When to chop a dying coral

[Jessy]

So the big red stag has some dead spots on it. Happened over night. The skin is fluffing off in random places. I tested

Alk - 8.0 dkh
Ca- 380
Phosphate- .1
Mag - 1155
Temp today 3 hours after the lights went on was 76 degrees.


I don't know what is causing it to die...my only thought could be temperature at night??? Maybe its getting down to low 70's or something but I don't know because I'm not here. Anyway the question is this.... when to I take the dremel to it? If it's dying it places can it stop on its own without taking out the whole coral? Do I HAVE to cut it no matter what? There is still 1/3 of it with no death on it at all if I cut now....

All you SPS masters what would you do?

[nahtanoj]

first thought, temp swing.
next, when i've had colonies shedding flesh like that, the only thing that stopped it was cutting off the healthy from the unhealthy.

[Jessy]

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h114/JessyCat77/DSC00875.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h114/JessyCat77/DSC00876.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h114/JessyCat77/DSC00886.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h114/JessyCat77/DSC00895.jpg

[h20poloman2]

by no means am I an sps expert but I would agree with what Jon said. I also just lost some sps that had that same type of deterioration. From your params, your CA is somewhat low IMO and same with Mag. I thought I alk burned mine but when I tested today it was about 9.5, my CA was too high at 550, and mag was where I like it 1470. I usually want my CA at the 425-450 mark. What's odd with mine is that my coralline algae seems to be going away. I have an abundance of stars that are popping up like crazy so that may be part of it. Temp could be a part of it also. 76 is the lowest I'd prefer to go.

[RedEye]

the colony pics look like minor amounts of loss, like salt creep fell on them, that monti got DESTROYED, but I put my montis through some crazy stuff, and have yet to have them crash like that, except when stung by another coral or eaten

what I mean to say is
I have no idea

agreed Ca and Mag are low
do you not have a heater?

[Jessy]

I do have a small heater but I judged the temp last night and at 4am it was 76 degrees and then this afternoon at 2 it was 74 degrees. My lights come on at about 3 so I don't think my tank is getting cold enough to make this coral die.

The CA is low but its stable. I've been trying to get it up slowly but I don't want to crash the tank by doing something stupid. And yes mag is low...

[Jessy]

I Think the death spots have spread a little bit...the big ones are the same size but I'm seeing little spots grow now.... I want to believe it is a pest because I just can't figure out what else it could be. I have revive....will that be strong enough to knock off at least one AEFW if I have them? Just to tell me if I do or not?

[h20poloman2]

Jessy, I don't recall if stags are prone to AEFW...I remember Peter saying that they went after all his tri-colors. I'm still a little suspect as to if revive really does anything. Nowhere on the label does it say that it kills anything besides smelling like pinesol. From what I know...interceptor is the only thing that can kill AEFW but it's super strong and you definitely could lose the coral. I don't think dipping it would hurt, just not sure what results, if any you will get. If you thinks it's getting worse, probably best option is to take as proactive approach as possible. I just personally would not use interceptor unless you know for sure that you have it and if you do, it's a much bigger issue than just dipping that one stag.

[Jessy]

Alright well I'm beginning to believe it is not pests. Because a healthy frag on the other side of my tank that I fragged day 1 also has some skin sheered off...

What I'm thinking now is that possibly this one coral has severe temperature sensitivity? Low 70's is just not cutting it? I bought another heater to keep the tank temp up to 77, I'm still very reluctant to cut into this thing...the death has been pretty much at a standstill... If it was bacteria or pest it would be constantly growing, and its not.

Plus after reviewing the pics...there aren't new spots just ones I didn't notice.