LPS turning brown / gray / dark and tentacles are short

[Javierati]

LPS Corals are notably affected. Darker color of their tissue, tissue retraction from main skeletal structure and shorter tentacles.

It is odd, but the frogspawn are doing great, and some (not all) of the hammers and torches are doing good too.

Parameters:
Alk:
It has fluctuated from a low of 8.6 to a high 9.5 over weeks and weeks; mostly staying above 9 in a tight range (9-9.4)

Ca: 445
Mg 1337 - 1360

Temp: high of 78.5; low of 77.3 but mostly hovering from 78 -78.5

pH: avg. 8

ORP: 350-380

***Phosphate is high. After adding a bunch of fish and increasing the food intake it rose from: 0.04 to 0.08 to 0.16

I have added a ROWA Phos to a reactor in order to decrease this level

***Nitrates are high too. Rose from 5ppm to 10 to 20 to 30

I have increased the light schedule for my chaeto algae and decreased a little the food intake

I have also increased the light intensity. I have 4 XR30 gen 5. I am doing a AB+ schedule at 85% intensity.
I was afraid of burning some of the corals and had the schedule running at 40% intensity... Thinking it would be related to lighting I turned it back up to 85%

Let me know what factors can contribute to the LPS corals turning darker color and tentacles retracting. It has been a slow but steady decline and I am afraid some will not make it.

 

[Javierati]

I am hoping the problem is the phosphate because I can fix this and hopefully the corals start to improve. After reading from different sources, phosphate is known to inhibit coral growth and cause a boom in zooxanthellae which can turn the color into brown or darker.

I see visible signs of algae affecting the sand and seeing red diatom algae on the rocks. So this could be the main culprit.

 

[Oldsman]

Is your temps REALLY 88-89 wow !!!! I keep mine around 75- 78 degrees max

 

[Javierati]

Is your temps REALLY 88-89 wow !!!! I keep mine around 75- 78 degrees max

woow MEGA typo... I fixed it now... 77.8-78.5 most of the time...

 

[smhray]

Temperature seems really high, and if the tank is going from 77 to 88 often then that is definitely something that has to be addressed and is most likely a big stressor. I keep mine around 77 to 78. Phosphates aren't that bad try to keep it below 0.1ppm to avoid excess algae but corals, especially LPS, love some phosphates as it is a food source. SPS such as acros are the ones that will be more negatively affected by higher phosphate, but when it comes to LPS IMO they love some phosphates. The algaes and diatoms typically do not attach to the corals and IMO LPS corals are not really affected by them. The algae will only grow on the dead coral skeleton but if healthy they can easily fight off everything.

You should take things slower. If phosphate it high reduce it slowly. Using ROWA phos can decrease it quickly which is another swing that can stress the corals. You should also acclimate the corals to light from 40% to 85% over the course of many weeks because a jump like that can shock them and add on to more stress.

All in all it seems like your tank has experienced a lot of change and there is not much consistency. Try to slow things down and not rush into anything as quick changes will just stress out the corals more.

Turn your lights back down and slowly increase them. Watch how the ROWA phos affects your levels and adjust accordingly. I would say keep things simple and consistent. Maybe do a 30% water change incase there are pollutants in the water that are hurting the corals. Dip the ones doing really bad in a coral dip and put them in lower light and flow areas. Keep watching from there it may take weeks to see improvement.

 

[Javierati]

Temperature seems really high, and if the tank is going from 77 to 88 often then that is definitely something that has to be addressed and is most likely a big stressor. I keep mine around 77 to 78. Phosphates aren't that bad try to keep it below 0.1ppm to avoid excess algae but corals, especially LPS, love some phosphates as it is a food source. SPS such as acros are the ones that will be more negatively affected by higher phosphate, but when it comes to LPS IMO they love some phosphates. The algaes and diatoms typically do not attach to the corals and IMO LPS corals are not really affected by them. The algae will only grow on the dead coral skeleton but if healthy they can easily fight off everything.

You should take things slower. If phosphate it high reduce it slowly. Using ROWA phos can decrease it quickly which is another swing that can stress the corals. You should also acclimate the corals to light from 40% to 85% over the course of many weeks because a jump like that can shock them and add on to more stress.

All in all it seems like your tank has experienced a lot of change and there is not much consistency. Try to slow things down and not rush into anything as quick changes will just stress out the corals more.

Turn your lights back down and slowly increase them. Watch how the ROWA phos affects your levels and adjust accordingly. I would say keep things simple and consistent. Maybe do a 30% water change incase there are pollutants in the water that are hurting the corals. Dip the ones doing really bad in a coral dip and put them in lower light and flow areas. Keep watching from there it may take weeks to see improvement.

Thanks for the advice. The temp issue was a typo. The rest I think you are spot on... too many changes especially when adding the fish in bulk numbers which caused sudden spikes in fish poop and food intake which subsquently increased phosphate and nitrates. I will aim at maintaining consistent levels going forward.

 

[Oldsman]

Glad to hear it was a typo, had me concerned about the possibility your heater could burst damaging your tank .
Sounds like your on track to slow down..we all want a huge thriving tank lol I'm awful about tinkering w stuff and the corals will most definitely tell ya their unhappy

 

[Javierati]

Glad to hear it was a typo, had me concerned about the possibility your heater could burst damaging your tank .
Sounds like your on track to slow down..we all want a huge thriving tank lol I'm awful about tinkering w stuff and the corals will most definitely tell ya their unhappy

That is my main issue... I say "ok, now I will wait and see them grow..." This lasts only until I get to my SW store were I see new frags and say... "ohh but I can add a few more..." and so on

 

[Oldsman]

Lol I think we all suffer from that

 

[Hurricane Aquatics]

You can't run G5s at 40% and go to 85% like that. That will definitely cause them to retract. From experience, that's a huge difference in PAR on Radions.

Phosphates and nitrates being high are from lack of water changes or not cleaning your filter media enough. I would highly suggest some if the media Pure ceramic balls. Add a box to your sump and they will help greatly with nitrates.

I find it very hard to believe your ORP is that high when your Phosphates and Nitrates are up like that. What are you using to test?

 

[Javierati]

You can't run G5s at 40% and go to 85% like that. That will definitely cause them to retract. From experience, that's a huge difference in PAR on Radions.

Phosphates and nitrates being high are from lack of water changes or not cleaning your filter media enough. I would highly suggest some if the media Pure ceramic balls. Add a box to your sump and they will help greatly with nitrates.

I find it very hard to believe your ORP is that high when your Phosphates and Nitrates are up like that. What are you using to test?

I am using Neptune ORP probe.
I was dosing redoxIclean by brightwell to increase ORP to the 300’s. I have stopped because it’s been hovering from 310-390.
I will do some testing today to see how phosphate / nitrates are doing.
Hopefully the increased time of my sump light (10 hours up to 14 hours now) will increase nitrate consumption. And my GFO is taking care of my phosphate. Will see.

 

[moz71]

My lonely advise! listen to the others stop dosing quick fixes (redoxlclean etc) I haven experiencing same thing as you and every time things get stable for awhile it gets better then I go again and try lowering nitrates with some other dosing thing and all goes bad again urg! I have just sworn to my self to stop chasing things, even your phos at that level is fine for LPS get it stable for a looong time then go extremely slow. When I started I had a thriving tank with higher nitrates and phosphate an then I ruined it all by extreme tinkering! I KNOW it is hard taking it slow and PIANFUL but nesessary

 

[Cell]

Seems like you have identified several issues already. Stabilizing your parameters is paramount.

 

[Javierati]

I am without words. All this week I’ve been telling people how my pink bubble was just thriving. It almost doubled in size in the last Three months. Today I come home from work and see it with a chunk of jelly stuff on a corner. Took it out for a dip but since it’s not a branching Coral I think it will die.
All in less than 24 hours.
Brown jelly?

 

[DGGuaglianone]

LPS Corals are notably affected. Darker color of their tissue, tissue retraction from main skeletal structure and shorter tentacles.

It is odd, but the frogspawn are doing great, and some (not all) of the hammers and torches are doing good too.

Parameters:
Alk:
It has fluctuated from a low of 8.6 to a high 9.5 over weeks and weeks; mostly staying above 9 in a tight range (9-9.4)

Ca: 445
Mg 1337 - 1360

Temp: high of 78.5; low of 77.3 but mostly hovering from 78 -78.5

pH: avg. 8

ORP: 350-380

***Phosphate is high. After adding a bunch of fish and increasing the food intake it rose from: 0.04 to 0.08 to 0.16

I have added a ROWA Phos to a reactor in order to decrease this level

***Nitrates are high too. Rose from 5ppm to 10 to 20 to 30

I have increased the light schedule for my chaeto algae and decreased a little the food intake

I have also increased the light intensity. I have 4 XR30 gen 5. I am doing a AB+ schedule at 85% intensity.
I was afraid of burning some of the corals and had the schedule running at 40% intensity... Thinking it would be related to lighting I turned it back up to 85%

Let me know what factors can contribute to the LPS corals turning darker color and tentacles retracting. It has been a slow but steady decline and I am afraid some will not make it.

Turning lights down rapidly is generally fine, but when you bring them back up in intensity, it is best to do so slowly. I would say it could be magnesium but around 1350ppm is definitely a good number. Try not to make any changes quickly and if something is off, adjust it slowly. Salinity is generally most important parameter.
P.S. I just realized this post was 3 years old