Loosing SPS extremely fast

[Anonymous]

I posted a few days ago asking about a disease that forced me to remove two large sea rods from tank. When i posted, my anthelia and finger leathers were looking bad also. Now, I have lost two 3-4" acroporas (which were frags from a mother colony) and now the mother colony is going fast, all of which have been in tank for 2 years. These 3-4" frags literally lost all pigment overnight! FYI-my tank is well established and is 6 yrs old. I checked all water parameters - nothing apparent there.

The anthelia colony, which covered almost a square foot of rock is now practically 1/4 that (as far as active polyps). The polyp stems are turning black. The polyps that appear to be dying have a white color to them in places. I'm getting extremely worried.

The only thing changed in the last 6 months was an addition of a small green acropora (which was the first to go)fiji yellow leather, green star polyps, and a pulsing xenia - all of which were added around 12 days ago. Could the acropora carried some kind of disease????? It was extremely healthy when placed in tank except for one small spot and the tissue had started to regrow over the bare spot before it died

This is not bleaching of the SPS - way too fast. I've never seen a coral go this fast. Oddly, my pink birds nest and montipora species don't appear to be ailing (yet).

If anyone has any ideas, i'd really appreciate some help with this one - I'm baffled and getting sick!!

 

[Anonymous]

Could be a chemical contaminant. Do you use carbon? If not I would add about a 1/2 liter to the sump where the water enters from the tank to ensure filtration. If this helps, I would replace the bag of carbon with a new bag in about 10 days. It doesn't sound like a bacterial infection.

 

[Anonymous]

sounds like RTN

. I would frag and isolate as much as possible. and use lots of carbon.. there isnt a lot of info on RTN and not much of a cure either. there was an article on aquarium frontiers a while ago, I think it was written by Borneman aand Lowrie

------------------
Rod

 

[Anonymous]

Also, all of my LPS look fine. The only softies which appear to be ailing are the finger leathers which now have the yellow patches which when using a baster to wash, the tissue blows right off the finger leather where the yellow patches are - really wierd.

 

[Anonymous]

Rod may be right. Search the reef's library using the term RTN. Then click on the material by Craig Bingman.

 

[Anonymous]

The Acropora problem sounds like it could be RTN. But what about the other softs corals?
For RTN you could remove the Acros and plave them in an isolation tank with Chloramphenicol (if you can get it--try a Vet)
What are your tank parameters? Especially Alkalinity and salinity.

John

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the input!

 

[Anonymous]

Right now the Alk is 10dKh and S.G. is 1.023, Ca around 400, Nitrate <1ppm, PO4 <.05 - which has been the tanks readings for some time.

I lost all acropora in tank (except a couple of large frags I removed from mother colony which are ok so far). The only loss with soft corals is the colony of Anthelia (almost all gone) and the original gorgonian (plexaurella sp)which contracted a yellow disease. The two finger leathers have small spots of these yellow patches, but hasn't spread. I have two sp of xenia - pulsing stalk and the encrusting white. The pulsing seem to not be extending and pulsing as much - the white is fine.

I added good bit of carbon to sump yesterday. What's really strange is my montiporas, pink birds nest and yellow scroll are doing just fine, as well as all of my LPS, including a large 5yr old elegance.

So, hopefully, this strain is coming to an end as I can't find anything wrong with the "system" must have been RTN but only affecting the Acroporas (why)??? My tank is really diverse - not an SPS dedicated tank so there could possibly be a soft coral releasing toxins(?(?(?(?) The newest soft os a yellow fiji leather which was introduced about 2 weeks ago just. Could this be a culprit????????

Thanks everyone

 

[Anonymous]

I just lost the best looking Bright Green Acropora I've ever had. It started loosing its tissue Monday. Today, I had to remove it from my tank because of risk of endangering other corals in my tank. There were two remaining branches that did not appear affected, therefore I tried to propagate and glued it onto a piece of LR. Within hours the remaining two started to decay. I was too late

Take at look at the picture of how it look when first introduced into my tank. But I believe my coral suffered the same alement as yours.

WARNING: Big picuture but you wont be disappointed

www.jps.net/powrplay/sps.html

 

[Anonymous]

Had the same thing happen to three 3" SPS's.The first two I was able to frag and save some the last one to get it I had to cut off three branches the rest is doing fine now.After the first piece got it I started using the Kent Coral dip not sure if this did it but I was able to save the last piece and frags from the first twne thing I was told by my LFS was to use the putty on the frags instead of the super glue and to go up over the tissue with it. None of my LFS could tell me what causes it only that about the best thing to do is dip and frag and hope for the best.
HTH,bcobra

 

[Anonymous]

Two weeks is not too long for a pathogen to propagate in a reef tank. It's conceivable that something came in on your Fiji leather. The fact that only a subset of your corals was affected pretty much defines the susceptibility of your tanks inhabitants to whatever was introduced. Remember that most tanks have inhabitants from all over the world and thus many of your corals probably had no resistance to the bug that came in because they were never exposed to it in the past.

At this point it is probably best to let it run its course and let it crash when its food supply (your corals) is exhausted. The chloramphenicol thing might be worth a try but remember that Craig Binghams's results may be anecdotal. Also, realize that chloramphenicol is very rarely used in this country due to its considerable toxicity to humans. So if you do use it, be very careful.

I know in this case it is too late but if you were to have caught this earlier, it might be worth a try to make a coral hospital tank. I'd probably go for a broad spectrum of antibiotic coverage:

Ampicillin + Streptomicin or Amikacin or Neomycin + Metronidazole + Doxycycline or Tetracycline or Erythromycin

In terms of treatment, this is what's known as a shotgun approach. Amp + an aminoglycoside is pretty good against many Gram- and Gram+ organisms. Metronidazole is good against anaerobes and some protozoa. Doxy/tetracycline and erythromycin are effective against weird things and some Vibrio species. It's messy and expensive and nonspecific but it can also work very well when you have no idea of the susceptibility of the pathogen you're treating. At least it makes you feel better than just watching things die (which is pretty much awful).

I'm sorry for your losses.

Mike

 

[Anonymous]

>So, hopefully, this strain is coming to an end as I can't find anything wrong with the "system" must have been RTN but only affecting the Acroporas (why)???<

The Acroporas (I believe) do not have a porous skeleton and this makes them more suseptible to RTN. I've had minor RTN outbreaks with some corals and have usually been able to save them with Craig Brigman's chloramphenical trick. This IMO/IME really does work. I think you really did have an RTN event. I do an iodine dip on any new SPS frags or colonies I bring into my tanks, and this seems to be a very good safety precaution IMO. FWIW, it's always a good idea to have a small frag of any thing you really like in a separate tank.

- Greg Hiller