Tip burn recovery timeline

[Xanthurum]

Let me first say I have done a lot of searching the forum but just couldn't find what I was looking for so I figured this might be useful to others. I was looking for a timeline for recovery from tip burn. I really wish i had taken more pics from the whole process but perhaps some others will add to this as well. Long story short I had some parameters get out of whack and I noticed some tip burn on some acros. I currently only have 6 acros since I was just starting to build the SPS portion of my mixed reef. It started on 1 and was very slow to progress but over about 2 weeks it was obviously getting worse. I then noticed a second acro showing signs of stress so I decided it was time to get some new test kits because all the ones I had were very old and find out what was wrong.

Hanna ULR phosphate checker showed 0.00 on several tests and Alk was 8.7 but steady according to Hanna as well. Salifert test for Ca showed 430, Nitrate 2, PH 8 or 8.1, Mag 1350 Salinity was 35 ppt.

Doser was adjusted to slowly bring down Alk and i did a few doses of NeoPhos as well as turning off my skimmer for a bit and increasing my feeding to bring up nutrients. For the last week Alk has been 8.2 and Phosphate .04, Nitrates are between 5 and 10 and all other parameters are the same as before. The purpose of this thread is to establish a timeline for recovery. The first signs of tip burn were about a month ago but the params were out of whack until a week ago. To date 2 of my acros, Cornbreds Maleficent and the Cliffs acro have done very well thru all of this, a stag showed minor tip burn this week seems to have recovered while the other 3 are still in recovery. Feel free to add any personal experience and a timeline for recovery.

 

[Xanthurum]

Here are pics of the corals before seeing any signs of distress, ironically it was probably at the time the photos were taken that the parameters were already problematic. Pics were the very end of May.
CR toxic green monster
PC Rainbow
Epic Aquaculture Sunburst Mille
Cornbred Maleficent
Cliffs Acro
Teal stag
The Cliffs acro is remnants of a piece i had in the tank a few months ago before I decided to go a different direction in the tank but when I removed it there were a few polyps that stayed.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I had tip burn a long time ago from dosing potassium to quick and adding a little too much. It burned a number of acros and took about a month for things to recover after they showed the signs of stress. I cut the tips off that were burned though. That could probably help recovery time for many acros.

 

[Xanthurum]

Here are pics from today, as you can see the Cliffs acro and the Maleficent have done quite well and so has the stag. I will keep this thread going with progression pics.

 

[Xanthurum]

Time for an update, unfortunately not much has changed. Phosphates are .03, Alk 7.8 and Nitrate at about 2. I decided to move the PC Rainbow to my frag tank because for some reason one of my 4 Stripe Damsels has been picking at it? Not sure what for but whatever.

 

[Xanthurum]

Updated pics, finally some progress is visible! The stag has completely healed but it suffered very little damage, the Mille is started to encrust again and there is some tissue re growing towards the tip. TGM is starting to turn green again and the polyps have been out more. PC Rainbow RTN'd in the frag tank, i think with it being super stressed the move pushed it over the edge. Cliffs acro and the Maleficent are still rocking, in fact Cliffs is starting to sprout lots of branches.

 

[Xanthurum]

Update time. So the Toxic Green is making a fast comeback while the Sunburst Mille is taking its sweet time. I am seeing progress on the Mille but it is minimal. Cliffs acro has gone crazy with new growth and Maleficent has continued its steady progress of encrusting. The Stag has just surpassed where it was prior to suffering what little damage it did.

 

[Xanthurum]

Whoops

 

[N00bMaster69]

I was liking this idea as I just suffered from the last issue, low nitrate and high alk caused burnt tips. Now that I have brought my alk down a bit and raised my nitrates, the polyps are out all day and it seems that the tissue stopped receding. Now I am just waiting on the recovery. I am hoping the tissue can grow over the brown algae that grew on the skeleton.

 

[N00bMaster69]

To add I hope you add an update to this so I can be realistic with my expectations. My tip burn was probably only 3-5 mm worth.

 

[ocncheffy]

I had this same issue as well. brought my alk down to 7.5 with Nitrate at 12ppm and Phosphate at .2ppm. I also clipped the dead ends to encourage new growth. Sometimes tanks just need a lower alkalinity even though your nutrients were ideal. If I hit 8.3+, I get burnt tips.