High Tide Aquatics

To frag or not to frag necrotic acro's

L/B Block

Supporting Member
So last week I reported in that the two acros I have were going down fast. Thanks to Mike suggesting a fast water change. It seemed to have stemmed the fast decline and it has seem to have stopped for the time being.

So the question-so I just frag the healthy tissue that I can? Or does this cause more trauma and just leave them alone??


Not the best pics but you get the idea.
TIA
L & B
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It can go either way. I have fragged the healthy parts during an STN/RTN event and its prolly been a toss up whether it survives or not.

I have also recently cut up an acro I got from the frag swap that was STN'ing and glued the stn part down to a plug and all three pieces have survived and are growing with good polyp extension.
 
I had a pink acro frag that was holding on but while I was away-it suddenly bit the dust.
I will get a couple more at some point again.


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Unfortunately not. That all the acros went at once indicates some water parameter issue. When it happened last time I recall everything was still ok.
Hard to know this time as I was gone for 4 days. Before I left parameters were ok -phosphates at .05 -not great but ok. Alk was 7.7. Rarely check Ca as it’s usually north of 450 these days.
Everything else looks happy as a clam except for a couple monti’s
That may be too up too high.



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If it's extremely slow in receding, or if the frag is really small, I've used superglue with some success. This is what happened to the Vivid confetti.

vivid_confetti_061817.jpg


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vivid_confetti_111517.jpg
 
Other times, when it's quicker, then I'll remove as much healthy tissue as possible and reglue the smaller bits close to each other so that they'll fuse once they start encrusting. This is the BC spainbow that was STN'ing from the base. I snapped the tips off and reglued them into separate clusters. This is the smaller of the two cluster.

bc_spainbow_042717.jpg


Eventually grew out to a size where I sold it off.

bc_spainbow_fs_101017.jpg


Here's the larger of the two clusters, which I kept.

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What it looked like at the last set of pics, about 1.5 months ago. It's larger now.

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I would consider .05 great personally.
I’ll take that these days over my last reading-.15 last night
Not to offend any youngin’s here-
‘Fudddge’
And to add an extra kick, alk had fallen below 7 to 6.7...double fudge.

Need to recheck the numbers and see if they come out again. Sometimes those hanna checkers get wonky. If so, 10% water change to up the alk and assess from there if alk dosing is necessary on a routine basis.

And get the GFO/carbon reactor going for a bit...

Can filtration pads leach phosphates? I shoved one in the 3rd chamber in sump for added filtration and noise reduction-trying to recall if anything that would cause it to spike like it has.


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Rise in phosphates and drop in alk combined? Ding ding ding. We have a winner. Increased water change volume should help with both, but I would use some gfo for now to get it back down and try to maintain low levels with the water change setup. As for all...you are really going to have to check every day for a few weeks to see what's up, but I'd say if it's dropping you are gonna need to dose some soda ash to maintain it, especially as more stony corals begin to grow. Gfo can also cause alk to drop so beware.
 
Rise in phosphates and drop in alk combined? Ding ding ding. We have a winner. Increased water change volume should help with both, but I would use some gfo for now to get it back down and try to maintain low levels with the water change setup. As for all...you are really going to have to check every day for a few weeks to see what's up, but I'd say if it's dropping you are gonna need to dose some soda ash to maintain it, especially as more stony corals begin to grow. Gfo can also cause alk to drop so beware.
Any specific brand you recommend for soda ash? Can I just dump in dt?
Did recheck both-PO4 is actually .09- I don’t think I let the sample sit long enough prior to testing. However alk is still 6.7.




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I buy in bulk from aquatic collection or amazon. Believe it's just food grade soda ash. I dilute 381 grams with enough water to fill a gallon bottle and use that for dosing. I imagine you would only need maybe10-20 ml per day with your water changes.
An easier but more expensive option is to buy bionic 2 part alk and ca. It is more concentrated but more expensive.
 
I buy in bulk from aquatic collection or amazon. Believe it's just food grade soda ash. I dilute 381 grams with enough water to fill a gallon bottle and use that for dosing. I imagine you would only need maybe10-20 ml per day with your water changes.
An easier but more expensive option is to buy bionic 2 part alk and ca. It is more concentrated but more expensive.
Ok-thanks! I assume mix with (RO)DI water only.


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Any specific brand you recommend for soda ash? Can I just dump in dt?
Did recheck both-PO4 is actually .09- I don’t think I let the sample sit long enough prior to testing. However alk is still 6.7.




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I used to use BRS 2-part before I set up my calcium reactor.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-2-part-calcium-alkalinity-total-package-bulk.html (each is also sold individually)

Ok-thanks! I assume mix with (RO)DI water only.


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Yes, RO/DI water only.
 
You have a equal chance of recovery if you cut or leave it alone.

How are you testing?
Alk tests are much more precise than P04 tests, and I distrust that your P04 went up that much that quickly, while I can believe that your alk dropped that quickly. For SPS I consider Alk to the be most important parameter to stay on top of.
 
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