First SOS indicator for SPS

[joeyamador]

I was changing out my water yesterday and noticed I didn't have as much polyp extension from some of my sps corals and it got me thinking. I'm sure my issues were me messing around in the tank and with the water but I wanted to know your thoughts.

What is the first indicator that your sps corals might be in trouble?

image via @bubbaque

Truthfully I can always tell something is up based off of the activity of my urchins... they are like my canaries for us...

 

[Vahanyos]

Truthfully I can always tell something is up based off of the activity of my urchins... they are like my canaries for us...

How do they act?

 

[ScottB]

i would be ecstatic if i could just keep one alive , tried all the ones they say are hardy, water is fine , tried different lighting, tried different flow, all same result , white coral

@stevieduk I have certainly killed my share -- especially when my tank was younger & smaller. Bleaching, in my experience, was generally the result my water being too clean. Zero PO4 and NO3. Too much light or ALK will also contribute. Hanna Checker and Red Sea nitrate tests for .04 and 5-10 respectively for PO4 and NO3. You can do this.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I would like to reiterate polyp extension. I’m about to lose my first acro in 6 months. It arrived exactly 2 weeks ago today and I noticed no polyp extension when I got home 4 hours ago and I just now noticed a little rtn on the base.

 

[Ashley Kekua]

STN on Montipora to show me that Calcium or Magnesium is too low for them no like it

 

[Ferrell]

i would be ecstatic if i could just keep one alive , tried all the ones they say are hardy, water is fine , tried different lighting, tried different flow, all same result , white coral

I’m with you @stevieduk ive got one green slimer and one pocillipora that I got from WWC that are doing awesome. When I won the three month subscription on here I requested easy sps and lps and sadly that’s the only two sps that are still with me. I have a birds nest I bought recently that’s not looking it’s best. Don’t give up!

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I pay attention to color more than polyp extension. If my red prostrata is turning brown that is an indicator of the whole tank not being great. If one coral starts to pale though, I typically will look to see if there is any changes to flow or lighting on that one piece.

I agree with this.

Coloration/pigmentation isn’t the be-all, end-all of indicators, but it’s a good one. Unhealthy corals (SPS or otherwise) rarely have good coloration. That’s a 50 feet away indicator.

If nothing else, it generally shows the coral is nourished, which makes it easier for the coral to handle other stressors.

I have a tank I do with a good mix of wild and A/C’d SPS. The tank is pretty stable and nutrient levels are where I want them. But the alk sometimes swings a bit. There is one wild acro in there that will have burned tips at the slightest change. The others don’t seem to care a bit. But when I walk in and see a few burned tips on that one, I know the alk has dipped into the 6s

 

[Heisenberg 78]

So we’ve established the noticeable traits that show when our corals aren’t happy.
what it your first line of enquiry? Change what, & wait how long?

Based on most tanks you generally see the same test results week on week, with little change..? Nothing stands out, where do you go from there..?

For me personally I can relate to a fair few of your collective observations and I know we all generally know the problems unique to our Own reef.
(what I’m kind of getting at is I see a lot of different things but feel backed into a corner when I look to resolve an issue.)
For instance my nitrate are a little high 30 to 50ppm, this is my first known query..
then I then look into my trace elements and think something is missing..( I do no water changes).

i see within my Own coral Recently:-
-mesenstrial Filaments which has recently started Showing.. (looks like tissue which is sliming White string after being damaged But it’s there all the time..)
-a green haze to my blue tissue
The fluffy Stringy polyps you see on millipora, or ssc have stopped showing so looks bare.
-prominent red tips on ssc faded..