Alk consumption stalled; LPS Retraction

[Bleigh]

Update: as more or less expected (hoo boy, tempting fate), the candy cane looks like it’s recovering. I’d say it’s maybe only 60% deflated now. I had expected it to recover as quickly as it retracted, but so far that’s not so.

Yesterday I did notice two biggish grains of sand deeply impacted into one of the polyps. I got a pair of very fine tweezers and gently removed them. I also cleared the sand away from the base of the colony so at least it won’t get more grit stuck in its tissue as it (hopefully) continues to re-extend

Not sure if any of this really had anything to do with the coral getting angry.

Alkalinity continues a slow decent out of the 9’s. I limited kalk to the night hours only.

Also in the midst of this I ran my skimmer’s intake tube out a window, which has given a small but definite pH boost. Without kalk or the outside airline, pH was 7.8-7.9. With 50% kalk, 7.9 and occasionally 8.0. With the exterior airline, consistently 8.0.

I really still have no idea what caused the alk stall or the angry coral. Skipping the WC this week for the sake of stability, but will match alk between new water and DT next week.

Thanks for the update! Hope to see continued improvement for you!

 

[rmurken]

Update: Today I learned that those little tubes popping up all over my tanks are vermetid snails. (Facepalm.) I believe while picking gunk out from around the base of the candy cane a few days ago I broke off a tube that looked an awful lot like what I now know to be a vermetid shell. So that’s a possibility too. Since I didn’t go for the base of the tube I’m dubious that I eliminated the snail itself. Will continue to wait and watch. Not going to yank the coral out and jab at it more unless there’s a good chance the benefit will outweigh the general harassment.

Could it be the vermatids? Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows. This hobby is a mystery wrapped inside a pain in the butt, wrapped inside a $100 bill.

 

[Bleigh]

Update: Today I learned that those little tubes popping up all over my tanks are vermetid snails. (Facepalm.) I believe while picking gunk out from around the base of the candy cane a few days ago I broke off a tube that looked an awful lot like what I now know to be a vermetid shell. So that’s a possibility too. Since I didn’t go for the base of the tube I’m dubious that I eliminated the snail itself. Will continue to wait and watch. Not going to yank the coral out and jab at it more unless there’s a good chance the benefit will outweigh the general harassment.

Could it be the vermatids? Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows. This hobby is a mystery wrapped inside a pain in the butt, wrapped inside a $100 bill.

LOL. This hobby is a mystery for sure. Do you have a picture of the suspected vermitid(s)? I have nearly a dozen bumble bees snails to help with my population. They can definitely irritate the mess out of some corals.

 

[rmurken]

Do bumblebee snails really eat them? That may be a strategy. I killed a bunch, but there are plenty more to go.

Behold, here’s what my vermetids look like:

On the other hand, the Candy Cane continues to improve. No superficial signs of a vermetid there, but it was under the calcarous skirt when I broke off the tube, so we’ll see if it grows back.

Alk stall is also continuing to resolve. I’ve gotten back to my former dosing. Alk is riding about .5 dKh higher at 9, but it’s pretty steady, so consumption is mostly back. I’m wagering that the pH benefit from regular dosing outweighs any issue from letting the Alk run a bit higher. Willing to bet Alk gets back to mid-8’s this week.

Famous last words...tomorrow I’ll be writing about how my tank turned into a dumpster fire overnight.