Lobo / Trachy Recovery

[the.introvertebrate]

I recently let my tank go for a bit not because I got lazy, but because I thought it was doing fine without WCs for 2-3 weeks at a time, I stopped trying to chase numbers and tried to go by what the corals/fish looked like and tried to let them tell me if something needed fixing. Before I knew it my corals were starting to really struggle, my lobo skeleton starting showing, one of my trachy's started retracting and flesh falling off in areas and so I realised my Nitrates crept up to 50ppm and I was overdosing magnesium, it was sitting on 1600 so i've since stopped that and slowed down my calc and kh dosing as they were beginning to creep up too much too.

I've since completed 3 10% WC's over 3 weekends and introduced an algea reactor (additional to my Clarisea roller matt and Protein Skimmer). My corals are slowly starting to look good again, my zoas are opening up again and my Goni's & Hammers are showing better PE. My lobo and trachy however lost a fair bit of their flesh and their skeletons are showing in some areas - I was curious how long it would take for them to recover their flesh over those skeletons (if at all?). I fear that my BTA may have also stung them (although I think it's more to do with my paramaters). If the nem did sting them can they still recover?

For context my tank is only 5-6 months old and is a Waterbox 130.4

 

[najer]

Got any pics please?

 

[Kellie in CA]

Do they have any feeding response? If so, give lots of meaty foods until they recover.

 

[the.introvertebrate]

Got any pics please?

This is what the lobo used to look like:

 

[Brad Waddell Wrath's Reef]

This is what the lobo used to look like:

Hey bro I had the same issue with Nitrates just not that high. Once they came back down with Vodka dosing and cheato, my Lobos are coming back. They looked like yours do. From what I have been told and seen out of mine is they can take a beating but will slowly come back.

 

[the.introvertebrate]

Hey bro I had the same issue with Nitrates just not that high. Once they came back down with Vodka dosing and cheato, my Lobos are coming back. They looked like yours do. From what I have been told and seen out of mine is they can take a beating but will slowly come back.

Interesting! Thanks for the insights, any idea how long they took to bounce back? I am still not sure if the Nem stung it or if its the nitrates that caused this - they kind of both happened at similar times (ie. I realised my nitrates were super high around the same time my nem decided to tour the tank).

That photo was taken this morning, and last night the Nem did another walk around the tank.

 

[the.introvertebrate]

Do they have any feeding response? If so, give lots of meaty foods until they recover.

Haven't seen much of a response after lights out , I have other trachy's which throw their feeders out after lights out but these two make it hard to tell if they're hungry. I might try dropping a few pellets on their plates either way to see if they consume them. Its tricky to do because my fish usually snatch up anything meaty as it tends to float around and not fall onto the coral itself

 

[Brad Waddell Wrath's Reef]

Interesting! Thanks for the insights, any idea how long they took to bounce back? I am still not sure if the Nem stung it or if its the nitrates that caused this - they kind of both happened at similar times (ie. I realised my nitrates were super high around the same time my nem decided to tour the tank).

That photo was taken this morning, and last night the Nem did another walk around the tank.

It will take weeks or months. Mine are still recovering and it has been going on 4 months.

 

[Kellie in CA]

Haven't seen much of a response after lights out , I have other trachy's which throw their feeders out after lights out but these two make it hard to tell if they're hungry. I might try dropping a few pellets on their plates either way to see if they consume them. Its tricky to do because my fish usually snatch up anything meaty as it tends to float around and not fall onto the coral itself

I soak the pellets for a minute then turn off the pumps and use long tweezers to drop food on the corals. Early morning before the lights come on works best because the fish are still asleep and don't try to steal the food.