Whats wrong with my coral?

Discussion in 'SPS Corals' started by Biocube, Oct 19, 2012.

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  1. norg.

    norg. Kole Tang

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    That doesnt look anything like the acro eating flat worms I have battled. Stomatella seems much more accurate to me.
     
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  3. Biocube

    Biocube Giant Squid

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    That's good news, I'll monitor my corals still and see if there are any changes.

    Thanks Alex and Norg.
     
  4. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    I have never heard of stomatella eating corals.

    However I had sudden loss of tissue to the base of my acropora and witnessed stomatella in the area. This damage also only occurred at night. At that time I had a HUGE population of stomatella, while I dismissed it I have always wondered if they were indeed responsible.
     
  5. Biocube

    Biocube Giant Squid

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    That's interesting, I wonder if there's any natural/safe way to remove them in a nano tank if that's the cause of my problem.
     
  6. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !

    The reason why I had so many was for 2 reasons. One, I do not keep hermits which typically hunt and kill stomatella in my tank. Two I had a lot of film algae which the stomatellas love to eat.

    I have always considered them a great addition to a tank, and not sure if they did have anything to do with the tissue loss on the sps but on more than one occasion I noticed large stomatella at the base of corals that showed sudden tissue loss. Maybe they are just attracted to decaying tissue like amphipods.
     
  7. Biocube

    Biocube Giant Squid

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    I do have a healthy amount of hermits, I did re-fragplug frags.

    I will keep an eye out for any more of the snails and hope for the best.

    Thanks Cheryl :)
     
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  9. Biocube

    Biocube Giant Squid

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    Little update:

    I decided to turn off my recently added supplemental LEDs and my PE and colors are all coming back.

    I plan to remove the True UV LEDs later tonight and see how it goes.

    [​IMG]
     
  10. ingtar_shinowa

    ingtar_shinowa Giant Squid

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    I don't care much for LED's under 400nm due to the harmful radiation. That is increased by the proximity of the corals and lights in the cube. I bet that was the issue so im excited to see what happens.
     
  11. Biocube

    Biocube Giant Squid

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    So I took out the UV(398nm) and turned my supplements back on @ 25%, so far everyone is recovering and looking "happy".

    Crazy to think how three LEDs can make that much of a difference.
     
  12. jdk

    jdk Astrea Snail

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    I had the same thing happen to my garf when my nutrient levels got too low. Light and nutrients play off of one another. As the nutrient levels drop the lighting which may have been fine before can become too much. I would turn off the gfo or run less. Maybe even skip a water change or two. I had the most problems with my sps when my water was too clean (huge skimmer, gfo changed too much too frequently). I have learned not to chase nutrient numbers and just watch the tank.

    Some of the best sps tanks I have seen have what most would consider unacceptable phosphate levels. Others have undetectable phosphates and look good. Every tank is different and I have doubts on the ability of test kits even hanna checkers to accurately test all forms and phases of phosphate levels.