DisplacedInTranslation
Non-member
Hi All,
Recently we lost the majority of our large Acropora (Blue Milli) colony in a state of what appeared to be gradual RTNing. The colony itself was about 10” high by about 8” wide and 8” deep and so it was a substantial colony. It was generally quite healthy and hardy as it survived a few tank crashes over a decade, etc. It was continually polyped and growing under our current tank setup after a recent move, and then it gradually began to die.
The actual death was not RTNing as we know it since it didn’t pale in color, slowly lost maybe 1-2 square inches of flesh a day, and the remainder of the colony (even parts attached to the loosening tissue) were continually polyped out. After about 95% of the colony deteriorated It two 3-4” branches have stabilized and have been thriving for about a week… and now we are seeing the same issue on a tiny 2” frag of Acropora (maybe digitata?).
What factors or parasites might be the cause of this? Something else interesting to note… we spotted tiny, red, pin-sized bugs crawling along the glass on the sandbed, something we have never had before in years of tank-keeping and we have not introduced anything foreign/new to our system in many months – apart from a small batch of snails from a LFS.
Tank Details:
30g breeder (36” W, 12” H, 12” D)
Deep Blue Quad T5 36” Light Fixture
Reef Octopus HoB Skimmer, proper heaters/powerheads/etc
Water Parameters (even during the continual decay):
Salinity: 1.025
PH: ~8-8.2 depending on test
Ammonia: Always 0.25
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates 20-40
Alk: 9-10 dkh
Calcium: 460ish PPM
Phosphates: 0
The tank itself is a relatively new setup, however, everything in it (water included) was transitioned from an established 180 which was several years old. Water chemistry and changes had been routinely conducted prior to this decay, etc.
Any thoughts are appreciated as we’d love to try and save the rest of our SPS.
Thanks!
Recently we lost the majority of our large Acropora (Blue Milli) colony in a state of what appeared to be gradual RTNing. The colony itself was about 10” high by about 8” wide and 8” deep and so it was a substantial colony. It was generally quite healthy and hardy as it survived a few tank crashes over a decade, etc. It was continually polyped and growing under our current tank setup after a recent move, and then it gradually began to die.
The actual death was not RTNing as we know it since it didn’t pale in color, slowly lost maybe 1-2 square inches of flesh a day, and the remainder of the colony (even parts attached to the loosening tissue) were continually polyped out. After about 95% of the colony deteriorated It two 3-4” branches have stabilized and have been thriving for about a week… and now we are seeing the same issue on a tiny 2” frag of Acropora (maybe digitata?).
What factors or parasites might be the cause of this? Something else interesting to note… we spotted tiny, red, pin-sized bugs crawling along the glass on the sandbed, something we have never had before in years of tank-keeping and we have not introduced anything foreign/new to our system in many months – apart from a small batch of snails from a LFS.
Tank Details:
30g breeder (36” W, 12” H, 12” D)
Deep Blue Quad T5 36” Light Fixture
Reef Octopus HoB Skimmer, proper heaters/powerheads/etc
Water Parameters (even during the continual decay):
Salinity: 1.025
PH: ~8-8.2 depending on test
Ammonia: Always 0.25
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates 20-40
Alk: 9-10 dkh
Calcium: 460ish PPM
Phosphates: 0
The tank itself is a relatively new setup, however, everything in it (water included) was transitioned from an established 180 which was several years old. Water chemistry and changes had been routinely conducted prior to this decay, etc.
Any thoughts are appreciated as we’d love to try and save the rest of our SPS.
Thanks!
