Why cant I keep digita alive?

[MAReefer1]

Everytime I have any digita, it grows for a little while, then begins to slowwwwwly deteriorate. why. I got this frag about a 2 months ago from another member, and it was fine for about two weeks, but now it looks like this. All the other corals in my tank are fine. The same thing happened with my 20 gallon, I kept a few SPS including digi, and they never survived. Could I have some type of bug thats eats it. The same tissue degeneration is occuring on my M. cap. The rim of the cap is bright purple, and the rest is brown, the tissue is beggining to peal away ( same as the digi).

What could be causing this. bugs? If its not bugs, could it be the alkalinity level of 12.?? dKH?

heres a pic of the digi.

 

[penguinsix]

You could have montipora eating nudis, or montipora eating black bugs. You could try a betadine dip at 3ml per litre 30 minutes and see what falls off.

 

[MAReefer1]

where can i get betadine? If it is one of the two you mentioned, should I be ok after I dip everything?

 

[smcnally]

Because you stink? I had the same problem until my tank matured. Now they grow like crazy!

 

[~Flighty~]

Have you tested magnisium? That is how mine looked with very very low MG in my tank. The tissue would go away before the polyps did. Seeems like most parisites eat the polyps so the effect is reversed.

 

[MAReefer1]

my mg is 1220,

wut i dont understand is why my other SPS are doing really good, and growing at a steady rate.

 

[delta]

What about monti caps?

 

[MAReefer1]

my cap has tissue degeneration, the tissue is pealing off.

 

[delta]

what are the stingy looking thing on it? Have you looked up monti eating nudibranch(sp)?

 

[Aquaman_68]

12 dkh is too high. I don't understand why reefers continue to think that a higher dkh is better. (I continue to read this on other forums as well as here from time to time)Natural seawater is around 8 to 8.5 why would you want to stray that far away from that range? BTW montis don't like the dkh screaming high. At least the ones I've kept & that is quite a few different strains. (over 25 different ones in my tank & I'm sure I missed a few!!) Lower the dkh to no higher than 9.0 & keep your calcium balanced with the reef calculator.

 

[smcnally]

True...These could possibly be monti eating nudis.

 

[smcnally]

BTW, I had them when I first started out with digitatas. Here's a link to my thread http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=9454 Go to the second page and you can see the pictures I took. It will at least give you something to look for in case you do have them.

 

[Liam]

that one on the left definitely looks suspicious

 

[maurod]

where can i get betadine? If it is one of the two you mentioned, should I be ok after I dip everything?

You can get betadine at the drugstore or supermarket.
Even if you treat the corals in a betadine dip, it would be wise to quarrantine them in a separate tank for a few weeks, dipping weekly to ensure the offending bugs are gone.

If you need a spare tank, drop by, there are two on my lawn right now.
M.

 

[MAReefer1]

thanks Mauro for the offer, just dont have the room to put another tank together right now, mid term exams next week. But what I will do is, watch these for the next couple of days very closely and search for any pests. If I see any by friday, I will chuck all the peices, and ill have to wait 3 months before I can get any more digi. If I dont see anything at all by friday, I will know that something else must be wrong.

Aquaman, I know that my alk is too high, i have been trying to bring it down, by shortening my photo period. Since my calcium is a little low, would adding a Ca supplement lower my alk?

And steve, Ill keep an eye on the areas of that digi that you circled, the lights are off, so I will take a pic in the morning of the same exact spot, and compare to see if anything deamed suspicous has moved.

Delta, where would these nudibranches be residing, along the edge of the dead tissue or bassicly anywhere on the entire skeleton?

I also have a german blue digi that has the same condition.

Im going to CVS tomrorw to get that betadine, so if anything falls off I will be sure that I have them.

thanks everyone.

 

[MAReefer1]

bump... what should I do about my alk?

 

[Behrmon]

And steve, Ill keep an eye on the areas of that digi that you circled, the lights are off, so I will take a pic in the morning of the same exact spot, and compare to see if anything deamed suspicous has moved.

Hey Donal, curious on this part? I've had the same probs, so just wondering

 

[MAReefer1]

yep, I took pics of the digi again, and it was the same... The point circled on the top right was just the tissue of the digi peeling away...

 

[RobboT]

bump... what should I do about my alk?

What's your current supplementation regimen?

 

[jbundas]

I have had the same problem with montis for years - caps and digis. The polys generally look good but the tissue will fade and recede. All my easily measurable parameters are good (pH, alk, Ca, Mg). I've noticed the large water changes cause them to turn around and look better. Right after I did my 75g rebuild (with mostly new water), they all looked great for a few months - very healthy, lots of growth. Then back to the same - just like what you're seeing. Everything else including acros look great all the time. I figure there's something the montis want the gets depleted or something they hate that builds up. I've been using them as water change litmus paper - when they start to look weak, I start filling the bucket. After every water change they always look better. I never have been able to figure out the root cause though.

So far, they are all looking great in the new 180g which is obviously mostly new water. It'll be interesting to see if I end up with the same phenomenon in the new system, in a new town with make-up water from a well.

Try a large water change and see if that makes a difference.