Is this WD frag salvageable? What to do?

Gophish1982

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I got this Walt Disney frag about a week ago. It seemed fine until last night. After I got it in the tank the color looked great, but it didn’t have the polyp extension seen in the photos from when I bought it. The polyps still seem present, but the “skin” looked like it was coming off last night so I blew it with a turkey baster to confirm, and it all practically flew off. I have another acro that a while back the same sort of thing happened. When I got it it was a NEON green color. The polyps came out a bit, but not to their full potential. Then I noticed that the bright green color was fading to a darker green and the ends were getting white. Weird thing though is the polyps more extended them I’ve ever seen in any of my acros. I’ve also noticed that all 3 of my monti digis (basic red and green, and a Forest fire) don’t have the PE that they use to and my forest fire has lost its green base entirely. It seems that some of my SPS doesn’t grow at all, a couple are showing signs of SLOW growth, and a few are really struggling.
Here are my parameters:
Sg: 1.025
Alk 9.2
Ca 460
Mg 1425
NO3 20-25
PO4 .16
I’ve been trying to get my NO3/PO4 lowered, but I’m not having much luck. I thought I read that elevated amounts would slow SPS growth, but not kill them.
I’m fairly new to SPS, so any advice is welcomed!
First photo is the bare WD frag I just got, second is what use to be a NEON green that is losing its base color.

5C59FE3F-B573-46F6-9EFD-882051335483.jpeg 831A3A8E-9BF5-4E90-B5CC-60EEF95CD03D.jpeg
 

Dburr1014

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I got this Walt Disney frag about a week ago. It seemed fine until last night. After I got it in the tank the color looked great, but it didn’t have the polyp extension seen in the photos from when I bought it. The polyps still seem present, but the “skin” looked like it was coming off last night so I blew it with a turkey baster to confirm, and it all practically flew off. I have another acro that a while back the same sort of thing happened. When I got it it was a NEON green color. The polyps came out a bit, but not to their full potential. Then I noticed that the bright green color was fading to a darker green and the ends were getting white. Weird thing though is the polyps more extended them I’ve ever seen in any of my acros. I’ve also noticed that all 3 of my monti digis (basic red and green, and a Forest fire) don’t have the PE that they use to and my forest fire has lost its green base entirely. It seems that some of my SPS doesn’t grow at all, a couple are showing signs of SLOW growth, and a few are really struggling.
Here are my parameters:
Sg: 1.025
Alk 9.2
Ca 460
Mg 1425
NO3 20-25
PO4 .16
I’ve been trying to get my NO3/PO4 lowered, but I’m not having much luck. I thought I read that elevated amounts would slow SPS growth, but not kill them.
I’m fairly new to SPS, so any advice is welcomed!
First photo is the bare WD frag I just got, second is what use to be a NEON green that is losing its base color.

5C59FE3F-B573-46F6-9EFD-882051335483.jpeg 831A3A8E-9BF5-4E90-B5CC-60EEF95CD03D.jpeg
Hi, parameters look okay.
How long has the tank been up?
Need white light pics of frags and full tank shot.
Anything else been happening lately? Alk swings, ph swings, anything you can think of?
 
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Gophish1982

Gophish1982

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Hi, parameters look okay.
How long has the tank been up?
Need white light pics of frags and full tank shot.
Anything else been happening lately? Alk swings, ph swings, anything you can think of?
Tank is 8 months old. It was an upgrade so I moved live rock over to it. No swings that I’ve seen besides PH moving 8.07 to 8.25 between day and night with my Apex probe. I test ALK daily because I started auto dosing recently and it’s been consistent at the same time each morning. For the last 3 weeks it’s been 9.1-9.3 with my Hanna. I had my LFS test nitrates and they have twice over the last 2 weeks told me they were low. First time 0, second time 3. But my Red Sea test has been telling me just under 25 for a few weeks now, so I decided to get a Nyos test in case my RS was faulty and it is also telling me just under 25. The same store told me my SG was 1.026 and I just got a fancy hydrometer that told me it was 1.025. So I’m taking the LFS readings with a grain of salt from now on.
I run a skimmer, chaeto, UV, and carbon in my sump. I just started bioballs a few days ago. The WD frag was bought just before that, but the other SPS were already showing stress much before that.
I will add that I’ve been having some other random coral losses over the last 2 weeks. Cynaria started to fall apart. 1 blasto colony completely died and another is halfway out the door. I’ve got an acan that was sprouting new heads from a single polyp pretty quickly that has now lost the original large polyp and several of the babies. I think that the acan and a bowerbanki may have been too close to a favia that may have been stinging it, so I just moved the favia to see if they continue to decline, but there is ANOTHER favia was in close proximity to the one I just moved and the acan/bower, and it also is dying (it wasn’t looking so hot when I first got it though)
Here are some more photos with white light. It’s a 100 gal display. Currently have 2 XR 15s running at 59% intensity, 2 T5 bulbs, 2 MP40 anywhere from 30-50% during the day.
I’m really disappointed about the WD frag because I was really excited to find one at a reasonable price.
 

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Dburr1014

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Tank is 8 months old. It was an upgrade so I moved live rock over to it. No swings that I’ve seen besides PH moving 8.07 to 8.25 between day and night with my Apex probe. I test ALK daily because I started auto dosing recently and it’s been consistent at the same time each morning. For the last 3 weeks it’s been 9.1-9.3 with my Hanna. I had my LFS test nitrates and they have twice over the last 2 weeks told me they were low. First time 0, second time 3. But my Red Sea test has been telling me just under 25 for a few weeks now, so I decided to get a Nyos test in case my RS was faulty and it is also telling me just under 25. The same store told me my SG was 1.026 and I just got a fancy hydrometer that told me it was 1.025. So I’m taking the LFS readings with a grain of salt from now on.
I run a skimmer, chaeto, UV, and carbon in my sump. I just started bioballs a few days ago. The WD frag was bought just before that, but the other SPS were already showing stress much before that.
I will add that I’ve been having some other random coral losses over the last 2 weeks. Cynaria started to fall apart. 1 blasto colony completely died and another is halfway out the door. I’ve got an acan that was sprouting new heads from a single polyp pretty quickly that has now lost the original large polyp and several of the babies. I think that the acan and a bowerbanki may have been too close to a favia that may have been stinging it, so I just moved the favia to see if they continue to decline, but there is ANOTHER favia was in close proximity to the one I just moved and the acan/bower, and it also is dying (it wasn’t looking so hot when I first got it though)
Here are some more photos with white light. It’s a 100 gal display. Currently have 2 XR 15s running at 59% intensity, 2 T5 bulbs, 2 MP40 anywhere from 30-50% during the day.
I’m really disappointed about the WD frag because I was really excited to find one at a reasonable price.
This may be something in the water that is elevated. Do you run carbon? Or cuprisorb? Have you checked for voltage?
Sorry, but she's gone.
 

Reefer Matt

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Unfortunately the coral is beyond saving. No one knows for sure why rtn and stn happen. There are many theories, maybe a combination of things contribute to it. Sorry for your loss.
 

ScottB

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Nothing unusual. I'd suggest keeping your purchase list on the cheap side for a while. Assuming a dead rock start, maybe at 18 months start adding the good stuff.

Numbers look OK but a smich nutrient rich. Still, biome maturity is more likely the issue. Time.
 
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