acropora question

[scubacane]

14 gallon biocube upgraded to 5 watts / gallon compact FB, plenty of current with added nano pump, temp 76- 80 degrees, SG 1.024-1.025, nitrates 0-5, pH currently 8.0 (working on getting it up),calcium 400-410, 1.5 gallon water changes w/ distilled water every 3-4 days- I have multiple frags that I have added over the past 6 weeks ( tank is 8 months old)- frogspawn, torch, green finger , and candy cane frags all look great, a brain frag looks good but a small 1 inch acropora frag recently has lost its "top". Last week I noticed the poylps on the very tip were not coming out and this morning the tip is totally gone leaving a white stub. The rest of the frag looks fine. I dont think I have any thing in the tank that could be eating it- hermits, a few snails, a clown and a goby as well as a BTA. any thoughts? Thanks

[fatman]

Originally Posted by scubacane

14 gallon biocube upgraded to 5 watts / gallon compact FB, plenty of current with added nano pump, temp 76- 80 degrees, SG 1.024-1.025, nitrates 0-5, pH currently 8.0 (working on getting it up),calcium 400-410, 1.5 gallon water changes w/ distilled water every 3-4 days- I have multiple frags that I have added over the past 6 weeks ( tank is 8 months old)- frogspawn, torch, green finger , and candy cane frags all look great, a brain frag looks good but a small 1 inch acropora frag recently has lost its "top". Last week I noticed the poylps on the very tip were not coming out and this morning the tip is totally gone leaving a white stub. The rest of the frag looks fine. I dont think I have any thing in the tank that could be eating it- hermits, a few snails, a clown and a goby as well as a BTA. any thoughts? Thanks

Tissue recession can be caused by many things, but the fact that you have had it only six week or less means most likely the coral suffered too much trauma during shipping and before you obtained it. Typically this is temperature trauma from shipping and light deprivation complicated by their then being placed in good lighting. This is especially a problem with frags obtained from retailers rather than fraggers. Retailer frags recieive at least twive thetrauma over a frag bought from a fragger. That is why subdued light upon receipt and weaning them on to the final lighting over time is so important. Other causes are starvation, where corals will look good for months or even a year before finally subcumbing to the net dailty deficit of carbon and nitrogen. Unfed corals need more food than photosynthesis can provide. Minearl deficiencies acn also attribute to detachment of living tissue. That is not a problem normally associated with tanks taht recieve adequate water changes though.

[scubacane]

I got the frag from a local guy 1 mile from my house and use Kent Marine Zooplex twice a week .

[Bifferwine]

I don't think you have enough light for it. 5 wpg of PCs isn't enough for the vast majority of SPS corals.

[NewbReefer]

is your tank going from 76-80 every night and day? like biff said you might not have enough light, try placing the acropora higher in the tank if possible.

[ccCapt]

Can you get a pic? It sounds like it just might be new growth, but your lighting is pretty minimal. The growing tips on many acro's and monti's are white.

[NewbReefer]

Originally Posted by ccCapt

Can you get a pic? It sounds like it just might be new growth, but your lighting is pretty minimal. The growing tips on many acro's and monti's are white.

thanks for mentioning that i thought he was referring to the base of the acropora. it very well could be new growth. from what i've heard, when a SPS (not sure if it's all SPS or just acropora's) is growing at a good rate the tips where is it growing will often turn white. i don't know if they still extend there polyps out of those tips though.

[scubacane]

I moved my acropora to the top of the tank and it appears to be happier, growing over the white stub left when the 5mm tip fell off. I also found this tip doing a water change this morning at the bottom of the tank- it looks healthy with open polyps, I also moved the tip to the top of the tank- looks like it might survive but not quite sure why it broke off in the first place

[Bifferwine]

They can be very delicate, I can't tell you how many SPS I've accidentally fragged from bumping them or moving stuff around. The good news is that now you have one more piece of coral than you had before!

[fatman]

About 99 percent of the 400 plus species of acro's should be near the top of the tank if any coral is up there. The exception is the Monti's, they in general are from deeper waters with a smaller lighting intensity requirement. I errored in not asking, but instead assuming, when it came to not asking where you had your acros at in relation to the other corals. My assumptions some times come back to bite me in the *utt. If you want to see interesting coral growth, suspend your frag with fishing line instead of mounting it or setting it on something. However, first touch a little super glue to the exposed base of the coral frag to close its pores off.