HELP! MEAT CORAL LOSING FLESH

[SaltyReefer09]

hey guys
so this meat coral has been in my tank for about 3 months now. Super healthy and beautiful looking one. I hope it can make a full recovery.
So 2 weeks ago i had a temperature problem(chiller not woking) then a few days later i noticed it started to lose its flesh.
When its inflated its not really noticeable but there are times like ,the attached photo, where the bony part is actually very visible. This has been bothering me for sometime.

i can deal losing a fish but not coral

So im wondering what should i do?
Should i reduce the light intensity?
Do i need to cut the bony part off?
Should i dip it in coral rx?
is it possible for the flesh to cover the skeleton again?
Should i direct feed him everyday?

i hope somebody here can share their thoughts n experience. Thank you

 

[Jekyl]

Full list of parameters needed. (Saying they are good does not help)

 

[SaltyReefer09]

Full list of parameters needed. (Saying they are good does not help)

Hey jekyl
heres my parameter. Will test again tomorrow. There was a spike in nitrate n phosphate due to heavy feeding at that time. Im using AF reef salt.

 

[NanoSteam]

Hey jekyl
heres my parameter. Will test again tomorrow. There was a spike in nitrate n phosphate due to heavy feeding at that time. Im using AF reef salt.

Well... that huge jump in alk could do it. Do you know what happened there?

 

[Utubereefer]

So sad

 

[SaltyReefer09]

Well... that huge jump in alk could do it. Do you know what happened there?

I started this tank with natural sea water but then i switched to AF reef salt as its more convenient. I noticed the corals are alot puffier now. Also i dont dose big3 so im relying on water change, 20% not more than 10 days.
i suspect the temperature issue is the culprit here.
any idea how to treat him so that the flesh would cover the bone again? Or should i clip the bone off?
thanks man

 

[NanoSteam]

I started this tank with natural sea water but then i switched to AF reef salt as its more convenient. I noticed the corals are alot puffier now. Also i dont dose big3 so im relying on water change, 20% not more than 10 days.
i suspect the temperature issue is the culprit here.
any idea how to treat him so that the flesh would cover the bone again? Or should i clip the bone off?
thanks man

I would still put it on that large change in Alk because of your switch over from sea water over the temp issue.

I have next to no experience with meat corals BUT if I were you I wouldn't touch it at this point. The more you handle it at this point the more stress it would cause. Unless there was an obvious bacterial infection that called for a coral dip IMO it's best to leave it be, feed it once or twice a week with reef roids or some other meaty food to give it the best chance at recovery.

Maybe someone else will have a different opinion but this is how I would approach it.

 

[Chrisv.]

I would NOT clip the bone.

 

[Harold999]

AF reef salt doesn't have an alk of 11.5 (more like 7-8) so i don't know what you're doing?
Do you dose alk manual?

 

[MaxTremors]

If you are experience a 3+ point drop in alkalinity between water changes, you need to start dosing, that is way too big of a swing every couple weeks. Also, if you’re only depending on water changes for your Alk/cal, and you do 20% changes, how did you get to 11.5? If you were at 7dkh, and did a 20% water change with salt water at 12dkh, your tank would only end up at 8dkh. There’s something weird going on here. How big of a temp swing are we talking? IMO, your massive swings in DKH, nitrates, and phosphates are a more likely culprit that a few degree temp swing. Or it could be a combination of both. The flesh is very unlikely to grow back over the septa, if you’re lucky, it won’t recede too much more, and then stabilize/heal and then just have a little corner of flesh missing. So long as the mouth is intact, it can live, hopefully the recession won’t progress, ensuring stable parameters is imperative in making sure it doesn’t.

 

[Harold999]

If you are experience a 3+ point drop in alkalinity between water changes, you need to start dosing, that is way too big of a swing every couple weeks. .

Alk went up, not down, if i read the date correctly.
AF reefsalt doesn't have high alk so he must be dosing which went wrong i guess. Going from 7.7 to 11.5 within a couple of hours or so.

 

[MaxTremors]

Alk went up, not down, if i read the date correctly.
AF reefsalt doesn't have high alk so he must be dosing which went wrong.

What I meant is that if right after a water change his Alk is going from 7 something to 11.5, he’s seeing a 3+ point drop between water changes, which means that water changes are not adequately keeping his Alk in check and it’s probably time to start dosing a two part. . There obviously something weird going on or something he’s not mentioning,

 

[Harold999]

What I meant is that if right after a water change his Alk is going from 7 something to 11.5, he’s seeing a 3+ point drop between water changes, which means that water changes are not adequately keeping his Alk in check and it’s probably time to start dosing a two part. . There obviously something weird going on or something he’s not mentioning,

Okay get that. But i'm 200% sure it isn't the salt, AF reef salt is a low alk salt. You don't go to 11.5 with just AF reefsalt waterchanges (unless a bad batch with skyhigh alk).

 

[SaltyReefer09]

AF reef salt doesn't have an alk of 11.5 (more like 7-8) so i don't know what you're doing?
Do you dose alk manual?

Thats one of the thing that surprised me tbh cause i dont dose big3. Only nopox and trace. Is it possible the mixing of nsw to asw spiked the alk?

 

[SaltyReefer09]

Wh

I would NOT clip the bone.

What if the theres algae growing on its bone? Wouldnt it be more dangerous?

 

[Jekyl]

Wh

What if the theres algae growing on its bone? Wouldnt it be more dangerous?

Tweezers or a toothbrush would be a better alternative

 

[SaltyReefer09]

If you are experience a 3+ point drop in alkalinity between water changes, you need to start dosing, that is way too big of a swing every couple weeks. Also, if you’re only depending on water changes for your Alk/cal, and you do 20% changes, how did you get to 11.5? If you were at 7dkh, and did a 20% water change with salt water at 12dkh, your tank would only end up at 8dkh. There’s something weird going on here. How big of a temp swing are we talking? IMO, your massive swings in DKH, nitrates, and phosphates are a more likely culprit that a few degree temp swing. Or it could be a combination of both. The flesh is very unlikely to grow back over the septa, if you’re lucky, it won’t recede too much more, and then stabilize/heal and then just have a little corner of flesh missing. So long as the mouth is intact, it can live, hopefully the recession won’t progress, ensuring stable parameters is imperative in making sure it doesn’t.

Noted. The swing in nitrate and phospate is likely caused by the heavy feeding of reefroids few days before i tested the parameter. As for the alk, i still havent got any clue. Could it be caused by mixing the NSW and ASW the first time? Bearing in mind that i have only done WC with ASW twice.
i will run a test again, latest by monday and i will post it here.
The temperature issue on the other hand, the warmest it got was around 28celcius and 24celcius on the cooler side. i got the temp problem fixed but the damage is already done. Do u think its better to clip off the exposed skeleton? To avoid any algae growing on it?

 

[MaxTremors]

Noted. The swing in nitrate and phospate is likely caused by the heavy feeding of reefroids few days before i tested the parameter. As for the alk, i still havent got any clue. Could it be caused by mixing the NSW and ASW the first time? Bearing in mind that i have only done WC with ASW twice.
i will run a test again, latest by monday and i will post it here.
The temperature issue on the other hand, the warmest it got was around 28celcius and 24celcius on the cooler side. i got the temp problem fixed but the damage is already done. Do u think its better to clip off the exposed skeleton? To avoid any algae growing on it?

That temp swing is roughly 75° to 82°f, while swings that big aren’t good, neither temp is out of range for what most corals can be kept at, so I don’t know if that would be the cause. I’m thinking its more likely the massive swing in Alk, especially if its constantly swinging (which it sounds like it most likely is since you’re not dosing anything to keep it stable. I would test everyday (at the same time each day) for a week (and log the results) to see just how much Alk your tank is consuming each day. If you’re seeing an over 1dkh drop per week you might want to consider starting to dose a two part or something like AllforReef. Unstable alkalinity is one of the most common causes of tissue recession.

 

[Harold999]

As for the alk, i still havent got any clue. Could it be caused by mixing the NSW and ASW the first time?

No. If you mix dkh 7 water and dkh 8 water you will get 7.5 (in case you change 50% water).

Test your AF reef salt bag for KH. It should be 7-8, but maybe it's a bad batch with skyhigh KH. This could explain it.

If your alk swing (from 7.7 to 11.5) happened within 24-48 hours this is most likely what caused your issue.

 

[SaltyReefer09]

No. If you mix dkh 7 water and dkh 8 water you will get 7.5 (in case you change 50% water).

Test your AF reef salt bag for KH. It should be 7-8, but maybe it's a bad batch with skyhigh KH. This could explain it.

If your alk swing (from 7.7 to 11.5) happened within 24-48 hours this is most likely what caused your issue.

I will run a test on monday after WC (hate this part most tbh lol)
but do u think spike of alk within the space of 11 days too much for the coral to handle?
And do u think its best to move the coral to a more shaddier area? Im afraid he wont get enough light to photosynthesis and end up losing his colour. Im really on the fence about this. Is there any remedy/vitamin/food to help the healing process?
Thanks for the input Harold rlly appreciate it