Chalice Tissue loss in middle

[jjenkins211]

I have a Toxic spill, goldmeister, and a Miami hurricane chalice and lately the tissue has been receding from the center of the chalices instead of the edges. They are placed lower in the tank with medium flow. they are also angled so not receiving direct light. i haven't observed any fish picking at them at all.

 

I use GFO and Biopellets to keep down my phosphates and nitrates and skim heavy. I also use carbon.

 

My Params are:

Salinity: 1.026

Phospates: 0

Nitrate: 0

Calcium: 450

Magnesium :1380

Alk: 8.2

 

I can try and take pictures later but on my phone they never turn out well. If anyone has any idea what could be causing this and how to fix it i would appreciate it. The chalices and my favias are having the same issue. everything else is thriving including SPS.

[sachabballi reef]

maybe the water is TOO clean for them...its one of the problems of the mixed reef....LPS love dirty water and SPS pristine....

[Jan]

Have you got fish that like to perch? My clown goby did a number on 2 corals it favored. They bleached from the center out.

[Coral Hind]

I agree the ultra clean water could be a factor as well as a fish perching in it. Are your bulbs starting to get old? They might not be getting enough light. Is detritus collecting in the center at all? Flow might need to be increased some.

[jjenkins211]

i have no perching fish at all in my tank. I have strong flow all throughout my tank, so no settling detritus staying ontop of them. I have LEDs running at 60% so it is definitely not from the bulbs being to old. I had the toxic spill higher up and it started to bleach. It could be from the ultra clean water i guess. How should i go about trying to correct the issue? Make my water slightly dirtier?

[Coral Hind]

I would lighten up on the GFO and skim normal myself. Do you have a good bit of SPS in the tank? I would also offer them some food, maybe weekly. Post up a pic so we can see exactly what you have.

[jjenkins211]

i have about 10 pieces of SPS, most frags with 3 larger colonies. i try to feed them once or twice a week some mysis and cyclopeeze. i will try to take pictures when i get home from work.

[jaddc]

Someone correct me if I'm off base.

 

I thought that water parameters (good or bad) usually effect growth and those symptoms manifest at the growing regions. But if the edge is in good shape and appears to have new growth tissue then I wouldn't look to water params first.

 

If a coral is losing tissue from the center then that may be because of physical harm (perching or warfare) or some sort of diseased state. If its a disease, then I'm not sure if there is a good cure although you can try dipping.

[Coral Hind]

I agree water parameters don't seem like the main cause here. I do think water parameters affect the coral's overall tissue health, not just at the tips but at the base or center. If the water parameters are not what the coral likes it can leave the tissue stressed and then a slight change in lighting, flow, or physical harm can cause damage to occure where a healthy tissue from better water parameters would be able to survive. Keeping mixed reefs is always a balancing act to keep everything happy.

 

Since both corals mentioned are LPS it could also be current that is too strong. Once some pictures are posted we can all get a better idea of what is happening.

[sachabballi reef]

are the corals in question in the same area of the tank? If so are they near each other?

I think without pics its too hard to speculate beyond what we have all thrown out there at this point.

[Coral Hind]

Not to scare you but laying it out there. It could also be a somewhat rarely seen copepod that affects LPS, kind of like red bugs and SPS.

[jjenkins211]

There is the goldmeister

Here is the Toxic Pie

Here is the Miami Hurricane

This is where they are sitting

[jjenkins211]

the Miami hurricane is the worst, but the goldmeister jsut started out of no where yesterday and the toxic pie looks like it is starting too. i couldnt get the favia but they are on the complete other side of the tank away from the chalices and are doing the same thing from the center then going out

[trockafella]

Are the different species close enough to touch. Sweepers could be getting tangled up and or stinging each other. What else is near them?

Edited May 6, 2013 by trockafella

[sachabballi reef]

so all of your LPS are starting to show signs of this but your SPS is fine? And they are all on different parts of the tank?

[jjenkins211]

All sps are doing great including encrusting montis and monti caps, Lps including zoas, frogspawn torches, toadstool, ricordia, acan are all doing great. Favias and the chalices are the only ones showing signs. I have never seen them send out sweepers except the Miami hurricane but it isn't near anything. Nothing is within distance to sting them.

[jaddc]

Yeah, I vote that is some sort of disease or parasite. No idea what to do about it.

[jaddc]

I agree water parameters don't seem like the main cause here. I do think water parameters affect the coral's overall tissue health, not just at the tips but at the base or center. If the water parameters are not what the coral likes it can leave the tissue stressed and then a slight change in lighting, flow, or physical harm can cause damage to occure where a healthy tissue from better water parameters would be able to survive. Keeping mixed reefs is always a balancing act to keep everything happy.

 

Since both corals mentioned are LPS it could also be current that is too strong. Once some pictures are posted we can all get a better idea of what is happening.

 

Yeah I agree with that. Well put.

[robertmi]

I had that happen to a miami hurricane too. It happened when I moved it from a high light area to a lower light area. I would try moving it back up.

[sachabballi reef]

How long have you had them? Are they where they always were?

Its not just his chalices though. He has other corals beginning to show the same issues.

 

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[jjenkins211]

When I got them they were bright and colorful. I have had them for over 2 months. I have moved them around from bottom of the tank to higher and now have them mid level

[Coral Hind]

You said in your original post that you had tissue recession but I don't see any tissue recession. I do see where the color looks to have lightened up but there doesn't appear to be any skeleton showing. This is why pictures are so important. I don't think they look that bad and I would just leave them alone and let them settle in some. If they were higher and started to bleach from too much light it will take them some time to adjust to the new spot and recover.

[sachabballi reef]

+1 ^^^

 

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[jjenkins211]

Yah the Miami hurricane had skeleton showing. it definitely looks alot better. It was just odd that the others started to do the same thing out of no where. It started with lightening in color and got worse. I guess I am going to just have to keep an eye on it.