Fri, 01/07/2005 - 09:17

Yesterday morning, after the lights had come on, I was feeding the tank to discover that my Green Slimer (Acropora yongei) was sloughing off tissue. Half of the coral had already RTN'd (Rapid Tissue Neucrosis), and if I didn't act quickly it would completely die from core to tip.

I checked the tank's parameters, and the water temperature had fallen to 77.5 F. I knew it was coming down, but didn't realize it would plummet that low. Since my tank tends to run 80-83F daily, this major drop was probably the cause of the coral's sudden stress-induced demise. I added a second heater to the tank, turned off the cooling fans and increased the temperature in the fish room by three degrees.

I pulled out the coral and cut off living branches well away from the now-visible skeleton, hoping to save a few tips. Here is all that is left:

Two more images of the slimer frags I quickly mounted.

What I did next was take this stressed set of frags, mounted them on a piece of LR and put it in my son's tank, as that one was 82F. I hoped that the coral would feel more comfortable in the warmer water it was used to, rather than putting it back in the colder water of the 280g. Once the main tank was up to 81F I moved it back into my system. As of now (almost 24 hours later), the frags are still holding their tissue.

Part of the problem is that our weather has been so varied. A couple of days ago, it was 71F outside, and the tank room was kept at 79F to avoid heat. Then suddenly a major cold front blew in, and it was 22F outside and my fish room as still at 79F instead of 82F. I should have thought to change the temperature in there, since the house was at 65F. Forecasters promise next Monday will be in the 70s AGAIN! We've really had some nutty weather this past year. I just need to be aware of these changes and compensate so the tank stays in the right range.