Montipora Self Destructed!

[One_Divided]

IMO, sounds like another case of RTN (rapid tissue necrosis).. The skin will start litterally peeling off and a colony will be a white skeleton within a day or two. Many sps corals are quite suseptable.

I recommend you get the dead skeletons out of the tank asap or else there is a chance of further spreading to other sps.

The frag from the monti should do fine as long as it is sealed off to any area of prior infection.

RTN is generally thought to be stress induced.. Can you think of anything that may have occured recently that was out of the ordinary? sudden water chem change? temp? excessive light?

I'd recommend doing search on reef central for more info. good luck!

[ 23 February 2002: Message edited by: One_Divided ]</p>

[One_Divided]

Sounds like it could also be a similar thing to this..

http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...threadid=65709

[Samw]

I had some quick tissue and polyp loss on my tan montipora digitata frag when I placed it too close (3-4" away) to my pearly bubble coral. Then I moved it away and it recovered. Later, when I moved it near the cabbage coral (3-4" away), it started to turn white again (The side nearest the cabbage). Now, I don't put it close to any soft corals and it is recovering quite nicely. I read that cabbage corals can be toxic to stony corals so I guess this was what was happening to mine.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...=22&pCatId=638

[ 23 February 2002: Message edited by: Sam W ]</p>

[canadawest]

Has anyone had this happen before??

Last night both of my Montipora Digitata (tan) frags were looking great. Both have been growing extremely well since I got them about two months ago.

This morning I awoke to quite a shock. One of the Montipora looked like it completely self destructed. All of it's white skeleton is visible, and a tan slime is covering the entire coral.

What the h&ll happened???

Has anyone else had a Montipora do this, and do you know the cause? I haven't added anything to the tank other than Kalkwasser and the occasional buffer, and that's been a regular routine for many months. All water parameters check out great.

The odd thing is, the other frag is doing excellent (as well as a tiny piece I broke off and am starting a new frag with), so I'm pretty confidant that it's not water chemistry related?

Thoughts?

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

With my brief experience in SPS, I have found that lighting, water flow, competition and food can cause RTN. I am assuming that you got the lighting and food down...so you may want to check the water flow.

The best way to check is to place a LPS coral where the SPS sat. If the LPS is waving its little tenticles...then there is enough current. If it is barely moving...then that's you problem.

Problem with these SPS is that they don't tell you right away when they are unhappy. It is usually something I did 5 to 6 days ago...and then it tells me.

Hope that helps.

- Victor.

[SuperFudge]

Hi guy`s,

I dont believe it is RTN,

I honestly think that disease is misdiagnosed waaay too much.

In my experience this disease has only shown itself in newly aquired wild caught SPS.

Ive had many corals that have shown signs of fast tissue loss (not receeded) that have cleared up with the acclimation to a different (usually older) system at the first signs.....In RTN, ive never been able to save the main colony thru fragging or placing in a different system.

I think i would look more at a trace element loss or O.D. of some sort....like the accidental addition of kalk/buffer/element overdose.

Or even more likely,a toxin from a nieghboring coral....you could look at LPS "down stream" from your frags for a start.

Was this frag that survived on either end of the three monti frags?


FWIW,ive even seen overnight bleaching due to salt creep!
I had cleaned perimeter bracing and a big chunk of salt creep fell back into the tank and beside a frag,(of course i left it)only to bleach it completely by morning.

Anyways..thinking out loud,Marc.

[SuperFudge]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by reefburnaby:

Problem with these SPS is that they don't tell you right away when they are unhappy. It is usually something I did 5 to 6 days ago...and then it tells me.

- Victor.<hr></blockquote>


I agree with part of this Victor,the coral population as a whole may show signs of slow deterioration in five or six days....but most( mine anyways) SPS will slime within minutes,if theres a major problem.
If its minor,(like a low current)consant polyp retraction would be your first signs.

Andrew,

I would aslo check to make sure it is skeleton you see and not bleached tissue,as the latter can still easily come back...provided its causes have been remedied.

A good way to tell,is within a day or two you will see signs of diatoms on the skeleton,this wont happen if theres any tissue on there.


Marc.

[ 24 February 2002: Message edited by: Superfudge ]</p>

[SuperFudge]

oops

[ 24 February 2002: Message edited by: Superfudge ]</p>

[Canadian]

Marc,

Just wanted to say that I agree with you about RTN diagnosis. The only time I've ever seen what I would diagnose as RTN was with wild colonies only.

Just wanted to say "good call" [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[DJ88]

Well I am going to go with Marc on this one.

I have had RTN hit wild colonies and have had tissue loss hit frags. The frags I could take off a piece and save it. Once RTN starts even the frags you try to save are toast. Tho I have only seen what I can say was RTN twice. I have also had SPS stressed out enough to drop all the Zooxanthellae.

I'd say there is something that has either stung the coral and is powerful enough to kill it all or there is a problem with your system. Water quality, lighting, levels etc.

Didn't you just change your skimmer? It may be that your old one was just at the edge of keeping up with the wastes in your tank and during the break in period of your Berlin the levels in your tank have gone up enough to stress the Montipora enough that is has died.

Take a look at what is around. Have you fragged any Xenia lately? have any wandering polyps?

Look to what may have caused it rather than what it exactly was that happened.

Start with water then go to other corals. SamW has raised a good point with softies and SPS. Any close by????

HTH