Blastomussa Bacterial or Nutrition Issue?

[XFeathersx]

Hi all. Blastomussa are my current favorite coral and I've picked up a few during the 9 months I've had my tank setup. 2 months ago I bought 2 blastos from a local guy who had recently imported them. One was a red frag with 2 heads and 2 skeletons, and another was a nice frozen apple 3 headed frag. The frag with 2 heads and 2 skeletons quickly receded completely leaving me with no heads after about 2 weeks (since it was already damaged I suspect this is my culprit). Then a week later the nice 3 headed frag started to decline. I've had one standard merletti for 6 months now, and just yesterday it has started to shrivel and not expand anymore, and 2 other blastos I've had for 4 months have been exposing their skeleton. I've dipped twice in 2 different iodine solutions now. 2 weeks ago I added a really nice blasto and I really don't want to lose that. Since it's only blastos that are receding, and none of my other LPS (Duncan, 3 frogspawn, 1 hammer) or my 2 montipora, I'm suspecting a bacterial issue.

However, the past 3-4 months I've been battling algae and nigh undetectable nitrates and phosphates. Both tested using Salifert kit, and I just saw a barely 0.02 NO3 yesterday after weeks of increased feeding. Is it possible the blastos are just reacting to the super low NO3 anand PO4?

Any ideas are appreciated!

Tank info:
32g Biocube set up March 1, 2020
Filter floss only filtration, being left unchanged to try to build up NO3
Tiny stock Coralife UV
8.5 dKH
390 Ca
8.1 pH
1.026 salinity
0 Ammonia
0 NO2
~0.02 NO3
0.09 PO4
1350 Mg
2 clowns, 2 barnacle blennies, 1 green banded goby
Mostly LPS, a few softies (I killed my xenia with the low NO3 and PO4), and 2 SPS

 

[T-J]

It could be a lighting issue as well.
One thing I noticed is the algae in your pics. If you have a lot of algae, it could be hiding much higher nutrients, as it is using them to grow. The algae also leads me to believe it could be lighting. What kind of light are you using and what settings?

 

[XFeathersx]

It could be a lighting issue as well.
One thing I noticed is the algae in your pics. If you have a lot of algae, it could be hiding much higher nutrients, as it is using them to grow. The algae also leads me to believe it could be lighting. What kind of light are you using and what settings?

Thanks for the response. I'm using the stock LEDs that come with the Biocube. According to my picture resource it's probably around 64 PAR on the bottom of the sand. I've got some of the blastos under an overhang but they are still suffering.