Bird's nest RTN question

[JoeESSA]

I have/had a bird's nest that I am very fond of partly because I bought it with a large symbiotic SPS crab already inside the coral...

Yesterday it was fine, but I was considering moving it because a bubble anemone had wandered a bit too close and the tentacles were coming in contact with the lower branches on one side. Today I came home from work and the majority (60% or so) of the tissue was sloughing off and obviously progressing rapidly. I assumed RTN, but that may be a generic term I have come up with rather than precisely accurate. I have moved it to my hospital tank now with it's SPS crab, but I am assuming it's already gone..

Some questions. Can the proximity of the anemone have caused this? In addition I changed the power heads around last week and it was probably getting a bit less flow than before. Could this be a candidate. I've had the coral for just over six months and in that time it has grown from 5" diameter to close to 7".

[JoeESSA]

^up

[acropora nut]

acros and anemones don't mix to will.They like to wonder.

[JoeESSA]

Do you think the anemone caused the RTN?

BTW, the bird's nest is completely gone know. Took only 2-3 days for 100% of tissue to come off...

Interestingly I had similar issue with a Montepora Capricornis about a month ago. Unlike the Bird's nest it had only been in the tank for 3 weeks. I have other pieces of Capricornis that have been in the tank for several months and appear to be doing well.

[twon8]

what is your alkalinity?

[drock59]

I lost my birdsnest when I added a Calc reactor and had a big alk swing. Melted away, but nothign else was effected.

[clkwrk]

Should have fragged it when you had a chance :(

I had a very very nice pink one that was doing great for a good period of time then all the sudden it started to go down hill. I pulled 15 lil frags off and the colony finished with is rtn .

All but 3 frags made it and I am now on my way to having a colony the same size as the orginal colony.

[TA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7504122#post7504122 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JoeESSA
...a bubble anemone had wandered a bit too close and the tentacles were coming in contact with the lower branches on one side....the tissue was sloughing off ...Can the proximity of the anemone have caused this?
Yes...and most likely did. :(

[Greg Hiller]

Sometimes once an infection starts it can be very hard to stop. I'd bet the anemone burn started it. It's a good idea to have a separate frag of any coral you are particularly attached to. Even better to have those frags in another tank, perhaps a local friend's tank.

[JoeESSA]

I've had a hard time stabilizing alkalinity with my setup. I have to add buffer once every 2nd or 3rd day. Occassionaly I forget to buffer this regularly. I have seen my alkalinity swing from dkH=6 to dkH=12, but never outside this range...

Regarding the anemone, it did appear that the RTN had started from the same side where the anemone was touching the coral, however it had progressed so fast during the day that 60% to 80% of the tissue was already peeling off...At that point there wasn't much left to frag

[CeeGee]

that is a really large swing in alk. I would stabilize that and start using a 2 part additive daily to keep things in check.