Trouble with my purple stylo

[Lavey29]

Greetings everyone, I am having trouble with my purple stylo which I have had in the tank for 2 months. It was given to me as a free tester SPS coral by the cool guys at Timeless Corals. My tank is 9 months old this month and I was not sure if it was ready for SPS yet so they gave me one to test out. It was doing great the first 2 months, seemed fat and happy with some new growth to then the past few weeks it shows STN on the shady side. I have it placed 2/3 up getting good par light from XR5 and good flow from my MP40. My water parameters have been fairly stabil with alk 8.1 to 8.4. I do dose 2.5ml of alk daily to keep the number consistent. The other numbers are listed below:

Temp 77.3
Cal 470
Nitrate 10.4
Phos .15
Salinity 1.026
Mag 1430

The only thing that has been in flux was phospahate. It spiked a little while cleaning the sandbed but has been coming down slowly. I recently added chaeto to my fuge to help keep my nitrate and phosphate numbers consistent. All the other corals are LPS and some softs that seem to be doing ok. I run 2 XR15 lights for 10 hours on the AB plus setting at 50% schedule so about 40% intensity. I was hoping to have success with this and maybe try a green bali slimer next. I am in the process of setting up a dosing system also but my calcium stays good with water changes. Only alk needs dosing presently. I feed Red Sea AB plus 3x per week and oyster feast 1-2x per week. I have 9 fish in my tank which get fed pellets and frozen 3x per day. I have also started dosing chaeto gro to supplement trace elements the fuge might be using. Tank is pretty clean with only a low to moderate amount of GHA presently.

Any thoughts on what I might try to save my stylo?

 

[shakacuz]

if the STN is occurring on the shades areas i believe light is the issue here. perhaps angling it so all areas are getting light may help.

dip the stylo in iodine and place back in tank for further observation.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

I have 0 experience here, but I did similar, as my first sps I tried the purple stylo, it did really well first, new growth on the plug, then lost all tissue on the shaded side first. Then the whole thing peeled, in just 24 is gone. O think 1-2 polyps remain.

I have no way to check par, but my nutrients were limited until I started dosing, but probably too late for my stylo.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Purple stylophoras are pretty tolerant to shading and in my experience can take a wide range of lighting overall. I had 4 purple stylophoras at one point! All 4 receded early in my tank despite all of them being at different lighting levels. I had some alkalinity issues (and neglect) at that time. But I think my tank was simply too immature. One died but 3 made it and are thriving now at the 2 year mark. Sure, play around with lighting. Your parameters otherwise look good. But I think you just need to let your tank mature a little more.

 

[Tonycass12]

Your getting low par w your schedule set how it is. This is the par in my 24x24x16tall tank with 2 xr15s on ab+ schedule running at 100%point intensity and 95%schedule intensity. So that should be nearly 2x the intensity your running at. Depending on your tank size you may only be pushing 100-200par

If you have blues rather then pro fixtures you may be getting slightly higher numbers

I've cranked my fixtures way up and added much more white to the schedule to achieve a good amount of light for sps.

 

[Lavey29]

Your getting low par w your schedule set how it is. This is the par in my 24x24x16tall tank with 2 xr15s on ab+ schedule running at 100%point intensity and 95%schedule intensity. So that should be nearly 2x the intensity your running at. Depending on your tank size you may only be pushing 100-200par

If you have blues rather then pro fixtures you may be getting slightly higher numbers

I've cranked my fixtures way up and added much more white to the schedule to achieve a good amount of light for sps.

I was going off internet info with others that had similar size tanks as mine and running the same lights. Everything has been doing well just not the stylo the past week or so. It is directly under the light. your tank is more cubed shaped and you are getting more overlap coverage with your lights to. If I crank mine to 100% it will fry my LPS probably.

 

[Lavey29]

Purple stylophoras are pretty tolerant to shading and in my experience can take a wide range of lighting overall. I had 4 purple stylophoras at one point! All 4 receded early in my tank despite all of them being at different lighting levels. I had some alkalinity issues (and neglect) at that time. But I think my tank was simply too immature. One died but 3 made it and are thriving now at the 2 year mark. Sure, play around with lighting. Your parameters otherwise look good. But I think you just need to let your tank mature a little more.

Probably need more tank maturity but I do have a good amount of coraline growing now so thought a tester SPS might work out.

 

[Lavey29]

if the STN is occurring on the shades areas i believe light is the issue here. perhaps angling it so all areas are getting light may help.

dip the stylo in iodine and place back in tank for further observation.

Its possible, it is slightly tilted and the shaded area is the affected area.

 

[homer1475]

Did it actually STN or are the polyps just white?

If it's from shading(my colony is rather large now), it will still have polyps, they will just be white. I have many branches down low like this.

If it's actually STN, it will have 0 polyps and be white(STN = slow tissue necrosis meaning no skin, just bone left behind).

I'll grab a quick pic of mine.

 

[homer1475]

Heres my colony now:

And here is the underside where it's shaded. Still has polyps, they are just white:

 

[Lavey29]

Heres my colony now:

And here is the underside where it's shaded. Still has polyps, they are just white:

Very helpful, my eyes are not what they used to be but does appear as if tissue may be gone in some areas and white polyps in others.

 

[Lavey29]

Your getting low par w your schedule set how it is. This is the par in my 24x24x16tall tank with 2 xr15s on ab+ schedule running at 100%point intensity and 95%schedule intensity. So that should be nearly 2x the intensity your running at. Depending on your tank size you may only be pushing 100-200par

If you have blues rather then pro fixtures you may be getting slightly higher numbers

I've cranked my fixtures way up and added much more white to the schedule to achieve a good amount of light for sps.

I did bump it up 10% just to see if there is any benefit so I am at 60% schedule now which is roughly 43% overall intensity. The AB does have a little while in it but mainly blue and UV.

 

[Lavey29]

Your getting low par w your schedule set how it is. This is the par in my 24x24x16tall tank with 2 xr15s on ab+ schedule running at 100%point intensity and 95%schedule intensity. So that should be nearly 2x the intensity your running at. Depending on your tank size you may only be pushing 100-200par

If you have blues rather then pro fixtures you may be getting slightly higher numbers

I've cranked my fixtures way up and added much more white to the schedule to achieve a good amount of light for sps.

are you running diffusers?

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Probably need more tank maturity but I do have a good amount of coraline growing now so thought a tester SPS might work out.

You’re close! Go ahead and get the Green Slimer for Christmas They’re inexpensive and hardy. I had some Acropora survive while the purple stylophoras struggled. Getting a new frag keeps the excitement (and at times frustration) going!

 

[TMB]

More light is definitely not necessary for your Stylo. My tank is a 60g cube with 1 XR30 running the AB+ at 50%
I know others may disagree, but blasting it with light isn't going to help. I also don't think the RTN is from shading.
As @homer1475 said, they are very tolerant of varying amounts of light and shouldn't be looking like that on the shade side.

Here are some pics of acros under XR30 - SPS AB+ and 50% power on the slider (which is actually less when you look at the total output). Lights are about 12-15" above the corals.

I would suspect stability issues, and or chasing numbers/problems/fixes.

 

[Tonycass12]

are you running diffusers?

I added diffusers after I cranked up my schedule. I love the light way more with the diffusers I dont see the light scatter into blue/green/red/violet dots anymore

 

[X-37B]

Stylos are pretty robust and grow pretty fast.
Stability is king in this hobby, imo.

Are their any hermit or emerald crabs in your system?

This purple stylo has grown from a 2" frag to this in a years time in my 120.

 

[Lavey29]

Stylos are pretty robust and grow pretty fast.
Stability is king in this hobby, imo.

Are their any hermit or emerald crabs in your system?

This purple stylo has grown from a 2" frag to this in a years time in my 120.

I have a few hermits and emeralds but I watch the tank constantly day and night and have not seen them bothering it.

I suspect light possibly because the recession seems to be on the slightly shaded area but I did have a phosphate spike to .27 when deep cleaning the sand a few weeks back what kind of correspondes to when my stylo problems started.

 

[Lavey29]

I added diffusers after I cranked up my schedule. I love the light way more with the diffusers I dont see the light scatter into blue/green/red/violet dots anymore

So are your par numbers before the diffusers? I just ordered some for my lights to.

 

[X-37B]

I have a few hermits and emeralds but I watch the tank constantly day and night and have not seen them bothering it.

I suspect light possibly because the recession seems to be on the slightly shaded area but I did have a phosphate spike to .27 when deep cleaning the sand a few weeks back what kind of correspondes to when my stylo problems started.

Well keep an eye on emeralds in the future.I have removed all from my system.
It only takes 1 rouge one to inflict damage. Ask me how I know?
You would be amazed at how fast an emerald can strip and acro.
My stylo colony has areas like yours where it gets no light so that may be it too.