What's going on with this acro? Bubbly tissue.

[DarkSky]

Is this acro on its way out? I've had it in my tank for about 6 months. It has always had crummy colors, but encrusted well.


It's at about 400 PAR.

Nitrates are low to undetectable, phosphates around 0.12-0.18ppm, Alk 8.8 dKh, Ca 480 ppm, Mg is 1490 ppm. Lighting is T5/LED hybrid.

All the other acros in my tank are doing great - coloration is on point, growth and PE is doing fantastic.

I've never seen an acro with this sort of bubbling tissue, so I'm assuming this will soon be losing tissue.

 

[TDEcoral]

Looks like hyperplasia. Not too much info about it out there.

Acropora tissue bubbling. Disease? - Reef Central Online Community

Acropora tissue bubbling. Disease? SPS Keepers

www.reefcentral.com

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Agreed, there is a thread on here now about this type of issue with acros. Most others didn’t last long and experiences varied on the cause.
The only thing I was doing wrong when I noticed it in a past tank was dosing unequal parts of two part for a while.

 

[drawman]

I've had this happen before in a previously setup/frag tank and it actually spread to other acros for me. I was suspicious of something viral or bacterial for that reason. In my situation the tissue progressed/degraded in these areas. I know others have had them come and go with no problem. I think my coral were probably weakened/stressed at the time.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Yea a few people have had it spread around the tank, it can become a problem for sure. That’s why I think getting a thread like the other one going well will be helpful even if we can’t figure anything out for a while.

 

[jda]

I have said this in the other threads, but one of the smart dudes a long time ago (Dr. Ron, maybe?) said that it was a bacterial issue and could infect more of the tank. I would cull it if you can.

 

[drawman]

I have said this in the other threads, but one of the smart dudes a long time ago (Dr. Ron, maybe?) said that it was a bacterial issue and could infect more of the tank. I would cull it if you can.

In hindsight with my previous tank I would recommend the same.

 

[serwobow]

I experienced something similar when I had high alkalinity (around 13) and low calcium (300-350 ppm). Only one acro was doing this, and 2 plating montiporas were doing something similar, making very crumbly, bubbly growths. All other acros and montis and LPS in tank looked fine during this period. All the weird growths were slowly overgrown by normal growth after Alk was lowered and Ca increased. Is it possible that your alk was elevated at some point in the recent past?

 

[drawman]

I experienced something similar when I had high alkalinity (around 13) and low calcium (300-350 ppm). Only one acro was doing this, and 2 plating montiporas were doing something similar, making very crumbly, bubbly growths. All other acros and montis and LPS in tank looked fine during this period. All the weird growths were slowly overgrown by normal growth after Alk was lowered and Ca increased. Is it possible that your alk was elevated at some point in the recent past?

I'm not the OP but mine occurred while running Alk at 7dKH. Again I saw it come in on a specific frag and spread. Knowing what I know now I would've tossed the frag. Tank was taken down so point is moot.

 

[serwobow]

I'm not the OP but mine occurred while running Alk at 7dKH. Again I saw it come in on a specific frag and spread. Knowing what I know now I would've tossed the frag. Tank was taken down so point is moot.

Well, it certainly could have been that my tank also had an infection - possibly caused by poor water parameters. I didn't think so at the time, but given the comments here, now I am thinking a little differently. But, in my case anyways, the bubbly condition went away when water parameters improved, and the corals now look fine.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I experienced something similar when I had high alkalinity (around 13) and low calcium (300-350 ppm). Only one acro was doing this, and 2 plating montiporas were doing something similar, making very crumbly, bubbly growths. All other acros and montis and LPS in tank looked fine during this period. All the weird growths were slowly overgrown by normal growth after Alk was lowered and Ca increased. Is it possible that your alk was elevated at some point in the recent past?

Exactly what I always thought was a cause. Mine stopped when I balanced things out too. Anyone who had the same experience should chime in on the other thread!