Trouble keeping LPS... trouble shooting

[david p.]

Hi,

i got my LPS pretty much when i started my tank 6 months ago. I consider they all did pretty good. but lately they are pretty much all going down. Of course i don't know why. i would say, i saw the first symptom about one or 2 weeks ago, meaning less inflating. and since this week signs of skeleton .

i had an issue with my wellso back in Aug, but around september it was looking better, much better. i was still working to bring it back to it's original glory!
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/help-wellsophyllia-deteriorating.262512/

My tank is SPS dominant, they all do good.
The change i made i the last month or so are:
- Start dosing Color Element
- Increase flow from peaks at 40 to 55 (around early-sept), but dialed back at 40-45 maybe 3 weeks ago.
- Change my lense to wide lense on radion pro (early-sept). it reduce PAR at sand level where my LPS were.
- i had stopped GFO, to get phosphate in my system because i typically had 0 with my Seachem test, but I deceided to restart using it due to increase algae presence in my system. I still have detectable phosphate usually higher than 0, near 0.05 up to 0.1

my water parameters are stable for Alk, Ca, Mg.

I used so suspect my 2 flameback angel fish, but i don't see them nipping on my corals. and i spend a lot of time near my tank. but who knows what they do when my back is turned!

So the test i'm trying is using my fish trap, put my acan, scoly and welso in it. So this way i isolate them from potential excessive flow, nipping. and try to isolate the root cause of that apocalypse in my LPS.

could it work ?
any other potential root cause to investigate ?
are there other parameters to test that could give me a hint ?

thanks
david

 

[Bunnee911]

Can you shoot us a photo?

 

[Diesel]

No3 and K?
IMO do a triton test on your water.
It won't lie to you but you know where the problem is.

 

[david p.]

no NO3, some time i think i see little pink on my test... but must be low. phosphate around 0.05.
i dont test for potassium (K)

ill take a picture tomorrow when lights are on.

 

[Diesel]

Start dosing No3.
I'm pretty sure you starving your LPS.

 

[david p.]

Start dosing No3.
I'm pretty sure you starving your LPS.

i'll check for that. But the only No3 export i have is cheato. plants can't deplete the environment from NO3, they will adapt growth on nutrient available. it's not like a denitrificator (chemical reaction) where you can literalty remove all NO3.

i also target feed my lps, reefroid and once in a while frozen misis.

but still gonna check for NO3... i have some KNO3 from my fresh watertank dosing.

 

[Furiousreefer]

Feed more

 

[Diesel]

No3, your cheato gets it out but also your corals and most your bacteria.
With a low No3 you not only starve your coral but your bacteria population as well.
My tank when I had all SPS was at 4ppm and I had to dose twice daily.

 

[Ljaus]

A photo will definitely help. Lps like to be fed and have 'dirty' water. Tight tissue can also be from sensitivity to light, apparently when lps are starved of phosphate and No3 they can become more sensitive to light ( don't hold me to that tho )

 

[david p.]

here are 2 pictures. i don't have a good one for the acans. this is after feeding... typically they would be fully open with polyps out.

the wellso, you can see the 2 right circles, some bone with brown algae :(
the center circle, all color gone.

the scoly, 2 circles shows some bones. it used to be always inflated.

 

[Diesel]

Do you hand feed your brains and welso?

 

[david p.]

yes i target feed, i vary between reefroid, small LPS palet food, frozen mysis, oyster eggs. I try to feed weekly.

i also feed SPS with reefroids at least once a week, so they (LPS) benefit indirectly from the water column.

 

[dgrigor02]

I run a more unconventional tank. Primary filtration is algae scrubber so this may not translate to your system but worth at least mentioning. If your not running carbon consider it and see if it helps.

For my system, lps ( in particular elegance ) is the first to let me know when I need to change out the carbon. I assume it's irritated by some byproduct from the algae. Replacing Carbon will perk it up within 24 hours. It doesn't take much, use 1 cup of rox .8 carbon changed weekly.

 

[david p.]

I run a more unconventional tank. Primary filtration is algae scrubber so this may not translate to your system but worth at least mentioning. If your not running carbon consider it and see if it helps.

For my system, lps ( in particular elegance ) is the first to let me know when I need to change out the carbon. I assume it's irritated by some byproduct from the algae. Replacing Carbon will perk it up within 24 hours. It doesn't take much, use 1 cup of rox .8 carbon changed weekly.

i run GFO and carbon. i do not use enough GFO to remove all phosphate, i want some of it.

i change carbon about every other week or every 3wks

 

[ahiggins]

I feel a little over my head with talk about wellso and scolys. Ive never had them but I do have acans/favias/hammer/other lps. I ran chemipure elite the entire time I had my tank....one day I took it out to treat someone for something lol and it was a whole other tank in a week. Everything perked up. Mind you, its a 25 gallon. I also run nitrate reactor to keep my nitrate around 5-10. I feed pretty heavily.

 

[Ljaus]

I would try moving them to an area of low light and see if they respond, same as you did with your wellso. If the respond leave them be. Are they directly under the light?

 

[david p.]

they are in my fish box, basecally now to very low flow.
Acan seems to inflate more tonight.
Scoly unsure... need more time
Wellso... looks worst today...

for now, did not start dosing NO3. i wait till i see if flow or nipping are culprit.
then i'll make one change to see...

 

[Ljaus]

Give them some time to see if they will improve, try to avoided moving them too much for now. Has the wellso receded into its skeleton? Do you have a full tank shot handy to see the placement of them

 

[david p.]

fish trap is in top right corner, i put some cover to reduce light.
Lights were out 10 sec before picture.
scoly looks ok, but i can still see the small skeleton parts. but not as bad a the last couple days before a put it in fish trap.
wellso... i guess ill need time to see if it will come back
Acan... we will see...

 

[david p.]

usually, at night my scoly is fully inflated, polyps out same goes with acan... wellso was on his way to get better since august... now fully closed,...