ALERT--possible diagnose to RTN on SPS coral!!!!!!!

[cvarcher]

hI aLL, iVE HAD A BIRDSNEST COLONY IN MY TANK FOR SEVERAL MONTHS DOING FINE.aLL OF THE SUDDEN WHITE BARE TO THE SKELETON WAS SHOWING UP FROM MOSTLY THE BASE OF SEVERAL BRANCHES .tHERE WERE A FEW PATCHES OF WHITE UP NEAR THE TIPS.I thought it was predation from my pygmy angel.Then I thought it was bleaching but these proved wrong.I read E Bornemans book on diseases and nothing really matched up other than that something was really bohering it each day or night.Today I looked real close and down near the base of one trunk there was a dark almost black patch with a small hole in the middle.The hole was opening and closing and there was something like a worm in it!!I thought of the tree borers.Immediately I took out the coral and squirted with a syringe some Kalk and Iodine into the hole.When I put it in the water I saw lots of micro bubbles coming from the hole(maybe I got him!)Then I broke up the colony and placed the frags in various places in the tank.I will write back in a week if theres improvement on them.Anyone else have this happen?

 

[reefland]

What makes you think you had RTN?

Inner branches dieing while tips remain fine is typically not RTN, but poor water flow. RTN is more like you see a small patch of exposed skeleton in the morning and the entire coral is dead by the time you get home from work.

Usually you can see what looks like perfectly healthy skin just floating in the currents. RTN often causes what looks like healthy skin to just seperate from the skeleton.