Soft corals not doing too well...clueless

[Ryan9212]

I posted before regarding my green star polyps which did not seem to be doing too well. I know they seem to be bullet proof but apparently not for me.... I took removed them as the purple mat seemed to be falling apart. I did a large water change put some carbon in the filter. Tank is 92g

Currently, I have some zoas (palys I think) which are doing great and growing new polyps. I bought some new GSP and again it is staying closed- it was open right after I put it in then over a few days I saw less and less polyps so its been completely closed for about a week now and the mat almost seems like it's beginning to fall apart again... There was some hair algae on the mat when I received it- when I noticed it started to get worse I brushed it off which I am sure did not make it happy but this was 5 days ago. I know they can stay closed for a while but the purple mat doesn't appear too be doing too well.

I have a toadstool leather which is almost done shedding for the second time within 3 weeks (after the first shed the polyps were out but not fully extended. I occasionally see some polyps out but not fully extended and after some time of the light being on these polpys usually close up.

I have a kenya tree which was doing great but now it has been "drooped" over for a couple of days.

Some parameters like calcium/mag I did not think matter too much for soft coral but I am getting a magnesium test kit just so I know. Here are my current parameters:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Phosphate: 0.2 ppm (I think this is ok for the coral I have but please correct me if I am wrong)
pH: 8.3
Alkalinity 10 dKH
Salinity: 1.026
Calcium: 385 ppm
Magnesium: unknown but test kit is on the way
Temp: 79

I am using a black box light which I had the whites <25% and blues at about 50%. I turned the whites down to 15-20% a couple days ago in case there was too much light but I have everything low in the tank regardless.

These corals were added to this tank around 2 weeks ago. I am absolutely clueless and really think there is something going on and bummed especially about the GSP which seems to be on its way out and everything I read is these are almost impossible to kill. It is extremely frustrating because I cannot pinpoint anything especially because the zoas are doing great and parameters seem fine.

Hope you guys have some ideas I could really use all the help I can get
Thanks again for all of your help!

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I posted before regarding my green star polyps which did not seem to be doing too well. I know they seem to be bullet proof but apparently not for me.... I took removed them as the purple mat seemed to be falling apart. I did a large water change put some carbon in the filter. Tank is 92g

Currently, I have some zoas (palys I think) which are doing great and growing new polyps. I bought some new GSP and again it is staying closed- it was open right after I put it in then over a few days I saw less and less polyps so its been completely closed for about a week now and the mat almost seems like it's beginning to fall apart again... There was some hair algae on the mat when I received it- when I noticed it started to get worse I brushed it off which I am sure did not make it happy but this was 5 days ago. I know they can stay closed for a while but the purple mat doesn't appear too be doing too well.

I have a toadstool leather which is almost done shedding for the second time within 3 weeks (after the first shed the polyps were out but not fully extended. I occasionally see some polyps out but not fully extended and after some time of the light being on these polpys usually close up.

I have a kenya tree which was doing great but now it has been "drooped" over for a couple of days.

Some parameters like calcium/mag I did not think matter too much for soft coral but I am getting a magnesium test kit just so I know. Here are my current parameters:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Phosphate: 0.2 ppm (I think this is ok for the coral I have but please correct me if I am wrong)
pH: 8.3
Alkalinity 10 dKH
Salinity: 1.026
Calcium: 385 ppm
Magnesium: unknown but test kit is on the way
Temp: 79

I am using a black box light which I had the whites <25% and blues at about 50%. I turned the whites down to 15-20% a couple days ago in case there was too much light but I have everything low in the tank regardless.

These corals were added to this tank around 2 weeks ago. I am absolutely clueless and really think there is something going on and bummed especially about the GSP which seems to be on its way out and everything I read is these are almost impossible to kill. It is extremely frustrating because I cannot pinpoint anything especially because the zoas are doing great and parameters seem fine.

Hope you guys have some ideas I could really use all the help I can get
Thanks again for all of your help!

I think zoas poison them. Chemical warfare. Bummer

 

[KrisReef]

I posted before regarding my green star polyps which did not seem to be doing too well. I know they seem to be bullet proof but apparently not for me.... I took removed them as the purple mat seemed to be falling apart. I did a large water change put some carbon in the filter. Tank is 92g

Currently, I have some zoas (palys I think) which are doing great and growing new polyps. I bought some new GSP and again it is staying closed- it was open right after I put it in then over a few days I saw less and less polyps so its been completely closed for about a week now and the mat almost seems like it's beginning to fall apart again... There was some hair algae on the mat when I received it- when I noticed it started to get worse I brushed it off which I am sure did not make it happy but this was 5 days ago. I know they can stay closed for a while but the purple mat doesn't appear too be doing too well.

I have a toadstool leather which is almost done shedding for the second time within 3 weeks (after the first shed the polyps were out but not fully extended. I occasionally see some polyps out but not fully extended and after some time of the light being on these polpys usually close up.

I have a kenya tree which was doing great but now it has been "drooped" over for a couple of days.

Some parameters like calcium/mag I did not think matter too much for soft coral but I am getting a magnesium test kit just so I know. Here are my current parameters:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Phosphate: 0.2 ppm (I think this is ok for the coral I have but please correct me if I am wrong)
pH: 8.3
Alkalinity 10 dKH
Salinity: 1.026
Calcium: 385 ppm
Magnesium: unknown but test kit is on the way
Temp: 79

I am using a black box light which I had the whites <25% and blues at about 50%. I turned the whites down to 15-20% a couple days ago in case there was too much light but I have everything low in the tank regardless.

These corals were added to this tank around 2 weeks ago. I am absolutely clueless and really think there is something going on and bummed especially about the GSP which seems to be on its way out and everything I read is these are almost impossible to kill. It is extremely frustrating because I cannot pinpoint anything especially because the zoas are doing great and parameters seem fine.

Hope you guys have some ideas I could really use all the help I can get
Thanks again for all of your help!

@Ryan9212
How long has this tank been set up?
What else is in the tank?
Are you running carbon?

Someone on here will be able to give you some real help?
#reefsquad
& you are new on here: Welcome to Reef2reef!

 

[cojo8888]

Check if something rusting in your tank. My tank is not that good environment (nitrate above 60 is not good) but all of corals doing good even some easy sps like monti and birdnest.

 

[cojo8888]

Oh zoa is doing good lol didn't read well. Then give it sometime maybe too much flow on them directly?

 

[jabberwock]

Welcome to Reef2Reef! Corals are finicky for me. I am no expert. I have softies and a frogspawn. Zoas are rocking one day and then melting away the next... My first frogspawn did great for 2 months, and then just started to drop one polyp at a time until there was nothing left. My acans did great for 2 months and then just shrunk up and died. Same with my chalice (its name was space pizza).

All you can do is check parameters, maintain stability, keep them fed, and GRADUALLY move then around until you find a spot they like. If I relocate something, I don't move it again for 72 hours at least to see if it will settle in to the new location. Also, keep your lighting schedule consistent. They get used to a lighting routine (I think... They don't talk...)

 

[Mjrjj23]

I posted before regarding my green star polyps which did not seem to be doing too well. I know they seem to be bullet proof but apparently not for me.... I took removed them as the purple mat seemed to be falling apart. I did a large water change put some carbon in the filter. Tank is 92g

Currently, I have some zoas (palys I think) which are doing great and growing new polyps. I bought some new GSP and again it is staying closed- it was open right after I put it in then over a few days I saw less and less polyps so its been completely closed for about a week now and the mat almost seems like it's beginning to fall apart again... There was some hair algae on the mat when I received it- when I noticed it started to get worse I brushed it off which I am sure did not make it happy but this was 5 days ago. I know they can stay closed for a while but the purple mat doesn't appear too be doing too well.

I have a toadstool leather which is almost done shedding for the second time within 3 weeks (after the first shed the polyps were out but not fully extended. I occasionally see some polyps out but not fully extended and after some time of the light being on these polpys usually close up.

I have a kenya tree which was doing great but now it has been "drooped" over for a couple of days.

Some parameters like calcium/mag I did not think matter too much for soft coral but I am getting a magnesium test kit just so I know. Here are my current parameters:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Phosphate: 0.2 ppm (I think this is ok for the coral I have but please correct me if I am wrong)
pH: 8.3
Alkalinity 10 dKH
Salinity: 1.026
Calcium: 385 ppm
Magnesium: unknown but test kit is on the way
Temp: 79

I am using a black box light which I had the whites <25% and blues at about 50%. I turned the whites down to 15-20% a couple days ago in case there was too much light but I have everything low in the tank regardless.

These corals were added to this tank around 2 weeks ago. I am absolutely clueless and really think there is something going on and bummed especially about the GSP which seems to be on its way out and everything I read is these are almost impossible to kill. It is extremely frustrating because I cannot pinpoint anything especially because the zoas are doing great and parameters seem fine.

Hope you guys have some ideas I could really use all the help I can get
Thanks again for all of your help!

I have to disagree with the chemical warfare. I have gsp and zoas growing on the same rock. I would stop running carbon, do a water change and see what that does. Some carbon is very agressive especially through a reactor. You can quickly strip the water. I used to struggle with all coral untill I cut out trying to overthink everything running gfo and carbon etc etc. They have their place but Id go back to the basics if I where you and see what happens

 

[Ryan9212]

Thanks everyone for all of the replies so soon!

@KrisReef
Tank has been set up for about 10 months.
For fish I have a couple damsels, a clown, a cleaner wrasse, a lyretail anthias and a foxface (assuming that's what you meant by what else is in the tank) I watch constantly to make sure nothing is picking on them and have yet to see any issues.
Yes I am running carbon and have been running it the entire time because I read how soft corals can release toxins. I think I will just do a small water change and just remove the carbon like @Mjrjj23 mentioned considering it is doing nothing for the cause anyways.
@cojo8888 I played around with the flow a bit and gave them enough time in between with no luck... But now that you mentioned rust, I did have a pump that I replaced a week or so ago and I did see some rust on it when I removed it so this could be a possibility.

Someone told me to use aquavitro fuel which is supposed to add some minerals/amino acids into the water so I tried a very low amount with no response.

I was planning to use a poly filter in there which I can grab tomorrow. So maybe I run that for a few days without the carbon, then do the water change to replace other elements it might remove?


Do you guys think removing the carbon, running a poly filter for a few days, followed by a water change would be worth a try? I don't want to do anything too drastic because I know that can backfire but at this point I don't think I have much to lose since the only coral that is doing well are the zoas.

 

[kichimark]

You can try to remove the carbon and see if that makes a difference in your tank but when I had GSP I ran ROX carbon 24/7 to prevent the leathers from causing any issues but the carbon never caused me any issues. How is the flow on your GSP? I know they tend to like flow.

 

[Ryan9212]

You can try to remove the carbon and see if that makes a difference in your tank but when I had GSP I ran ROX carbon 24/7 to prevent the leathers from causing any issues but the carbon never caused me any issues. How is the flow on your GSP? I know they tend to like flow.

I had the GSP in indirect medium flow but I moved it today in a little bit more direct flow to see if that makes a difference. I did give it enough time where it was before because I don't want to move things around too much. Crossing my fingers that something works

 

[KrisReef]

Yes to the Poly filter, that is my go to response for suspected water quality contamination issues. I try to keep a fresh one on hand, and one in the tank.

I presume you have been changing your carbon during the 10 months, if so then removing it might leave more dirt in the water for softies to feed on.

I am curious about Mg, and Iodine as it seems to me that I+ is important for softies. (I added a drop recently and my mushrooms bloomed, I'm gonna have to remove a bunch. I don't test, just observe for Iodine)

And 10 Dkh, I would think that softies would be fine with lower levels * and not sure how elevated Dkh impacts these? I haven't had any gsp or kenya trees for many years, I did salvage a toadstool, it thrived in bright light and swift currents next to sps, and I traded him back in a my lfs because he was quickly over growing his allocated space.

And feeding these plankton, I would guess when the polyps come out they are on the hunt for planktonic food same as sps? Do you feed any reef roids or similar micro-foods?

How is the circulation in your tank? If your water quality is measuring ok, then perhaps the tank too slow (or too fast) moving?

 

[Ryan9212]

Yes to the Poly filter, that is my go to response for suspected water quality contamination issues. I try to keep a fresh one on hand, and one in the tank.

I presume you have been changing your carbon during the 10 months, if so then removing it might leave more dirt in the water for softies to feed on.

I am curious about Mg, and Iodine as it seems to me that I+ is important for softies. (I added a drop recently and my mushrooms bloomed, I'm gonna have to remove a bunch. I don't test, just observe for Iodine)

And 10 Dkh, I would think that softies would be fine with lower levels * and not sure how elevated Dkh impacts these? I haven't had any gsp or kenya trees for many years, I did salvage a toadstool, it thrived in bright light and swift currents next to sps, and I traded him back in a my lfs because he was quickly over growing his allocated space.

And feeding these plankton, I would guess when the polyps come out they are on the hunt for planktonic food same as sps? Do you feed any reef roids or similar micro-foods?

How is the circulation in your tank? If your water quality is measuring ok, then perhaps the tank too slow (or too fast) moving?

I did recently change the carbon the other day and the time before that I added it right before I put the corals into the tank so I am definitely not lacking carbon which is why I am thinking of removing it and adding the poly filter.

I brought my water in to be tested to make sure I wasn't missing something a few days ago. My Ca was at 360 and was given Seachem reef complete to get it up a little bit at a time and now it is at 380. This also has a very small amount of magnesium and strontium in it but I will have a magnesium test kit in a few days that I already ordered.

The only other supplemental feeding I've done is aquavitro fuel which contains misc trace minerals, vitamins, amino acids. The dose is 1 cap/20g/week and I've just been adding 1 cap/day but skipped today because I do not want to over do it (this does contain iodine). The polyps on the toadstool leather were somewhat extended but I never saw them completely extended, just the little tube the polyp comes out of- if this even makes sense. The kenya tree was doing great for a while though.

The circulation I would say is fine, after giving the corals a few days I changed the direction of the power heads but didn't seem to notice anything. I am going to try to give the leather a little more flow. (The zoas did fine every where I placed them and will grab misc pieces of fish food)

As far as Dkh I am using instant ocean salt which I've read runs higher alkalinity but I will test alkalinity again to double check.

Not sure if this information can help you or not. Thanks again for all of the great help! You have no idea how much I appreciate it because this is so frustrating

 

[Mjrjj23]

Someone please correct me if Im wrong but with dkh being 10 which is on the higher end you typically want a dirtier water. With dkh in the lower range is when you want the very low nutrients. Possible that with a high dkh and the carbon you're stripping the water of nutrients and with a high dkh could be causing issues

 

[Ryan9212]

Someone please correct me if Im wrong but with dkh being 10 which is on the higher end you typically want a dirtier water. With dkh in the lower range is when you want the very low nutrients. Possible that with a high dkh and the carbon you're stripping the water of nutrients and with a high dkh could be causing issues

That's a good point. I retested the alkalinity and its more like 11 dkh... So this might actually be the issue. I removed the carbon and added a poly filter. I will leave that in there for a few days and then do a water change. As far as alkalinity is there anything I should do seeing it is so high or just wait it out?

 

[dansreef]

Are you dosing Alkalinity or Kalk for Calcium and Alkalinity? Not sure why your Alkalinity is so high, with softies you dont need to likely do more than water changes to replenish what you need. With softies and LPS... I would shoot for as close to natural seawater as you can get. 7 DKH. Phosphates as .2 are kind of high. I would shoot for <.05. I would work to bring your Alkalinity down and your phosphates down. What salt are you using? Look for something with lower Alkalinity. I would also take GFO and carbon off-line. I dont think they are chemically fighting unless they are right on each other.

I have had successful softy tanks with LPS with little to no fighting in close proximity. In fact, I have a tank now (135gals) that I basically ignore and neglect that grows any number of leathers, mushrooms, hammers (lps) and zoas. All I have done with this tank is essentially top off the water and feed. I haven't done water changes in 18 months or more. I don't dose.... I don't run anything on it. No skimmer. No reactors. Low flow and low settings on two LED fixtures. I find most softies and a lot of LPS are pretty hardy. Don't over think them or spend too much time chasing parameters. Let it settle. Avoid the urge to add chemicals or dose. Let your water changes provide what is needed along with food to your fish.

As for lighting, I would make sure you are not blasting the coral. I would also have some flow, but not too much.

Good luck.

 

[Ryan9212]

Thanks again for all of the responses and I apologize for the delay. I wanted to share an update because this could possibly help someone in the future.

I removed the carbon and added a poly filter. In the process I found that there was a hose clamp rusting/corroding... I removed it and within a couple of days everything started coming back to life.
I've read other stories of hose clamps rusting/corroding not being an issue but I do not see what else it could've been. Hope this can help someone. I really was going out of my mind trying to figure out the issue.

 

[Mjrjj23]

Fantastic news! I try my best to use as many plastic clamps as possible

 

[Ryan9212]

Fantastic news! I try my best to use as many plastic clamps as possible

Yes, I was able to configure the plumbing so I don't need to clamp it in the water. Thanks again for all of your help!

 

[ZoWhat]

If youre using RODI as your water source and you are staying uo with WCs....there is no need to run carbon imo

Glad to hear the update

 

[leokan]

I have similar issue recently, GSP, Zoa doing well but all my soft coral not doing good. I don't have any carbon or special filter.

Thinking to add poly filter as you have successful experience. May I ask what is the reason you have carbon initially? What is that for?