HELP! Acro fading from bottom

[Wisdom.Corals]

Help! Sorry, not a great pic. This has been doing well for over a month now. Was starting to encrust more, but started to kind of brown/white out on the bottom.. tissue is still there, just very faded. This has been getting worse very slowly over the last week or two. Any ideas? I used to feed reef roids and phyto every day, but started to do it less frequently.. could it be from lack of nutrients? I dose acropower as well. All other acros look fine, I have noticed my pink lemonade acro not looking quite as fuzzy as usual though..
Calc-430
Alk-9 (and steady)
Nitrates- 0 or almost on api test kit..
Using a Coral Moon Box LED. I turned the light up a small amount before this started..
Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Guttersnipe]

Help! Sorry, not a great pic. This has been doing well for over a month now. Was starting to encrust more, but started to kind of brown/white out on the bottom.. tissue is still there, just very faded. This has been getting worse very slowly over the last week or two. Any ideas? I used to feed reef roids and phyto every day, but started to do it less frequently.. could it be from lack of nutrients? I dose acropower as well. All other acros look fine, I have noticed my pink lemonade acro not looking quite as fuzzy as usual though..
Calc-430
Alk-9 (and steady)
Nitrates- 0 or almost on api test kit..
Using a Coral Moon Box LED. I turned the light up a small amount before this started..
Any ideas? Thanks!

I’m following along. Some of my frags are doing this too.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Could be alk spike or a flow issue

 

[BoomCorals]

Have you dipped it for pests? Hard to tell but almost looks like maybe little dots on the base.

 

[Wisdom.Corals]

Could be alk spike or a flow issue

Been checking my alk daily and it is always within 8-9, usually much closer to 9. I actually want to raise this and the calcium levels over time. I dose b-ionic every night.
And I have a 150gph HOB filled with chaeto, and two koralias, 240, and 425gph, both pointing at the middle of the front glass to create random water movement.

Have you dipped it for pests? Hard to tell but almost looks like maybe little dots on the base.

Those are the polyps! Always had those in those spots, so Im sure of that. And I always dip. This came from WWC back in early november. Only added a few things since, and those were all dipped and are doing great!
The fact that it still has those polyps there make me think there is hope in bringing that whole base back.
One theory I had is that since i fed reef roids and phyto everyday when I got them, my tank built up the bacteria for that amount of nutrients, and now that I dont, my tanks levels are way lower... Gonna try with different kits tomorrow(using API) but just tested again, and nitrates and phosphates look minimal if any.

 

[Wisdom.Corals]

my build thread for more details and pics:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wisdoms-10g-sps-dominant-reef.350182/

 

[js1620]

I’m following along. Some of my frags are doing this too.

Same here, I've been battling the same thing for months now. I'm trying everything to figure out what's causing it

 

[WWIII]

I would say more flow would help. Also do you know your phosphate level? Not familiar with that light, but lighting could also be insufficient.

Edit - I see your api phosphate reading. Api tests aren't the best for reading the low levels of nutrients we like to try and keep our tanks at. I would still think flow and light may be the issue here.

 

[js1620]

I would say more flow would help. Also do you know your phosphate level? Not familiar with that light, but lighting could also be insufficient.

Edit - I see your api phosphate reading. Api tests aren't the best for reading the low levels of nutrients we like to try and keep our tanks at. I would still think flow and light may be the issue here.

More flow how? Gph, more power heads, or closer to the corals (more direct flow)? I added another power head and experimented with different flow directions but still having the same problem.

 

[WWIII]

More flow how? Gph, more power heads, or closer to the corals (more direct flow)? I added another power head and experimented with different flow directions but still having the same problem.

How big is the tank? I looked up that light and it seems like it should be sufficient. What test kit do you use for alkalinity?

 

[erky]

if nitrates and po4 are 0 what is you coral going to use for nutrition? get some nitrates in the system, it is hard to believe that po4 is 0 and the API test is garbage.

 

[Labridaedicted]

You're probably going to want to pick up low range test kits as mentioned above. If you're nutrients are actually that low, that could be the problem. Starved a few colonies by letting nutrients get too low recently. (I'd recommend the red sea pro low range for nitrates and Hanna ulr phosphate checker, but there are plenty of other fine testers. You need better accuracy for acros, especially in a tank that size)

Flow could also be an issue. Or alk. Remember, symptoms from alk or other swings can take weeks to exhibit.


Acros can be tough in small tanks as they require extreme stability and small systems are prone to swings.

 

[Bdrake]

API test kits are notoriously inaccurate. First step would be to get a quality nitrate test kit.

 

[bsfmaximus]

I found the spectrum information on the light. Up to 8,300k is what is listed which seems low to me, but I am not the light guy. Just sharing for someone else to weigh in. http://www.fish-street.com/coral_box_moon_led_lighting_us_delivery I'd also throw out there that when growing, my acros are initially light colored in the areas of new growth, although this is accompanied with decent polyp extension.

 

[Whasmack]

I've definitely seen similar when Nitrate is 0.0 - add some nutrients!
Also - what is your Magnesium level?

 

[gig 'em]

I see this in my QT tank. I have the same lights and flow as my DT, use the same source water and salt water as my DT and I only see this in my QT. I neglect the QT for the most part and the nutrients are 0 like yours. I would guess the coral is just starving and that causes the pale recessed flesh at the base of the coral. Try dosing the tank with nutrients or something like Oyster Feast to bring your nutrients up and see how it responds over time. The change likely won't be immediate, but over months it can regain health.

 

[Blz14me1]

I have been using Hanna checkers for calcium, phosphate and alk and I love getting a digital readout. Unfortunately they do not make a nitrate checker. I used to use api nitrate like you and I hated trying to match the colors. I bought a Red Sea kit still color match but when my api kit read 5-10 my Red Sea kit reads 4ppm.

 

[Wisdom.Corals]

Hey everyone!
Firstly, thanks for pitching in, I really appreciate it!!
So I brought some water into my LFS today and ran a full test.
Calcium - 440
Alk - 9
Mag - 1300
- - All salifert (what i use at home for calc and alk)^
Nitrates - ~0 Using red sea test kit
Phosphates - 0 Using red sea

With these results, and everyones input, it definitely seems like the problem may be low nutrients. Just super surprising to me since it is a 10g with two fish (no skimmer) that I feed daily! I guess the heavy feeding in the beginning, chaeto and mangrove I have in are seriously working.. a little too much!

I did a 10% water change last night, as well as replacing the chemi-pure elite, which thinking about, I hadnt changed in a while.
Of course, I am away for 2 days, so someone else is taking care of the tank. I am going to tell them not to rinse the PE Mysis i guess, that way it will just be a bunch of extra nutrients in with the fish food. I got a bunch of reef nutrition food coming next week, so will hit it hard with oyster feast and what not as well!
Can you spot feed oysterfeast or better to just turn of the HOB and broadcast feed?

Also, I definitely know what you mean about the new growth being paler, I can see that in others that are growing nicely! This kinda started like that, then all of a sudden the paleness started to spread inward from where it was encrusting.. Thinking back, I think this may have coincided with when I stopped feeding as often.
Will let everyone know how things are looking when I get back! Thanks!

 

[Hans-Werner]

Phosphate 0 (Since nitrate is also low I guess it really is quite low) and KH 9° is not the best combination. I suggest a KH of 7° for low phosphate concentrations.

 

[Sabellafella]

I get a couple acro frags that looks like their skins drawn in before. Usually when animals rub by it like hermit and such. Also see this when I'm having alk problems