Gsp not surviving

[Tmeyers]

Hey All!

So I have had GSP survive in my first tank for several months. Left for vacation for a couple days and I had died. Didn't figure out why. Did a water change on the tank. All other corals were good.

Now fast forward to more recently. I got a frag of gsp from a friend. It opened for 2 days then closed and died. Same happened with a frag of finger leather.
I have talked with a few LFS people and they are all stumped. Since mushrooms, zoas, acans, blastos, fuvia all seem to be OK and growing. Some have recommended I send in a sample of my water for a full on test. I was told could be the batch of salt I currently have from Fritz could be bad or missing trace elements.

I have been dosing elements in the tank. So not 100% sure. So I wanted to get some ideas from all of you.

Thanks in advance. Here are my last parameter reading from 2 days ago

 

[reefz]

Gsp is bulletproof under the right conditions. I see you have .3 ammonia and nitrite. Those should be at 0. Also your salinity is a bit low. Aim for 1.025-1.026. There could be several problems that would be the result of your coral not doing well. How long has the tank been running? If its fairly new, that might be the reason. I like to put my first soft coral into a tank after the first 3 months. Sps/lps can be anywhere from 8-12 months. Its hard to diagnose with so little information. Like what supllements are you putting into the tank? What lights are you using? Filtration? etc.

 

[pseudorand]

Maybe a pest? What eats GSP? If you could catch it you could probably sell it, as GSP can be a weed.

.3 ammonia should be pretty bad for everything, so I assume that's testing error, but a seachem ammonia button is cheap and can rule that out.

Is the new GSP in the same position as the old frag that died? Perhaps flow or lighting, but I've read GSP is tolerant of everything. I have some in two places in my tank. I even buried one in crushed coral by mistake, but it poked through a week later, none the worse for wear.

 

[Tmeyers]

Gsp is bulletproof under the right conditions. I see you have .3 ammonia and nitrite. Those should be at 0. Also your salinity is a bit low. Aim for 1.025-1.026. There could be several problems that would be the result of your coral not doing well. How long has the tank been running? If its fairly new, that might be the reason. I like to put my first soft coral into a tank after the first 3 months. Sps/lps can be anywhere from 8-12 months. Its hard to diagnose with so little information. Like what supllements are you putting into the tank? What lights are you using? Filtration? etc.

Tank is 10months old. Air prime 16 lighting at 60% running 30 gallon sump with chateo and bubble mag skimmer. Doing Red Sea ABCD supplements along with Alk, magnesium, and calcium, and some chateo grow supplements.

Salinity has been raised back up to 1.026

My first corals I added when started were a couple softie gsp and some zoas I got for free. All added after almost 3 months and did great and grew for about 6months. Then it just went down from there, but just with those. I bought a frag of Bam bams with 5 polyps and it exploded into over 30 within months.

I am getting a grip on that ammonia and nitrite levels. Alk is the big one I struggle with. But I do know that my corals consume it as well

 

[Tmeyers]

Maybe a pest? What eats GSP? If you could catch it you could probably sell it, as GSP can be a weed.

.3 ammonia should be pretty bad for everything, so I assume that's testing error, but a seachem ammonia button is cheap and can rule that out.

Is the new GSP in the same position as the old frag that died? Perhaps flow or lighting, but I've read GSP is tolerant of everything. I have some in two places in my tank. I even buried one in crushed coral by mistake, but it poked through a week later, none the worse for wear.

Could be a testing error for sure. Using a fluval test kit. I really don’t like it. Working on getting Hanna test kits.

I try to put them in medium to high lighting areas with good flow.

Not sure if something may be eating them, maybe the peppermint shrimp. But seems the only coral they attacked was my candy cane

 

[Venomike]

Ive had asterina stars which ate nothing but my gsp, normally gsp is bombproof

 

[Tmeyers]

Ive had asterina stars which ate nothing but my gsp, normally gsp is bombproof

Yeah unfortunately it’s with days of adding them. I’ve only had 2of them stars and have removed them. At least from what I have seen of them.

 

[reefz]

Tank is 10months old. Air prime 16 lighting at 60% running 30 gallon sump with chateo and bubble mag skimmer. Doing Red Sea ABCD supplements along with Alk, magnesium, and calcium, and some chateo grow supplements.

Salinity has been raised back up to 1.026

My first corals I added when started were a couple softie gsp and some zoas I got for free. All added after almost 3 months and did great and grew for about 6months. Then it just went down from there, but just with those. I bought a frag of Bam bams with 5 polyps and it exploded into over 30 within months.

I am getting a grip on that ammonia and nitrite levels. Alk is the big one I struggle with. But I do know that my corals consume it as well

Well it seems like your doing everything right... I personally use redsea abcd, and my corals thrive. So everything in your tank is thriving except gsp and leathers? Impossible. Those have to be the 2 hardest corals to kill. Im stumped mate. Maybe someone else can chime in and take a look. Good luck.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Wish I had this issue. GSp is immune to everything for me

 

[Tamberav]

You said you were doing elements... but you didn't say what? or if you test for them?

 

[Tmeyers]

You said you were doing elements... but you didn't say what? or if you test for them?

 

[Tmeyers]

Well it seems like your doing everything right... I personally use redsea abcd, and my corals thrive. So everything in your tank is thriving except gsp and leathers? Impossible. Those have to be the 2 hardest corals to kill. Im stumped mate. Maybe someone else can chime in and take a look. Good luck.

Not the first one to say that. That’s why I’m getting told I should send a sample of water in o have it completely broken down for all elements.

But since I’m gonna be moving. I’m gonna be restarting this tank, using a different brand of salt, and just starting this one fresh.

 

[Tmeyers]

Wish I had this issue. GSp is immune to everything for me

Right!

 

[Tamberav]

Cheatogro and red sea abcd contain several of the same elements.

Maybe you are dosing too much of something those soft corals don't care for.

If you have ever used fenbendazole or your rock been exposed to it (fish de-wormer). Certain soft corals tend to perish.

 

[Tmeyers]

Cheatogro and red sea abcd contain several of the same elements.

Maybe you are dosing too much of something those soft corals don't care for.

If you have ever used fenbendazole or your rock been exposed to it (fish de-wormer). Certain soft corals tend to perish.

Yeah never used it in the reef. Only in my fresh tanks.

I really haven’t dosed the cheato grow in awhile. Because I started using the Red Sea stuff.

Definitely interesting though as to why they are not liking my tank.

Hoping with the restart coming up they will be able to survive.