[Rockstar]

My first experience of SPS keeping is not going well. I picked up some frags on frag night but have lost one and one is on its way out i think . The other two are doing fine still.

It seems that the skin is coming of the coral leaving the white skeleton only.

I have seen my 6 line wrasse hacking away at the base of the dead one and the one i suspect is dying, regularly but not the other two. Could this be the problem????? He is a bit strange eating NORI with the Tangs.

As i say this is the first time with SPS and any help would be great. I followed Tony and Trev's advice after Frag night when getting them in the Tank and all was ok for the first 4 days but then this.

Cheers for any comments
Rocky.

[ben]

did you mount them with putty. as there may have been some on your fingers and then you touched the coral

[Rockstar]

Thanks for replying Ben,

Did as tony and trev said on the night made up the milliput then washed my hands clean of the stuff. I then dried the end of the coral before inserting it into the milliput. All this was done outside the tank. After that i didnt touch the coral only the milliput as it was placed on the rock.

Its funny how two had the problems and two didnt as they were all set together. The Humillis looks great with good polyp extensions and the Acro crab has taken up resisence in it.

The only other thing i can think of is that i didnt use enough Milliput but it seemed enough to me.

Rocky.

[ben]

not sure then myself. mabye just one of those things and the acros could cope with the fragging. hopefully some of the more experianced sps keepers will have an idea

[Rockstar]

Heres some phots to show the damage


Last night about 6pm



This morning



Rocky.

[chriss]

Could also be water or aclimatisation related, I doubt the wrasse is causing it.

When I first started with SPS I too started with a few frags, they didn't fare well, partly or mainly, I'm sure due to tank conditions, although it was 6 years old at the time, it had been neglected. Now I find I can chop stuff up, chuck frags in and it all survives with little problem.

Sometimes some frags are just a little more sensitive than others. Do you know what the ones were that have not made it? Check out the frag night thread to see if you recognise the picture anywhere.

Maybe next time, we'll mount a few up before you leave. Sometimes if your messing with a frag for a bit longer it can stress it out. Did you mount them the same evening or the next day. Often I leave mine until the next day or two later, partly so I can work out where they will go but it also gives the a time to recover and aclimatise.

Chris

[Rockstar]

Cheers chris,

The water is ok i think.

PH 8.0
Magnesium 1500+
Calcium 500+
KH 9
Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia all zero
Phosphates 0.01
Temp 26
Salinity 1.025

They were aclimatised, set and placed that evening within about an hour and a half of getting home.

The Corals were photos 1 and 4 from the frag nite thread.

I only have T5's but they were placed high up in the tank.

Rocky.

[wayne sarah kernow]

Sorry to here your having problems. I picked up my first sps frags on frag night and they seem fine.
Quick question... I didn't milliput them I've just pushe them into holes in my rocks. is this no good?

[Rockstar]

Dont know!!!! i just went on the advice that The guys gave me. SPS newbie!!!

Rocky.

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

Hi m8 ,

We have had a few peeps say they had better success with the standard milliput and found they did loose some when useing the coloured milliput.

Are you useing the D&D milliput?

jas

[Rockstar]

Yes Jason, its the D&D coraline milliput.

Rocky.

[satsuma]

Looks like RTN (Rapid Tissue Necrosis), I only know this as I lost an Acro to it about a month ago. I think in my case it was to me being careless when dosing Calcium and KH.

I might be wrong but I think that your Calcium is way too high, it might have stressed the coral as I experienced.

[Tony B]

Sorry to hear you're having problems. I lost my first few frags, I think most people do.

A few points...

Taking fresh cuttings home, reduces the coral's chance of living. Imo if you want maximum survival rates, frags should all be mounted for a few weeks, until you can see the fresh cutting has produced a new 'base' onto the frag peg. The reason it reduces the coral's chance of living, is because not only has it got physical damage to repair but also a new set of environmental conditions to adapt too, which can sometime be too much for a damaged animal. If your water conditions are not spot on, you're almost setting yourself up to fail.

In your photos I can see a fair bit of algae growing behind the frags; this would draw my attention to water quality.

What test kits are you using? Your no's are fairly high for minerals.

How do you measure salinity? If it's a swing arm hydrometer bin it, they're highly variable. Get a refractometer of lab grade floating hydrometer.

Why are some of your test results so high?.... Do you add supliments/dose chemicals? If so please detail?

How do you maintain your water chemistry?

Regards,

Tony

[Rockstar]

Thanks Tony,

Yes its a swing bar hydrometer - looks like time to invest in a refractometer.

My KH,Calcium, Magnesium and Phosphate are all Salifert kits.
My PH, Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia are all API test kits.

I dont add any chemicals as the readings are so high and i maintain a 25 litre water change every weekend with R/O water and salt. I top up with about 6 litres of R/O about every 3 days due to evaporation.

Bear in mind though the tank is only 7 weeks old and does have a fair bit of Algae on the rocks still but its receding slowly. Its also getting dismantled and shipped upto Scotland in August. Perhaps the Acros are trying to tell me something.

Also my PH seems a little low at 8.0 what do you think?

One consolidation is that my Monti Frag from Chris is still growing well and my Humillis seems ok which was my favourite from Frag night. Hope ive not just given it the kiss of death!!!!!!!!

Cheers, Rocky.

[Tony B]

Hi Rocky,

Thanks for the swift reply .

If you have other SPS that are doing well I would guess it's just one of those things, combined with a touch of new tank syndrome and fresh cuttings being more liable to fail.

I would suggest you get a fellow reefer to test your salinity with a refractometer or better still, by a refractometer they're about £40.00 odd.

A PH of 8 is fine, what you want is stability of PH and try and reduce any fluctuation (test it just before your lights come on and again just before they go off).

I would suggest you top up every day with 2 litres rather than adding 6 litres all at once.

What temperature swings does the tank get?

Tony

[Rockstar]

No thank you tony for your time and experience, every little helps us Newbies.

The temperature swings from 25.7 degrees to max 26.4 degrees depending on the sun making an appearance throughout the day and warming up the room. But averages 26 degrees.

Ill try topping up 2 litres every day as you state and ill get hold of a refractometer ASAP.

Many thanks again Tony.

Rocky.

[TrevC]

Rocky I've got a refractometer, give me a shout.

[lindsay]

Sounds like because of the age of the system that some acros will be ok and some wont ,could do with a little ageing time to settle down .

[Simon Garratt]

Just a point of interest..

I notice in your image that it looks like the milliput has been squeezed up and around the base of the frag covering up tissue in the process..

Ive noticed that with this teqnique there is a distinct possibility that it covers over some of the tissue causing it to rot and die back...If the coral is stressed becouse it has been fragged 'and' tranfered to differing water / light conditions, this can set off RTN up the frag.

The best way ive found to milliput, is to put your blob of milliput in the tank where you want it, and then gently push the frag 'into' the milliput without squeezing it up around the branch. or at most do this very very slightly..

If its a big frag, then do it in two stages... put a blob of milliput on the end of the frag and let it go off over night with the frag just lying on the rockwork in a safe location...then milliput the new 'milliput' base down, the next day.


regards

Si.

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

What milliput do you use Simon ,reason i ask is a thread i read a long time back with peeps saying they have better luck with the standard milliput rather than the coloured milliput .
I think the outcome was that the colour in the coloured milliput can burn the acros

Jas