SPS Question

Insane320 · Sep 6, 2018

why is my coral dying like this? If you zoom in you can see the white death on the trunk

ycnibrc · Sep 6, 2018

Most likely it's low light or low flow unless some major change in your phosphate.

Insane320 · Sep 6, 2018

ycnibrc said:
Most likely it's low light or low flow unless some major change in your phosphate.

I know it is not a flow problem, Lighting is Orphek. Looks like it is getting eaten slowly over 1 month.

Velcro · Sep 6, 2018

Need parameters...

SG, alk, calcium, mag, nitrates, Phosphates. Have any fish or inverts died lately? Could be a million things and nobody will be able to tell just by looking at a picture of skeleton.

Insane320 · Sep 6, 2018

Velcro said:
Need parameters...

SG, alk, calcium, mag, nitrates, Phosphates. Have any fish or inverts died lately? Could be a million things and nobody will be able to tell just by looking at a picture of skeleton.

Ok, I agree just checking to see if it was a bug. I will post some stats tomorrow.

Softhammer · Sep 7, 2018

That’s totally normal. All corals will recede from the base up as the upper branches grow and shadow out the base. Happens to every big colony I have ever had. Shouldn’t be anything to worry about.

Insane320 · Sep 7, 2018

Softhammer said:
That’s totally normal. All corals will recede from the base up as the upper branches grow and shadow out the base. Happens to every big colony I have ever had. Shouldn’t be anything to worry about.

Thank you, scared me

Velcro · Sep 7, 2018

Insane320 said:
Thank you, scared me

I actually disagree. Plenty of light should be making it to the base of that coral considering it isn't even a table. Even tabling acros don't always die off at that base until they are HUGE. This type of death could easily be parameters or metal contamination.

Softhammer · Sep 10, 2018

17 years of experience and over 300 dives in most major real coral reefs tells me otherwise.

Softhammer · Sep 10, 2018

White dead bases. No metals and several hundred healthy corals in the same water. Coral pictured has been with me for over a decade.

jda · Sep 10, 2018

Death on the bottom is not normal. This is mostly from point-source or single directional lights... used to happen with small/no-reflector MH, but happens more now with LEDs shining one way only. T5s can help and this is a reason why people use them. This can also happen from pests - are you totally sure that you do not have any AEFW?

I have never had this happen and all of my colonies have live tissue even on the bottom. Something is causing this and I would look for the solution.

acro-ed · Sep 10, 2018

My opinion is that stark white base that has developed rapidly is likely a low Alk event or lack of flow. I agree that large colonies can and will have visible dead skeleton underneath but in this instance the “stark” white is what’s telling me that is not the case here. I have had large colonies in the past that will gradually get paler and paler underneath as the structure slowly shades it completely, with a result that is very much whitish tissue, but his happens over time and the “white” slowly fades to coralline as the tissue finally recedes away. I have a frisbee size colony doing this now and the underside slowly regresses, but certainly does not have a “patch” of stark white. @Softhammer ’s pic is typical of what will happen with a larger colony, but also different in the sense that @Insane320 ‘s does not show enough coverage to have totally shaded it, along with the obviously rapid progression otherwise there would be secondary life/coralline on the skeleton.

My thought is low Alk that may have already been corrected, or something nearby stinging it (at night), or low flow.

I will try to take some pics of my examples for comparison sake.

Hope that helps,
Ed

acro-ed · Sep 10, 2018

Here are a couple quick pics. One example of stinging encroachment and one of shading. The stinging example is more stark white because the zoas and palys on that rock have quickly encroached and the shading recession pic has more of a greyish/green to the skeleton as micro flora/fauna grows up the base. Further away in this pic the coralline begins to overtake the even older base.

In my experience rapid recession from the base that is not actual RTN and also not attributable to stinging has almost always been a low Alk event.

Thanks,
Ed

Softhammer · Sep 10, 2018

Acro ed I agree completely with you. I also have a hard time hearing the expert advice from folks preaching gospel with their largest coral being 2 inches. That isn’t a reef. I have dove many real reefs with 20 foot acroporas. The bases die. That’s what makes a reef.

jda · Sep 10, 2018

This is not huge at 10x12 inches, and probably small for some of you, but this is how bases should look. I tried to pick a stag since the OP showed a stag.

29bonsaireef · Sep 10, 2018

Softhammer said:
17 years of experience and over 300 dives in most major real coral reefs tells me otherwise.

Where are you diving????

Sorry, but that comment is outrageous.. Definitely not "normal" in anyway whatsoever, especially comparing to natural reefs.

Velcro · Sep 10, 2018

Softhammer said:
Acro ed I agree completely with you. I also have a hard time hearing the expert advice from folks preaching gospel with their largest coral being 2 inches. That isn’t a reef. I have dove many real reefs with 20 foot acroporas. The bases die. That’s what makes a reef.

Relax.

The picture that the OP posted is a colony that is NOWHERE NEAR large enough or dense enough to cause the base to die due to lack of light. I'm glad you have tons of years diving... congrats. That has nothing to do with the situation that the OP has. The fact that the die off is that white and that large means that it happened faster than algae could inhabit and discolor it. This is NOT a shading issue. There are tanks with large tabling acros that completely shade themselves but still have tissue all the way to the base. It's not even a debate.