Help with my candy cane coral!!

[mechengr]

Hey all, looking for a little input here.
My candy cane corals have been pretty retracted for about a month now and I'm worried I'm losing it. I've had it for about 3-4 months now and it was doing great in it's location. I also recently lost a frogspawn for unknown reasons. My other corals seem to be doing just fine.
Tank is about 7 months old now and I recently started dosing Red Sea Coral Nutrition
First pic if from early July
Second pic is today

Tank parameters are:
SG - 1.0255
pH - 8.2
Alk - 12
Nitrate - 18
Phos - .16
Calc - 420
Temp - 78

 

[Gumbies R Us]

My candy cane never did well in my tank, either.
Have you made any recent changes in your tank?
How are you testing your parameters?
What is the light and flow of your tank?

 

[mechengr]

My candy cane never did well in my tank, either.
Have you made any recent changes in your tank?
How are you testing your parameters?
What is the light and flow of your tank?

Only change I can think of is that that my nitrates were at 0 and phos at .5-1 for a while and then I dosed nitrates to bring back in balance. That was back in August. I did it slowly per the instructions.

Parameter testing is with Red Sea testing kits, and confirmed with my LFS.

It's a 40 gal tank and I am using an AI Blade coral grow light. 65% RB, 60% B, 30% CW, 10 hours per day
Flow is with an AI Nero 3 and the sump return at opposite ends of the tank

The coral is at the bottom of my tank.

Thanks!

 

[Tommy B]

are you intentionally aiming for 12 DKH?

mine do very well at 8-9 DKH

 

[mechengr]

are you intentionally aiming for 12 DKH?

mine do very well at 8-9 DKH

It was actually much higher for several months because I was reading the test wrong and dosing when I didn't need to. I've since corrected and am letting it fall naturally. It has been pretty steady at 10-12 for about 2 months now.

I haven't been below 11 since I set up the tank.

 

[KrisReef]

Looks like it has been starving and never thriving.
These do well eating drifting fish food and planktonic food.

Has the bubble tip been hiding? Both could indicate light issues.

Lower the alk!

 

[mechengr]

Looks like it has been starving and never thriving.
These do well eating drifting fish food and planktonic food.

Has the bubble tip been hiding? Both could indicate light issues.

Lower the alk!

I've been dosing phytoplankton for a few months now for my pod population. I feed my fish mostly brine and mysis shrimp. I'm not very experienced feeding corals directly, any tips would be appreciated.

The BTA has only been the tank for about 10 days. This is what he looks like right now.

 

[KrisReef]

That looks bad for the cane. BTA’s are famous for walking around and killing coral in their path.

Sometimes even “easy “ coral does not thrive in a tank, yours or mine. I have not heard a reliable explanation other than every tank is unique and we don’t understand all that a coral needs, to thrive.

I might move the cane before the anemone finishes it.

 

[Uncle99]

The parameters are in the bands even alk but on the edge of the higher side.

You post about a nitrate flux and a alk flux indicates potential instability which many corals hate.

 

[mechengr]

For those that like numbers, here's my data

Test Date	Test Type	Ammonia	Nitrite	Nitrate	pH	Alkalinity	SG	Temp	Calcium	Phosphate	Magnesium
8-Jun​	Initial	0​	0​	15​	8.3​	11​	1.026​	79​	N/A	N/A	N/A
9-Jun​	Spot check	N/A	N/A	15​	8.3​	12​	1.026​	77.5​	N/A	N/A	N/A
10-Jun​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	15​	8.3​	12​	1.026​	78.6​	N/A	N/A	N/A
17-Jun​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	10​	8.3​	13​	1.026​	78.5​	480​	0.5​	N/A
21-Jun​	Spot check	N/A	N/A			15​					N/A
24-Jun​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	2​	8.2​	16​	1.026​	79.8​	N/A	0.03​	N/A
1-Jul​	Monthly	0​	0​	2​	8​	15​	1.026​	80.4​	400​	0.15​	N/A
8-Jul​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	1​	8.2​	18​	1.026​	80.6​	N/A	N/A	N/A
16-Jul​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	0.5​	8​	17​	1.0255​	79.1​	N/A	N/A	N/A
22-Jul​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	0.5​	8.2​	15​	1.025​	80.2​	N/A	N/A	N/A
29-Jul​	Weekly	N/A	N/a	0.5​	8​	16​	1.025​	80.6​	N/A	N/A	N/A
5-Aug​	Monthly	0​	0​	0.5​	8​	18​	1.026​	80.6​	260​	0.25​	1600​
12-Aug​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	0.5​	8​	15​	1.026​	80.6​	N/A	0.5​	N/A
19-Aug​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	1​	8​	16​	1.025​	80.6​	420​	0​	N/A
26-Aug​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	1.5​	8​	12​	1.0255​	82.4​	N/A	N/A	N/A
2-Sep​	Monthly	0​	0​	2​	8.3​	16​	1.025​	79.6​	300​	0.25​	1400​
9-Sep​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	2​	8.2​	13​	1.0255​	78.4​	N/A	N/A	N/A
16-Sep​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	2​	8​	21​	1.0255​	80.6​	N/A	N/A	N/A
23-Sep​	Weekly	0​	N/A	10​	8.3​	13​	1.0255​	77​	420​	0.1​	N/A
30-Sep​	Monthly	0​	0​	5​	8.2​	10​	1.025​	79.8​	400​	0​	1420​
7-Oct​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	5​	8.3​	12​	1.025​	77​	N/A	N/A	N/A
14-Oct​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	5​	8.3​	12​	1.0255​	77.9​	N/A	N/A	N/A
21-Oct​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	10​	8.3​	11​	1.02575​	79.1​	N/A	N/A	N/A
28-Oct​	Monthly	0​	0​	10​	8​	10​	1.0255​	78​	N/A	0.14​	N/A
4-Nov​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	15​	8.3​	12​	1.0255​	78.8​	N/A	0.16​	N/A
11-Nov​	Weekly	N/A	N/A	18​	8.1​	12​	1.0255​	77.9​	420​	0.16​	N/A

 

[kevgib67]

Even in the picture in July it doesn’t look healthy. There should be a 1-2” flesh band down the skeleton. Perhaps not very healthy when you purchased it.

 

[mechengr]

Even in the picture in July it doesn’t look healthy. There should be a 1-2” flesh band down the skeleton. Perhaps not very healthy when you purchased it.

Good to know, thank you.

I'm still new to corals. Been a long time aquarium hobbyist but this is my first tank starting from scratch with corals after being out of the hobby for 10+ years

It's a bit overwhelming and I'm trying to be selective with my corals, but tend to impulse buy based on looks. Any suggestions as to some next purchases would be excellent!

 

[kevgib67]

A gsp and/ or zoa garden always look nice. Blastos can fill in some low light areas , acansand a duncan. Maybe some softies, sinularia and mushrooms. Once the tank gets a little more stable, especially alk, you can try Frogspawn, hammers and then torches.

 

[drdavethedude]

Check flame angel isnt nipping them

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Good to know, thank you.

I'm still new to corals. Been a long time aquarium hobbyist but this is my first tank starting from scratch with corals after being out of the hobby for 10+ years

It's a bit overwhelming and I'm trying to be selective with my corals, but tend to impulse buy based on looks. Any suggestions as to some next purchases would be excellent!

Gsp gets hate for how much it spreads, but I think it looks nice in any tank! Could also do zoas, toadstools, mushrooms

 

[Dburr1014]

Tank is about 7 months old now and I recently started dosing Red Sea Coral Nutrition

Stop dosing it and see if it turns around

 

[Reef Puncher]

gotta agree with uncle here. could just be the swings you had in last couple months, and it adjusting. perhaps in a couple months they will be just fine. ya know, in this hobby, sometimes some corals just are never happy. i lost a torch and 2 chalice and could never find a problem or why i lost them. chalice just dont do well in my tank. SPS and zoas do amazing. go figure.

 

[mechengr]

Gsp gets hate for how much it spreads, but I think it looks nice in any tank! Could also do zoas, toadstools, mushrooms

I've read that too! But it adds nice color to a large area, I'm thinking maybe my back glass
I'm working on a zoa garden, it's growing nicely but I plan to get a few more frags for additional color.

 

[mechengr]

gotta agree with uncle here. could just be the swings you had in last couple months, and it adjusting. perhaps in a couple months they will be just fine. ya know, in this hobby, sometimes some corals just are never happy. i lost a torch and 2 chalice and could never find a problem or why i lost them. chalice just dont do well in my tank. SPS and zoas do amazing. go figure.

This feels like the best advice. I think I just need to practice better patience and see what works best in my tank!

 

[Fish Think Pink]

This feels like the best advice. I think I just need to practice better patience and see what works best in my tank!

regarding feeding, someone gave me their advice of making a paste of reef roids and putting it (use a syringe) onto the corals. I also found if I mushed up Reef Frenzy into bitty bits it seemed to really like that. I'd have to turn off all flow until it was drawing it all inside. Mine went from 3 stalks to baseball sized 360 degrees (yes even underneath though those looked terrible where it was in its own shadow and preventing itself from getting food).