Help, acro turning white

Charles · 03-08-2007, 05:30 AM

Hi I have an acropora, almost 5 months with me. Seems ok these past few months but suddenly I noticed these past few days some branches are turning white. What's happening and what must I do to stop this? Please help. Thanks.

tims · 03-08-2007, 05:42 AM

can you snap a picture for us.
is it a ring all the way around? just a spot?
who is close to it?

Charles · 03-08-2007, 06:46 AM

Here are the images hopes its clear enough

at the lower left bottom side you can see some branches becoming white.

another view will show another branch also starting to turn white at the top right corner

And below is a shot of all other corals surrounding the acro

By the way is this acropora ?

tims · 03-08-2007, 07:01 AM

yes it is arcopora, not sure but i think it is A.gemmifra ,
if it is a A.millepora it is closed up completly.
as you know they are a Zooxanthellae ( symbiotic algae) dependent coral. they can get stressed pretty easy. from the Picture ( really nice BTW) it looks like the others around it are doing pretty well.
there are a few threads a while ago . including one with whiskey ( trt mod) that had a close to this problem. one way to stop this woudl be to remove the branches that have turned.
has any coral or anyone else in the tank touched it or hit it?

Wiskey · 03-08-2007, 10:13 AM

Could we get some details on your lighting, your flow, and your perams? That coral is a very deep brown which I usually equate with lower light, or higher nutreants, though extream low flow could do it too.

Any chance that (What looks like) a Poci could have stung it?

Whiskey

Charles · 03-09-2007, 01:06 AM

How do we cut the branches? Will it stress the acro further? Any method on how to cut the branches without damaging the other good branches?

Lightings - 2 x 250 watts 20,000 K MH, on 4 hours a day
4 x 30 watts super actinic, on 12 hours a day
Last Sunday I check using API, amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10ppm, ph 7.8

What is a Poci?

salt-rookie · 03-09-2007, 01:24 AM

Bone shears.

Charles · 03-09-2007, 07:38 AM

MH on for 4 hours a day, is it enough? Can this be causing the problem?

Charles · 03-10-2007, 10:22 PM

Was it attacked by Poci? by the way, what is a Poci? Or is it just a lighting problem?

Fly Guy · 03-10-2007, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charles

How do we cut the branches? Will it stress the acro further? Any method on how to cut the branches without damaging the other good branches?

bone shears or wire cutters. When you make the cut, cut into the healthy tissue so that no dead skelton remains and cover the wound with super glue.

Note.....this is only really necessary if the dead spot is growing...if it is holding its own now you can leave it be.

Sometimes due to the angle some damage can occur to other branches. I suggest covering these wounds with super glue as well

tims · 03-11-2007, 07:12 AM

poci is the other coral close to it.
the temp. of the tank can have a play in it, but we cannot be 100% sure of anything at this time.
Zoox. that live on and with in the coral are effected by a few different things, the temp. is one of the biggest things