New Stylo, Advice Please

Hey guys, just got a nice shipment of corals the other day and have a question about one in particular.

The coral in question is a pink stylophora or cats paw. Most of the pictures I've seen of this coral, it has a nice uniform pink color throughout. Unfortunately the one I receieved has a brownish rotten looking base but pink tips. Anyone have any experience with this coral or even suggestion for it. Not sure if it's already a goner and will spread, if i should frag off the pink and see what happens, or just leave it be and it might get better on it's own. It doesn't look like it has gotten darker brown or spread more, but there is a couple white spots in the brown darker areas now. It's been in my tank two days now, high light and high flow.

params:

sg: 1.025
Mag: 1350
Alk: 10 dKh
Cal: 430
Temp: 79
Ammonia, Nitrite: 0
Nitrate ~2-5
PO4: Undetectable
pH: 8.1

 

Coloration could be water quality or lack of lighting or the need for more actinic lighting ? All are not pink either they come in green and red and brown and pink we have several flavors at the shop .. Lighting periods and even K can influence their coloration also.. Place it under strong lighting and allow it a few weeks or a month or two even to see what it will color up like .. Your NO3's are a little high for my liking with keeping any hard corals .

 

Thanks for responding, Tangster.

I don't have any real experience yet with stonies to speak of. When I see a coral that looks like that, I don't know if I should immediately frag off the healthy looking colored parts right away, fearing something like RTN will kill it before I get home from work or, alternatively, do just sit it out for awhile and see what happens.

I also received a nice acro piece whose tissue around the base was receded already. I placed it in the tank and have been watching it closely to see if it recedes any further. So far, I haven't noticed any more tissue loss, so I guess I'll just wait it out in this instance as well.

 

The acro also could be a lighting issue ? Bleaching is not RTN, Bleaching or faded around the base usually comes from lack of light and or cleansing water currents and or a combo of them both.. I have yet to this day ever fragged a coral from a colony that RTN had set in on and to actual save the frags even.. Once the bacterium that had caused the problem gets a hold its 90% of the time useless to really try even . Unless you get a little tip off I mean little .. But in most cases when I have tried to save one from the receding tissue problem its seldom worked long term .

On another site I had a buddy in Ca to jump from 14K bulbs to 20K I warned him about the lamp brand he went to lost some really nice corals from the radiation burning them , Then he had a beautiful huge teal acro and a snail was caught or wedged way down in the branches and he wanted to remove the snail with tweezers asked me how to do it ?? I told him to let it be the coral would grow around the shell hell it was the stupid snails life he was more worried about But I guess when he dug it out the tore the tissue of the coral ? it RTN'd with in a few days But the snail was alive and well last I heard ... Never scratch the SPS corals a clean snip and a dip is the only way ..

 

What is RTN?

 

As far as the acro, I suppose it could be a lighting / flow issue from shipping perhaps. The browning around the base of the stylo was the first thing I noticed as soon as I took it out the bag w/ water. As far as the acro, I noticed clear tissue loss around the base of it within the first 30 minutes of it being placed in the tank. The normal tissue color is pink and you can clearly see where it (tissue) stops and and the white base skeleton begins. The described symptoms have been the case for both corals for the 48 hours now that I've had them. Though it doesn't appear either have gotten worse that I can tell.

I took a picture of the acro's base when it first arrived and have been comparing it to what I can see throughout the day. So far the difference has been negligible. Assuming the acro's tissue loss is not some sort of RTN issue, and it doesn't die on me, is it possible for the acro to thrive even with no tissue on the bottom 1/2" of it's base? Or, in this case, would it be better for me to chop the top healthy part off and reattach to plug/rock?

I'm still a big newbie to corals in general. And as such, I know it doesn't sound like it, but I would really like to avoid chopping up new corals if I don't have to :-/

 

RTN = Rapid Tissue Necrosis

 

Are those coral's from Dr. Mac? If so I had a couple pieces just as you described and they are coloring back up nicely, its taken about 3 weeks, especially the stylo, and mine was not even as pink as the one you are posting about. Good luck