Really Ugly Acros

[teddscau]

Okay, so I bought a 90g reef tank last week and I've come to realize that the acros are REALLY ugly. I mean, the one little acro looks okay, but all the others are really ugly. Like, they do not in any way look like acros. They're these big, fat, amorphous blobs with fat, misshapen branches coming off them. They obvious didn't have enough flow growing up, and now they're SOOOO ugly.











Yes, I realize they shouldn't be touching the glass. I'll move them after I'm done playing with my birds.

Right, so will these guys start looking better if I provide them with strong flow and supplemental feedings?

[benibarra23]

They arent ugly, they are dead. lol. Or close to it.

[Pslreefer]

Those white ones are definitely dead.

[teddscau]

Dead? I thought they were doing really well (save for the obviously dead ones and the one that shed all of its zooxanthellae). Their polyps are always out, they're colouring up nicely, and they seem happy. The guy I got them from hadn't fed them in several months. And before someone starts making comments about photosynthetic corals not needing to eat... Well, photosynthetic corals DO need to eat, just not as much as NPS corals.

Do you guys think I should start feeding them daily, assuming it doesn't cause my nitrates or phosphates to spike? Well, I should definitely be feeding the bleached one every day...

[ramseynb]

I'm confused. It seems like you've already made up your mind on what you think the problem is and what to do. What exactly are you asking? I don't spot feed my SPS. They eat fish poop and other bits when I feed the fish. Do you have fish in the tank? You mention them looking terrible then you say they're coloring up nicely. To me they look either bleached or on the verge of being bleached. I'd just give them time.

[Pslreefer]

sps really don’t need daily feedings. You may do more harm then good for the ones on the verge of death. They do in fact need stability and if not too far gone will probably rebound in a stable and mature system with proper lighting and acceptable parameters.

You just got the tank last week so obviously they are stressed out

[teddscau]

Neither their original owner nor I have fish. He sold off his fish months ago, so they haven't had any fish food or poop to eat. What I meant about them looking terrible is their shape. They're misshapen.

[Piper27]

The flow looks like it was way to soft as well as those acros look like high flow pieces too. They definitely look like they are pale and growing funny, from either low flow and or the main parameters are not in balance with each other. Ones definitely a reef rest acro. Feed some nitrates and keep the flow nice and strong and random and things will color up. I would certainly get a few fish, great sps tanks, most all of have fish in them. Things wont get much better until they are being fed with fish poo and have good flow and light.

[teddscau]

Thanks, Piper . I've never had a saltwater tank before, but I have been trying to learn as much as possible about corals. I'm going to see about buying some fish soon so I can get them in with the corals as soon as possible (once they've been quarantined for a month or so).

I wanted to hold off on getting fish since I wanted to put dragonface pipefish directly in the tank without quarantining them first (I know, I should quarantine, but I can't picture the pipefish doing well in quarantine), but I guess that won't work. Hahh...I don't know, should I just go ahead and order the pipefish? I'll obviously have to buy a ton of copepods and whatnot since there isn't a whole lot of microfauna in there at the moment. Hmm...I don't know... Darn it. But they breed fast, and the live rock is aged. Well, I could go ahead and buy a pair of clown gobies and stick them in quarantine, put a bunch of pods in the 90g, and if the population explodes, I could order the pipefish.

As for flow, my dad's working on attaching the random flow generators to the outflow or whatever (I don't know the technical terms for equipment). They'll be in by the end of the day, so hopefully the extra flow does the trick. I have been doing my best, but the corals weren't in the best shape when I got them. Heck, if you refer to my posts about my poor sun coral. The poor little guy was starved, and now he only has tissue on his polyps. The rest of him is exposed skeleton. He's eating really well though.

[outssider]

clown gobies will eat the tissue off what's left of your sps…..

[teddscau]

Originally Posted by outssider

clown gobies will eat the tissue off what's left of your sps…..

Good to know.

[Piper27]

I would suggest not to start off with a pipefish. Get one when the tank is stable with lots of pods. Why were you wanting one? Start with snails and a few reef fish that do work on algae and keep the tank clean for you.

[kevin_e]

Stability is key. Make sure you have adequate lighting, stable salinity and calc/alk, maintain lower nutrient levels and you will be good.

It can takes months to color coral back up.

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[Daddi0]

I picked up a coral that looked like crud 6 weeks ago and just today it began to show some life.
Cheers! Mark

[teddscau]

Originally Posted by Piper27

I would suggest not to start off with a pipefish. Get one when the tank is stable with lots of pods. Why were you wanting one? Start with snails and a few reef fish that do work on algae and keep the tank clean for you.

The reason I want to get a couple of pairs is because I've always loved seahorses and their cousins, ever since I was little. My aunt used to buy me these boxes of Guylian chocolates, and I always loved the little seahorse chocolates. Okay, yeah, sounds kind of dumb. But I've always loved how delicate and gimpy seahorses are.

When Dad told me we were going to get a saltwater tank, I was really excited. I knew I wanted sun corals (luckily the tank we bought came with a colony), and for the heck of it, I researched seahorses/seahorse-like fish that we could put in it. When I came across dragonface pipefish on the web, I knew I had to get some. I'm hoping to create the perfect environment for them, and I really want to breed them. I know it's hard to breed them in captivity, but I'd like to try in order to encourage others to breed them too, so they don't have to be taken from the wild.

Hmm, wonder if I could just offer to provide "grow out" services for people on my fish group who have fry? The coral would benefit from the fish poop, and I could just give the fish back after the fish have gotten bigger. Everyone benefits, and once my tank's aged a bit, I could buy fish that I want.

Anyways, thanks for the support guys . Hopefully the corals colour up sooner, rather than later.

[teddscau]

Uh huh, uh huh. I see. Well, apparently the following stony corals are in my tank:

Acropora tortuosa (purple)
Acropora valida (Bonsai)
Acropora humilis (Fijian Green)
Acropora formosa (Blue tipped)
Acropora millipora
Green Montipora digitata
Red Seriatopora
Green birdsnest
Pink Pocillipora
Sun coral

Well, the millipora is unbelievably small and deformed (and bleached), the birdsnest is bleaching (I think it's the birdsnest?), the pocillipora is bleaching, the sun coral looks alive... Heck, most of the stony corals are severely deformed and are bleaching, so heck if I know which is which. And no, they came to me in a state of distress. I've been doing what I can to prevent them from dying. Man, they look really bad. Nothing is the colour they're supposed to be.

[homer1475]

SPS corals, pipefish, and seahorses don't mix.



One needs very heavy flow, while the other 2 require almost 0 flow.

[teddscau]

Actually, it turns out pipefish and seahorses do enjoy flow. They just don't like it when it's all blasting out of a single powerhead. When the flow is created by a number of powerheads, wavemakers—whatever—they enjoy it. It's just that it can't all be coming from one or two sources. Extremely strong and powerful currents aren't something that any critter would like. You're trying to create wave action, not hurricane-like conditions.

Right, so I found this great article on coral bleaching, and it told me to add nitrogen to the water, so I added half the recommended dose on the bottle. Hopefully the corals start perking up.

[Daddi0]

Are you doing any tests of your water parameters?

[teddscau]

pH 8.4
Alkalinity 9?
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates >5
Phosphates .025–.05
Salinity 1.024 (slowly raised it to 1.025)
Temperature 75°F–79°F (we can't keep the temperature stable due to the halides, so we've ordered LEDs)

My dad hasn't tested the magnesium yet (he'll test it tomorrow), and apparently the guy didn't give us a calcium test kit, so we have to buy one.

On a good note, I think my birdsnest is regaining colour in its tissue.

[Tripod1404]

Originally Posted by teddscau

Actually, it turns out pipefish and seahorses do enjoy flow. They just don't like it when it's all blasting out of a single powerhead. When the flow is created by a number of powerheads, wavemakers—whatever—they enjoy it. It's just that it can't all be coming from one or two sources. Extremely strong and powerful currents aren't something that any critter would like. You're trying to create wave action, not hurricane-like conditions.

Right, so I found this great article on coral bleaching, and it told me to add nitrogen to the water, so I added half the recommended dose on the bottle. Hopefully the corals start perking up.

Most SPS corals enjoy flow strong enough to blow sand around. That why most high end SPS tank are bare bottom. Nobody in this hobby that keeps SPS corals have a single flow source. When someone says high flow for SPS, they are more likely to mean "Extremely strong and powerful" than what you describe. We talk about 75-100X turnover rate for high end SPS coral tank. You can only keep string swimmers in such a tank, that much of flow will blow around pipefish and seahorses.

You kinda sound like a person who would do whatever s/he want no matter the advise, so it is up to you. Just keep this in mind.

What was your N and P levels before dosing? N&P deficiency caused bleaching requires undetectable levels of N and P for a pronged time.

[Knighthawk]

There is plenty of great advice given in this thread and you just seem to ignore it and have your mind made up already. For one sps do not NEED to be fed. They can survive off the light and nutrients in the tank. Also any seahorse or pipefish is not meant to be in a sps reef tank. Way to high of flow and way to many stinging corals.

Like I said though you don't seem to acknowledge other people's recommendations so good luck.

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[teddscau]

I'm actually planning on selling off most of my SPS corals. I just want to get them healthy again before selling them. Although I think I will be keeping the birdsnest and montipora. And the pocillipora.

[ABzReef]

They are bleeched out, look up sps acro bleeching

[rvareef]

new lights