RTN on my birdsnest?

[reeferpat137]

Anyone have any ideas why my birdsnest is losing its skin?. It was one of the 1st corals i put in, growth was been great with great polyp extension. Lighting hasnt changed, flow hasnt changed. Parameters are good and stable, i noticed my alk creeping so i droped the dose 1ml. It was showing signs of distress last week but i couldnt get my dirty hands in the tank, so on saturday i pulled it off the rock to a lower flow area and within 12 hours it droped most of its skin

 

[Wakenbaker420]

Sps are tricky like that. I've only been growing out sps for 1yr so I'm no expert but from personal experience they are finicky. The only thing I can see is that your alkalinity has gone up. If that was one of the first corals then it has acclimated to your old alkalinity numbers and its not doing good with the changes. All your other sps seem to be fine. Seems we are always chasing the "goldilock" zone for each coral to make them happy. Might have to frag that thing and save whats left.

 

[reeferpat137]

Sps are tricky like that. I've only been growing out sps for 1yr so I'm no expert but from personal experience they are finicky. The only thing I can see is that your alkalinity has gone up. If that was one of the first corals then it has acclimated to your old alkalinity numbers and its not doing good with the changes. All your other sps seem to be fine. Seems we are always chasing the "goldilock" zone for each coral to make them happy. Might have to frag that thing and save whats left.

9.8 is a bit high for me, it usually hovers right about 9. And yeah, all other sps are doing just fine

 

[reeferpat137]

Sps are tricky like that. I've only been growing out sps for 1yr so I'm no expert but from personal experience they are finicky. The only thing I can see is that your alkalinity has gone up. If that was one of the first corals then it has acclimated to your old alkalinity numbers and its not doing good with the changes. All your other sps seem to be fine. Seems we are always chasing the "goldilock" zone for each coral to make them happy. Might have to frag that thing and save whats left.

Ive got some monti, milli, tenious, tort, anacorpora all are good

 

[ScottB]

Nutrients are really 0/0? I would start there. If you have a ton of fish and feed often then disregard. You want avaliable ammonia and some PO4. Not much, but some.

 

[reeferpat137]

Nutrients are really 0/0? I would start there. If you have a ton of fish and feed often then disregard. You want avaliable ammonia and some PO4. Not much, but some.

Its a 13 gal with a skimmer and fuge, it either 0 or undetectable on my red sea kit. So im not surprised. Its got 3 fish and planning to get 2 more once i happen across the right fish for the tank. I do feed reef roids about 1 every 3 days. And the fish get fed 1-3 times a day, depending on how much im home, with PE pellets

 

[ScottB]

Get a Hanna ULR for PO4. Any nitrate test will do.

I know everyone says birdsnest are easy SPS and to a degree that is true. IME, they have very binary behavior. They either die fast or grow extremely fast. Personally, I don't find either attribute all that favorable, but still sorry for the loss.

Maybe try and salvage some tips with full flesh. I don't find that the bare bone parts ever recover.

 

[reeferpat137]

Nutrients are really 0/0? I would start there. If you have a ton of fish and feed often then disregard. You want avaliable ammonia and some PO4. Not much, but some.

So i just got my ulr po4 hanna. 1st test gave me a blinking 0.00. 2nd test gave me a solid 0.00. Redsea says 0, so id say my levels are 0

 

[ScottB]

So i just got my ulr po4 hanna. 1st test gave me a blinking 0.00. 2nd test gave me a solid 0.00. Redsea says 0, so id say my levels are 0

I would be dosing trisodium phosphate real hard. Your rock sand (aragonite) will bind it up, so you will have to dose a lot more than you think.

 

[reeferpat137]

I would be dosing trisodium phosphate real hard. Your rock sand (aragonite) will bind it up, so you will have to dose a lot more than you think.

Prob gonna take the gfo offline for a little bit and see what happens

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

I found out they do best on a “Negative Flow,” that’s why mine is near the Weir Teeth on the Overflow. I may have put it a bit too high though, as didn’t anticipate all the growth.