Birdsnest losing flesh

[JayFish4004]

Curious if anyone has thoughts as to why my birdnest is losing flesh at the base and on one of the tips. Parameters should be stable - 8alk. 8.3ph, nitrates are a bit high at 25 (bringing them down), salinity 1.025 - recent ICP with no issues in major elements.

Whats odd too is if you look closely there is a section at his base growing outwards away from the tissue loss - is that new tissue or did that get stripped by flow maybe and I need to move him further down into less flow?

Here’s a video:
https://youtube.com/shorts/WuAaxhnr6_Q?feature=share

 

[Sean Clark]

Birdsnest is very sensitive to any changes. I personally consider it "expert only" even though it is presented a beginner coral. Just don't change anything too fast or at all for now. Based on the epoxy I am presuming this was just added to the tank.

 

[JayFish4004]

Birdsnest is very sensitive to any changes. I personally consider it "expert only" even though it is presented a beginner coral. Just don't change anything too fast or at all for now. Based on the epoxy I am presuming this was just added to the tank.

He’s been in there since November, maybe 5 months now - has probably tripled in size since then and otherwise had been doing well.

Should I clip the white tissue off and re-mount him?

Here’s a video of him in same spot on November 3rd:

https://youtube.com/shorts/L_zn7jjGMDo?feature=share

 

[Sean Clark]

In that case I would ask what has changed in the last month or so? Alk swings, flow, lighting, etc. Can you think of anything like that? Remounting and clipping the one tip may help. but I personally would wait a few more days to see if it bounces back; provided nothing has changed.

 

[JayFish4004]

In that case I would ask what has changed in the last month or so? Alk swings, flow, lighting, etc. Can you think of anything like that? Remounting and clipping the one tip may help. but I personally would wait a few more days to see if it bounces back; provided nothing has changed.

In the last month the nitrates have gone up a bit after adding a few more fish - went from 10-25. Also started doing weekly water changes over biweekly thinking it’d keep the alk a bit more stable and to help with getting the nutrients down.

I’ve also taken the lighting up over the last 30 days from 52% intensity to 58% intensity.

Of those which would you think is most likely culprit? My alk seems to hold steady around 7.9-8.1 and never measured ph anywhere other than 8.3.

 

[Sean Clark]

In the last month the nitrates have gone up a bit after adding a few more fish - went from 10-25. Also started doing weekly water changes over biweekly thinking it’d keep the alk a bit more stable and to help with getting the nutrients down.

I’ve also taken the lighting up over the last 30 days from 52% intensity to 58% intensity.

Of those which would you think is most likely culprit? My alk seems to hold steady around 7.9-8.1 and never measured ph anywhere other than 8.3.

None of those really sound like culprits. But of those three, I would put my money on the increased water change schedule. That may cause a shock to the Alk among other things.
I would leave it alone for now, observe the coral, and if it continues to lose tissue then frag it. If you make any changes you are likely going to stress it out even more.

 

[JayFish4004]

None of those really sound like culprits. But of those three, I would put my money on the increased water change schedule. That may cause a shock to the Alk among other things.
I would leave it alone for now, observe the coral, and if it continues to lose tissue then frag it. If you make any changes you are likely going to stress it out even more.

Do you think breaking my weekly water change schedule might impact it further? If I skip this week and only do it next week I think it might fluctuate more as a result - plus the nitrates are getting a bit high.

 

[Sean Clark]

Do you think breaking my weekly water change schedule might impact it further? If I skip this week and only do it next week I think it might fluctuate more as a result - plus the nitrates are getting a bit high.

I wouldn't touch the water right now. Let the coral catch up. Your tank looks barley stocked as far as fish go. I would presume that your nitrates are coming from over feeding more than a lack of water changes. You may want to look at the source of the nitrates too, rather than just trying to water change them away. The tank will be fine for the week or two that this will take. Sometimes not touching the tank is the best medicine.

 

[JayFish4004]

I wouldn't touch the water right now. Let the coral catch up. Your tank looks barley stocked as far as fish go. I would presume that your nitrates are coming from over feeding more than a lack of water changes. You may want to look at the source of the nitrates too, rather than just trying to water change them away. The tank will be fine for the week or two that this will take. Sometimes not touching the tank is the best medicine.

So the other issue I am finding is my euphyllia flesh seems to have receded a bit around the outer outside base - especially on my hammers. What would you suspect would cause that and could it be related?

I constantly wonder if my alk is too low? it seems to stay stable at 8 via my Hanna Checker, but last week I got an ATI ICP test done and they said the carbonate hardness is 6.8 - but having trouble figuring out why my Hanna Checker would be 1.2dkh off with multiple reagent lots.

 

[Sean Clark]

So the other issue I am finding is my euphyllia flesh seems to have receded a bit around the outer outside base - especially on my hammers. What would you suspect would cause that and could it be related?

I constantly wonder if my alk is too low? it seems to stay stable at 8 via my Hanna Checker, but last week I got an ATI ICP test done and they said the carbonate hardness is 6.8 - but having trouble figuring out why my Hanna Checker would be 1.2dkh off with multiple reagent lots.

It could be related. From my experience euphyllia (especially hammers) are way heartier than birdsnest is. Stability is more important than numbers. 6.8 alk vs 8 is not going to make or break your tank unless you are bouncing between the two. If your Hanna is consistent, go by that and try to be consistent. How are you lighting the tank? This could be a slow light starvation issue and not have anything to do with your water parameters.
If it was just the birdsnest I would say it's just a finicky coral, but hammers are not all that delicate.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I had a Birdsnest do the same thing a long time ago. Turned out my salinity was fluctuating with every water change thanks to a cheap swing arm hydrometer. I started losing flesh even when other more sensitive acro's seemed unaffected.

 

[JayFish4004]

It could be related. From my experience euphyllia (especially hammers) are way heartier than birdsnest is. Stability is more important than numbers. 6.8 alk vs 8 is not going to make or break your tank unless you are bouncing between the two. If your Hanna is consistent, go by that and try to be consistent. How are you lighting the tank? This could be a slow light starvation issue and not have anything to do with your water parameters.
If it was just the birdsnest I would say it's just a finicky coral, but hammers are not all that delicate.

Okay cool - at this point I think Im keeping things stable for sure on the salinity and alk side. I asked the LFS and he thought it could also maybe be that little bit of bubble algae irritating it.

I am using the ReefLED 50 on my Red Sea Max Nano and it’s been dialed in around 52% intensity (80/20 blue/white). Over the last 30 days I’ve used the acclimation setting to bring it up to peaking at 58%. It is extremely difficult to figure out where to dial it in - I do think I could go up further but not sure how much.

a fellow reefer here (thx @gph) with the same setup posted his PAR readings on this handy chart:

My tank is sitting just under those red values at the moment - my hammers and torches are probably getting 90-100 par, the birdnest, digitata (doing terrible) and green slimer are probably right around 150 par in my tank sitting on that top rock in the middle.

Given this info - what intensity would you shoot to dial it in at lighting-wise? I am more fond of LPS and more trying to see if I can make some types of SPS work, but first and foremost I want this to be dialed in for LPS.

 

[Sean Clark]

Keep ramping it up in acclimation mode, Nothing too fast. I have not used that light, so I do not know how the controls work, but that light should be plenty strong enough for what you have. I am thinking take it to 75% over the next two or three weeks. Let it stay there and see how everything reacts. It is great that gph shared the par info on here and that you are able to make use of it.

 

[JayFish4004]

Keep ramping it up in acclimation mode, Nothing too fast. I have not used that light, so I do not know how the controls work, but that light should be plenty strong enough for what you have. I am thinking take it to 75% over the next two or three weeks. Let it stay there and see how everything reacts. It is great that gph shared the par info on here and that you are able to make use of it.

Okay cool - it is supposedly a really solid light that only emits the spectrum that corals need so I’m honestly probably overthinking it.

When I first started my tank I had a hammer I got from LiveAquaria that arrived in hideous conditions (didnt know it at the time) and I spent a lot of my first few months nursing it with the lighting instead of getting it dialed in, and I’ve been hesitant to bring it up because of the trauma from that experience.

Appreciate the help - I pulled the birdnest out and used a scalpel to get the bubble algae out of there. I’ll keep ya posted if something changes!

 

[JayFish4004]

Okay cool - it is supposedly a really solid light that only emits the spectrum that corals need so I’m honestly probably overthinking it.

When I first started my tank I had a hammer I got from LiveAquaria that arrived in hideous conditions (didnt know it at the time) and I spent a lot of my first few months nursing it with the lighting instead of getting it dialed in, and I’ve been hesitant to bring it up because of the trauma from that experience.

Appreciate the help - I pulled the birdnest out and used a scalpel to get the bubble algae out of there. I’ll keep ya posted if something changes!

Birdnest still doing well! Here’s a shot of the tank from tonight:

https://youtube.com/shorts/RUf2d-1FS8A?feature=share