Help with ICP and euphyllia

[immo]

Around last November all of my euphyllia bailed, for no apparent reason. So I sent in an ICP test with these being the results below.

Shared Results · Reef Labs Portal

The only majorly alarming this I was seeing was the tin in the water. Which I found the source of, and corrected. The previous owner of my tank had installed a metal hook up above the sump and out of sight that was rusting and dropping down to the sump. Did larger water changes over the next few months, and let the tank run. Did another ICP about a month ago. The tin was gone, and it showed more trace elements being depleted. So I bumped my trace dosing up some (there are still some elements deficient that I do not have a way to dose yet). Corrected my calcium, and threw in a bag of matrix carbon for the iodine. I still haven't found a source for the iodine to be there, but from my understanding the carbon will absorb the iodine. Below are the results from that test.

Shared Results · Reef Labs Portal

So after this ran for a few weeks and another water change. I tested the waters with a torch. It has been in the tank for almost exactly 1 week. Everything seemed ok, was never closed up until last night. This morning, it's closed up tighter, and I see a little bit of skeleton. This is similar to how my other euphyllia did, and I'm at a loss. Does anyone have any ideas of what would cause this? Am I missing something? I'm running an AP9X on a reefer 250, with 2 mp10's at the same light and flow settings that I previously kept euphyllia at for a year with no issue. I run an apex, I don't have any temperature or pH swings. Run a quantum 120 skimmer, and dose nopox for nutrients, and TSP from loudwulf to keep my phosphate up. Below is a picture of the torch from this morning.

 

[immo]

TTT

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The iodine is very high. Are you dosing it?

What all are you dosing?

 

[immo]

The iodine is very high. Are you dosing it?

What all are you dosing?

I am not dosing iodine. I dose your baking soda alk recipe, fritz calcium, diy nopox, reef trace, and phosphate via TSP from loudwulf.

I agree that it's high, and going between the two tests, it was basically not present on the former test. I haven't had anything that could be an introduction of iodine to the tank.

 

[VintageReefer]

How did you get the torch? Was it shipped? They stress easily in shipping

Also why is it on the sandbed? They tend to prefer to be higher in the tank

 

[immo]

How did you get the torch? Was it shipped? They stress easily in shipping

Also why is it on the sandbed? They tend to prefer to be higher in the tank

No I picked up from a shop a couple hours from my house. I didn't mount it because I previously lost all of my euphyllia in this tank to polyp bailout. I still don't know why they bailed, so I put this one on the sand for one to be as low light as I could, and so I can grab it and move it easily.

Seemed fine for the first week, and then it's like out of nowhere it closed up, and the one head did bail. Pretty similar to what my other euphyllia did.

 

[VintageReefer]

No I picked up from a shop a couple hours from my house. I didn't mount it because I previously lost all of my euphyllia in this tank to polyp bailout. I still don't know why they bailed, so I put this one on the sand for one to be as low light as I could, and so I can grab it and move it easily.

Seemed fine for the first week, and then it's like out of nowhere it closed up, and the one head did bail. Pretty similar to what my other euphyllia did.

Do you feed it?

 

[immo]

Do you feed it?

Broadcasted reef roids about 3 days prior, so about 4 days after putting it in the tank.

 

[VintageReefer]

Broadcasted reef roids about 3 days prior, so about 4 days after putting it in the tank.

Doesn’t work typically

 

[immo]

Doesn’t work typically

Feeding? Or reefroids?

 

[VintageReefer]

Turn off all flow
Dissolve a lot of roids in a cup
(Or mysis mixed with roids is better if you have it - they prefer small meaty food and will grab it easier and will get some roids in the process)
Suck up with baster and hold above the torch and let gravity have it fall directly on the center of the torch. Should see the tentacles grab it and wrap around
Takes about 10-5 min for it actually to eat
Then turn flow back on

 

[immo]

Turn off all flow
Dissolve a lot of roids in a cup
(Or mysis mixed with roids is better if you have it - they prefer small meaty food and will grab it easier and will get some roids in the process)
Suck up with baster and hold above the torch and let gravity have it fall directly on the center of the torch. Should see the tentacles grab it and wrap around
Takes about 10-5 min for it actually to eat
Then turn flow back on

That's not terribly different than what I do, minus the mysis. I may have been unclear in what I consider broadcasting. I drop it above the corals, but I don't shove the pipette up on the coral. I always turn the flow off. My feed b on my apex is for 15 minutes. This is the same way I fed my euphyllia before, except I would occasionally give the hammers some LPS pellets (my torches never seemed to take them.) I had those corals ranging from 8 months to almost 2 years. I don't understand what caused them to bail. How likely is it that the feeding would have made a difference in this situation with this torch?

 

[VintageReefer]

Feeding? Or reefroids?

I have a overstocked tank with coral. Tons. You would think broadcast feeding would get most. It actually misses most.

If I broadcast feed and watch, only about 5-10% of corals actually get food and the rest ends up with the hermits / snails

I turn off flow and target feed everyone 2-3x a week. This guarantees they all get something.

 

[VintageReefer]

That's not terribly different than what I do, minus the mysis. I may have been unclear in what I consider broadcasting. I drop it above the corals, but I don't shove the pipette up on the coral. I always turn the flow off. My feed b on my apex is for 15 minutes. This is the same way I fed my euphyllia before, except I would occasionally give the hammers some LPS pellets (my torches never seemed to take them.) I had those corals ranging from 8 months to almost 2 years. I don't understand what caused them to bail. How likely is it that the feeding would have made a difference in this situation with this torch?

Ok thank you for clarifying

When I hear broadcast feed I am imagining pouring in front of a powerhead with all flow on

Let me re-read and post again

 

[immo]

Ok thank you for clarifying

When I hear broadcast feed I am imagining pouring in front of a powerhead with all flow on

Let me re-read and post again

Yeah, that's probably my fault, I wasn't very clear. I just try to stay a good bit above the coral so I don't disturb them. I let the water I use to mix the reef roids cool down a good bit to help it sink better (room temp), and stay probably 4-6" above the corals.

 

[VintageReefer]

Yeah, that's probably my fault, I wasn't very clear. I just try to stay a good bit above the coral so I don't disturb them. I let the water I use to mix the reef roids cool down a good bit to help it sink better (room temp), and stay probably 4-6" above the corals.

i would incorporate a meaty food like mysis. Dust foods are for smaller corals. Yes I do feel dst foods like roids and benepets are nutritional and great for most corals but in my experience larger corals have trouble actually grabbing it and getting it into the mouths.

If water and tank parameters are in range, and lighting / flow is good, and there are no pests, the next thing I look at is nutritional needs and frequently corals look fine living off reserves then decline suddenly and rapidly when those reserves run out.

 

[immo]

i would incorporate a meaty food like mysis. Dust foods are for smaller corals. Yes I do feel dst foods like roids and benepets are nutritional and great for most corals but in my experience larger corals have trouble actually grabbing it and getting it into the mouths.

If water and tank parameters are in range, and lighting / flow is good, and there are no pests, the next thing I look at is nutritional needs and frequently corals look fine living off reserves then decline suddenly and rapidly when those reserves run out.

My tank parameters are surely not perfect (icp), but what ICP comes back with everything perfect? I had some tin, which I resolved, but I'm not sure that that's even what caused the original issue. My former euphyllia lived, and grew in the spots for months before everything went to pot. I didn't change any lighting or flow drastic, and was never at a point where it was obviously too much. I measured the PAR today where I had this torch and it came in around 120 (amazon PAR meter, so take it for what it's worth). My hammer had went from 4-5 heads in this tank to about 20. torch from 1 splitting head to 6-7. I can't come up with an answer, and would have called it something strange and unusual if I hadn't had trouble with this torch after correcting the tin and calcium. I'm just at a loss (and I truly appreciate your help). I'm only a few years in to reef keeping, and torches are my weakness. I would rather have them than any acro. BTW there is an acro frag in the back on a rack that's made it through all of this, no issue.

 

[VintageReefer]

My torches are all around 120-175 par using Amazon’s Vabira par meter

My last icp wasn’t perfect at all. Had a lot of weird results. But my tin was undetectable. And I have heard of tin causing issues for other people so that could have been related.

Will say this. Torches can decline much faster than they recover.

They can look good one day and bad the next, and then recovery can take weeks to months.

I have a ton of healthy torches in my tank. And just randomly this week, one torch has bjd out of nowhere. Was fine for months and months and months and then one day, one heads not open and it’s got bjd. Could be as simple as a fish bit it and opened a door for bacteria. Who knows

 

[immo]

My torches are all around 120-175 par using Amazon’s Vabira par meter

My last icp wasn’t perfect at all. Had a lot of weird results. But my tin was undetectable. And I have heard of tin causing issues for other people so that could have been related.

Will say this. Torches can decline much faster than they recover.

They can look good one day and bad the next, and then recovery can take weeks to months.

I have a ton of healthy torches in my tank. And just randomly this week, one torch has bjd out of nowhere. Was fine for months and months and months and then one day, one heads not open and it’s got bjd. Could be as simple as a fish bit it and opened a door for bacteria. Who knows

That's the same PAR meter I'm using.

I found the source of tin, and corrected it. I'm just at a loss. Considering a aquabiomic test, and possibly cipro. Just want to figure it out, and get it lined out.

 

[immo]

@Randy Holmes-Farley do you see anything that would throw a flag up for you in the ICP?