peeling acropora! help!!!

[reefage518]

hey i have an acropora, im not sure of exact species, but the last couple days its been peeling. i dont know what to do. i have a 24 gallon aquapod with the 150 watt metal halide. i moved it to the lower areas of the tank. my water conditions are ok. nitrate is a little high but not by much. i have been having trouble with my temp. it fluctuates 5 degrees or so. sometimes more, because of the light. i tried dipping it to get rid of any parasites. it only got worse. i dont see anything on it. ive been looking through a magnifying glass. im worried its peeling fairly quick. maybe i have too strong of a powerhead. its 600 gallons. some dude at a store said i should get that one. this probably isnt that good of info but please if youve had this problem give me some advice. id hate to lose this guy.
oh and all my other corals look fine.

thank you for your help

 

[cameron]

Pics help but sounds like rapid tissue necrosis (RTN). There are many causes (and some you never figure out). A good place to check is temp which you already admit is fluctuating a bit much (the winter weather can often be a cause), but usually when this happens Alk or pH is at the heart of it. Are you having any big swings with Alk or pH?

 

[reefage518]

pH is fine. i need to check the Alk but i think it fine. its probably temperature. my halide heats the water significantly. but when its off it drops alot. sometimes up to 9 degrees. if i got a small heater would that fix it or make it way warmer? or could i put it on a timer to only run a couple of hours at night?

 

[cgill311]

reefage518;138581 wrote: pH is fine. i need to check the Alk but i think it fine. its probably temperature. my halide heats the water significantly. but when its off it drops alot. sometimes up to 9 degrees. if i got a small heater would that fix it or make it way warmer? or could i put it on a timer to only run a couple of hours at night?

What range does the temp swing? If you're going 78-85, I would put a fan on a timer starting 1 hr after the lights go on and ending 1 hr after the lights off (probably some trial and error here). Have the fan blowing over the top of your tank to provide evaporative cooling. If you have a controller, you can set the fan to come on when the temp goes above a setpoint.

Regardless, you want that temp swing to be as minimal as possible. I would target no more than a 2 degree swing.

 

[mufret]

Do you have the powerhead output directed at the coral? Direct unvariable flow will "peel" the tissue off of an Acro. The temp flucuations are also something that can contribute to the symptoms you are describing and as has already been stated can cause problems for many of the inhabitants.

 

[FutureInterest]

Yah as Mike said you can literally blow the flesh right off acros. You need to take some pics though so we can see. Is it peeling from the tips or the base?

 

[skriz]

sounds like RTN. I'm surprised anything is alive with a 9 degree temp swing!

add fans and make sure you have auto-topoff. Frag the acro into pieces; it will help. Don't dip it, that won't help.

 

[reefage518]

ok. i got a heater today. every other coral looks very healthy. fish look good too. i think i just need to reconsider where my power head is pointing. i dont have a camera, so i cant take pictures but im going to get one asap. the lowest ive gotten in the past four or five days is about 74 and the hottest is about 81. my lights run from 9:00am to 7:00pm. but i have to admit that there have been a couple days that i was a little off with the lights, for i have yet to get a timer. but about the power head im changing the direction. i guess pointing towards the front glass. i put the acro lower in the tank not knowing what else to do. should i put it back up top?