button polyps looking weird.

STEVEN ADAMS · Apr 22, 2018

Hey all my button polyps seemed to be stressed or something. I uploaded a photo my brown ones are doing fine but the green ones on the same rock are all mostly closed up and looking a little shriveled. they have been doing great thus far. ammonia is 0 Phosphate reads .25 on API test kit. Nitrate reads 5 . Salinity 1.026. calcium 640. I have no other test kits. KH test kit in the mail. all the other corals I have seem to be doing pretty well. There is a before and after picture.

norfolkgarden · Apr 22, 2018

STEVEN ADAMS said:
Hey all my button polyps seemed to be stressed or something. I uploaded a photo my brown ones are doing fine but the green ones on the same rock are all mostly closed up and looking a little shriveled. they have been doing great thus far. ammonia is 0 Phosphate reads .25 on API test kit. Nitrate reads 5 . Salinity 1.026. calcium 640. I have no other test kits. KH test kit in the mail. all the other corals I have seem to be doing pretty well. There is a before and after picture.

Ours open and close if you look at them wrong. Normally I wouldn't worry about it. As long as they reopen soon.

How big is your tank?
That looks like a lot of paly toxin for a 30 gallon (Guessing!) tank.

We only keep the larger paly's to annoy the dwarf angelfish.
It let's us know when a new frag is just a great tasting zoa.
[emoji52]

STEVEN ADAMS · Apr 22, 2018

norfolkgarden said:
Ours open and close if you look at them wrong. Normally I wouldn't worry about it. As long as they reopen soon.

How big is your tank?
That looks like a lot of paly toxin for a 30 gallon (Guessing!) tank.

We only keep the larger paly's to annoy the dwarf angelfish.
It let's us know when a new frag is just a great tasting zoa.
[emoji52]

tank is a 35 gallon.

Lninwa · Apr 22, 2018

Your phosphates are on the high side, I recommend Salifert or Hannah for test kits. Red Sea is also good. Calcium should be in the 420-450. Idk what effect a calcium of 640 will do for corals but try getting them down or test again

STEVEN ADAMS · Apr 23, 2018

Lninwa said:
Your phosphates are on the high side, I recommend Salifert or Hannah for test kits. Red Sea is also good. Calcium should be in the 420-450. Idk what effect a calcium of 640 will do for corals but try getting them down or test again

Is the API test kit not good enough? I have used it for my planted tank for awhile now.

Lninwa · Apr 23, 2018

STEVEN ADAMS said:
Is the API test kit not good enough? I have used it for my planted tank for awhile now.

Most Reefers say api isn’t good for some tests. If you know someone with a test kit other than api you should compare results.

STEVEN ADAMS · Apr 23, 2018

Lninwa said:
Most Reefers say api isn’t good for some tests. If you know someone with a test kit other than api you should compare results.

Unfortunately I dont. I may have to buy a new one. what levels should I be monitoring closest and how what target ppm for all? I am getting mixed answeres

Lninwa · Apr 23, 2018

What other corals do you have? If you only have soft corals like zoas, muchroms, and leathers then you don’t need to dose alkalinity or calcium. Just doing water changes will be fine. Depending on the number of fish you only need to do water changes once or twice a month. Do you plan to have or do you already have Stony corals?

STEVEN ADAMS · Apr 23, 2018

Lninwa said:
What other corals do you have? If you only have soft corals like zoas, muchroms, and leathers then you don’t need to dose alkalinity or calcium. Just doing water changes will be fine. Depending on the number of fish you only need to do water changes once or twice a month. Do you plan to have or do you already have Stony corals?

my corals include Sun coral, mushrooms, frogspawn, hammer, kenya tree, two zoas, 3 different kinds of buttons, and one small favia.

STEVEN ADAMS · Apr 23, 2018

Lninwa said:
What other corals do you have? If you only have soft corals like zoas, muchroms, and leathers then you don’t need to dose alkalinity or calcium. Just doing water changes will be fine. Depending on the number of fish you only need to do water changes once or twice a month. Do you plan to have or do you already have Stony corals?

these buttons are still not opening up they are looking pretty poor and I just cant figure out why. I didnt do anything in the tank.

SKYHIGGh · Apr 23, 2018

Do a water change start there.

Lninwa · Apr 24, 2018

Your frogspawn and hammer are your only stony corals so you don’t need to add extra alkalinity & Calcium. Are dosing these elements?

STEVEN ADAMS · Apr 24, 2018

Lninwa said:
Your frogspawn and hammer are your only stony corals so you don’t need to add extra alkalinity & Calcium. Are dosing these elements?

I am not dosing them.

Lninwa · Apr 24, 2018

STEVEN ADAMS said:
I am not dosing them.

Idk but I’m wondering if your dosing might be attributing to your zoas not opening up. Did you did your frags for parasites prior to them going in your tank? There are several pests that irritate or even chew on zoas so dipping is necessary for all frags. The most popular coral dips are CoralRX, Revive by Two Little Fishies. Dips will get rid of adult pests but does get rid of adults. I would look at you zoas looking for pests between the polio’s. Also want to make sure you know zoas and palys contain the harmful paly toxin which can make us very very sick. Always wash your hands after handling zoas. Also goggles are need when fragging zoas

STEVEN ADAMS · Apr 24, 2018

They are not showing any improvement. I am wondering if they are getting too much light? they are at the top of the tank right under the light. This tank was used I got it from a previous owner. I am using the same lighting schedule he had them set on. They were doing fine for the first week. then I did my first water change. I am new to saltwater so I did not temp the water before hand and it threw off a bunch of my corals. Most of them have not been the same since. The buttons did not seem affected at first tho they have closed up in the last few days or so only. its been two weeks since I did that first water change.

STEVEN ADAMS · Apr 24, 2018

Lninwa said:
Idk but I’m wondering if your dosing might be attributing to your zoas not opening up. Did you did your frags for parasites prior to them going in your tank? There are several pests that irritate or even chew on zoas so dipping is necessary for all frags. The most popular coral dips are CoralRX, Revive by Two Little Fishies. Dips will get rid of adult pests but does get rid of adults. I would look at you zoas looking for pests between the polio’s. Also want to make sure you know zoas and palys contain the harmful paly toxin which can make us very very sick. Always wash your hands after handling zoas. Also goggles are need when fragging zoas

Sorry I forgot to mention all these corals were in this tank for awhile. I acquired it used from a previous owner who had the tank for 2 years. I did my first water changed and did not temp water which I think stressed them out. its been two weeks since that tho and the button polyps did not seem affected at first. my hammer and blue mushrooms shriveled up and buttons were unaffected. but now they are closing up so idk what to think.

Lninwa · Apr 24, 2018

STEVEN ADAMS said:
Sorry I forgot to mention all these corals were in this tank for awhile. I acquired it used from a previous owner who had the tank for 2 years. I did my first water changed and did not temp water which I think stressed them out. its been two weeks since that tho and the button polyps did not seem affected at first. my hammer and blue mushrooms shriveled up and buttons were unaffected. but now they are closing up so idk what to

Are the polyps in the same position for you as they were for the previous owner. I’m sorry I thought you said your are dosing but I re read your post. It is important the new saltwater be the same temp and same spacing IV gravity as the tank. I have a separate heater and circulation pump for the new saltwater. I make up the new water several hrs or over night before i do my water change.