis could be nutrient related, but your P04 looks good and while N03 is low, you have good coloration. I guess we should consider coral warfare as well. I don't know if Stylos are aggressive enough to inflict this; maybe someone else can chime in.

HudsonReefer2.0 · Oct 31, 2023

Keeping an alk of 8-8.5 and removal of all phosphate absorbing media or Rowa / reactor have boosted my sps. Not chasing # but stability relative to my system needs and values.

JoJosReef · Nov 1, 2023

Good questions everyone. I'm not yet sure what's happening, but the tissue necrosis was a bit worse today.

Today I measured ALK at ~6.5 and NO3 somewhere between 0ppm and 1ppm, just visible on Salifert.

I also started dosing Aquaforest Life Source mud, which is anecdotally meant to help SPS. Maybe it turns the birdsnest around. I will try to bring up ALK and NO3 a bit. ALK has been stubborn for a while. I keep upping the dose of AFR, but it only gets a small bump usually and then back down to mid 6's. Hard to believe that the corals are consuming that much, but then again, they are growing like crazy.

Here's my tank thread post on the AF Life Source:

Build Thread - JoJo's Office IM Nuvo 40L AIO

Big batch of baby brine shrimp, but the wrasses hit the sand today when I cleaned the glass. Oh well, Fuego the firefish is enjoying it at least. https://photos.app.goo.gl/39RhLn5fmYaA18oDA

www.reef2reef.com

TangerineSpeedo · Nov 1, 2023

The area that is being affected in the photo seems weird. Maybe a parasite or bacteria infection. My Birds nest and my stylo are right up against each other like yours. The Birds nest usually avoids the stylo but the other day the birds nest was attacking the stylo down low at the base. If it was me I would just cut the bad piece out. I have to usually trim a fist full of frags every couple weeks, mine grows so fast. Yours is about the size when it just starts to explode.
Worse case scenario and something happens to your colony, I got you covered. My frags are already turning to mini colonies.

TangerineSpeedo · Nov 1, 2023

I also run 20ml of Cal, Alk and AFR a day in my 40. Fast growing corals will take nutrient’s away from your slower growing ones.

OctaviusBrine · Nov 1, 2023

So you mentioned some of your live stock. Everything should be fine I would assume. Maybe the wrasse? I had a fox face that loved to pick at mine have you ever seen any pickers? They may be doing it at night. It’s just a weird spot to be dying looks like it could be getting nibbled on.

JoJosReef · Nov 1, 2023

TangerineSpeedo said:
The area that is being affected in the photo seems weird. Maybe a parasite or bacteria infection. My Birds nest and my stylo are right up against each other like yours. The Birds nest usually avoids the stylo but the other day the birds nest was attacking the stylo down low at the base. If it was me I would just cut the bad piece out. I have to usually trim a fist full of frags every couple weeks, mine grows so fast. Yours is about the size when it just starts to explode.
Worse case scenario and something happens to your colony, I got you covered. My frags are already turning to mini colonies.

If it starts spreading further, I'll cut that branch off. I have another neon green birdsnest in my 10g frag tank, so I could replace if necessary--good to know there's a backup plan if all else fails!

If the three of these (birdsnest, stylo, goldenrod) grew together peacefully, that would be an amazing colony. I kept the montis a bit further to the side, but I expect they'll start taking up their space before long, too.

JoJosReef · Nov 1, 2023

OctaviusBrine said:
So you mentioned some of your live stock. Everything should be fine I would assume. Maybe the wrasse? I had a fox face that loved to pick at mine have you ever seen any pickers? They may be doing it at night. It’s just a weird spot to be dying looks like it could be getting nibbled on.

The wrasses don't seem to pick on corals. They're entirely too FULL. Autofeeding 4x per day plus manual feeding between and also adding baby brine shrimp between feedings. These gals are stuffed.

They do sometimes try to go over the SPS to get to floating food, but they usually steer clear when they realize there's not enough space for them!

I used to worry about the sexy shrimp, because they've gone rogue before, especially on my Stylos, but since adding the wrasses, the sexy shrimp never ever leaves its RFA.

TangerineSpeedo · Nov 1, 2023

At the top of my rock I put a stick of Stylo, Birdsnest, Pocillapora ( I know bad decision on that one) and a spongodes monti. They all grew like crazy and I had to trim them all back because they shaded prime SPS real estate a bit lower...
This was a couple months ago...

Stang67 · Nov 1, 2023

I lost a birdsnest for no apparent reason. None that I could conclusively determine. They aren't as easy as you'd think. If I had to guess it would be alk or flow.

JoJosReef · Nov 1, 2023

Stang67 said:
I lost a birdsnest for no apparent reason. None that I could conclusively determine. They aren't as easy as you'd think. If I had to guess it would be alk or flow.

Need to get my second gyre fixed to up the random flow. I'm trying to get the alk up, but it is being stubborn. Might have to just bring it up with baking soda and then see if the AFR maintains it at current dosing or if it starts to drop again.

JoJosReef · Nov 1, 2023

TangerineSpeedo said:
At the top of my rock I put a stick of Stylo, Birdsnest, Pocillapora ( I know bad decision on that one) and a spongodes monti. They all grew like crazy and I had to trim them all back because they shaded prime SPS real estate a bit lower...
This was a couple months ago...

Is that a pink branching cyphastrea below the pocci? Definitely on my most wanted list. Such interesting structural growth. That spongodes look amazing--it all does.

TangerineSpeedo · Nov 1, 2023

JoJosReef said:
Is that a pink branching cyphastrea below the pocci? Definitely on my most wanted list. Such interesting structural growth. That spongodes look amazing--it all does.

Yes! That also has just started to go crazy and come into its own. Let me know the next time you are in the Long Beach/SP area and I will break you off a piece.