Bleaching Or Something Worse?

Nick James

Active Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Location
Niagara
My setosa is currently in my Potassium Permanganate dip. Going to leave it for about 2 hours. The water is tinted purple and I can't see if there are any bugs or eggs coming off it. Will let you know. Also, hopefully I didn't OD the Potassium... I didn't have anything small enough to measure 50mg.. So here is hoping.



Got some through my pharmacist friend, as well as Calcium Carbonate powder. $10 each.
 

Nick James

Active Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Location
Niagara
I checked it tonight and looks like some RTN now.. Tissue coming off all over. I think I killed it.. My first casualty in this hobby..
 

Kman

Super Active Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Location
KW
Something to go by from my experience with pests. If it is a pest like acro eating nudi or flatworm they start on the undersides or base of the coral and that is where you will first start to see signs of the coral lightning in color and damage. As they gain momentum and the population of the pests grows the entire coral will start to lighten up over a week or so and continue to get worse. Because they feed on the zooxanthellae you will not likely see isolated spots like white tips but it will be distributed all over the coral as the density of the zooxanthellae shrinks the coral will lighten. If it is at the tips and new growth in most cases it is light related not pets. The tips are to open to predation so they stick to areas like the underside or between branches where they can hide.

If this was my tank I would have looked at lighting. I see you mentioned you have been increasing your led lighting. From experience it is most likely that, especially since you didn't see any pests after the dip. At least in the beginning it was lighting till you dipped it and now you could have another issue of RTN. Setosa are sensitive to lighting that is increased to quickly and will lighten at the tips and new growth. When increasing LED till you get experience do not go over a few % intensity weekly.
 

Nick James

Active Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Location
Niagara
With this Setosa, the whitening started at the base and did not have polyps in the dead areas. I know my pictures are not the best, I use an iPhone camera for them. The area was definately in my opinion dead, and slowly over several weeks the dead area grew a little bit. I noticed a whitening of the edge of new growth which slowly coloured back up.

I have been very cautiously and slowly raising my lighting and started below the manufacturers recommendation.

I got to 51% going 1% per day and the issue started atleast a week or two prior to that point.

I noticed it when I lowered the setosa in the tank after the switch to LEDs, so it likely was still in the 30's percentage wise if I am not mistaken.

I am obviously new to SPS corals and have taken the approach that I won't learn unless I do. In my opinion this issue was STN.. What the cause was, I don't know.

My lengthy dip in a heated container with an old pump for circulation was obviously too strong/ long and likely has killed it.

My cyphastrea, chalice and my acros and montis which came after the issue arose, all look great and healthy.

My mag and alk did drop to the low end of the scale the week or two leading up to the issue being discovered. I slowly raised them back up with water changes and B Ionic dosing.

I really don't know what happened to this coral, I can guess and likely be wrong. I have read and researched my brains out and other people have been in the same boat as me, with no definitive answer as to what happened, but everything else seems fine in the tank.

It is a newer set up. Very young for SPS coral but half of the rock was live rock from a long time established SPS system.

I've learned a lot dealing with this issue, importance of testing weekly atleast, keeping mag up so alk doesn't bottom out, and hopefully I can keep everything moving in the right direction.

Hope this thread helps someone else one day..
 

Kman

Super Active Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2014
Location
KW
Sometimes you really don't find out what causes an issue. Plus side your other corals are fine. Just keep an eye on them for any signs of an issue. I find when the system is young SPS are not as stable in the system. As the tank matures it becomes more stable and you will have less of random things like this, especially with sps. Something to remember when you are troubleshooting. It is easy to get excited and do a knee jerk reaction to fix an issue. But that can lead to more problems that you created. Always take a look at the situation, see what is effected or the scope of the issue and think out the best low impact solution. Don't start making major changes just because of one issue with a coral. I like to rule out what is not causing the issue. It will narrow down your pool of suspects. In time with experience you will learn what is the most likely cause of something and will start there when looking. Since your corals are all doing well except that one just keep up what you are doing. If you do need to make changes always go slow.
 
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