Is my acropora dead ?
- Thread starter nircq
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Looks alive to me, dead would be white skeleton, or left long enough white skeleton with algae growing over it.
Not knowing your husbandry or tank parameters, I'd say stop worrying, if that was in my tank, I'd see it and say, "ahh look, a healthy coral" and move right to, "I wonder what's for dinner?"
Not knowing your husbandry or tank parameters, I'd say stop worrying, if that was in my tank, I'd see it and say, "ahh look, a healthy coral" and move right to, "I wonder what's for dinner?"
Neuratox
Active Member
It looks to me like that is the underside of the coral. It doesn't get a lot of the high PAR there and these areas tend to be less colorful. You still have tissue there which is a great sign! I'm not sure what kind of lighting you are using, but having a nice even spread throughout the whole tank can help to reduce this, although I'm not sure if you'll ever be able to eliminate it entirely. With that said, I'm still trying to master acropora growth and coloration myself. If you've grown these from 1/2" to 1" frags I think you certainly have something to be proud of!
Polyp extension is a whole other story. If I'm not mistaken this relies more on the quality of water and stability than growth does. Again, I'm no master. I would strongly recommend checking out Abe's channel on Youtube - CoralEuphoria. I think he's got some great videos on acropora care.
I hope this helps give you some guidance and relief while you do further research!
Polyp extension is a whole other story. If I'm not mistaken this relies more on the quality of water and stability than growth does. Again, I'm no master. I would strongly recommend checking out Abe's channel on Youtube - CoralEuphoria. I think he's got some great videos on acropora care.
I hope this helps give you some guidance and relief while you do further research!
Go have a cup of coffee, and enjoy your tank. Those pictures show a healthy looking coral.
Neuratox
Active Member
Thats an interesting design that I don't think I've seen before. Is this a custom build? Its pretty neat.
Yeah, at this point I think its a spread issue. That's not necessarily a problem, your acros are clearly growing and showing color. However, my personal opinion (and again, I'm still learning too) is that more lights would decrease the brown areas. I still think we all struggle with this though. I think the easiest (and maybe least expensive) way to do this is with a hybrid approach using T5s. They will solve the spread, while the LEDs continue to give you high output and control over the spectrum.
Please don't take this the wrong way, it sounds like you're still wet behind the ears, and IF that's true then you need to be proud of what those pictures portray.
A new born baby can't run a marathon, and if your expectations are set to a level that are unachievable then you're destined make this hobby stressful for yourself.
From what I can tell, that tank is light years beyond what I could achieve when I didn't know the difference between a healthy and unhealthy coral. You're definitely doing something right, and if that's the case it means that you're not creating a problem where there isn't one, and making drastic changes to fix the non issue.
Looking at those corals tells me your tank has a balance, and when you go changing parameters, that balance is going to shift.
My advice, If you do decide to take action, do it slowly and only 1 thing at a time.
Now that's water chemistry. I'll tell you from experience that stability, among all others promotes polyp extension.
I don't know if you know Bill from epic aquaculture, he has an amazing sps dominant tank in his house and every time he comes over, he's amazed at my polyp extension. And the one thing that I do differently than him, is that I don't follow trends, I stick with one brand of salt, never change parameters... and my N and P are so high that most people would scold me for it.
Do I make changes? NOPE! when I read someone shouting from a roof top specific parameters your tank needs to be successful, I say to myself, "my corals better not hear about this".
Stability, fighting the urge to make changes. That's what you need to do to be successful, but I think you already know that, becuae you are head and shoulders above others.
vetteguy53081
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The brown areas you see are tissue necrosis and a sign of stress. Stressors such as increased temperature either modify the structure of the coral microbial symbiotic community or trigger the production of virulence factors. 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, increasing growth of opportunistic coral pathogens, and decreasing the production of symbiotic bacteria in the coral mucus, thereby facilitating the growth of pathogenic bacteria.Hello friend,
My acropora look brown with a little of green Also I never seen her open polyp during the two month since I bring her
is she dead ?
Thank you
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
