Red planet is dying

[Charlie’s Frags]

What would be the best way to correct the problem?

Turn your skimmer off and start feeding your fish multiple times a day. Zero no3/po4 is a death sentence if your not heavy feeding and heavy supplementing. Elevated no3/po4 will not kill sps but zero will.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

This sounds just like the advice I got at my LFS that resulted in a carpet of cyano over my entire tank.
Going from 0 to 100mph real quick is a bad idea

Cyano is better than a bunch of dead corals

 

[JCOLE]

This sounds just like the advice I got at my LFS that resulted in a carpet of cyano over my entire tank.
Going from 0 to 100mph real quick is a bad idea

@Chaswood79 is right on this. @Debbie12 needs some Nitrates and phosphates as the coral is starving. Cyano wouldn't be that much of a worry with the proper export method such as a refugium with macro.

Going from 0 phosphates to .03-.05 and upping nitrates .10ppm will not create an issue with algae.

 

[SeaDweller]

This sounds just like the advice I got at my LFS that resulted in a carpet of cyano over my entire tank.
Going from 0 to 100mph real quick is a bad idea

That’s not going 0-100. In your case, sounds like nothing was there to export the excess nutrients.

In OPs case, that’s not even bleaching as has been established by now. I don’t even think raising nutrients will stop that TN

 

[Debbie12]

@Chaswood79 is right on this. @Debbie12 needs some Nitrates and phosphates as the coral is starving. Cyano wouldn't be that much of a worry with the proper export method such as a refugium with macro.

We have a refugium with devil's breath macro and it has sponges growing on it for some reason.

 

[JCOLE]

That’s not going 0-100. In your case, sounds like nothing was there to export the excess nutrients.

In OPs case, that’s not even bleaching as has been established by now. I don’t even think raising nutrients will stop that TN

That's correct. I dont think the cause of the TN is from low nutrients. I think it was from parameter swings. However, if there were more nutrients then the corals tend to handle the swings better than the ULN systems.

 

[JCOLE]

We have a refugium with devil's breath macro and it has sponges growing on it for some reason.

Ok. How old is your system? I had an issue with low nutrients within the first 6 months. I had to manually dose Sodium Nitrate and Trisodium Phosphate to raise nutrients from 0. I still have to manually dose Nitrates every other day to keep them up. I have a fuge with macro and mangroves that keeps my system low.

 

[Debbie12]

Ok. How old is your system? I had an issue with low nutrients within the first 6 months. I had to manually dose Sodium Nitrate and Trisodium Phosphate to raise nutrients from 0. I still have to manually dose Nitrates every other day to keep them up. I have a fuge with macro and mangroves that keeps my system low.

It's about 6 months old.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

@Debbie12
What size is your tank? How many fish? How many times/much do you feed a day?

 

[JCOLE]

It's about 6 months old.

I wouldnt sweat it. Start feeding more and get the nutrients up. Believe it or not but corals love a "dirty" tank. When I transferred into my new tank 6 months ago my ALK was way off. I lost a couple acros and almost lost my Garf Bonsai. It had TN and I thought for sure it was a goner. I left it alone and it is come back and growing over the dead areas. You cannot even tell that it happened. Take it slow, keep it stable and it will turn around.

 

[SeaDweller]

Don't be afraid of a little bit of algae...but you don't want excess nutrients, but it's a fine balance if that makes sense. Realistically anything more than you need is excess. You need to export what you import. To give you an example I have 35 active fish in a 240 gallon tank and I feed 4 to 5 times a day and my NO3 is no higher than 1.0 ppm and my PO4 is 0.10 ppm when I don't change out my rowaphos on time. I run that, chaeto, and a sulfur reactor but I have to because I feed so much. I do have some random algae but the benefits far outweigh the negatives. Try skimming dry too. Here's an example of the algae I leave be until it's WC time.

 

[Cherie cook]

IME, red planet is pretty temperamental. Looks like quite a bit of tissue is gone already. I’d probably just leave it alone and hope for the best. You could frag one tip off and move a piece to another system as an insurance policy, but I think that would insure the demise of the main colony.

You might want to consider spot feeding with some amino acids daily as well.

I always thought red planet was pretty invincible. Bought a nice frag from LA last week...died almost immediately.

 

[Debbie12]

I wouldnt sweat it. Start feeding more and get the nutrients up. Believe it or not but corals love a "dirty" tank. When I transferred into my new tank 6 months ago my ALK was way off. I lost a couple acros and almost lost my Garf Bonsai. It had TN and I thought for sure it was a goner. I left it alone and it is come back and growing over the dead areas. You cannot even tell that it happened. Take it slow, keep it stable and it will turn around.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your time.

 

[JCOLE]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your time.

No problem at all! Hope everything turns out ok. Keep us posted.

 

[bluprntguy]

I always thought red planet was pretty invincible. Bought a nice frag from LA last week...died almost immediately.

I've always heard that too, but I've killed at least three frags of it, so I don't even bother anymore.

I'm able to keep pretty demanding SPS alive, but I can kill a birdsnest faster than anyone, so maybe Red Planet is just too easy for me to keep it alive...

 

[Debbie12]

@Debbie12
What size is your tank? How many fish? How many times/much do you feed a day?

75 gal, 8 small fish, fed once daily

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

75 gal, 8 small fish, fed once daily

Either feed an extra time or double the amount your feeding. More food equals more fish poop equals happy sps.

 

[Debbie12]

Either feed an extra time or double the amount your feeding. More food equals more fish poop equals happy sps.

When I noticed it was suffering, I started target feeding it daily. If I'm understanding the other reefers, I need more nutrients anyway and our other SPS may be at risk so now I'm target feeding everyone daily and the fish aren't really sure what's happened to me, but they're on board for the upswing in goodies.
Thank you

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I agree with raising nutrients. I’ve seen many corals come back from the brink.

Cyano and algae are always going to be a fact of life. Get more snails.

 

[Zerobytes]

I don't claim to know a whole lot but agree with the comments on not making any sudden changes. I've discovered that was causing me issues; aside from never going to 0 (which was way worse).