Corals Not Extending

[CoralFarmin]

3 Weeks ago my corals were all doing great. Shortly after all my corals began to stop opening except my rock flower nem and my gsp. Nothing notable happened to cause this so I let it be for a few days to see if they would revert back. This didn’t work so I began doing a series of 5-10G water changes every weekend. Still nothing. 3 days ago I began running a small ball of clean chato and a small dose of gfo in a reactor as my phosphates were high and causing algae growth on the glass that needed to be removed bi weekly. Also began running my small UV sterilizer just in case there was something bacterial that I couldn’t see. No visible pests on corals and no noticeable nipping from fish. Lights have been constant for life of tank and their location hasn’t changed since the last frag session 4 months ago. Changed to a jabao pump recently however the flow is on lowest setting and flow is high enough in tank that it causes minor sway in corals.

I just don’t know why they won’t open. None of the changes I made were anywhere near when this started and all perameters have been consistent for life of tank after cycle ended.

Tank Info:
Fish- scopas tang, pair of clowns, blue damsel, diamond goby
CUC- Nassau’s snails, astrea, turbo, bumble bee, and bristle star.
Running for +2 years
40 Gallon Breeder
Aoi Fiji cube
Lights B/8 W/2
Temp 79.7 F
Ph 8.0
Ammo 0-0.25
Nitr 0-0.25
Nitra 10
Alk 12.3
Pho .42
Mag 1500
Cal 550
Salinity 1.026

Blue pic is everything extended a few months before issue started. All others are as of today. Earlier today I moved all corals to lower light.

 

[vetteguy53081]

3 Weeks ago my corals were all doing great. Shortly after all my corals began to stop opening except my rock flower nem and my gsp. Nothing notable happened to cause this so I let it be for a few days to see if they would revert back. This didn’t work so I began doing a series of 5-10G water changes every weekend. Still nothing. 3 days ago I began running a small ball of clean chato and a small dose of gfo in a reactor as my phosphates were high and causing algae growth on the glass that needed to be removed bi weekly. Also began running my small UV sterilizer just in case there was something bacterial that I couldn’t see. No visible pests on corals and no noticeable nipping from fish. Lights have been constant for life of tank and their location hasn’t changed since the last frag session 4 months ago. Changed to a jabao pump recently however the flow is on lowest setting and flow is high enough in tank that it causes minor sway in corals.

I just don’t know why they won’t open. None of the changes I made were anywhere near when this started and all perameters have been consistent for life of tank after cycle ended.

Tank Info:
Fish- scopas tang, pair of clowns, blue damsel, diamond goby
CUC- Nassau’s snails, astrea, turbo, bumble bee, and bristle star.
Running for +2 years
40 Gallon Breeder
Aoi Fiji cube
Lights B/8 W/2
Temp 79.7 F
Ph 8.0
Ammo 0-0.25
Nitr 0-0.25
Nitra 10
Alk 12.3
Pho .42
Mag 1500
Cal 550
Salinity 1.026

Blue pic is everything extended a few months before issue started. All others are as of today. Earlier today I moved all corals to lower light.

Assuming your numbers are accurate, I would focus on alk, CA, any change in light or flow as well as elevated phosphate and salinity
If youre not sure, take a water sample to an LFS that does Not use Api tests and see what readings they come up with and to compare with yours

 

[CoralFarmin]

side note. Corals that won’t open are all frogspawns, 3/4 zoas, and acan will extend a bit but won’t get puffy. Also thinking about it, before they refused to open there were a few weeks where frogspawn would extend but were very thin and not thick and puffy as usual. I havnt seen a mass expoltion of zozanthelle either just during some feedings and in small amounts

 

[CoralFarmin]

Assuming your numbers are accurate, I would focus on alk, CA, any change in light or flow as well as elevated phosphate and salinity
If youre not sure, take a water sample to an LFS that does Not use Api tests and see what readings they come up with and to compare with yours

Are you recommending I lower or raise those parameters?

 

[Macbalacano]

Thanks for all the info. Have the phosphates level been that high for the past few weeks or months?

 

[CoralFarmin]

Thanks for all the info. Have the phosphates level been that high for the past few weeks or months?

Phosphates have been running that high for at least a year now and I had been seeing great growth from frogspawn. Started with 8 heads and I now have 22. I just recently started to attempt to lower them very slowly with the small ball of chaeto and well below the recommended dose of gfo just to not strip the tank fast

 

[vetteguy53081]

Phosphates have been running that high for at least a year now and I had been seeing great growth from frogspawn. Started with 8 heads and I now have 22. I just recently started to attempt to lower them very slowly with the small ball of chaeto and well below the recommended dose of gfo just to not strip the tank fast

More to verify they are accurate but your phosphate Very high- you want .06 - .1

 

[CoralFarmin]

More to verify they are accurate but your phosphate Very high- you want .06 - .1

I can take it to a near by petco but I’m not a fan of them. The nearest lfs is a hour and a half from my house unfortunately. I test my ph, amo, nitri and nitra with api. My mag and calc I use salifert and my alk and pho with Hannah. I’m hoping lowering them in the tank to lower light and lower flow while the pho starts dropping will help

 

[Macbalacano]

If you're using salifert and Hannah that is good.

I do agree that testing using another kit for key parameters may be a simple way to rule test error out. Its not necessarily you doing it wrong or anything like that, it could just be test kit/reagents are bad etc.

I do agree that Phosphates are very high and that would be my first suspicion. But if your tank has been running at that elevated level for a long time, it feels less likely to be the culprit.

I would run carbon (if you don't already) and maybe polyfill to rule out anything else in the water?

 

[CoralFarmin]

If you're using salifert and Hannah that is good.

I do agree that testing using another kit for key parameters may be a simple way to rule test error out. Its not necessarily you doing it wrong or anything like that, it could just be test kit/reagents are bad etc.

I do agree that Phosphates are very high and that would be my first suspicion. But if your tank has been running at that elevated level for a long time, it feels less likely to be the culprit.

I would run carbon (if you don't already) and maybe polyfill to rule out anything else in the water?

I am running carbon but I don’t remember the brand. They come in a large pouch I have within my sump filtration. I thought about running some heavy metal removers just in case my 4 stage rodi filter isn’t doing its job properly. I also have new media coming in so that I can swap out my filters and do another series of small water changes. I don’t want to change too much too fast but I am trying to keep ahead of this if they’re going to continue to deteriorate.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I can take it to a near by petco but I’m not a fan of them. The nearest lfs is a hour and a half from my house unfortunately. I test my ph, amo, nitri and nitra with api. My mag and calc I use salifert and my alk and pho with Hannah. I’m hoping lowering them in the tank to lower light and lower flow while the pho starts dropping will help

Another consideration would be an ICP test