Is my leptastrea dying?

[Reefkeepers Archive]

For some background, I added 4 corals into my 5 month old 120 gallon 2 weeks ago, they were the first corals in the tank and all seem to be doing well, until I noticed some exposed skeleton on the leptastrea, they are very small, sand grain sized, but still concerning, they could have been caused as damage during placement, my alk is 9 and calcium 490, my other theory is lighting, I recently was made aware that leptastrea are low light, and im concerned if this is due to high light, im running reefLED 90's on 75 precent max for blue and white, they're about 16 in above the tank and I run them for 11 hours (planning on lowering to 10 hrs) he's positioned in the middle/top of the aquascape, i do not know the PAR, any advice? (He's a little closed up today, probably due to maintenance yesterday, leather shedding or other)
(Flow is reefwave 25 on 100%

 

[blaxsun]

Not dead, but not entirely happy, either. If your parameters are fine lighting and flow are the next to look at. Without a PAR reading there's just no way to know if this is a question of too little or too much light.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Not dead, but not entirely happy, either. If your parameters are fine lighting and flow are the next to look at. Without a PAR reading there's just no way to know if this is a question of too little or too much light.

Unfortunately I cannot afford a par reader, though this is my light spectrum

He's looking much better today, though I have been considering lowering my lighting because most of the corals I am planning are lower light, also he is wild caught so that may contribute

any idea what I should do next?

 

[blaxsun]

From what I can see from your tank, it seems like it's in a fairly good Spot. I would just try to maintain stable water parameters, flow and lighting.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

From what I can see from your tank, it seems like it's in a fairly good Spot. I would just try to maintain stable water parameters, flow and lighting.

Not dead, but not entirely happy, either. If your parameters are fine lighting and flow are the next to look at. Without a PAR reading there's just no way to know if this is a question of too little or too much light.

I think I pinpointed the issue, thank you for your advice.

It looks like during maintenance/spotfeeidng sometimes the pipette/tongs scrape at the skeleton, causing the white patches, now I need to know, will this heal and how can I boost the healing process?

 

[blaxsun]

I think I pinpointed the issue, thank you for your advice.

It looks like during maintenance/spotfeeidng sometimes the pipette/tongs scrape at the skeleton, causing the white patches, now I need to know, will this heal and how can I boost the healing process?

Glad to be of limited assistance. Yes, it should heal in time (how long can vary). Stable parameters, try not to move it if you can avoid it and light feeding (if you dose something like Reef Roids, squirt it such that the flow carries it over the coral).

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Glad to be of limited assistance. Yes, it should heal in time (how long can vary). Stable parameters, try not to move it if you can avoid it and light feeding (if you dose something like Reef Roids, squirt it such that the flow carries it over the coral).

OK, I'll try that out, any good coral food suggestions, been thinking of feeding phyto or frozen copepods (the food I'm currently feeding is too large for the leptastrea) I'll also shorten the light hours so it's only on 10-9 hours, and going to see if I can borrow a PAR reader, thanks again

 

[blaxsun]

OK, I'll try that out, any good coral food suggestions, been thinking of feeding phyto or frozen copepods (the food I'm currently feeding is too large for the leptastrea) I'll also shorten the light hours so it's only on 10-9 hours, and going to see if I can borrow a PAR reader, thanks again

I broadcast PE calanus daily (so whatever the fish don't get is gobbled up by the corals and anemones) and Reef Roids, Nyos LPS Power and Instant Plankton once a week.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Not dead, but not entirely happy, either. If your parameters are fine lighting and flow are the next to look at. Without a PAR reading there's just no way to know if this is a question of too little or too much light.

Thank you for the help! Turns out the issue was the phosphates, they were at 0.1-0.2, added some GFO, and then had to leave for a two week vacation. The recession had worsened, but stopped. Lost most of the left half but is doing incredibe now, I got back 2 weeks ago but just started noticing growth, it's beginning to re-colonise the old skeleton and encrust outwards, here are photos taken over an hour (he was closed because I had to blow coral shed off of him)

This was right before the lights turned off last night and this is him today (fully open)

Thanks!