Will 0.5 P04 kill anthelia?

[mikmeh]

I've been fighting bryopsis treating with reef flux, it's been working well and almost have it cleared out. Then came cyano and my P04 spiked to 0.5, I just added some phosguard in a filter sock for that. My anthelia we're doing really well, then bleached, and finally wilted

I'm not sure if they were too close to the light (my idiocy for not researching placement first), or it was P04, or reef flux (read it's harmless to corals and also the really long thread on killing bryopsis with fluconazole). Before and after pics below. I moved it lower when bleached.

thx for any help/advice

24g tank running since 04/2022
Feeding once a day
Lights are on 11 hrs
Params:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
P04: 0.5
Salinity 1.026
Temp: 78

 

[Dan_P]

I've been fighting bryopsis treating with reef flux, it's been working well and almost have it cleared out. Then came cyano and my P04 spiked to 0.5, I just added some phosguard in a filter sock for that. My anthelia we're doing really well, then bleached, and finally wilted

I'm not sure if they were too close to the light (my idiocy for not researching placement first), or it was P04, or reef flux (read it's harmless to corals and also the really long thread on killing bryopsis with fluconazole). Before and after pics below. I moved it lower when bleached.

thx for any help/advice

24g tank running since 04/2022
Feeding once a day
Lights are on 11 hrs
Params:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
P04: 0.5
Salinity 1.026
Temp: 78

You have to wonder whether the anthelia colony was looking a little weak to start with. I have not heard that soft coral are affected much by PO4.

 

[Wasabiroot]

There are too many variables here to say for sure. From your post,
-phosguard
-possibly too much light
-Reef Flux
-no nitrates, high phosphate

So it could be any combination of these factors or just one or two.

It does look bleached to me. If it still moves, perhaps some water changes and carbon can bring the tank back in line and help it recover. However, this would impact your bryopsis treatment effectiveness.

Just my thoughts. Hope it pulls through.

How are the zoas doing?

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Anthelia is pretty resilient and tolerate what some considers high po4. I ran my tank @ .4-.5 phosphate for a few years and it grows like a weed. Even survived a reef flux treatment in my 50g cube.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Beware, if it pulls through it will grow like a weed, and will take over the rock fairly quickly...

That anthelia is about 8 months old. And it's been pruned a few times. 4" yellow is pictured.

 

[Spare time]

0 nitrate can do it

 

[Cantusaurus]

Make sure nitrate doesn’t get to zero. You want nitrate for any coral. Also make sure slowly lower the PO4. It doesn’t have to be perfect but as long as corals are happy and algae is under control you should be fine. Be careful with phosguard. It can really quickly lower it, so don’t over use it.
I got anthelia from an LFS before, and it was pulled from a crushed coral area so there were a ton of bristle worms and stuff, so I did some intense dipping on them. And they looked like crap, they were super wilted and they looked awful. But they bounced back with time, and they look beautiful now. So don’t be surprised if they look like crap for a while, as long as they don’t completely die quickly then there’s hope. just do things slowly, and you should be good.
killing off a lot of algae will most likely cause nutrients to spike, but it’s good you are monitoring everything.
Maybe make sure pH is good as well? Low oxygen and pH can help corals recover if that’s out of wack.

 

[mikmeh]

Ugh, I thought no one replied to this thread
Thanks all, they perked up a bit but still bleached. Have a bad outbreak of cyano now and what looks like purple hair algae. Trying phosguard for that. I'm careful with the amount. PO4 went to 0.25, alk is 9.3. I got a very mild 5 for nitrate.