first SPS - losing tissue already

FishWife1 · 02/25/2007, 06:47 PM

Hi - I bought a beautiful orange monti cap the other day. I put it in my tank right near the top under a 150 W 14K HQI - I also have 2X 24" (forget the wattage - 48 I think) actinics running. I have lots of current on it.

I do have a small green cyano outbreak on the sand but nothing major. Params are alk 6, calcium 625, pH 8.2, temp 78-80. Photo period is actinics 2 hours, HQI 8 hours, actinics 2 hours. I have a few softies; Kenya tree, a couple of Ricordia and a couple of other 'shrooms, a few small pieces of xenia, a couple of medium sized zoa colonies, and the rest are lps and 2 BTAs. The xenias are right near the monti and sometimes touch it briefly.

Any ideas what could be happening? I'd like to catch this before it gets bad. I've had SPS in other tanks and never had any real luck but I thought I would try again since this is supposed to be a fairly easy on to raise.

Thanks for any advice.

Laurie

z_rivers · 02/25/2007, 06:52 PM

How much tissue is it losing? Xenia isn't a very strong stinger especially against SPS. Keep an eye on it and monitor its tissue loss. If it starts going downhill and you want to try to save it you can cut off the part that still has healthy tissue and remount it. Montis are pretty hardy and seem to bounce back fairly quickly from injury.

Freed · 02/25/2007, 06:52 PM

Wow, first thing you really should do is let your calcium come down quite a bit to around 400-450ppm. Your alk is a bit low but that is because your calcium is so high. You may want to do a water change but don't add any alk or calcium and see what it comes down to. The next thing is that when moving corals to a new tank even if the tank your new coral came out of may have had stronger light you ALWAYS want to start your corals down low and let them adjust to the new lighting scheme and also your water params. Also make sure you don't let any other corals touch it(xenias). Most any coral can sting another or bother it to the extent that it may just start losing tissue as in your case.

02/25/2007, 06:47 PM	#1
FishWife1 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Cameron, NC Posts: 288	first SPS - losing tissue already Hi - I bought a beautiful orange monti cap the other day. I put it in my tank right near the top under a 150 W 14K HQI - I also have 2X 24" (forget the wattage - 48 I think) actinics running. I have lots of current on it. I do have a small green cyano outbreak on the sand but nothing major. Params are alk 6, calcium 625, pH 8.2, temp 78-80. Photo period is actinics 2 hours, HQI 8 hours, actinics 2 hours. I have a few softies; Kenya tree, a couple of Ricordia and a couple of other 'shrooms, a few small pieces of xenia, a couple of medium sized zoa colonies, and the rest are lps and 2 BTAs. The xenias are right near the monti and sometimes touch it briefly. Any ideas what could be happening? I'd like to catch this before it gets bad. I've had SPS in other tanks and never had any real luck but I thought I would try again since this is supposed to be a fairly easy on to raise. Thanks for any advice. Laurie __________________ Ummmmmm.... Current Tank Info: 30 gal. cube, 2 large BTAs, pair of pink skunks, 1 seahorse, various softies and lps

02/25/2007, 06:52 PM	#2
z_rivers Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Cranberry Twp, PA Posts: 1,240	How much tissue is it losing? Xenia isn't a very strong stinger especially against SPS. Keep an eye on it and monitor its tissue loss. If it starts going downhill and you want to try to save it you can cut off the part that still has healthy tissue and remount it. Montis are pretty hardy and seem to bounce back fairly quickly from injury. __________________ -Aaron Current Tank Info: 75gal display, 30 gallon sump/refugium, 2x 250w Hamilton 14K MH, 4,000 gallon koi pond

02/25/2007, 06:52 PM	#3
Freed It's what it's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: 41° 2' 45" N 85° 8' 43" W Posts: 7,579	Wow, first thing you really should do is let your calcium come down quite a bit to around 400-450ppm. Your alk is a bit low but that is because your calcium is so high. You may want to do a water change but don't add any alk or calcium and see what it comes down to. The next thing is that when moving corals to a new tank even if the tank your new coral came out of may have had stronger light you ALWAYS want to start your corals down low and let them adjust to the new lighting scheme and also your water params. Also make sure you don't let any other corals touch it(xenias). Most any coral can sting another or bother it to the extent that it may just start losing tissue as in your case. __________________ Freed Current Tank Info: 180gal(1120 watts of MH/VHO light), 60gal "sump", Deltec 601 calcium reactor, Euro Reef CS8-3+ skimmer, 20 gallon QT