Why would soft corals melt while other corals thrive?

[WallaceGrover]

Newly established 5 gallon pico tank. I have thriving ricordea, mushrooms, zoas, a goni, and a candy cane. Every soft coral I've tried though has degraded and melted in a matter of weeks upon being introduced. This includes a cespitularia, nepthea, and now a kenya tree. I was thinking it could be nutrient related: my params are a pH of 8.2, Ammonia of 0, Nitrate of 0-5, and Salinity of 1.025. I do feed the crabs in the tank a couple of pellets every few days, spot feed the goni every couple of days, and do reef energy daily. I would think by now nutrients would be high enough to not be an issue.

Any other ideas? I was thinking a micronutrient deficiency but the tank is so new I would think that takes time to show up. They just start to look wilty then melt. A shame because they are my favorite and I want to start a 50 gallon system of just soft corals and mushrooms.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

nitrate of 0-5 is pretty low, what is the phosphate level? (this should be measured with a good tester, not API)

Soft corals like nutrients, if you are feeding only every few days, might not be enough nutrients, especially if the tank is brand new like you said.

 

[Fishy888]

nitrate of 0-5 is pretty low, what is the phosphate level? (this should be measured with a good tester, not API)

Soft corals like nutrients, if you are feeding only every few days, might not be enough nutrients, especially if the tank is brand new like you said.

I agree. Nitrates are low. Soft corals will suck up nitrates like nobody’s business so nitrates need to be present. 10 ppm is probably a good place to be with softies. They also suck up phosphates to a degree as well so if you can test for phosphates please do so and let us know the results. You really want between 0.05 ppm and 0.1 ppm for soft corals. Your stony corals won’t mind those levels either.

 

[WallaceGrover]

Thank you both! I haven't tested for phos yet, and honestly as much as I shake the heck out of the API nitrate reagant and test vial per the directions I don't trust it. I may as well be reading tea leaves. Hanna's are on my wishlist

I'll be getting a micro-goby soon so hopefully its waste will get some nutrients going. I feed the three crabs about six or seven pellets of NLS every four or so days, a spot feeding of reef roids about every other day (mainly to the goni but it seems the others eat it up), and 1mL of reef energy daily. I'm a little surprised it's still reading as low nutrient considering filtration is a filter sock and a couple handfuls of ceramic media.

 

[Fishy888]

Sadly tea leaves are more accurate than API test kits. Hanna is the best for nitrates and phosphates but Salifert is my go to for everything else. If it’s going to be a while before you can buy the Hanna test kits I’d use Salifert for those too.

It’s harder to read the results because the color in the test vials don’t quite match the colors on the test cards. That hinders the accuracy of the more conventional test kits like the Salifert nitrate and phosphate test kits (as well as the other reliable conventional test kits out there). The Hanna colorimeters however and can distinguish the subtle differences in colors far, far better than human eyes ever could so I would go with those.

There are exceptions to this rule too though. Some of Hanna’s checkers have issues that make them less popular. You can search R2R for a list of which hanna checkers to use and which to avoid like the plague and why. Of course the list can change. Hanna has been making improvements to the checkers so eventually the less popular test kits might become more useable and popular.

 

[Outlaw Corals]

Soft corals like dirty water

 

[Fishy888]

Soft corals like dirty water

This is true but soft corals and SPS can be found together on the reef. Phosphates and nitrates are almost non existent in the water. Soft corals, as well as true corals, do well because there’s so much plankton on the reef. Some soft corals even thrive in high PAR right next to color sticks.

In our tanks though the amount of plankton, phytoplankton particularly, that would be needed would crash most of our tanks because they would REALLY dirty the water. That’s because our tanks are closed systems and are decidedly NOT the ocean. It’s quite fortunate for us that ammonia, nitrates, and phosphates can be taken up by the corals in our systems. They’ve adapted to life in captivity quite well.

 

[twentyleagues]

While it's quite possible that nutrients are an issue you have other soft corals that by your words are doing good ricordia, mushrooms, and zoas are all soft corals. There is the difference that all those corals will eat larger foods and from what I've seen most leather won't accept even reef roids. Maybe lighting flow or placement could also be an issue. Like stated above I've seen leather corals in the same zones of flow and light as acros, even in tanks. I think that is not the rule more the exception. In my (a long time ago) 75g mixed reef lit with 2 150w mh and 4 actinic t5s I had leathers and sps in the same zones all doing great. The leathers were off to the sides of the mh. When I upgraded to a 120 lit with 8 t5s my leathers melted, not all but strangely ones that were closer to the mh then ones not. I think the t5s gave more par and spread the par more then the mh. Leathers were some of my first corals put into the 75 which at the start was not high in nutrients, they did fine. I was warned to not place them directly under the mh. In the 120 the par was consistent across the entire rock structure at different levels unlike the 75 which had 2 good sized "hot spots" which the leathers were just outside of. So maybe lighting has something to do with it? What light is being used? Have you tried (I know that size tank isn't easy to "move" stuff around) different locations?

 

[WallaceGrover]

Sadly tea leaves are more accurate than API test kits. Hanna is the best for nitrates and phosphates but Salifert is my go to for everything else. If it’s going to be a while before you can buy the Hanna test kits I’d use Salifert for those too.

It’s harder to read the results because the color in the test vials don’t quite match the colors on the test cards. That hinders the accuracy of the more conventional test kits like the Salifert nitrate and phosphate test kits (as well as the other reliable conventional test kits out there). The Hanna colorimeters however and can distinguish the subtle differences in colors far, far better than human eyes ever could so I would go with those.

There are exceptions to this rule too though. Some of Hanna’s checkers have issues that make them less popular. You can search R2R for a list of which hanna checkers to use and which to avoid like the plague and why. Of course the list can change. Hanna has been making improvements to the checkers so eventually the less popular test kits might become more useable and popular.

This is good to know! I guess I'll be switching to salifert for some then too. I mean, the API ammonia and pH seem okay and give results that make sense. But for fiddler things some of the readings have me scratching my head.

Also, good news. I thought the Kenya was almost certainly going to start melting and do what the previous one did but this time it seemed like an acute stress reaction because it looked wilted and sad, retracted for several days, shed a slime coat, and now it's perked up and happy and... maybe too soon to tell but it looks like it's growing?

 

[Reeferbadness]

Just a thought, but maybe one of your fish is a soft coral nipper? Most people can't kill Kenya Tree fast enough to eradicate but i have a flame angel that eats mine and keeps it in check. He also decimates some hard corals, 1 at a time. Can't catch him, it's a 180g tank with lots of live rock

 

[areefer01]

Just a thought, but maybe one of your fish is a soft coral nipper? Most people can't kill Kenya Tree fast enough to eradicate but i have a flame angel that eats mine and keeps it in check. He also decimates some hard corals, 1 at a time. Can't catch him, it's a 180g tank with lots of live rock

The OP specifically said degraded and melted and not closed polyps. Depending on the coral it could be a lot of things and it could also be nothing. I had a two year old thriving Japanese Pink Nepthea that I grew out from a 1/4" frag to multi 2" branch beast that melted. Similar to Xena and a Blue Cespitularia. Growing out of control then poof. Gone. SPS, other leather corals, soft corals, doing great.

Things I'd consider to look at:

Alk. Do you test for Alk and what is the trend looking like? Is the result consistent or does it fluctuate?
Phosphate. Similar to above what does the trend look like? Constant or fluxgate?
Nitrate. Again is the number consistent or does it fluctuate?
Salinity. What is it at?

Not sure how you are maintaining water parameters but with a nano one can do a water change weekly and probably manage it well enough. Consistency and stability is key. A daily swing of say Alk that look like an EKG reading is bad. Steady wins the race.