green birdsnest starting to rtn
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: SPS
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions SPS corals.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15758
Printed Date: August 02 2025 at 11:34am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: green birdsnest starting to rtn
Posted By: aaaj
Subject: green birdsnest starting to rtn
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 3:37pm
|
This morning my green birdnesnest is starting to have white on the tips, probably about .25-.4 inches from the top on the branches. I have not had a chance to check alk and ca, but other than making sure they are in good ranges what can I do? I will also be changing the carbon today and doing a water change. I also have a green plate coral that is not looking too good. When I added Ca additivies to get the Ca back over 400ppm it started acting unhappy. One of my fish keeps dropping sand on it, but there is not any room on the rock for it. Any ideas? I have been spot feeding it daily hoping it would help. ------------- Amber 29 gallon reef pictures of some of my frags at frags.org |
Replies:
Posted By: sshm
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 4:01pm
|
RTN is usually from the base of the coral and if you saw it in the morning and if its RTN then the coral is probably completely gone by now. Are you sure its not just new growth? Why RTN occurs is still a subject of research in coral reefs, it could be a sudden increase in nutrients, a change in water temperature. Probably the only fix for RTN is to frag the tips of the coral before the necrosis reaches it.
1) How long have you had either coral? 2) What is the pH and what is the pH swing over a day? 3) What is the Alkalinity? 4) How are the nitrate levels? 5) Are both corals frags from tank-bred specimens? (If so, then you can rule out RTN further, if its wild caught then its easier to suspect RTN since the coral is used to a certain level of light, flow and water parameters and is very stressed whjen its put in the tank) 6) What Ca addititive are you using? Plate corals need flow over the plate to remove settled detritus. As a personal experience, I got a wild caught acro (from the liveaquaria group order) and it had a nice light purple color on the tips. It then immediately browned out within a day and the polyp extension wasnt great. I did a water change and I saw necrosis in an inner branch of the coral, the coral brances are pretty densely packed. This was within an hour of the water change (around 11pm). By 2am one branch about 2" long was completely gone. The next morning, I clipped out the dead branch and noticed necrosis on all the middle branches at the base. I moved two powerheads in the tank and added a new one from the opposite direction (so that the flows from the opposite powerheads meet over the coral and then swirl about randomly, the area is high flow but its not directly on the coral). Then I clipped out two outer branches on opposite sides so that the middle areas were more exposed. The necrosis stopped with that and I am now getting growth on the necrosed areas (1 week later). But the thing to note is that all the time the necrosis was spreading from the base of the coral. ------------- http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1157896 - Difficult and special care reef inhabitants |
Posted By: Daren Wightman
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 4:03pm
|
I think temp and water parameters are a good place to start. I lost a birdsnest and plate corals after I trimmed(major) some palythoas, possibly leaking toxins into the water. If you are worried about losing the corals you could place some frags of them in my tank and I would be happy to hold onto them for you for a while, no charge of course.
Daren ------------- 300 gallon in wall |
Posted By: ewaldsreef
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 4:52pm
I agree. Whenever I have had problems with my sps I first check my temp then alk , ca , salinty Let me know if I can help. ------------- Contact me for professional aquarium maintenance and localy grown coral frags. [URL=http://www.aquatitranquility.com][/URL] |
Daren Wightman wrote:Posted By: aaaj
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 10:26pm
|
ok parameters are
Alk 9.9 dKH
Ca 390 ppm
pH 8.1
I did not test for nitrates but I haven't gotten a reading of them for almost a year now. The temp got high, up to 82 while it is usually 78-80.
It seems that there are just spots that have turned white and the birdnest on different branches, but it is still extending normally on the spots that are not white. ------------- Amber 29 gallon reef pictures of some of my frags at frags.org |
Posted By: sshm
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 10:53pm
|
well if the coral is still alive then its not rtn, rtn sets in and is over in hours.
Are those values stable, meaning are they at those levels all the time? Are you having a tough time keeping Ca up? When was the last time you did a water change? The 2 degree temp change shouldnt stress out a green birdsnest which are pretty tough. Are these two the only SPS that are in the tank? Could you post pictures, I'm guessing its stressed from a deficiency. ------------- http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1157896 - Difficult and special care reef inhabitants |
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 10:56pm
|
Is there something nipping at it? -------------  |
Posted By: Aquarium Creations
Date Posted: December 28 2006 at 11:30am
|
RTN can happen well over a 24hr period ------------- Aquarium Maintenance,Consulting,Custom Built Glass Aquariums Rimless/Euro,24Hr Emergency Service 8015485201 Www.UtahAquariumDoctors.com [email protected] |
Posted By: Corey Price
Date Posted: December 28 2006 at 11:54pm
| My birds nest RTN'd over several days, and it started like yours- just white spots and tissue recession from the white spots. Tissue could be seen flapping around after a while. All I have left is white skeletons of sharp birds nest. Nothing else was really affected. |