Orange Leptastrea Not Looking Good.

[Bolen2]

Hello everyone, today I got an order in from LiveAquaria that included an Orange Eye Leptastrea. I haven’t had very many LPS in my time and with very little success. I’ve gone all out on my most recent setup in a way I was never able to before so I felt comfortable trying it again. Well it gets here and it’s shriveled up in a way that I have never seen LPS before. It sort of looks like brain coral now. It appears that some polyps May have died during shipping because I can see spots of exposed skeleton with no fleshy bits on it. My parameters are good and I keep a very close eye on it especially when I have new arrivals coming. Temp is 78F and specific gravity is 1.025. Water flow is medium indirect and lighting is moderate. Thanks for any input.

Note: the lighting is not near as blue as it shows in this photo. The camera just makes it seem that way. I’ll post a better quality picture when I get a chance.

 

[blaxsun]

It's not dead - just not particularly happy. What are your water parameters like?

 

[Bolen2]

It's not dead - just not particularly happy. What are your water parameters like?

PH- 8.0
PO4- 0
NO3- 0
NO2- 0.5
dKH- 6.72
Ca- 480
Temperature- 78F

 

[Bolen2]

It still hasn’t really opened up. I decided to move it and see if it helps but it’s still closed. Looks like some of it may be starting to bleach. I know I’m not blasting it with light or flow either so I don’t know what could be the issue, however it is eating well when I spot feed it.

 

[blaxsun]

It still hasn’t really opened up. I decided to move it and see if it helps but it’s still closed. Looks like some of it may be starting to bleach. I know I’m not blasting it with light or flow either so I don’t know what could be the issue, however it is eating well when I spot feed it.

You need some nutrients my friend. Corals don't like zero phosphates and nitrates.

 

[Bolen2]

You need some nutrients my friend. Corals don't like zero phosphates and nitrates.

Thanks. Any suggestions as to increasing them?

 

[blaxsun]

Thanks. Any suggestions as to increasing them?

In the short term, you could look at dosing them. But we'd probably need a few details on your setup to offer any other suggestions, ie: tank size, filtration, cleanup crew, etc.

 

[Dburr1014]

Here's a link from tidal gardens.
https://www.tidalgardens.com/wysiwyg-orange-green-leptastrea.htmlStrong flow and 150+ par. It could take a few day to get settled in also. Definatly need nutrients.