pocillipora problem - something is eating it (microscope images)

[andrewkw]

I noticed my pocillipora seems to have some RTN/STN. A big chunk of tissue is missing. I took a bit of the goo off and looked under my cheapo microscope and was very surprised to see LOTS of movement. I quickly made this brief video while my phone is at 10%.

So the big question is what are these? Are they the cause of the tissue loss or are they simply eating the dying tissue?

I have not checked my parameters yet but my tank is very stable and based on whats in the dosing containers I expect alk to be just under 8 maybe 7.5, calcium to be 420, no3 to be pretty close to 0 and same for p04. I can tell the PH is 7.9 (winter I peak at 8.0) and temp is 78f. My tank is soft coral dominated and no other corals look to be even slightly unhappy.

 

[andrewkw]

No one has had similar issues?

Here is another clip from last night


Alk is 7.0 which is a little low but hardly shocking. Phosphate is 0.06. I don't see this as caused by a parameter shock but I also don't believe whatever is eating the coral is the cause of it dying. I haven't added anything new and no other corals are suffering. The only other coral that is not looking 100% is a gorgonian which is currently covered in algae. It happens about once a year despite being pounded with flow. I checked that and no movement in the algae and it appears to be diatoms (triangles).

 

[RVA REEF]

you prob need to feed more and keep alk stable

 

[andrewkw]

you prob need to feed more and keep alk stable

And you're basing this what?

Somehow I doubt a drop in alkalinity of less then 1 dkh over a couple of weeks is going to cause one of the easiest hard corals to keep to get a bacterial infection.

As far as feeding more are you suggesting that if there is not enough nutrients in the water bacteria will consume healthy coral flesh?

 

[RVA REEF]

if you know whats going on why did you post lol? Youre nutrients prob bottomed out and you had no idea what your alk was so I am guessing its not stable. These are common causes of rtn/stn. The bacteria is always there and doesnt just show up, its on the coral skeleton eating the parts that died. Could have been coral warfare or the pocci bailout, might see babies all over the tank soon. Either way its pocci and I wouldnt be too sad lol

 

[andrewkw]

I don't know what's going on. I am trying to determine if the bacteria is the cause or not as well as ID what the bacteria is.

I said I expect alk to be just under 8 and it was 7.0 That's hardly a huge difference. I specifically mentioned stable as well. Without testing I can look at my dosing containers and be like okay there is the right amount of solution left in the bottles. So the +/- is not going to be great even if I have not tested in a week or 2 or 3. Also with P04 at 0.06 the lowest it probably is is 0.03 since the meter has a error range of 0.03 and could be as high as 0.09 Doesn't seem like nutrients bottoming out. Despite the fact this is a soft coral dominated system it does run at lower nutrient levels, with heavy feeding but also heavy removal as far as carbon dosing, weekly water changes, detritus removal ect. Heavy feeding includes weekly target feeding of pretty much every coral as well as lots of frozen food / pellets throughout the week.

Also this the only coral effected. Even if I do end up losing this coral which I am still hopeful of saving I want to make sure nothing else is in danger.

 

[CoralClasher]

Sorry for your loss. I had something similar last month and I still don’t know what happened. Out of curiosity what carbon source are you dosing and do you use any amino acids?

 

[andrewkw]

Sorry for your loss. I had something similar last month and I still don’t know what happened. Out of curiosity what carbon source are you dosing and do you use any amino acids?

Thanks but haven't lost the colony yet so maybe there is hope. Yes I am aware it's just pocillipora but grown from a tiny frag that fills a nice section in my tank, and I got it shortly after moving to an area with very few local reefers from one of my good friends the first time I met her so it has some sentimental value as well.

I have been using DIY nopox (vodka/vinegar/ro) for well over 5 years and I used actual nopox for many years before that. For years I would monitor and adjust and now I just periodically adjust the dosage. I have used acropower in the past but haven't been dosing aminos for a while.

I feel I can rule out the small variance in alkalinity as an issue, but I don't feel I can 100% rule out low nutrients. While I don't think they have bottomed out. They certainly have trended downward over the period of a few years. That being said other then this problem and the fact some of my fish have aged out, I don't really have problems with my main display. - Feel free to check out my 112 gallon build. The corals are growing good, colour is good. I maintain a strict maintenance schedule. I think I've missed my weekly water change once in the last 4 years. I actually thought more about the 7.0 dkh and I have been using a lower alkalinity salt lately which would account for the slight drop. Generally I do test a lot more then I have been lately, but I have baby maroon clownfish in several different tanks and between feeding them several times a day, harvesting phyto and rotifers I figured testing the main tank is the one thing I could let go as it is generally very stable. Also my tank is mostly filled with soft corals along with lps, nps and a few sps. So generally speaking they shouldn't be shocked by slight variances and I am still testing, just not religiously following my alk ect. The fact that I have some NPS that 100% rely on target feeding and they are very happy leads me to believe nutrients are okay even though the test relatively low. Still I'll feed more for a few weeks and keep a closer eye on nitrate and get the salifert to a little darker pink.

I'm going to increase target feeding from 1x a week to 2x and I've slightly adjusted my alkalinity dosing. To get back to 7.5/7.7 vs 7.0 Before this year I've never active monitored ph ever. As I mentioned I have seen it go down a little since winter started but I don't think that's anything to be overly concerned about.

 

[CoralClasher]

Sounds like you know what you are doing any advice from me probably would get you in trouble. Just watch for Dino if there is a bacteria problem happening.

 

[ScottB]

A had video of some of those fast moving little critters that I shared with a marine veterinarian. He told me they were brown jelly. Recommended some basting in Lugol dips.

 

[andrewkw]

I tried a 10 minute Ciprofloxacin dip on the coral. The ciliates or whatever they are were not effected but maybe this will help with the bacteria infection. Following the coral dip, I took a small bit of the dead tissue filled with the ciliates and gave it a 10minute dip in 1l of water with metroplex. No effect so I tried another dip at 40x the dosage and nothing!

So I dunno. I'll keep dipping the coral once a day until it's too far gone.

 

[sculpin01]

Try Metroplex (metronidazole). It is used for protozoan infections.