White areas on sps

[afamousjohnson]

For a thought outside the box - do you have any euphillia(frog spawn, hammer, etc) ask cause I had a hammer release a few of the bubble tips before that landed on a few monti's - they totally looked like worms and killed the little spot around where they landed. So had me freaking out until I figured out what was really going on.
Threw it out cause the bases look great in your pics - so another thought on a white spot mid way up could be a sting or warfare of some sort.?.

 

[Diesel]

I second that.
Dipping isn't a guarantee, eggs won't die off due to dipping.
I quarantine all corals same as my fish, not one will make into the DT without being in QT for 8 weeks.
Of course not every one has a Coral QT.

What test kit were you using?
And only one time a month on ALK testing isn't enough, I would do at least once a week or ALK everyday and the rest once a week.

 

[Harold Green]

I hope you find the issue. Don't know if anyone else will agree but recently I had a new cap that probably got damaged in shipping. A small white area on the surface. I was afraid it would spread and kill the entire piece so I began adding iodine to the tank daily. Within two weeks the frag had healed completely and I can't prove the iodine helped but the cap did recover quickly. Something you might want to try while you figure out what the real problem is. Has anyone else had success with using iodine for helping corals recover?

 

[blufin]

Never impossible - just something most folks would rather not do. If it persists tho you may rethink as fragging will be your last resort in saving a piece depending on how much you love um. It's odd that it's happening in spots not located directly at the base of the coral or up on the tips but rather in the central coral area - that would have me thinking a pest prob. Look at night too in case you have some crazy acro eating night time something that got in.

I do have a large emerald crab that could be causing the problem. I have never seen him pick, but anything is possible

 

[blufin]

I second that.
Dipping isn't a guarantee, eggs won't die off due to dipping.
I quarantine all corals same as my fish, not one will make into the DT without being in QT for 8 weeks.
Of course not every one has a Coral QT.

What test kit were you using?
And only one time a month on ALK testing isn't enough, I would do at least once a week or ALK everyday and the rest once a week.

Salifert test kit. I was testing weekly and got lazy when my results were stable week after week. Shame on me

 

[afamousjohnson]

I do alk once a week but to get there I was doing daily to every other day finding how it was going up n down. Once a month for the rest.

Imo if you see the emerald picking it is most likely scavenging off algae that has made its way to a spot or growing on the coral. Which in general would be around base so not sure on it with midway spots.

 

[blufin]

For a thought outside the box - do you have any euphillia(frog spawn, hammer, etc) ask cause I had a hammer release a few of the bubble tips before that landed on a few monti's - they totally looked like worms and killed the little spot around where they landed. So had me freaking out until I figured out what was really going on.
Threw it out cause the bases look great in your pics - so another thought on a white spot mid way up could be a sting or warfare of some sort.?.

I do have a frogspawn in the tank. I've never seen anything out of the ordinary with it. If this was the cause, it should have healed by now.
This problem is pretty frustrating.

 

[blufin]

I think I may have found the culprit. I truly believe that the sharp drop in alk over the past month is what caused the funny white/dead spots on my corals. After looking at my equipment a little closer, I noticed that the tubing on the alk side of my doser was white, while the tubing for the calcium is clear. I pulled the tubing from the head and pinched it between my fingers. It made a clear spot and seemed to push some white stuff aside. I then used a rolling pin to squeeze the entire length of tubing and used a large syringe of water to clear it out. The tubing is now completely clear and after hooking it back up and priming it, it flows MUCH better. There was so much alk crud in the tubing, it had restricted the flow by about 50%. I think this is what caused my alk drop and the white spots on my corals. Time will tell. What do you guys think?