SPS Tissue loss?

RCFA · #1 02-12-2009, 05:33 AM

I am wondering if anyone can help me out. One of my corals(I think it is a type of porites) has slowly (2 weeks) been losing tissue. The polyps have been pulled in most of the time but not always and it looks like the dead spot is growing. I don't think this is RTN because it is happening so slowly. I though it might be a flow issue so I tried putting it in a different spot to see if that helped, but I am wondering if it is too late. All the other coral look great, continue to grow and have decent polyp extension. Hopefully these pictures work, this is my first time uploading photos. nothing really that could have stung it either

As far as tank parameters that I know:
Ammonia, nitrites: 0
Nitrates: <5
Ca: 390
salinity: 1.024
temp:78
pH:8.3
alk: 10

Any ideas how to save this piece? should I try fragging the unaffected parts? or will it recover if the conditions are better?

foreverfortune · #2 02-12-2009, 10:28 AM

if you say it is slowly losing tissue it is stn'ing (slow tissue necrosis) should frag off the good part so you have a frag in case it should lose all the tissue

Stones · #3 02-12-2009, 06:27 PM

As said earlier, your best bet would to be to frag it about 1/4" into the healthy tissue and hope the frag pulls through. Myself, I've never had good luck with porites in the past as all of them seem to suffer from STN no matter where they were placed in the tank in regards to flow and lighting. Hopefully it will pull through for you as they can develop some real nice growth patterns given enough time.

RCFA · #4 02-12-2009, 11:36 PM

So by 1/4" frag you mean from the top and then glue that piece to a plug and then discard the bottom half, or would the bottom have a possibility of coming back if I just frag the section that is having issues?

Stones · #5 02-13-2009, 12:52 AM

Sorry, I should have been a bit clearer. What is typically recommended when a SPS coral is suffering from RTN or in some cases STN is to cut the dead area off of the coral and remount the still-alive piece to a new frag plug or piece of live rock. When cutting off the dead area, it is best to make the cut about 1/4" into the healthy tissue so that you are left with one piece that is completely alive, and another piece that is dead accept for the very bottom 1/4" or so. By making the cut 1/4" into the healthy living tissue, you basically reduce the chance of the coral continuing to STN or RTN.

RCFA · #6 02-13-2009, 01:46 AM

Thanks alot I will try that and see if I can save a little frag. Are there any specific requirements that porites require, different than other SPS or are they just more finicky than others? I did research before I bought the frag and the care sheets that I found just listed normal sps care requirements.

Stones · #7 02-13-2009, 02:01 AM

Yeah, porites are a hit and miss I think. Of all the SPS tanks I've seen, I have yet to see one with a healthy porites in it. I wouldn't buy one again just to watch it slowly die in my tank while all my acros and montis are doing just fine.

RCFA · #8 02-13-2009, 02:38 AM

Ya that is exactly what is happening in my tank. All my others are doing great. This one looked great for about a month...then this. I think I'll just stick to the common ones from now on. I just remember seeing some really cool porites that looked like this frag while diving and wanted to see if I could keep one at home. They make such great formations in the wild.