Rtn wtf???

[tynman]

I have just about had it with this rtn... I just cant figure it out, almost every time I come home from work usally a frag or a very small colony rtn's on me. And one colony that I have had for a couple of years now half of it rtn on me. Another time a very nice big colony rtn on me that I had for a year. I tried to save it by fraging the good branches that where no where near the rtn area.
WHY?????????
Any help is greatly appreciated.....

 

[thirty6]

I could be alone and just missing it, what's rtn?

 

[duke62]

Rapid tissue necrosis

 

[duke62]

first step check PH..second check stability of ph.3rd check your salinity with a second source.4th look for bugs with a magnifying glass red bugs and AEFW.5th make sure no corals are being stung by another coral. check your nitrates and phosphates with a 2nd source

 

[thirty6]

Thanks, Wasn't even close. Got a bump for him At least

 

[jck16]

I'm curious about the responses to this post too. I "fragged" my green birdsnest a couple of times when I first put it in (aka fell down onto a rock and pieces of it broke off) and I mounted a few of the frags which have all bleached and died at this point. I'm guessing high phosphates/nitrates are probably half the cause except my main colony is doing fine which makes me also consider the simple fact that since some of the polyps were covered with glue they died which then led to what I call the "apoptosis" of the rest of the polyps. Then again, the one time I attempted an acro frag it got RTN and died on me too so I never tried again.

What SPS exactly are you talking about tynman? And I'm sure more experienced keepers than me will be asking you for your water parameters so I guess you should post that too.

 

[tynman]

Rapid tissue necrosis

Thanks cause I didnt know if I was going to spell it right...

 

[sunny]

first step check PH..second check stability of ph.3rd check your salinity with a second source.4th look for bugs with a magnifying glass red bugs and AEFW.5th make sure no corals are being stung by another coral. check your nitrates and phosphates with a 2nd source

+1 on what Duke stated. I think you have a AEFW issue. Do they start RTN inside out or the tips fade out first?

 

[tynman]

I'm curious about the responses to this post too. I "fragged" my green birdsnest a couple of times when I first put it in (aka fell down onto a rock and pieces of it broke off) and I mounted a few of the frags which have all bleached and died at this point. I'm guessing high phosphates/nitrates are probably half the cause except my main colony is doing fine which makes me also consider the simple fact that since some of the polyps were covered with glue they died which then led to what I call the "apoptosis" of the rest of the polyps. Then again, the one time I attempted an acro frag it got RTN and died on me too so I never tried again.

What SPS exactly are you talking about tynman? And I'm sure more experienced keepers than me will be asking you for your water parameters so I guess you should post that too.

Well names dont work for me. Cause once I put it in my tank I forget what they call it. Im sorry about that. But one colony that I had they called it a turaki it was one of my fav. It grow so big I was so proud of it... But others I cant begin to remember.
Now with your birds nest the glue will kill a little bit of it but it shouldnt kill the whole thing unless it is very small. And I also dont think birds nest can rtn but I could be wrong with that.

 

[tynman]

+1 on what Duke stated. I think you have a AEFW issue. Do they start RTN inside out or the tips fade out first?

Usually from bottom up. I dont think I AEFW cause if I did why would they last for a year or two? Why only half of a colony not all? I dont see anything on the sps. No spots no nothing and I do check and dip everything I put in there.

 

[sunny]

If you say bottom up, why not take a colony or frag that is RTN and dip it? It will at least confirm if you have AEFW.

Another sigh is polyp extension. How are the the SPS that are not RTN doing? So you see PE? If not, I will dip a colony that is NOT RTN and see if they have anything on them.

Sunny

 

[duke62]

birdsnest RTN i had a whole colony RTN in 2 days. The reason of the RTN is a large mushroom at the base i didnt see stung the crap out of its base and im guessing whatever it stung it with traveled through the coral.i managed to cut a small piece off that was not effected yet and it now has grown.

 

[tynman]

first step check PH..second check stability of ph.3rd check your salinity with a second source.4th look for bugs with a magnifying glass red bugs and AEFW.5th make sure no corals are being stung by another coral. check your nitrates and phosphates with a 2nd source

Ok lets start with the PH. My PH since I started has never been over 8.00 Usually 7.8 or 7.9 even if I dose for PH. With the dosing of PH stuff would raise my alk to nutty levels. The salt is 34 ppm and when the water level drops before the fresh water refilles is 35 ppm. The corals are not thats close to each other (at least not the ones that rtn on me). Last time I checked my phosphates were 0.13 on a hanna meter which was 3 days ago and I will be checking my water again tomorrow so I can post them then. Nitrates the last time I check was oct after I started to run the bio pellets in sept and they were 0. Now with the second source I just might get my friend to come over with his meters and we can see what we get. Normally I would bring a water sample to my LFS and have them check it for me and then compare my numbers to theres but I havnt done that in a few months.

 

[jck16]

Oh I was wondering what sort of SPS, not the specific "brand" name. Although I'm guessing you must be referring to acroporas if you say other SPS don't RTN but I was under the impression any SPS can RTN. Anyway, don't want to side track the responses, just curious if the very act of gluing can sometimes cause RTN, that's all.

 

[prattreef]

You need to check for all the things listed above. If they are ruled out, it is probably bacterial or viral and there isn't really much you can do about it other than keep your husbandry as immaculate as you can and maybe add a UV sterlizer. This just happens with Corals sometimes. It happens to all of us, and lots of times even the super experienced among us have no clue why. When this happens, I blame it on the reef gremlins who seem to wreak havoc, extract their qpound of flesh and get bored and move on as mysteriously as they appeared. IME a mis- calibrated refractometer is often the culprit.


0.13 is bit high for PO4 thought not drastcally.

 

[duke62]

well you said you are dosing something to raise PH and it caused your alk to do crazy things is a start..SPS cant handle large swings in alk.also if your po4 is high which is not good for any sps there will be no way your nitrates can be 0.if i were you i would get a GOOD set of kits for alk,po4 and no3 and check it everyday until po4 is zero or as close it can be and stop with the ph stuff you are using.ph is important and 7.9 isnt that bad compared to what you are doing to your alk

 

[tynman]

If you say bottom up, why not take a colony or frag that is RTN and dip it? It will at least confirm if you have AEFW.

Another sigh is polyp extension. How are the the SPS that are not RTN doing? So you see PE? If not, I will dip a colony that is NOT RTN and see if they have anything on them.

Sunny

The turaki I did frag and dipped it and even gave it to 3 or 4 friends with tanks and they all crapped out. Mine I think lived the longest but it went too.

I have all kinds of diffrent sps some have long hair polyps and some that I put in my tank as a 3/4 frag that has grown to about 8 inch and 3 fat branches that I have never seen polyp extension so I dont know if we can go with that.

Another thing alot of my colonies are encrusted to big rocks that would be very hard to take out and dip. And the frags once I see they are doing good in the tank on the sand I find them a home and putty them there and then they rtn after a while.

 

[tynman]

Oh I was wondering what sort of SPS, not the specific "brand" name. Although I'm guessing you must be referring to acroporas if you say other SPS don't RTN but I was under the impression any SPS can RTN. Anyway, don't want to side track the responses, just curious if the very act of gluing can sometimes cause RTN, that's all.

NO no problem. I dont know if birds nest can rtn. I know it can become a pretty white branchy rock.... lol
Yes Im talking about acro's I also have monties too. But the hard sticks..

But the glue will kill anything it touches on the frag cause it happens to everyone I glue. But it should stop Im going to guess (which has happened to me) once you glue it and it turns white and keeps turning white Im going to guess that the frag wasnt healthy to begin with... But thats me guessing.

 

[duke62]

also dont get your water tested from a LFS first off they check with real useless test kits and also they usually just check for nitrates,nitrites,ammonia..im telling you if you are doing SPS you really need to get your own kits and a good refractometer.

 

[tynman]

You need to check for all the things listed above. If they are ruled out, it is probably bacterial or viral and there isn't really much you can do about it other than keep your husbandry as immaculate as you can and maybe add a UV sterlizer. This just happens with Corals sometimes. It happens to all of us, and lots of times even the super experienced among us have no clue why. When this happens, I blame it on the reef gremlins who seem to wreak havoc, extract their qpound of flesh and get bored and move on as mysteriously as they appeared. IME a mis- calibrated refractometer is often the culprit.


0.13 is bit high for PO4 thought not drastcally.

Yea I will have to check them and then Ill compare with my LFS.
I have a uv but I was told not to use it with a reef so I took it off and its been sitting in my basement for about 3 years now.
Thanks for your help and Im going to get ready to blame the gremlins soon.
I am very close to taking the baseball bat to the tank looking for those gremlins......lol