Acanthophyllia Deflating

[altayeh]

Appreciate your help/suggestions- Acanthophyllia deflate and die- have about 10 of them.
Other coral from Goni, Torch, Brains doing fine
Its a 220g tank, 3 years old. My passion coral is the acanthophyllia, become more of an addiction. For the past month one by one deflated, stop eating and die off. I would feed them once every 2-3 weeks- LPS pellets and AB+
Alk 8.5
Ca 450
Mg 1320
Phosphate 0.06
Nitrate 13
PH 8.0-8.2
PAR 50-60 on the sand bed

ICP says I need to increase the iodine levels

I do weekly water changes about 25-30 gallons for past year with Red Sea blue bucket

Got rid of all my tangs awhile ago as I saw them nip on the meats

Fish-
Anthias
Clowns
melanurus wrasse
Radiant wrasse
Trigger
Blue ribbon eel

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Do you have a photo of your Acan?

 

[altayeh]

 

[altayeh]

Above is the before and after

 

[Shirak]

Your nutrients are on the low side. When I had Scoly and Cynarina they did best when I fed them 2 or 3 times a week. This was in a low fish system so there wasn't lots of extra food floating around for them to catch each day.

 

[altayeh]

It’s been stable with these levels for 6-8 months, not sure why there has been a significant change?

 

[Shirak]

It’s been stable with these levels for 6-8 months, not sure why there has been a significant change?

LPS often look great for long periods while they slowly decline if they are not getting enough nutrition and then in a short period of time look significantly worse when they are no longer able to sustain themselves.

 

[Miami Reef]

Your nutrients are just fine for LPS corals. I can’t believe so many people just blame nutrients every time a coral issue pops up. :face-with-rolling-eyes:

 

[Shirak]

The one closest to the front in the after photo looks like the coral has receded quite a bit and there is just a thin band of flesh covering the top of the skeleton.

 

[Shirak]

.

 

[Miami Reef]

Got rid of all my tangs awhile ago as I saw them nip on the meats

Same experience here.

Keep an eye on the trigger. I had one that ate my trachyphyllia and acanthophyllia. It was sneaky by doing it when I wasn’t looking.

I don’t think this is the exact cause, but the 50 par seems a bit too low. I wouldn’t raise it now since they are already deflated.

My bet is on the trigger.

 

[altayeh]

To be honest I have had a camera on the tank . The Trigger is a blue throat, harmless. Never goes near coral.
Got rid of all Tangs- by the way all Tangs will nip at LPS coral- from Unicorn to salfin to Dori to Naso- I have witnessed it myself! I have 10 torches and brains and Goni- all thriving

 

[Miami Reef]

Got rid of all Tangs- by the way all Tangs will nip at LPS coral- from Unicorn to salfin to Dori to Naso- I have witnessed it myself!

Same here. I have a long list of fish (mostly tangs) that I had to give away because they tried to eat them.

Which brains are thriving?

 

[VintageReefer]

Following. Only type of lps I can’t keep. They die after 3 months and my scoly and cynarina and everything else do great

 

[altayeh]

 

[altayeh]

I dose NOPOX, RPM Fritz alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium. Have skimmer, media reactor with GFO and Carbon.

 

[altayeh]

Here is another thought- How often to feed the Acanthophyllia. It requires low PAR, that means it depends more on oral nutrition?
I possibly was under feeding through the months and once it did get food the wrasses may have been scavenging off of them

 

[VintageReefer]

Here is another thought- How often to feed the Acanthophyllia. It requires low PAR, that means it depends more on oral nutrition?
I possibly was under feeding through the months and once it did get food the wrasses may have been scavenging off of them

I’ve heard once a week

I was feeding my last one 2x a week and still I lost it

 

[ChiCity]

scolys, cynarinas, indophyllias and acanthos are a bit like goldilock’s porridge….
can’t feed too irregularly, can’t feed too often.

gotta feed em just right.

i’ve found once every 9 or 10 days to be just right
(once you’ve had em for a while,
with some you can get away with not feeding at all.)

 

[Miami Reef]

I’ve heard once a week

I was feeding my last one 2x a week and still I lost it

I never fed trachyphyllia lol

I am very recently starting to now very occasionally because my tank is ULNS, but when nutrients were detectable, which was for the longest time, I never ever fed them.