Coral dying? And how to save.

[Knight_Solaire01]

Hello one and all. I am fairly new to the salt water hobby and as such I have learned a lot while building and watching my tank grow. I have noticed that some of my new corals do not open all the way or even half of the time. I have asked my store to test my water every week before a water change(five gallons a week for a 32 gallon biocube). So far my PH, Nitrates, Nitrites, Calcium, and salt are all good. My Alkalinity was very high at 14, two weeks later it has only gotten down do 12. I need it to be 10 or less for the corals to be happy. So far my Zoanthids are happy, but the rest are not flourishing. My green star polyps only opens half way half the time which is troubling. If a coral that easy to take over a tank is not doing well, then something is wrong. My montipora are not dying, but they aren't opening. And just recently I noticed my gorgonia has started to die. I have noticed one arm of the gorgonia has developed black coloring in the middle as well as all polyps in that area to shrink back in. From the point of the coloration onward, all polyps are out, but they don't open. The other arms have all polyps out and open or retracted if a cleaner shrimp climbs on. So all arms still function fine but the one with the blackness. Should I cut off that arm past the black color and perhaps glue the healthy arm to another piece of reef rock? Also I have noticed off and on a group of growing algae over almost everything from the back wall, to the glass(which I clean every other day as I see growth), to even the horsehoe crab. My water is fine according to the water tests, but should I be worried about the algae? Also what is to be done about the gorgonia?
P.S. I have Red Sea Reef Energy AB+ and I have noticed the zoanthids love it.

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

Also I hope this doesn't upset any of you if it isn't an emergency, but to me this is dire. I hope all of my corals are doing well.

 

[Big G]

Was the algae covering the areas of the gorgonian that is now troubled?

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

Was the algae covering the areas of the gorgonian that is now troubled?

Not really. this only started two days ago. The algae was a few days before it was installed.

 

[Uncle99]

In order for corals to flourish, in addition to to correct intensity and spectrum of lighting, water parameters must be in the ranges and remain there with little flux.

It’s important that YOU test each parameter especially within the first year as things change, while your LFS may be correct that your parameters are fine, not knowing those levels is problematic. Also, fine does not help the community understand your specific chemistry.

Alk fluxes (as well salinity and temp), really make corals unhappy, so at mininum, watch alk daily until it gets down to say 8-8.5, then if water changes do not bring that back to that range, dose alk to keep this constant.

Salinity and temp must be rock solid always, an ATO is a must as level of salinity affects everthing.

I see “green” in your pics, a sign of excess nutrients so I would also monitor both N and P closely. Bring your N into the 2-5 ppm range and phosphate into the 0.03-.15 range through the use of Nopox (carbon dose to lower nitrate) and GFO to mop up this organic.

When light, water, flow are on point, every coral WILL thrive.

Maybe some of these considerations will help....

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

In order for corals to flourish, in addition to to correct intensity and spectrum of lighting, water parameters must be in the ranges and remain there with little flux.

It’s important that YOU test each parameter especially within the first year as things change, while your LFS may be correct that your parameters are fine, not knowing those levels is problematic. Also, fine does not help the community understand your specific chemistry.

Alk fluxes (as well salinity and temp), really make corals unhappy, so at mininum, watch alk daily until it gets down to say 8-8.5, then if water changes do not bring that back to that range, dose alk to keep this constant.

Salinity and temp must be rock solid always, an ATO is a must as level of salinity affects everthing.

I see “green” in your pics, a sign of excess nutrients so I would also monitor both N and P closely. Bring your N into the 2-5 ppm range and phosphate into the 0.03-.15 range through the use of Nopox (carbon dose to lower nitrate) and GFO to mop up this organic.

When light, water, flow are on point, every coral WILL thrive.

Maybe some of these considerations will help....

Currently my Alk is at 12 which is still very very high. It has dropped from 14, but only after week and a 15% water change. I will get a kit so I can test everyday and report what I know for further details.

 

[Uncle99]

Slow is good especially with Alk....

Test. Yup.....good for you.
The bad thing about testing is it’s expensive.
The good thing is when all 8 parameters are on point, everything thrives.

Keep us posted

 

[Mikedawg]

Which salt mix are you using? RS Coral Pro mixes that high as do a few others, btw. More importantly, what test kits is your LFS using? If API they are notorious for producing invalid and unreliable results and, as mentioned, you want to test water yourself with better test kits: Hannah, Nyos, Salifert for example.

And, I have cut back gorgs when they were losing polyps and they came back with appropriate flow and feeding - Marine Snow, Oyster Feast, etc.

Lastly, I would watch the behavior of the horseshoe crab - in a small tank they often plow over corals and can add to their stress. As you know they have been around a long time, just not in a home aquarium.

Good luck, once you have a valid testing procedure in place you can better calibrate water parameters with appropriate remedies, from feeding less, more frequent water changes to adding chemicals and equipment. All part of exploring the hobby...……..

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

Which salt mix are you using? RS Coral Pro mixes that high as do a few others, btw. More importantly, what test kits is your LFS using? If API they are notorious for producing invalid and unreliable results and, as mentioned, you want to test water yourself with better test kits: Hannah, Nyos, Salifert for example.

And, I have cut back gorgs when they were losing polyps and they came back with appropriate flow and feeding - Marine Snow, Oyster Feast, etc.

Lastly, I would watch the behavior of the horseshoe crab - in a small tank they often plow over corals and can add to their stress. As you know they have been around a long time, just not in a home aquarium.

Good luck, once you have a valid testing procedure in place you can better calibrate water parameters with appropriate remedies, from feeding less, more frequent water changes to adding chemicals and equipment. All part of exploring the hobby...……..

I watch him and mostly he just pesters the caulerpa algae by trying to dig and hide. But I am not concerned with that as this algae has proven a little too successful with my Nitrite spike when I first set up the tank. That was a trip, getting all that green to finally go away. I do need to ad more sand so I will figure that out during my next water change. As for the salt, I use Instant Ocean.

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

Slow is good especially with Alk....

Test. Yup.....good for you.
The bad thing about testing is it’s expensive.
The good thing is when all 8 parameters are on point, everything thrives.

Keep us posted

I look forward to the day that the GSP(set aside on it's own rock to explode and take over), the gorgonian, montipora, zoanthids, and other incrusting corals are all happy and out.

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

Also I have learned that when I introduce new frags I need to set the LED's low and to reduce the daylight feature to somewhere around noon. At all other times it is set to sunrise/sunset and night time blue.

 

[Mikedawg]

I look forward to the day that the GSP(set aside on it's own rock to explode and take over), the gorgonian, montipora, zoanthids, and other incrusting corals are all happy and out.

It will happen with a patient approach

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

An update. I’ve cut off and clued the living arm to some live rock and put it in high flow. All seems well with both as both have their polyps out.

 

[egarcia24]

Sounds like its the alk man. Turn your doser down or off a few days and dial it down. Do a few extra water changes and things should get better. It’ll take some time but if it’s rushed that does more harm. Not all is lost, just be on it.