My new DD acropora are dieing.

[Jmas4]

I received 7 small acropora colonies from DD. 1 was doa and the other 6 over the course of the week stayed light brown instead of coloring up. 4 of the survivors were killed of by rtn.
A few days ago, I recived frags from Living Reef Orlando and all them never lost color during shipment and are already showing polyps.
So it's not my reef that killed them. Was it a bad batch from divers den? What are the causes of rtn?

My parameters
Ph 8.2 (api)
Nitrate 0.25 (red sea)
Phosphate 0.04 (hanna)
Alk 6.2 (red sea) It has always been low but stable and is growing my other corals very well.
Calcium 410 (red sea)
Magnesium (1360)

Thanks, and happy reefing!

 

[Foothill Corals]

Where these wild colonies? If so they are MUCH more delicate than a captive bred frags.

Do you have other acros?

 

[Craigb350]

I would get that alk up if I was you, as soon as it drops into the 6s I start panic stations

 

[Justfebreezeit]

I guess that depends what DD keeps their Alk at. I recently watched a reef builders video with jake adams and his Alk is stable and low like yours with no problems.

If they are wild or maricultured that could be it.

 

[TheHarold]

They're imported mariculture colonies; 5/6 die.

 

[speedstar]

I don't mean this to sound un helpful, but if you expect wild colonies to color back up in a week, that is a high expectation. I have had some take months and others even take years to color completely.

There is a reason AC is so popular as it has alot higher success rate.

How much flow do you have? That for me has been key for keeping wilds, my dump bucket system has done best in the past.

 

[Jmas4]

Thanks for the quick responses.

Where these wild colonies? If so they are MUCH more delicate than a captive bred frags.

Do you have other acros?

Yes I have many different types of acros. Green slimers, to strawberry shortcake, to millies.

I would get that alk up if I was you, as soon as it drops into the 6s I start panic stations

Yes I'm working on getting it up.

I guess that depends what DD keeps their Alk at. I recently watched a reef builders video with jake adams and his Alk is stable and low like yours with no problems.

If they are wild or maricultured that could be it.

Actually... I never checked. I assumed it was aquacultered because it came from divers den. I'll take a look.

They're imported mariculture colonies; 5/6 die.

Hmm.. that's too bad. We need to find a way to make growing acros easier.

I don't mean this to sound un helpful, but if you expect wild colonies to color back up in a week, that is a high expectation. I have had some take months and others even take years to color completely.

There is a reason AC is so popular as it has alot higher success rate.

I didn't actually take a good look if it was aqua or maricultered. I'll have to take a look.

How much flow do you have? That for me has been key for keeping wilds, my dump bucket system has done best in the past.

My other online orders colored up quick (within a day or two) and my lfs corals never loose color. (But they don't go through shipping stress) Maybe my expectations are too high?
My turnover within the tank is 50x

 

[Jmas4]

Ok, I took a quick look at divers den. It gives a choice from: marine fish, freshwater fish, aquaculture corals, clams, LPS corals, SPS corals, maricultered, ect. I bought my corals from the "SPS corals" section.

 

[jda]

Colonies are significantly harder than frags. Most of what they sell on DD are wild stuff... which even the best of the best lose a good portion of.

They are not as good as they used to be before Petco purchased them, but this one is probably not on them. Only give wild colonies a try if you have a QT tank that is tremendously stable with lots of light and no stress.

Don't sweat the alk. 6.2 is totally fine.