Corailline's JBJ 28 gal. Acropora polyps.

So sorry for your loss ((hugs)) Sounds like a good plan to clear out the gsp- I keep eying my gsp on it's rock island, I keep thinking I will wake up one day and it will have tunneled under the sand and attached to all the other rocks lol.

 

Ah,i see,so you still got the one in there,thats good and i hope she can adjust ok.In my first 55,when my female had jumped,the male went crazy so I bought another hoping they would pair up,but never did,he was allready too set in his ways.Still doesn't make it suck any less and sorry for the test your going through.

 

very nice pictures!

btw, a quick trick I have learned to determine if STN/RTN is pathogenic or chemical:
take some glue and make a complete ring around the colony just above the edge of the STN tissue. Make sure that it is actually on the tissue and above the edge of the STN (I usually do 1/4 to 1/2" above to be safe). Go completely around the base or branch with no gaps or holes.

The glue cauterizes the tissue above the STN and will thus separate the infected tissue from the healthy tissue. Once the STN gets to the glue it will either stop or continue... if it stops, then it was likely an infection... if it continues, then it is usually a chemical issue

Also, a few well respected people I know swear by a theory that says colonies can only get to a certain size in a given size aquarium and then they just start to slowly die because they are too large. My chem prof friend thinks it is an oxygen transfer issue with the "too large" size colonies...?

 

3reef members are the best. Thank you for the support.

Actually Dingo that is exactly what I am going to do. It was the next step in my plan.

However I did not know that you could tell the difference between pathogen and possible chemistry or parameter issues. And it makes total sense.

I am going to try that, give it a couple days if it continues. Lastly frag them.

It just seems awfully weird that no other sps are involved. The others are growing like weeds. So these corals are more senstive than the others but to what I can not figure out.

Lastly it comes down to the reality that you loose some sps no matter how hard to try.

 

honestly, it can be anything! there is so little we know about corals and so much less that we know about diagnosing them haha

if it is pathogeneic, then it could just be specific to that one particular coral (horizontal gene transfer from a bacteria to make the "used to be nice" ones turn evil... or even the zoox could have picked up some nasty genes from anything... or maybe viral)

 

Sorry to hear this Cheryl Could be many things for sure. Not knowing where our corals were collected for example, can be a big issue. If some corals were collected from an area that is quite different from where your other corals were collected, that coral will likely tend to be more or less sensitive, if exposed to the same conditions as the others. By itself it may not be an issue, but add in additional stressors and it may be enough to push it over the edge and an opportunistic infection sets in.

Also, while corals do not a have a true immune system, they do have defenses. For example, they are known to produce alleopathic chemicals which are used to fend off bacteria, protozoa etc... from living on their outer tissue. Over time, these chemicals/microorganism interactions can become fairly specific. A coral from an area where a given microorganism is prevalent, may have the necessary defenses to ward it off, but another, from somewhere else may not.... I think this happens a lot as we collect corals from such a wide range of areas.

 

Sorry for your loss. People know about the leather corals with SPS but good ole GSP's are quite noxious as well.

 

Yeah, that GSP has gotta go. Sorry about the clownfish. I know you're limited for space, but have you considered taking advantage of an opportunity for a small upgrade, like a 60 cube? ;D

 

Sorry to hear about your losses, but your clownfish should bounce back....I know mine was bummed for a week then he decided that variety wasn't too bad, and started to try to pair up with any moving animal in the tank....and he does it everyday. Trochus snails and mandarin, even tries the Purple Tang, slithering and swimming against them....it's funny. He is such a horndog.

In my tank, torts are the very first to show signs that I have parameter issues. If their polyps get sucked in, I automatically recalibrate the refractometer, and check salinity. Then I pull out the alk checker, it's normally either of those two, for me.

When you go barebottom, make sure you read this thread on RC, Im gonna go find it.

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=650985&highlight=going barebottom
here it is...the reason why I think you should read it, is because your system is established, and may be at risk just removing the sand.....I think vacuuming a little each week is ok, but removing the rock, and sandbed, takes a little more thought. I know when I did it, I removed the rocks, and the rocks that sat on the sand, were thoroughly rinsed in multiple buckets of fresh saltwater. Once I cleaned them to my liking, I placed them into a garbage can, with the other rock, cleaned my tank and plumbing, and re scaped.

As long as you get those rocks that sit buried, or partially buried under sand, rinsed out, you should be good to go.