Question for Kevin - STN or not?

[JaxReef]

Kevin, I have been seeing this in a few sps tanks in my area including mine. The undersides of sps colonies turn white, usually at the base and work its way up then stops while the topside of the coral looks great, great growth and colorful tips. Since I have seen this in most of my friends’ sps tanks in my area I have to wonder if it is due to parasites since all our coal comes from the same stores or temp swings since we got our first winter chill a few days ago and most of us were not prepared. I myself had a temp swing from 79 to 76-77 degrees F. Going back to parasites, I was in one of the better LFS and their sps tank was wiped out and the store manager told me they had a bacteria infection and an employee made a stupid mistake by adding iodine dip to the tank instead of dipping the coral individually. I don’t think they had a bacteria infection; it was either something more serious (AEFW) or a major temp swing since their building is a warehouse condo and not insulated the best. Could this just be due to light not getting to these areas and a bulb change is needed? Have you ever seen this before? I am puzzled

I will try to get you some pics


Thanks

Steve

 

[JaxReef]

^^^^^^^^^^

 

[jake65]

Kevin is still on vacation in paradise, I think he will be back around the 4th or 5th. I'm sure someone else on here might be able to give you some answers

 

[SueT]

the post at the very top of this page is Kevin telling of his being out of town til sometime this month..

 

[ronj]

i don't remeber which thread it was on, but Kevin explained that it was due to lack of light...he said he has literally had hundreds of pounds of LR from the dead corals..the tops grow out and shade the bottom of the corals..maybe i can find the thread.

 

[ronj]

here is his reply and the thread...

Another thing to note is that as branching type SPS corals grow they kill themselves off at the base from lack of light and flow. This leaves the area open for lower light corals to grow (in the wild). That is how live rock is made I have many colonies that are 24-30" tall and 18-36" wide which have produced a few hundred pounds of live rock.

Regards,
Kevin

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=228204#post228204

 

[JaxReef]

thanks, I am thinking its a light issue in my case

 

[tasos]

And when this whitening expands to the upper branches gradually during weeks, is this also lack off light?I know a few friends here in Greece that faced this situation .It either stop without obvious reason, or they were forced to cut the branches above the healthy tissue and glue them with epoxy!!What do you think?

 

[kevinpo]

And when this whitening expands to the upper branches gradually during weeks, is this also lack off light?

Not usually. I would look for other factors such as flow, water conditions, etc.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[tasos]

Thanks Kevin !!

 

[JaxReef]

I removed my phosban reactor, going to see if it was the cause