What happened to my coral??

[Brancho]

Hi any ideas what has done this to my coral or anyone seen this before? My bird of paradise seems to have had a section stripped? Not sure if this is a hermit? Fish or another cause? Any ideas?

 

[dvgyfresh]

Without parameters we are all guessing , did you change anything recently ? Did it happen overnight? Could be RTN

 

[Brancho]

Just happened over night. Just did a water change my magnesium dropped to 1080 and I'm just boosting that up again everything is pretty normal nitrates are around 10ppm though calcium 430 kh is 8

 

[mtraylor]

Yes it looks like it was some type of RTN possibly. I would cut that portion off. It will only collet algae and look bad. If you cut far enough back it will heal

 

[dvgyfresh]

I’m guessing some parameters swing to due water change and not dosing in the interim, SPS are very sensitive to changes and will RTN if there are changes , mg is low need to be 1350

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Might just be the angle, but this part right here sure looks like a it might be a nudibranch.

 

[mtraylor]

Also if you look at the bottom of your picture at the base of the coral. It appears to be turning white to me. Which is a bad sign. That will not recover it is.

If that's the case when you look at it. You may need to cut the real nice healthy branch on the left side and start you a new colony. That can happen with birds nest when they get real big, but yours is relatively small.

i would do a check on your parms. Alk is usually the culprit. Sometimes big water changes can swing alk too far if you dont try and match them before the water change.

 

[Brancho]

Also if you look at the bottom of your picture at the base of the coral. It appears to be turning white to me. Which is a bad sign. That will not recover it is.

If that's the case when you look at it. You may need to cut the real nice healthy branch on the left side and start you a new colony. That can happen with birds nest when they get real big, but yours is relatively small.

i would do a check on your parms. Alk is usually the culprit. Sometimes big water changes can swing alk too far if you dont try and match them before the water change.

Ah that's just the coral paste I stuck it in there with

 

[mtraylor]

this is area im referring too

 

[Brancho]

Ha ok lol I think it's just the angle but I'll look into that thank you

 

[mtraylor]

Yeah it may be shadowing or something. Its just something to look out for. You can always frag before the storm to ensure you dont loose that coral. That is one of my favorites.

 

[Perry]

Is there a place for salt creep to build up? Like a center brace, or bracing around tbe tank? Sometimes salt creep builds up, and during maintenance, a flake could fall into the tank, sink, possibly land on a coral branch. If eventually dissolves, but burns the coral in the process. Stranger things have happened, lol.. That or maybe a fish has developed a liking for polyps. The BOP looks very healthy and properly colored, so that one branch is weird tissue loss...