What's wrong with my setosa?
 

Hello SPS gurus. I noticed that my setosa is developing some white fuzzy stuffs on the tip of two/three branches at the back. Its not bleaching since those were in shade and the upper part is doing well. It has some kind of fuzzy slimy stuff on it:

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...psd0904a2d.jpg

http://i1304.photobucket.com/albums/...psbe1e4fd7.jpg

The coloration have gone much better since I got it along with new growth. I thought that it might not be getting enough flow at the back so I have changed the location to a higher flow and higher light area.

Any idea? :)

looks like some die-off with some cyano growing on the dead parts?

are those spots getting too much flow? this can kill sps...

Looks like STN or new growth tips, photos are a little blurry but I have never known setosa to have white growth tips.

I'm leaning towards STN, nanoish sized tanks with multiple species of coral make it harder to keep species like this.

DARRRYYLLLL!!!! ReeferM or some of real SPS gurus should have more insight here.

Nop no cyano thats for sure. I don't think its die-off too since I can see polyp extended from those parts. That got me damn confused!

Don't know about whether its hard to keep or not since its growing great in the tank. Maybe the flow was low in those part?

Can you grab us a less blurry photo? I know this piece is kind of at a funny angle but I'm sure that will help.

At university now :( Will take a better photo with the dslr tomorrow morning when the lights come on.

I have seen this happen to an acropora I had and most probably the freakingly long tentacles of chalice hit it but this piece was way above the chalice. Don't know whether it was able to touch it too! I was thinking of cutting off that part. Would that be a good idea?

I really love this piece :(

Mines in low flow med light. I would guess a little die off. Color could be better to. With as many different types of coral you may be running into a chem battle rather than sweepers.
IMO cut it back and run some carbon if not doing so

Color is a bit washed out in the picture. Its bring pink-orange in the tank.

I do run carbon (chemi-pure elite). So should I cut that part?

Ok good

Cut off the dead parts. What's the surrounding corals within like 6"

Preiously, there was a monti pokerstar, an acro, a stylophora and the chalice (which was like 6" below) and now, in the new location, there's magician paly, a green zoa and a monti confusia (or something like that; I can't remember the exact name).

I was thinking its either because of the chalice or because of the low alk. Is it possible to have STN due to low alk?

Yep low stn I believe can be related to low alk

How low is it right now

SPS are sensitive to alk swings.

We notice STN if our alk drops bellow 6.5dkh.

Mine reached 5.4 before starting to dose haha. I have taken it up to 7.4 but every 12hours, I have noted that 1dkH drops. Ca remains 430-440 while Mg is like 1300.

Here are my current levels:

Ca: 410ppm
Mg: 1275ppm
Alk: 8.0dKh

Right after WC, my levels were:

Ca: 440ppm
Mg: 1380ppm
Alk: 7.7dKh

I am just dosing alk.

WC due on this Saturday morning. I am thinking of moving to 5 gallon WC every 3 days now :(

Definitely some kind of tissue die off. Two possibilities here that have both been mentioned. One being the sweepers of the chalice at night and the other being that its not happy for some reason.

Hope you get it figured out. Good luck.

My tank is sps and I do a WC every three days. While some as it not cost effective its 60 gallons a month which most people with bigger tanks do biweekly. I have great growth doing it this was and more nutrient export

Though I am looking at a nano ca reactor as the coral will become more demanding as it grows

What's the reasoning for this?

I do a 5 gal on tues and 10 on Fridays. Only because I don't dose or have a reactor yet

It works good to keep cal and alk up without big swings

I am buying a ca reactor soon here so that will stop when I get it

I don't think so, each time you do a water change you do alk swing.

It is much more stable to do less water changes and to dose every hour or every two hour.

There is no way doing water change without dosing will keep your level stable and unless you perfectly match your new water alkalinity (very difficult to do with a ULN) you will get swings. Unless your new salt has the same alkalinity as your tank, which is unlikely as most salt mix have high alkalinity.

I have large amount of corals and SPS in my tank and I do water change every month. I dose each day for alk and calcium and my levels are very stable day and night. I very rarely get RTN or STN. Think I had it twice in 3 years on newly introduced corals, never on older corals. I have a setosa that was in pretty bad shape when I got it from fragalot shipping and it is now all recovered after a week in my tank.

So until you do dose, you will never have a very stable tank and you will have lots of alk swings.

I don't claim not to have swings

I test water before and after and alk goes 6 to 7 which is a small swing. Rather than have a large swing of a biweekly WC
I use RB salt and alk is never very high with said salt
This is just temperat till I get reactor

Sounds fine to me. Lots of work, but still fine :)

Lol

I have a 30 gallon cube with nsw and a valve on bottom. Its not bad. Just take 5 gal out of DT and put 5 in

A swing of 1dKH every 3 days is quite a bit IMO.

The most you can increase alk that is safe is 1.4dKH per 24hrs.

Thanks for all the info folks :)