Problem with a Stylophora Coral

[dazed]

I have had this coral for about 2 and half months and so far so good; that is until this weekend when I noticed that the base of some of the branches are peeling away is this rtn? Pictures should show the damage I hope.
Current tank parameters all Sailfert readings;
ph=8.18 (Rk2)
10.7dkh
cal=410ppm
mag=1185ppm
po4=0 ?
sg=1.025
temp=78-81
trate less than 5ppm
I have been dosing the tank with the 2 part rec. I am slowly adjusting the mag which is a bit low could that be the cause?

I have some lugol's should i dip the coral?
Should I frag it?
Should I do both??
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/94158mini-DSC01190.JPG

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/94158mini-DSC01207.JPG

[benjonesn]

It's been my experience that these really prefer to stay on the cooler side <80F. I would double check that temp with a second thermometer just to be sure. When I lost the first stlyo I had, my digital thermometer said everything was fine @ 78, but it turned out to be malfunctioning and the tank was much hotter. The stylo was the first coral to show signs of stress, and it looked just like what you have there in your pic with the flesh starting to peel away.

[dazed]

Well if it is temp related then I am not sure what I should try and do; I do have 3 thermometer for the tank; the rk2 is digital, one of those stick on ones and then the old glass one floating around; I do have a small fan that turns on @ 80°. the 78-81 just seems to be the cycle coming into the summer months with the halide's running. I am just about ready to add a sump to my setup, maybe that will help with the temp, maybe i need to get a larger fan??

Just a side note i have been reading all of the horror stories of aefw; that is not a possibility is it?? Would they attack a stylo or just the acro's in a tank??

[dazed]

anyone else?

[Fish2reef]

AEFW was the first thing that came to mind but you should be able to see them around the border of the dead spots with a magnifying lens.

[MiddletonMark]

Are AEFW known to harm anything other than Acropora?

[dazed]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9990892#post9990892 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MiddletonMark
Are AEFW known to harm anything other than Acropora?

I'm wondering that myself; the coral has gotten worse overnight;
should i start to frag off the ends that still look healthy? If I dip the frags in lugols's is the ratio on the bottle correct? 40 drops to one gallon of water??

[Fish2reef]

I don't know if we they are exclusively acro eating or in general sps eating but I had them on one of my acro colonies and the dead spots are similar they are easy to spot with a magnifying lens or if you can't take a macro shot just preview the picture on your camera then zoom in, that should rule out the possibility.

[Fish2reef]

By the way I teated my AEFW with fluke tabs normally used for fresh water.

[dazed]

do you mean this?
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=4760&N=2004+113016

[MiddletonMark]

IMO, I wouldn't pursue AEFW as a possibility.

Seems like enough folks have had them and reported only issues with Acropora.
In the same vein, my red bugs or Monti nudis never bothered anything but the Genus they targeted. IMO, I'd be more worried about flow, chemistry issues above anything.

What fish do you have in there?
What kinds of crabs?

[dazed]

fish are; 1 coral beauty, 1 sixline, 2 true perc's & 1 very tiny goby that actually hitched in on this coral.
1 cleaner shrimp,
flow: is provided by a rio 2100 and 2 tunze 6025's
tank is a 40g

[Fish2reef]

Those are the fluke tabs but I would not treat unless you have visual confirmation they are not that hard to see.

[02REDZ28]

What kind of lights do you have? Do you have a skimmer? How do you suppliment your calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels?
What salt mix do you use? That looks like stress STNing which is usually associated with poor tank conditions.

What other corals do you have in the system? How are they looking?

[MiddletonMark]

For the meantime, I'd get Alk down below 10 dKh ... and bump up Magnesium to more NSW levels.

[dazed]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9993314#post9993314 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 02REDZ28
What kind of lights do you have? Do you have a skimmer? How do you suppliment your calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels?
What salt mix do you use? That looks like stress STNing which is usually associated with poor tank conditions.

What other corals do you have in the system? How are they looking?

Lights: 2 150w hqi, 14K

Skimmer: hang on (piece of junk) being replaced with a new sump setup hopefully this weekend

Cal & Alk. are dosed daily with 2 part rec. 8ml of each every day.

Mag. I have been slowly dripping the mag. additive to bring the level back up.

Salt: Currently just finished up the last of the i.o. that i had and will now be switching to reef crystals.

Other corals are 2 green milli's, 1 rose milli, some monti's and a crocea clam; 1 bta and some zoo's; last week i removed my leather coral's and there is still some kenya tree in there.
One of the milli's tips are starting to look hollow on the ends as well; So I am not sure if this is just the start to a larger problem.

[dazed]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9993330#post9993330 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MiddletonMark
For the meantime, I'd get Alk down below 10 dKh ... and bump up Magnesium to more NSW levels.

I had thought that 7-11DKH was the acceptable range; what is the benefit of lowering the alk? I'm slowly adjusting the mag. back up now via a drip with top off water.

[02REDZ28]

How often are you changing the water? How much do you change?

[dazed]

once a week; 4 gallon water change

[oosurfin]

it might be the goby that hitched. clown gobies are known to eat polyps where they nest. it could also be an acro crab that you missed by chance. just some ideas

[IndyMatt]

Coral beauty are none to nip at SPS as well. Could be stressing the Stylo out, I would stake the tank out and make sure.

[MiddletonMark]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9993730#post9993730 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dazed
I had thought that 7-11DKH was the acceptable range; what is the benefit of lowering the alk? I'm slowly adjusting the mag. back up now via a drip with top off water.
I'd aim more the 7-9 dKh range personally.

While I've not run into issues running Alk as high as 11 ... others report that, and figuring it's greater than 150% of NSW levels [7] - possibly no issue, but IMO there's no reason not to run it at 9 dKh [if just to rule it out] for a while.

What kind of clown goby is it?
Some do cause problems ...

[dazed]

Not the best shot of the goby but the only one I have here at work; He is bi-colored tan in front and blue on the rear any suggestions on what he is? Back to the coral issue; when I got home last night the rtn had gotten much worse; I don't know if I did the right thing or not but I started fragging off the branches that still looked healthy, I figured from what I could see I could not do any more harm to the coral then what was already happening. I was able to take 7 pieces off of the colony I found no signs of any parasites; I even took what was left of the main colony and let it sit in a very concentrated solution of lugol's and besides nuking a couple of pods, etc. I found nothing in the bowl after 2 hours.

middletonmark; I will start to target the lower alk. of (9); I have been using randy's 2 part just to make sure I'm thinking correctly if I stop dosing the alk. part and let it fall on it's own down to the new targeted level I would still add just the cal. portion during this time? Or do I stop dosing all together and let the numbers fall?
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/94158mini-DSC01215.JPG