[thezookeeper]

Hi all. I have a question. Since I'm paranoid with all the RTN talk, does anyone know exactly where I can find pictures of RTN affected corals? I have a frag of M. Capricornis(spelling?) that someone gave me. It actually is the only sps frag I have. I placed it high in the aquarium. And it's been doing fine, except when I originally got it, one small part of it was darker on the edge. Well tonight, it looks as if bubbles are forming on that small edge and it almost looks metallic at that location. Should I be concerned? Is this something that can affect other corals? If so, I'd like to get it out of there. Everything else in my tank is fabulous. I could just be looking for ghosts, but it seems like it's out of the ordinary. If someone could please let me know, I'd appreciate it. I would try and get a pic to post, but it would never turn out. Trust me...it's too small. TIA


Joanne

[naser]

i also have one myself and have read that they can be attacked pretty easily by infection. it might just be water quality is letting alge grow onto the weak part of the montipora.?

[SueT]

Joanne, if this would be RTN, although it doesn't sound like it, I wouldn't be worried about it spreading as RTN is a predominately sps coral problem. Could the capricornis be getting a little bit of bubble algae?? If this could be it you could just turkey baster it off or use your hand to swish it off. I hope that is the only problem it is. Do you know what environment it came from?? Lighting etc.. HTH..

check out my 120 sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
www.marshreef.org/members

[Rick]

Here is a link on the info with some pictures.
http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin...threadid=30994

Rick

[scubadude]

I think I can help a little with Sue T's question. I believe the frag Joanne is refferring to came from my tank (correct me if im wrong Joanne) Sorry I have been away lately Joanne (diving season..wat can I say) The frag came from my tank where it was chipped off the mother colony which had been in my tank 3+ mos. 90gal 2-175MH w/10k ushio bulbs & 40w NO actinic strip...the mother colony was about 8" away from the light almost dead center on a bulb...the bulbs where 4" away from the water surface...as far as current....at the time I didnt have what I do now but I was running a Rio 2500 on to a 4' head w/ a spray bar and approximately 7 1/4" holes dispersing throughout the parameter of the whole tank. As a matter of fact I did get a little bubble/slime algae in one certain area but it was maintained by doing the above mentioned on the turkey baster bastiing it off once a week or so...that seem to slowly fade it away. I have since then Joanne added a 1/2" Seaswirl connected on a closed loop and added much more current to my tank and have not had to use the turkey baster anymore...so Im thinking a combination of basting a few times at first then arranging a powerhead to give a brisk shot periodically through your Wavestrip and that should eventually eliminate the prob? I believe with my lights so close and a not so brisk current through there made the M. Capricornis succeptable to the algae/bubble FWIW Joanne I didnt chip off a piece that had the Algae growth on it already....however your frag was right next to that area and that area was in the process of healing as I was monitoring it very closely. I would watch the coral very closely and within a week or two it should be going one way or the other and if you can verify if its doing better or worse than I would act accordingly...if its doing better obviously let it be, however if its doing worst than You have 2 options IMO...one is to trash the specimen (not have risk of it spreading to others) or you can clip off the affected area (basically frag off the section that is still healthy) which I know is probably hard to do considering the size of the frag I sent you. I really do hope it gets better.

Here is a picture of the Mother Colony (top right of the pic) And if you look close you can see a dark patch near the top R. Of the specimen which is where the Red/Bubble/Slime type algae was growing...it was a small patch and Joannes frag came off the section just underneath and to the left just a tad.

[thezookeeper]

Thanks everyone! I've been away for a couple days so I didn't get to check this until now. I haven't looked yet at the specimen to see how it's doing. I'll do that tonight. I think the description of what you said Rocky is exactly what is happening. The piece seems to have gotten bigger already in my tank. It is placed high in the tank, about 6 inches from the top of the water. Current in that area is moderate. If it gets worse, I will remove it. I don't want to do that. But I will if it continues to worsen. I could try to frag it too. I'll keep you guys posted on the status. Thank you for the links. Now I can learn about RTN too!


Joanne