Acropora Staghorn Problem

[wasp]

Advice needed, this may seem basic please bear with me I'm new to sps.
Recently got a new coral pictured, the big branched one on the right.


This was taken upon arrival, as can be seen, a brown out, but had previously been blue.
Anyhow, since being in my tank, has lightened considerably, and starting to show a tinge of blue.
But tonight, upon getting home, part of it that had what I suspect may have been a little too much current has gone completely white, and seemed to have little stringy bits of flesh coming off. So I've moved it to an area with less current, but a big piece of slime that kind of looks like a big dob of snot has come of the white bit, and the rest of it is sliming, although not much.
Unfortunately, it is now late, plus I'm leaving 5.30 am tommorrow to another town for a property deal, won't be back till late. So won't be around to do anything or answer questions.
But I'm hoping a few guys will chip in with some advice so that if there is anything left upon my return I will know what to do. I have stopped all zeo doses, but don't know what else I should do.
Just had another look, I don't think it's tissue coming off, looks more like slime.
Cheers all, hope there will be some good advice for me when I get back.

[Aged Salt]

Hi Alastair, while it's tough to tell from pix's, with your corals lighting-out that much, you have already overshot your zeo's. Hold all zeo's for 5-7 days or more, if tissue recovery has not begun. Be sure your parm's are correct, not too high or too low. This is paramount before adjusting your zeo-dosing. Of course, it could be as a result of photo-bleaching, as the coral appears high in your reef. Did you acclimate it to your lighting, which needs to be done especially with SPS? These are challenging species of corals, no doubt. If your parm's have been inline, reduce the flow to your zeo-filter by 50% for this time, but continue your WC's as usual. Also consider having someone pump the stones 5x's /day to supply food in the form of mulm to the corals. If it is sloughing tissue then in all probability, this coral is TN'ing If it is bleached but not gathering algae on the exposed white areas, it is still viable. Bob

[porites]

Very good summary of the possible problems Aged Salt

By precaution and to preserve the species in your tank, you can make a small frag of the coral...

[Aged Salt]

Porites, thanx for the good words & great idea for saving part of his coral Bob

[invincible569]

Looks like it will be ok after moving it. If it was the strong current, it should regrow over it.

[nyfireman3097]

what is considered high flow though ?
Nick

[Aged Salt]

Nick, for a Acropora, that would be a close, blasting flow directly on the coral, as they're use to strong indirect current flowing around them. Bob

[nyfireman3097]

ok i have 2 6100 tunzes in my 4 foot tank what do you think is the best place to face them i have them in the back corners facing the middle ?
Nick

[wasp]

Ok, Thanks for the great advice. I've just got home after the trip away. It's now dark so I'm only looking at the coral by flashlight, it is now completely white, I cannot tell if it has actual tissue left or not, will be able to see better tommorrow when the lights come on.
Anyhow I'll follow your advice Bob, and hope. It came from a tank with similar lighting, so that ought to be OK, but it was a high nutrient tank.
The property thing turned to crap also, so not a terrific day all up. But anyhow, new day tommorrow, I'll see if there is anything that can be saved.
Thanks all, I'll do an update once I know which way things are going.

[nyfireman3097]

sorry to hear that wasp
Nick

[Aged Salt]

Hi Nick, that is a very appropriate way to use your Streams. Another, is to have one on the front side pane shooting across the front while the other is at the back side pane facing the opposite direction shooting the current back across the back, creating a swirling type current. I do this as well as two seaswirls against the back rotating the current thruoughout the aquarium. Bob

[nyfireman3097]

yeah mine are sort of like that i wanted to figure out if the way i had then would be too much flow for my sps's
Nick

[wasp]

Well I've had a look in daylight now, pretty sure it's a total write off. I'll leave it there a while though just in case I'm wrong and I get lucky.
Not 100% convinced it's due to the water parameters though, I think that for the second time it may be my own stupidity having a PH blasting it to much. All the other corals are fine.
I already have stream on order, can't wait.
Bob mentioned about keeping the parameters within range, not too high, not too low. Is there some way to determine if nutrients are too low?
Also, the new start 2 is available here, but I didn't buy because I've got a ton of the old start. However if I just used the old start in the softy only tank and switched the sps tank to start 2, would that lessen the chance of future problems?

[Aged Salt]

Hi Alastair, actually in a low nutrient environment, I think the problem may be in a change in elemental balance, not a low nutrient level per se. Our corals need nutrients, but not at the levels our testing can demonstrate, therefore, this answer can not be absolute. Start2 definitely will be more forgiving in it's affects on our corals, so all in all, it should bring color without tissue recession. Bob

[zcom]

I have my Tunzes in the bottom corners, facing each other across the length of the tank...

Arthur