several questions about stn

Liam's tank

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I purchased a purple stylo in January, about 2 weeks after my purchase it began to lose it's polyps and turn white starting at the base of this 2 inch frag. As of today, the frag is half white from the base to halfway up, & the rest of the frag has fully extended polyps and looks fine. This is the only sps in my tank, all of my other corals are fine. My questions are:
1- How long does it normally take for stn to run its course? This is 2 & a half months into this.
2- Should I just remove the frag, is death a foregone conclusion?
3- Does stn only affect sps corals?
4- Can I not add new corals of any kind (sps, lps, soft) while this frag is in my DT?
5- If I cannot add new corals, how long do I need to wait after this frag is removed? (assuming that it will ultimately die & be removed)
I know there is a lot here, but I feel like I'm stuck in limbo for the past 2 plus months!
Thank you in advance for any expertise you have to offer.
P.S. I do not have a QT tank to relocate the frag to
 

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I purchased a purple stylo in January, about 2 weeks after my purchase it began to lose it's polyps and turn white starting at the base of this 2 inch frag. As of today, the frag is half white from the base to halfway up, & the rest of the frag has fully extended polyps and looks fine. This is the only sps in my tank, all of my other corals are fine. My questions are:
1- How long does it normally take for stn to run its course? This is 2 & a half months into this.
2- Should I just remove the frag, is death a foregone conclusion?
3- Does stn only affect sps corals?
4- Can I not add new corals of any kind (sps, lps, soft) while this frag is in my DT?
5- If I cannot add new corals, how long do I need to wait after this frag is removed? (assuming that it will ultimately die & be removed)
I know there is a lot here, but I feel like I'm stuck in limbo for the past 2 plus months!
Thank you in advance for any expertise you have to offer.
P.S. I do not have a QT tank to relocate the frag to
STN and RTN aren’t well understood, and the causes may vary on why it happens. Parameter swings are a common suspected cause though. Sometimes it goes away on its own, sometimes it doesn’t. I usually cut above the dead part and remount the frag on a fresh plug. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I am not aware of this affecting other types of coral besides sps.
 
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Liam's tank

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STN and RTN aren’t well understood, and the causes may vary on why it happens. Parameter swings are a common suspected cause though. Sometimes it goes away on its own, sometimes it doesn’t. I usually cut above the dead part and remount the frag on a fresh plug. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I am not aware of this affecting other types of coral besides sps.
If I were to cut the frag & remount, I would have about a half inch of frag to remount. Would that be ok?
I took a look at your tank thread, beautiful aquarium!
 

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If I were to cut the frag & remount, I would have about a half inch of frag to remount. Would that be ok?
I took a look at your tank thread, beautiful aquarium!
It’s a gamble either way, but with a stylo, I think there is a better chance of success than an acro. I would also make sure your alkalinity remains as stable as possible, and nutrients aren’t too high. And thank you!
In this video at about the 6:30 mark, I explain stn/rtn in my opinion.
 
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Liam's tank

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I purchased a purple stylo in January, about 2 weeks after my purchase it began to lose it's polyps and turn white starting at the base of this 2 inch frag. As of today, the frag is half white from the base to halfway up, & the rest of the frag has fully extended polyps and looks fine. This is the only sps in my tank, all of my other corals are fine. My questions are:
1- How long does it normally take for stn to run its course? This is 2 & a half months into this.
2- Should I just remove the frag, is death a foregone conclusion?
3- Does stn only affect sps corals?
4- Can I not add new corals of any kind (sps, lps, soft) while this frag is in my DT?
5- If I cannot add new corals, how long do I need to wait after this frag is removed? (assuming that it will ultimately die & be removed)
I know there is a lot here, but I feel like I'm stuck in limbo for the past 2 plus months!
Thank you in advance for any expertise you have to offer.
P.S. I do not have a QT tank to relocate the frag to
Can anyone answer questions & 4 & 5? I literally have 5 corals sitting in my cart at Tidal Gardens. As mentioned, I'm sort of in limbo here. Thank you
 
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It’s a gamble either way, but with a stylo, I think there is a better chance of success than an acro. I would also make sure your alkalinity remains as stable as possible, and nutrients aren’t too high. And thank you!
In this video at about the 6:30 mark, I explain stn/rtn in my opinion.

Your video was a big help! I'm certain that the cause of the stylo showing stn was due to a rookie mistake on my part. I put it imediately in high light & flow, I did not acclimate slowly. If you have the time, please take a look at questions 4 & 5, I have not added any corals since January worried that any new additions would not survive. Thank you for any help you can provide!
 

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Last time I had stn/rtn it started with a plated montipora that had a bit of detrius buildup on top. After I tried to remove that buildup it killed every single sps in my tank. I think it was a bacterial infection which spread by my action of blowing the coral clean with a turkey baster.
 

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Hard to tell without parameters and how stable they have been over time.
Time in hobby?
New tank?
Dead rock?
Lights?
Pics?
I would not approach 4&5 until you have a long term plan for stability.
 
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Liam's tank

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Hard to tell without parameters and how stable they have been over time.
Time in hobby?
New tank?
Dead rock?
Lights?
Pics?
I would not approach 4&5 until you have a long term plan for stability.
I've had fish tanks for the past 40 years but this is my first saltwater
the tank is 10 months young
Live rock & sand from Tampa bay
I started with one ai prime 16hd & just added a second last week. They are currently on acclimation mode with 22 days remaining.
The tank is a 25 gallon IM lagoon.
Parameters have been very stable:
Nitrate 10ppm
Phos .16
SG 1.026
Alk 8.6
Cal 450
temp 78
 
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Liam's tank

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Hard to tell without parameters and how stable they have been over time.
Time in hobby?
New tank?
Dead rock?
Lights?
Pics?
I would not approach 4&5 until you have a long term plan for stability.
 

Troylee

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Can anyone answer questions & 4 & 5? I literally have 5 corals sitting in my cart at Tidal Gardens. As mentioned, I'm sort of in limbo here. Thank you
Yes you can add anything you like… stn or rtn isn’t contagious and only occurs on sps… I’ve lost colonies an inch away from another and no ill effects.
 
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Liam's tank

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The tank cycled very quickly with the live rock (less than a week) but I still waited 2 months before I added my first two fish. One month later I added my first coral. Over a period of 7 months from August to January I have added 2 more fish (a total of 4 in the tank now) and there is 4 zoa colonies, a duncan, candy cane, blasto. lobo, frogspawn, hammer, & a torch. All are doing great. The stylo was my first attempt at a sps. I felt the tank was ready due to stability & the live rock came with an sps, a occulina robusta that is still thriving.
 

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I've had fish tanks for the past 40 years but this is my first saltwater
the tank is 10 months young
Live rock & sand from Tampa bay
I started with one ai prime 16hd & just added a second last week. They are currently on acclimation mode with 22 days remaining.
The tank is a 25 gallon IM lagoon.
Parameters have been very stable:
Nitrate 10ppm
Phos .16
SG 1.026
Alk 8.6
Cal 450
temp 78
From this I would increase light.
For acros I ran 2 16hds in a 18" 20g nano cube.
First 4 channels 100% the rest 50%.
I never used acclimation mode.
Lights 9" from the surface you can grow anything.
Old nano. From zero to 10 months.
Get a build thread and badge so we can folllow.
20220126_162914.jpg
20220926_094502.jpg
 
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Liam's tank

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From this I would increase light.
For acros I ran 2 16hds in a 18" 20g nano cube.
First 4 channels 100% the rest 50%.
I never used acclimation mode.
Lights 9" from the surface you can grow anything.
Old nano. From zero to 10 months.
Get a build thread and badge so we can folllow.
20220126_162914.jpg
20220926_094502.jpg
Incredible growth in ten months! My light schedule is 2 hour ramp up, 8 hours on & ramp down for 2 hours.
UV 167%
V 167%
RY125%
B 125%
G 9%
R 9%
CW 16%
I have been running at these levels with just the one prime & went to 50% acclimation when I added the second to not shock the corals.
Do you think these settings will be too high once acclimation is complete and the two lights are back to 100%?
 

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Incredible growth in ten months! My light schedule is 2 hour ramp up, 8 hours on & ramp down for 2 hours.
UV 167%
V 167%
RY125%
B 125%
G 9%
R 9%
CW 16%
I have been running at these levels with just the one prime & went to 50% acclimation when I added the second to not shock the corals.
Do you think these settings will be too high once acclimation is complete and the two lights are back to 100%?
Any pics?
First 4 at 100
Last ones 50%
I ran high like you did and melted the lens.
That is how I would run it.
My 30 g with 2 16hds also same settings.
20230512_111147.jpg
 
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Liam's tank

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Any pics?
First 4 at 100
Last ones 50%
I ran high like you did and melted the lens.
That is how I would run it.
My 30 g with 2 16hds also same settings.
20230512_111147.jpg
Thank you for your input, I'll try and post some pics later today. I have to figure out how to start a build thread, I'm a bit challenged when to comes to tech lol
 

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Yes you can add anything you like… stn or rtn isn’t contagious and only occurs on sps… I’ve lost colonies an inch away from another and no ill effects.
I disagree with that. It really depends on the cause. As I wrote I lost every sps in my tank due to rtn/stn. I suspect the rest would have been fine if I just removed the affected monti instead of blowing it clean.

Some parasites also seem to cause it.
 
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Very interesting video, I'm thinking that since this frag has been in my tank for 2 1/2 months and no other corals are affected that I might be ok. I actually cut the frag 1/8 inch above the bleached out lower section and reattached it to a plug and moved it to the bottom of the tank in hopes of recovery. Time will tell.
 
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