Trumpet corals dying - do I just watch ?

[Addicted2Reef’n]

I have a beautiful 30 head colony of trumpet coral that is wasting away. There are two other separate frags of same colony on different sides of tank and they are also wasting in front of my eyes.
Here are my numbers
Alk 8.2 Mg 1300 Ca 442
Phosphate .12 Nitrate 12ppm
Recently had a gyre that was down and flow was minimal but now is back up and there was still flow in tank.
I’m not asking how it got here but if there is anything I can do for it now or just watch it melt away.

 

[MnFish1]

I have a beautiful 30 head colony of trumpet coral that is wasting away. There are two other separate frags of same colony on different sides of tank and they are also wasting in front of my eyes.
Here are my numbers
Alk 8.2 Mg 1300 Ca 442
Phosphate .12 Nitrate 12ppm
Recently had a gyre that was down and flow was minimal but now is back up and there was still flow in tank.
I’m not asking how it got here but if there is anything I can do for it now or just watch it melt away.

So sorry to see - just a suggestion - the BEST way to figure out how to potentially fix it is to figure out how it got there. I'm no expert on this coral - but I would think quite hard about what might have happened to your parameters, etc. Could something have died in your tank when they Gyre went out? (I think the gyre is related). Could a nearby coral have stung it when the gyre went out (I can't see around it). What I can see is what looks like a significant larger amount of green algae near the coral - is that just the picture - or has it happened. This may relate to your problem. Have you added new coral? changed lights? new fish? new additives?

 

[MnFish1]

PS 2 more questions - any other affected corals. And PPS - it's unlikely that since you have 3 of the same coral they probably all did not get stung (so I think you can take that suggestion off my list). I had an episode like this. I bought a beautiful little lemon peel angel - so cute. about 2 days after - I started noticing 3 of one type of coral were dying. Never saw anything happen, never saw any eating, etc. Until I used @vetteguy53081 's video trick - leaving a cell phone to film without me there - within about 20 seconds of me leaving around the room that cute little fish ripped about 1/2 square inch of coral flesh off - kind of the way tangs attack Nori... Needless to say it did not end well for the coral - and the fish went back to the store. I also wanted to ask if you have any other affected corals fish or CUC, etc.

 

[MnFish1]

Sorry - I meant also to say - this may be one time where it would be best for you to show a pic of the coral under the original lighting to see how much its changed unrelated to the lighting.

 

[EricR]

What's the timeline on all of this? Meaning:
- when did your gyre go out and when did you fix/replace it?
- when did you notice the colony starting to look like it was suffering?
*I'm making the assumption that you observed at least some kind of correlation between the flow fail and the trumpets showing symptoms,,, so just wondering how much time they've had to recover (assuming the flow was even the real problem)

 

[Addicted2Reef’n]

That’s just the picture of the rock. My phosphates ha

PS 2 more questions - any other affected corals. And PPS - it's unlikely that since you have 3 of the same coral they probably all did not get stung (so I think you can take that suggestion off my list). I had an episode like this. I bought a beautiful little lemon peel angel - so cute. about 2 days after - I started noticing 3 of one type of coral were dying. Never saw anything happen, never saw any eating, etc. Until I used @vetteguy53081 's video trick - leaving a cell phone to film without me there - within about 20 seconds of me leaving around the room that cute little fish ripped about 1/2 square inch of coral flesh off - kind of the way tangs attack Nori... Needless to say it did not end well for the coral - and the fish went back to the store. I also wanted to ask if you have any other affected corals fish or CUC, etc.

Yes I also had an encrusting monitpora turn brown or became brown from algae not sure and I believe that was also due to the gyre and detritus possibly settling. It was my best grower and out of nowhere went downhill about the same time as these. I tested phosphates and they were high .27 and I chocked it up to lack of flow and the phosphates.

 

[Addicted2Reef’n]

What's the timeline on all of this? Meaning:
- when did your gyre go out and when did you fix/replace it?
- when did you notice the colony starting to look like it was suffering?
*I'm making the assumption that you observed at least some kind of correlation between the flow fail and the trumpets showing symptoms,,, so just wondering how much time they've had to recover (assuming the flow was even the real problem)

Checked my notes and I became aware of the issue on 7/20 . That is when I noticed phosphates were high and the gyres were low. I did 15% water change and added RowaPhos and carbon .
8/1 10% water change 8/7 15% water change
8/7 Phosphate down to .03
8/10 discovered the flow issue and cleaned gyres and they are back full power

 

[Addicted2Reef’n]

Sorry - I meant also to say - this may be one time where it would be best for you to show a pic of the coral under the original lighting to see how much its changed unrelated to the lighting.

The top picture under the blue light is taken today. The other pictures were last week. I’ll attach pics of what it looked like 6 weeks ago

 

[Addicted2Reef’n]

PS 2 more questions - any other affected corals. And PPS - it's unlikely that since you have 3 of the same coral they probably all did not get stung (so I think you can take that suggestion off my list). I had an episode like this. I bought a beautiful little lemon peel angel - so cute. about 2 days after - I started noticing 3 of one type of coral were dying. Never saw anything happen, never saw any eating, etc. Until I used @vetteguy53081 's video trick - leaving a cell phone to film without me there - within about 20 seconds of me leaving around the room that cute little fish ripped about 1/2 square inch of coral flesh off - kind of the way tangs attack Nori... Needless to say it did not end well for the coral - and the fish went back to the store. I also wanted to ask if you have any other affected corals fish or CUC, etc.

I have been having issues with new Zoa frags disappearing and I’m starting to wonder if I have a fish that is suddenly getting a taste for coral. Possible culprits could be my flame angel or my fox face . May set up a video myself

 

[Addicted2Reef’n]

I have a bit of yardwork to do but will check comments when I get back. I appreciate all the feedback. I’ve had this coral since I got back into the hobby 3 years ago and I hate to lose them. Thinking may dip them tonight or wld that stress more , idk

 

[exnisstech]

How fast did you go from 0.27 PO4 to 0.03? Im not sure about LPS but I know SPS don't like fast drops.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have a beautiful 30 head colony of trumpet coral that is wasting away. There are two other separate frags of same colony on different sides of tank and they are also wasting in front of my eyes.
Here are my numbers
Alk 8.2 Mg 1300 Ca 442
Phosphate .12 Nitrate 12ppm
Recently had a gyre that was down and flow was minimal but now is back up and there was still flow in tank.
I’m not asking how it got here but if there is anything I can do for it now or just watch it melt away.

This is very high distress and may be in part from surface algae seen in pics. These guys need basic moderate light and moderate to medium water flow and best fed at lights out when their feeders emerge. Some other causes for this is a change in salinity, temperature and salt mixes. Additionally, Elevated phosphate, light and even new light and elevated alkalinity levels will be a higher risk to coral. Other minor factors will be low Dissolved oxygen, new corals especially leathers (which emit a toxin known as Terpenes), false test kit readings and newly added rock can alter chemistry.

 

[Brian916]

When in doubt, keep doing the water changes until you get it figured out or have done 100 percent over the month.

If other corals are disappearing and the parameters are on track, I agree you should be looking at harassment or a pest. Fox face are notorious eaters of LPS. I would watch the fish, but they are usually easy to spot when they have gotten a taste for coral.

Any signs of flatworms or other pests? You might consider cutting off a distressed head and giving it a coral dip to see if you can flush out a pest.

 

[MnFish1]

When in doubt, keep doing the water changes until you get it figured out or have done 100 percent over the month.

If other corals are disappearing and the parameters are on track, I agree you should be looking at harassment or a pest. Fox face are notorious eaters of LPS. I would watch the fish, but they are usually easy to spot when they have gotten a taste for coral.

Any signs of flatworms or other pests? You might consider cutting off a distressed head and giving it a coral dip to see if you can flush out a pest.

I think this is a really good point - water changes are not going to hurt - and if you did a 15 percent change daily for 2 weeks - it would be interesting to see how they were doing.

 

[Addicted2Reef’n]

Thank you for all the replies. I am going to look into each suggestion made.
I have never tried it but I got an ICP test and I am going to take samples tonight and mail off tomorrow. I will most likely lose the corals before the results but at least I can see if there is something I’m missing.

 

[MnFish1]

Thank you for all the replies. I am going to look into each suggestion made.
I have never tried it but I got an ICP test and I am going to take samples tonight and mail off tomorrow. I will most likely lose the corals before the results but at least I can see if there is something I’m missing.

Back up - How many corals have you lost - or are you talking about one specific coral with 30 heads and 2 pieces on the side. Because they are 2 totally different questions

 

[MnFish1]

When in doubt, keep doing the water changes until you get it figured out or have done 100 percent over the month.

If other corals are disappearing and the parameters are on track, I agree you should be looking at harassment or a pest. Fox face are notorious eaters of LPS. I would watch the fish, but they are usually easy to spot when they have gotten a taste for coral.

Any signs of flatworms or other pests? You might consider cutting off a distressed head and giving it a coral dip to see if you can flush out a pest.

If you are going to give anything a dip - dip the whole coral IMHO. Second. If you think water is an issue - skip the ICP test - and just change 50% day 1 50% day 2 50% day 3

 

[MnFish1]

When in doubt, keep doing the water changes until you get it figured out or have done 100 percent over the month.

If other corals are disappearing and the parameters are on track, I agree you should be looking at harassment or a pest. Fox face are notorious eaters of LPS. I would watch the fish, but they are usually easy to spot when they have gotten a taste for coral.

Any signs of flatworms or other pests? You might consider cutting off a distressed head and giving it a coral dip to see if you can flush out a pest.

If you are going to give anything a dip - dip the whole coral IMHO. Second. If you think water is an issue - skip the ICP test - and just change 50% day 1 50% day 2 50% day 3

 

[Addicted2Reef’n]

If you are going to give anything a dip - dip the whole coral IMHO. Second. If you think water is an issue - skip the ICP test - and just change 50% day 1 50% day 2 50% day 3

All other corals are growing and thriving including my acropora as well as Duncan’s, brain coral and others. I will continue to do water changes as well as dip it. Only problem is I can’t make water fast enough to change out 50% 1 day but I can’t do several 15% over a week. I sent out the ICP test just because I’m curious if I’m low in Iron or any other elements from running my fuge and harvesting chaeto for past year with minimal water changes.

 

[MnFish1]

All other corals are growing and thriving including my acropora as well as Duncan’s, brain coral and others. I will continue to do water changes as well as dip it. Only problem is I can’t make water fast enough to change out 50% 1 day but I can’t do several 15% over a week. I sent out the ICP test just because I’m curious if I’m low in Iron or any other elements from running my fuge and harvesting chaeto for past year with minimal water changes.

So - here is a suggestion - Wait 2 days - collect the water - and do a higher amount every other day