Is My Frogspawn Ok?

[ReeferGrant]

Hey guys. I’m new to the reef keeping world and I just finished my cycle a couple days ago. I decided to grab my first coral yesterday and decided on a frogspawn. The first day it didn’t look as fantastic as it did in my lfs but it still looked healthy, or at least I think it did because it never looked quite as closed up as some pictures I’ve seen. Today it puffed up nicely and started to look how it did when I picked it out, or at least, mostly. There’s now what looks to me like a dead spot, or maybe a mouth? Some sort of opening in the middle where there are no heads, a couple deflated heads, and a hole or maybe the skeleton. Is this normal? Is it still just acclimating?

Apologies for the picture quality. I turned the blue light off and the white on so I could get a somewhat decent picture but it still didn’t come out great.

Here is some additional information that could maybe be helpful:

I’m using a Hygger HG100 light and a Sicce voyager nano 530 gph pump for flow. The coral in question is near the bottom of my 20 gallon long tank and receives moderate indirect flow. The tank is currently stocked with a pair of nassarius snails, a pair of cowries, and the frogspawn. Thank you for reading and any information you may have!

 

[tbrown]

It doesn't look good. What are your water parameters?

I'm guessing the light is pretty underpowered for photosynthetic corals like a frogspawn. Also, LPS require feeding but typically there's enough nutrients in the water to keep them fed with sufficient flow and lighting.

 

[ReeferGrant]

It doesn't look good. What are your water parameters?

I'm guessing the light is pretty underpowered for photosynthetic corals like a frogspawn. Also, LPS require feeding but typically there's enough nutrients in the water to keep them fed with sufficient flow and lighting.

Sorry, forgot to add my parameters lol.

Salinity: 1.026
pH: 8.0
Ammonia: 1.0 ppm (yikes)
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5.0 ppm
dKH: 9
Calcium: 400 ppm
Magnesium: 1260 ppm

As far as the light goes I was told it would be a fine beginner light for softies and LPS especially since my tank isn’t very deep. Is that sort of “void” in the middle its skeleton?

 

[tbrown]

The void looks like its mouth (which is also its bottom). It's gaping which either means it's preparing to defecate or is hungry.

5 nitrates is pretty low. What test kit are you using and are you feeding the tank anything?

 

[tbrown]

It looks like your light is 32 watts? That might be ok for most LPS and softies since they're not as light needy.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

A just-cycled tank is a not a good environment for corals, most would suggest to let the tank mature for a few months before trying corals.

I would not call a frogspawn a beginner level coral. I would suggest to start with zoa's and mushrooms or perhaps a leather.