Sinularia is extremely unhappy...help!

monicalooze · May 27, 2021

My sinularia retracted a couple days ago. It closed its polyps and then shrank into a tiny nub. It happened really quickly. Normally it's about three inches tall and it's been growing well! I have one zoa frag in the tank that's also not happy, but everything else is great, including another zoa.

I know I had a 1 pt drop in alk over about 14 days but I can't tell you how fast it happened. My ph also spiked, but again, I don't know how fast it happened as I don't test every day.

alk went from 9.3-8.3dkh
ph went from 7.9-8.6 over the same period.

parameters:
PH: 8.6
Alk: 8.3
NO3: 3ppm
Po4: .03ppm
Ca: 475
Temp: 78
NaCl: 1.0264

let me know what I should do. I dosed 1 ml of all for reef today and yesterday to try to raise my alkalinity back up, albeit very slowly. It's the only thing I can think to do. The coral looks bad enough that I doubt it'll stick around?

Calm Blue Ocean · May 27, 2021

Is it shiny at all? Sinularia can shed like a lot of other soft corals. Oddly enough my sinularia just decided to shed a few days ago. It's just starting to re-open today. Hopefully that's all that's going on with your coral.

monicalooze · May 27, 2021

Calm Blue Ocean said:
Is it shiny at all? Sinularia can shed like a lot of other soft corals. Oddly enough my sinularia just decided to shed a few days ago. It's just starting to re-open today. Hopefully that's all that's going on with your coral.

I've been trying to see if it is. I know my toadstool has done that. It just seems SO tiny. It's like 1/10 the normal size! I'll wait it out I guess? Anything to watch for so I know if I should try dipping or just get it out of the tank?

Calm Blue Ocean · May 27, 2021

monicalooze said:
I've been trying to see if it is. I know my toadstool has done that. It just seems SO tiny. It's like 1/10 the normal size! I'll wait it out I guess? Anything to watch for so I know if I should try dipping or just get it out of the tank?

I'm definitely not an expert, just based on experience with my own coral, but my sinularia shrinks way back and looks truly miserable when it decides to shed, going from being one of my biggest corals to something very unremarkable that I try to not notice. The whole process for mine has typically taken around a week, starting with just closing up, to shiny spots appearing, then gradually losing a thin wispy film. Polyps start trying to come back out and it starts to perk up and return to normal color.

Not nearly as dramatic as when my toadstool sheds which often makes a big mess in my tank.

I'll just add that when I've had soft corals die off they either appear to "dry up", often a result of being shaded out by other corals, or they just flat out disintegrate, often as a result of damage like bad shipping.

monicalooze · Oct 3, 2021

This thread is really old now, but it's now Oct. and my nepthea/sinularia (I'm not sure which it is) is still extremely unhappy. The polyps came out but it hasn't grown at all and has never regained the same mass it once had. It's approximately .5" tall right now, and it was at least 2" when I bought it in April. Before the collapse, it had already grown a new stalk. It seems to be stuck in suspended animation. I've tried high flow, low flow, random flow, constant flow, more light, low light. I've increased my nutrients. I've probably moved it 3x since I got it (but it's been 6 mos). Right now it's on the bottom of the tank in a very low flow area.

The only other corals that are sort of mad are my two hammers, but tbh I haven't ever really figured out how to make them happy - never much polyp extension. Candycane, mushrooms, zoas, clove polyp, toadstool are puffy and great.

Params:
Alk: 8.4dkh
pH: 8.1
NO3: 10ppm
PO4: .08ppm
Ca: 380ppm
Mg: ~1280-1320ppm
NaCl: 1.0255 SG
Temp: 78

monicalooze · Oct 3, 2021

I should mention I'm feeding Brightwell Coral Aminos daily and Reefroids 1-2x per week. Reef frenzy nano daily.

My nutrients have been close to zero until the last few weeks...

Scorpius · Oct 3, 2021

The only time my sinularia was unhappy was when my tank was new. Its been a trooper ever since my system matured.

monicalooze · Oct 3, 2021

Tank is about a year old. Tons of pods, baby snails that came from nowhere, tiny fan worms, etc.

kittenbritches · Oct 3, 2021

monicalooze said:
This thread is really old now, but it's now Oct. and my nepthea/sinularia (I'm not sure which it is) is still extremely unhappy. The polyps came out but it hasn't grown at all and has never regained the same mass it once had. It's approximately .5" tall right now, and it was at least 2" when I bought it in April. Before the collapse, it had already grown a new stalk. It seems to be stuck in suspended animation. I've tried high flow, low flow, random flow, constant flow, more light, low light. I've increased my nutrients. I've probably moved it 3x since I got it (but it's been 6 mos). Right now it's on the bottom of the tank in a very low flow area.

The only other corals that are sort of mad are my two hammers, but tbh I haven't ever really figured out how to make them happy - never much polyp extension. Candycane, mushrooms, zoas, clove polyp, toadstool are puffy and great.

Params:
Alk: 8.4dkh
pH: 8.1
NO3: 10ppm
PO4: .08ppm
Ca: 380ppm
Mg: ~1280-1320ppm
NaCl: 1.0255 SG
Temp: 78