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RTN from Base

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Actuary, May 22, 2012.

  1. May 22, 2012 #1
    Actuary Adel, IA

    Actuary Well-Known ReefKeeper

    705
    Adel, IA
    Ratings:
    +145 / 1 / -0
    I was stunned last night when I saw that one of my acroporas is getting rapid tissue necrosis from the base upwards.  I haven't had any issues with my corals at all in the last 6 months and everything has been pretty stable.  Here are my params:
    Salinity: 35 ppt (Refractometer calibrated to 35 ppt)
    Alk: 152 ppm (8.51 dkH) (Hanna)
    Ca: 435 ppm (Salifert)
    Mg: 1290 ppm (Salifert)
    PO4: 0.04 ppm (Hanna)
    NO3: 0 ppm (Salifert)
    I do weekly 10g water changes with Aquavitro Salinity.  I run about 1L of Biopellets in a reactor and dose ZeoBak, Coral Snow, Coral Vitalizer, and Zeovit's Amino Acids.  Ca/Alk/Mg is maintained by a calcium reactor and kalkwasser reactor.  Things have been looking good and other corals are growing just fine... I was stunned to see RTN on this coral that I've had for quite a while.  There aren't any signs of anything like AEFW that I can see. 
    The only thing that I can think of that occured recently was I just swapped out my GAC/GFO in my TLF media reactor.  This is something I do every 5 weeks and have never had an issue with it before, but it's the only thing that's really happened in the system in a while.
    Any thoughts?
     
  2. May 22, 2012 #2
    xroads La Porte City, IA

    xroads Veteran Reefkeeper Vendor

    8,015
    La Porte City, IA
    Ratings:
    +1,014 / 6 / -0
    Get some coral RX & soak it in there for 10 minutes, then shake it around vigorously. Then look for AEFW & possibly red bugs. They are hard to see on the coral, and usually start at the base.

    Start fragging the tips like crazy so you have something to restart, if it is going that fast, it will take the whole coral, just a matter of time.

    Consider a couple water changes. When a coral starts to RTN, it does release a toxin or bacteria that can spread to other colonies in the tank.

    Good luck, it really sucks!
     
  3. May 22, 2012 #3
    PotRoast

    PotRoast Well-Known ReefKeeper

    999
    Ratings:
    +24 / 0 / -0
    Sorry to hear this.

    I woke up the other day and one of my corals RTN. It was fast.

    This happens to me once every couple years with no explanation whatsoever.

    I know this doesn't help, but it happens to everyone eventually from what I have read.......

    If your other corals look good then don't over react and just ride it out.

    I agree with x roads....frag the tips like crazy, get rid of the rest, and look for bugs.
     
  4. May 23, 2012 #4
    adampottebaum

    adampottebaum Experienced Reefkeeper

    2,330
    Ratings:
    +19 / 0 / -0
    What brand of carbon/gfo are you using? A couple brands of carbon have been recalled for having copper in them. A fish store here in Omaha lost a few thousand dollars of corals using the copper contaminated carbon.

    But like Craig said, get a good coral dip like coralrx or revive, dip it good, then check out the dip water for flatworms or red bugs. Red bugs might be easier to see on the coral, look for orange/red tiny dots on the underside of the branches and also look for circular bite marks underneath.
     
  5. May 23, 2012 #5
    Actuary Adel, IA

    Actuary Well-Known ReefKeeper

    705
    Adel, IA
    Ratings:
    +145 / 1 / -0
    Thanks for the feedback. At least for right now it appears that the RTN has stopped without me doing anything. I'm going to keep a close eye on it and dip and frag if necessary. The carbon is BRS ROX 0.8 and the GFO is the regular BRS granules. They aren't brand new batches though so I would have expected there to be a problem before if they were contaminated.
     

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