Pods crawling all over RTN'ing coral...

[cwegescheide]

Hey there. I've got this small table frag that is having an RTN issue on a small part of a branch and I'm noticing that pods are crawling ALL OVER IT noticably more than other corals. Has anybody noticed this behavior before? Is the bugs causing more of a problem or??? I've had a few alk swings lately since switching off kalk top off and just relying on the reactor until I can come up with a better way to consistantly dose regular amounts of kalk to the tank daily. Other than that I adjusted the Tunze 7095 controller to turn up the flow a little bit and the amount of time between oscillation. The coral is sortof in a corner of my 90 (I know not in the most optimum position for good flow) but up till now its done very well. Any suggestions for increasing my odds of saving my coral is of course appreciated as well.

 

[Snappy]

I would think the pods are just cleaning up die off. I don't believe they cause any problem that contribute to RTN or STN.

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
Sorry to hear about your table coral. They can be one of the most challenging types of Acropora corals to keep long term.

I have never seen/heard of a coral being attacked by amphipods/copepods. Increased flow will hopefully stop the recession. If not you may need to frag it and/or glue the healthy areas just past the dead parts.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[cwegescheide]

Ahhh yes. Thank Kevin I will try the glue trick. Yeah I know they are tough to keep... Bummer because they are sooo nice looking.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[SueT]

Chris, is this a cultured table frag or wild?? I have found that the cultured/captive grown tables are so much easier to keep. Wild are just about next to impossible, like Kevin said. The super lgue patch is about the best trick thats come along for sps keepers.

 

[cwegescheide]

Yeah its a frag I got from a friend. I think its several generations in captivitiy. I've had something strange happen recently in my tank actually. In the past few weeks I've done a few things to the tank. These include:

1) Replaced the carbon with same amount and same brand
2) modified settings on my 7095 a little to let the Tunzes run a little longer between alternating.
3) Stopped topping off with calc until I can better control amount being added daily. I've had alk fluctuations because of varying amounts of calc added day to day. Just kindof a hassle and I'd like to get a better handle on it so I don't have to watch ALK so closely.

I do and have been running a reactor for several years as well. I've got about 40 different kinds of acros in my tank. Funny thing is the RTN'd corals are in the same general area of the tank. I think some of my corals are getting too big and dense and might be cutting off flow a little bit to the corals in the upper left rear of my tank. I haven't added any new sps to my tank in quite some time. I don't any pests to speak of (other than the fiancee!! )

Thanks,
Chris

 

[kevinpo]

Corals growing too big and blocking flow has been my biggest problem over the years. I've had to frequently add more pumps and/or move existing ones around.

Regards,
Kevin