SPS Growth Forms

[dlhirst]

I have a few SPS branching corals that have almost all done pretty well over time. A few recently bleached in just a matter of one weekend. Still don't know why. While one gave up the ghost completely, I noticed three others still showed polyp/coloration at the tips of the branches. So now, they seem to be bouncing back.

My questions are - Do I trim off the bleached bases? Will polyps return to that section? Will leaving the dead parts harm the growth tips in any way? What to do?

[MyNemesis]

Originally Posted by dlhirst

I have a few SPS branching corals that have almost all done pretty well over time. A few recently bleached in just a matter of one weekend. Still don't know why. While one gave up the ghost completely, I noticed three others still showed polyp/coloration at the tips of the branches. So now, they seem to be bouncing back.

My questions are - Do I trim off the bleached bases? Will polyps return to that section? Will leaving the dead parts harm the growth tips in any way? What to do?

Pictures would help. If you have a lot of dead coral and some live areas, ordinarily you would trim the live coral into the live tissue and mount it to try to stop the decay and save several pieces of the animal. Are you sure it's dead? Like bleached out completely dead coral, or is it just browned out?

[bluwc]

Are you sure it's just bleaching or is it rtl?

[dlhirst]

Pardon my ignorance, but wtf is rtl?

[bluwc]

Rapid tissue loss. Wo pics it's hard to tell but IMO that's what it sounds like. Ie meaning your sps is probably a goner. I'd frag off anything that is white and hope your entire piece doesn't do it. Don't throw or the damaged frags until you know for sure they're toast.

You sure you don't have pests like acro eating flatworms?

[Chris]

Originally Posted by bluwc

Rapid tissue loss. Wo pics it's hard to tell but IMO that's what it sounds like. Ie meaning your sps is probably a goner. I'd frag off anything that is white and hope your entire piece doesn't do it. Don't throw or the damaged frags until you know for sure they're toast.

You sure you don't have pests like acro eating flatworms?

+1 IMO w/o pics atleast it sounds alot like RTL not bleaching.... could be cause by parameter swings, or bugs (like flatworms).

What are your parameters like, and do u dip? Have you added anything new lately or anything seem out of the ordinary??