R T N spread from coral to coral??? (1 Viewer)

[G-reef]

i need to know if rtn or possibly stn will spread to other coral... i have one frag of acro that i noticed today has a white spot that i believe is stn... i need to know if i should get it out of my tank or is it ok to see if it gets worse.... i have tons of coral and willing to lose one but not them all...will this spread from one sps to another ???
please help...

would like an answer soon..
thanks

G- reef


"THE SEA, ONCE
IT CASTS ITS SPELL,
IT HOLDS ONE IN ITS
NET OF WONDER
FOREVER"

 

[steveb]

That is somewhat going to depend on what is causing it. Sometimes you will get a stick that just gets hacked off and gives up for some reason. If your having lots of Alkalinity swings that can cause problems.

What are your tank parameter? Alk, Ca, Mg, Nitrate, Phosphate

Any rapid heating or cooling issues? Any large Alk or Ph swings?

Did you make any recent changes to your system such as changing lights, changing photo period, start using GFO or some other phosphate resin?

Have you added any new SPS lately? Did you dip them prior to going in?

 

[Diesel]

You have any clue what RTN or STN stands for or what it is and what causes this?

 

[G-reef]

tank parameters are all fine ...only thing that changed is a few new sps pcs i got this past weekend..the frag in question is only 2 weeks old in my tank...

will it spread to my other acros..or to any of my sps for that matter..
thanks for responding
G-reef

 

[G-reef]

from all my reading its rapid and slow tissue necrosis... i know it can be from any number of factors..i just cant find anything thats states facts about its spreading to my other coral...do i remove it...it is new to my system and not a loss if i need to remove it...
i bought it from...another marsh member 2 weeks ago and he never opened up...and ive watched him daily...
thanks

 

[SeanM]

Since you say it has a "white spot", it could be any number of things. Did the coral fall on another coral during placement? It could've touched a more toxic coral that left its mark. Also did you dip the coral? The white spots could indicate the presence of acro eating flatworms ( AEFW ). Kinda hard to know but a few pics would help

 

[G-reef]

ill try to get some pics up...either way ... I think at this point its a losing battle..i believe its given up .. and not doing so good...thank you to all who took the time to respond

 

[inigomontoya]

We can't really answer without getting more information because STN/RTN doesn't spread from coral to coral. However some cause of it may, usually being related to a pest like red bugs or aefw. Also, while not "spreading" from coral to coral- the same condition in the water that is causing the RTN may also cause it in other corals therefore having the same effect as spreading.
As for the potential thought of whether to remove it, I would recommend a dip in revive or something similar which can kill a lot of the pests and even help with some bacterial type issues with the coral. I would also recommend isolating the cause before spending more money on a big colony like a strawberry shortcake.

 

[G-reef]

what do you recomend i buy to dip...wha do you use????

thank you all for the help.

G reef

 

[G-reef]

the bottons on my lap top are acting up...sorry for that!!!!

 

[DustinB]

I don't know that I would necessarily dip it just yet. I know you say your parameters are fine, but what are they? What are you testing with and how often? You say you have a lot of coral in there, are you dosing and if so what and how? Can you post a picture?

As said before, there are many things it could be. Maybe fell over, maybe its getting stung at night from something with long tentacles. Maybe you have red bugs or acro eating flatworms. Is your temp stable and do you know what the swings are? What are you reading the temp with? What are you checking your salinity with? What salt? What kind of rock and sand in the tank? As stated, it could spread depending on the cause, but the symptom itself is not a disease that spreads. Most of the time when you see STN it is caused by low alkalinity or alkalinity swings, though sometimes the coral just hates you it seems. Maybe someone stuck their contaminated hands in the tank. Maybe its just a picky coral. Seems like I can't keep strawberry shortcake alive, I'm 0 for 3 on that one.

There are MANY things that could be causing it. We're not saying you don't know anything, we're just saying its a good idea to list all information and details you can. Maybe you overlooked something, maybe there's no real answer.

 

[inigomontoya]

Totally agree with Dustin, that's why most of our posts have been asking your parameters. If this is due to an alk swing, temperature spike, etcetera, etcetera, then that needs to be fixed first and will prevent your problem/keep it from spreading. I have a fairly stable system and if I have a coral show issues I will dip with revive, but that is because I know it is not one of the other reasons because I have had the system up for a while and am familiar with it. I recently switched from kalk to two part and had some alk swings and had some stn on a few corals. Dipping would have only stressed them more and may have led to a loss where they are now recovering with the alk back in check.
That being said, if you rule everything else out- I have found help with Revive when I had, what I think was a bacteria, kill some lps. I do dip everything that comes into the tank, but think something slipped in.