Fear my ssc is dying

[lushuk]

Hi reefers, I’m looking for anyone’s help to give me ideas what I can do to save my ssc I’ve had it Around 3 years and only once did it colour up and grow at an expected level, it mostly stays brown with the odd bit of colour here and there, out of interest I fragged a couple of pieces and the cuts are healing over fine albeit brown, so the problem, the flesh is slowly dying back, no bleaching just a receding flesh which hopefully you can see in the picture, please notice the ssc 6” away at the same level in perfect health and colour!
My system params
Alk 7.5
Cal 420
Mag 1360
Po4 0.03
No3 0.2

Plenty of flow and light in there! Any ideas please what I can do to try and save it?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Looks like shadowing to me

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Everything else looks fantastic

 

[lushuk]

Thanks for the input, this is at the top so nothing to shadow it radions and T5’s filling in

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

It looks like it’s being shadowed by itself in the second pic. It doesn’t look like typical stn/rtn to me, and I’ve seen a lot unfortunately. I saw that on some of my acros 10 years ago on my 29 biocube with a metal halide. It only happened on the underside of colonies.

 

[lushuk]

Ok, thanks again, if you look down from the top it’s happening between the branches as well, as you say it does not look typical which is why I’m struggling for ideas

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Well that’s all I got
Hopefully someone else will chime in

 

[lushuk]

And it’s appreciated, thank you for taking the time!

 

[SeaDweller]

I don't think that's dying. I had a SSC colony die on me a couple years back and it went from healthy, brown grey, then started peeling. Yours doesn't look like that.

Currently I have a frag of SSC and it was doo doo brown. Took over a month for the tips to become Red and for the flesh to show hints of green. Had to get water params in check and put it in high light and flow. Are you certain it's getting enough flow and light?

 

[lushuk]

The flesh still seems to be receding slowly, yes it’s light and flow are high!

 

[kevin_e]

Thanks for the input, this is at the top so nothing to shadow it radions and T5’s filling in

Think this is common as coral grow larger. It is shadowing itself. It's base. No fear, imo.

 

[kevin_e]

The flesh still seems to be receding slowly, yes it’s light and flow are high!

Can we see pics of branches that you say are also fleshless? Ime that happens to larger structures, assuming the branches that are fleshless ade on the underside of the coral.

 

[lushuk]

Mmm, thanks for your thoughts!

 

[jda]

I agree with the shadowing. How many T5s do you have? A few is good and helps, but sometimes you need a lot more. This is why it is a pretty natural transition from "need a few T5s to help with shadows" to "have even more shadows so going to all T5s or MH now" as coral grow and grow and SPS tanks mature a lot. ...or you see 3x Radion XR30s over each 24x24 area to help with the same thing.

It is NOT normal to have corals with dead bases. I have absolutely none in colonies the size of basketballs where the initial encrustation is still alive and they even put out new branches from these places. It is just common in tanks lit primarily with LEDs.

 

[lushuk]

Hi Jda, thanks for the reply, it’s lit by 4 x
Xr15’s down the middle and 4 x t5’s 2 either side of the radions, the ssc is quite high up with good light coverage I thought!

 

[jda]

That should be enough T5s - sometimes two is good, but still not enough. It is promising that there is a new branch from down low. Check for critters and check about ten more times. Can you easily get it out for a dip?

Having P swing with lots of GFO use can cause some spotty tissue loss, but this usually is on the lit-up side.

 

[lushuk]

Thanks again, I think there is a bit of basing out which I reckon I can snap if you think it’s worth a dip, I’m trying to be careful as I don’t want to do it in if it’s suffering but really don’t want to loose it! There is some die back looking from the top inbetween branches, I’ll get a current pic when the lights are on! Thanks again!