Rtn, stn or pest?

Saltgator · May 15, 2015

Any thoughts on the tissue loss I'm experiencing? I've battled stn in the last month, but this smooth skin I've had for 2+ weeks and now it's doing this. The stn my other sps went thru seems to have stopped but now this frag showed this last night. I'm used to tips burnt from incorrect acclimation to lights or alk burn or even stn from the base from nutrients, but this skin is peeling in the center! Fwi, I own tangs, 1 angel, 2 clowns. The angel hasn't bothered sps in the years I've own him unless the tips were dead. Also the frag is almost on the front panel leaving little to no room for pickers. Thoughts? Sorry, only cell pic and it's front acro, not the back.

Shep · May 15, 2015

If its a pest, you could always do a quick dip to try and kill whatever is bugging the coral. If there is no change you would be able to cross pest of the list of possible problems.

Tahoe61 · May 15, 2015

Did you dip the coral originally? Is that the issue?

If one small frag is having issues and all other corals are fine I do not become too concerned. If all my other sps are fine, no Red Bugs, chemistry in line than there is not a whole lot you can do about it.

Have you added any GFO? Calibrated your SG instrument? Once you trouble shoot those basics not much can be done. It's probably stress related to some degree.

Not much help and good luck with the frag.

Saltgator · May 15, 2015

I appreciate it guys. I typically do not dip but tried revive on the stn frags I had. My original issue with stn was high alk and carbon dosing. After stopping the carbon and dropping my alk slowly, the stn slowed but didn't stop. That was 2 months ago. I don't run carbon or gfo. My salinity refractometer is calibrated, but I'll double check it this evening. I never dipped this frag, but it appears I might need to

WetWhistle · May 15, 2015

How fast is the tissue slogging? If it is fast it could be RTN, if it is slow it could be STN. Do you have any LPS in the tank like frog spawn? The reason I ask is I have a frog spawn that if I let get to big it will let off little packets of itself into the water. These little packets will float in the water till it touches something and will try and stick. Or I get burnt spots on my SPS from them touching them. I have also seen aiptasia release little one in the water and float around as well burning the corals.

What are your tank parameters at?

RavenSF · May 15, 2015

I've saved some corals from STN by doing a Lugol's dip. For RTN I dipped in Logul's then covered the edges of the receding tissue with super glue. It doesn't look pretty but it saved my red planet. A large water change may help if something is out of whack.

Saltgator · May 15, 2015

I have aiptasia, hammer and frog. Stn is slow but noticeable after a couple days (looking at new receding area). My parameters are the following:

Salinity is 1.024
Alk is 9
Cal is 390
Mag is 1200
NO3 is .05
Po4 is 0