help with strawberry shortcake

demifelix · Nov 19, 2014

My SSC browned out while 30 other acros are doing fine. Phosphate 0.03, nitrate 0-2, alk 9. It's in the middle of a 27" tall tank with 400W Radium 8" from surface. Am I doing something wrong? Where should I move it to? More/less light?

Aquaph8 · Nov 19, 2014

First acro in my tank to brown out as well, such a touchy coral. Just keep things stable and it'll come back around.

hybridazn · Nov 19, 2014

Aquaph8 said:
First acro in my tank to brown out as well, such a touchy coral. Just keep things stable and it'll come back around.

Agreed, this is a very touchy piece. It took mine a month to color back up, and all I did was buy it at a local swap and drive it home. As long as it doesn't start to bleach I think you'll be fine.

demifelix · Nov 20, 2014

thanks. I'll keep waiting then. Should I leave it there or should I move I to another spot?

Dowtish · Nov 20, 2014

demifelix said:
thanks. I'll keep waiting then. Should I leave it there or should I move I to another spot?

I would leave it a while and see how it does. the less you mess with it the better they seem to do. I have mine 3/4 of the way down in a 24" tall tank with 2 400W radiums and it has great color.

Defect · Nov 20, 2014

I would leave it as well. I have a SSC frag in my tank right now that is just brown. Gonna give it a few months to see what it does.

FoD · Nov 20, 2014

Agreed. My SSC did well in medium light/medium flow. Took about a month to recover from shipment.

Greg79 · Nov 20, 2014

I tried to move mine and no PE for next 2 weeks
I wouldn't move it
Mine like decent flow and bright light

ritter6788 · Nov 20, 2014

I just got one last week. Looked great but lost some PE a day or 2 later. It's been browning for the last week but now has good PE. I did break it off the plug and give it a Bayer dip as soon as it arrived.

demifelix · Nov 21, 2014

thanks guys. I'll probably leave it. So you guys don't think that this could be due to AEFW?

ritter6788 · Nov 21, 2014

demifelix said:
thanks guys. I'll probably leave it. So you guys don't think that this could be due to AEFW?

If you have aefw it could be.

Do you dip and QT your acros?

demifelix · Nov 21, 2014

ritter6788 said:
If you have aefw it could be. Do you dip and QT your acros?

I don't know if I have aefw. should I dip now?

ritter6788 · Nov 21, 2014

Since it's already in the tank I'd leave it. If you do have aefw dipping one acro won't get rid of them. You'll have to dip and QT them all. With any corals some kind of dipping routine is always recommended. I'd leave the acros alone for now. Keep your water parameters in line and monitor your corals.

zemuss · Nov 21, 2014

examine the coral do you see bite marks on the flesh? The bite mark will be round and the marks are usually in random areas.

ajcanale · Nov 21, 2014

Aquaph8 said:
First acro in my tank to brown out as well, such a touchy coral. Just keep things stable and it'll come back around.

+100

demifelix said:
thanks guys. I'll probably leave it. So you guys don't think that this could be due to AEFW?

While it's always a possibility, I'm inclined to say no because AEFW seem to favor many other acropora species over Microclados. Specifically Millepora, Valida, and Secale. Red bugs on the other hand.... much more likely IMO.

demifelix · Nov 21, 2014

ok. I have a yellow corris wrasse and yellow head wrasse in there so hopefully they will help out. I'm hoping to get my new build up and I can dip all of them before I transfer over to the new tank. I'll check for bite marks when I get home today. The last time I look all the branches just simply look rusty brown. I heard about rust brown flat worm as well but I don't know.

Chris L · Nov 21, 2014

Is this an ORA Shortcake or an SSC from someone else?

I have the ORA version and this thing grows like a weed and seems to be the most resilient in my tank. I have it around 275 PAR and back flow from the Maxspect Gyre.

Red Bugs possibly?